Merry Christmas, Beloveds!
We’re celebrating Jesus’ first coming in Aussie style: 100 degree days, afternoons at the beach, sunburns, and sand-snowmen. It’s hard to feel like Christmas with the weather, not to mention missing our home, tree, stockings, family traditions, and American-extravagant festivity surrounding us. Still we know what this time is, and celebrate the coming of Jesus.
There is beauty and abundance in YWAM Perth’s Christmas day. Everyone collected their stockings first thing Christmas morning then spent Christmas morning with their family/house/friends (everyone on base: 600-odd stockings hanging on the balcony railing! Here is a photo from early December, before they were stuffed and gifts piled up underneath them). Huge Christmas lunch began at noon, followed by base-wide white elephant gift exchange and a Christmas movie will play tonight.
We received a special box from our Bethel family (and biological family) filled with goodies and kindness. THANK YOU for making our Christmas overflow even across the ocean! The box arrived (with some re-wrapping work done by the Australian post, following a bit of apparent disaster) on Christmas Eve, with everything inside. We had prepared to enjoy exclusively giving this year, and it was a precious lesson for everyone. It made receiving the gifts so much more special, and revealed so well the blessing and abundance it is.
Here is our home-made Christmas tree (most portable tree in the world, I’d say). Each family member colored a section (or two), and Fetya made our star to top it off. It was so fun to make, and created a special space for presents Christmas morning.
We want to wish you a Merry Christmas. We pray the tangible nearness of Immanuel for you each both today and every day. We pray that 2017 is a year full of joy, peace, overcoming, and rest in Jesus. We are gifted beyond what we could ever ask or imagine. I think we have far more than we know. May we each discover more of what God has given us in sending His Son; what it means that “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts” (Rom 5.5); what it means “that we might be called sons of God” (1 John 3:1)
God bless you. Thank you so much for loving us and supporting us daily. We love you.