Christmas News 2005

Merry Christmas! This year has been so fun and a huge blessing. In May I went to Madagascar with Global Evangelism to preach a series of meetings. On the way my family and I traveled through London, United Arab Emirates, and the Island of Mauritius. We were able to spend some time in each place. Those were some great adventures together. Two days before we left I was diagnosed with mononucleosis, so I was extremely weak. However, I was not about to let this opportunity pass by. Each day I prayed that God would help me to feel better by the time we arrived in Madagascar.

Opening night was incredible, but I was even more amazed that God was using me to speak to 1000 people. Wow! I was nervous but what a joy to bring the hope of Jesus to so many hearts. I had a wonderful translator and family. They would often take me on little family trips with their two very cute boys. Elian and Elisha were my buddies. The meetings continued for 18 nights, and the mornings were given to sermon preparation and trips to the market. There were several students from SAU which allowed for around 20 campaign sites with over 700 baptisms on closing Sabbath. Praise God for so many souls won for Jesus!

In July I went to the General Conference Session to work at the General Youth Conference booth. Each day brought different people past the booth and of course many old friends. My family came on the last weekend, and we all enjoyed being together again. It is always neat to see how global our church is and how God is working in different areas of the world.

On August 26, after two years of looking, I bought a house. This is a lot of responsibility and a bigger bill but I love it. What a blessing it is to be in town. Each Wednesday night I have a Great Controversy study, Friday evening prayer group and then Saturday night fun. So I have dedicated my home to whatever God wants to use it for.

October brought a short vacation to the Upper Penisula to visit my parents. They had the priveledge of presenting an evangelistic series in Ironwood. While there, we saw some incredible sights on the Black River. There are so many water falls, and great hiking trails. It was a blessing to spend time with them.

December 22 brought our family together to celebrate with our friends Matt and Leah at their wedding. I remember being in pathfinders with Leah while my dad was pastoring in Holly, Michigan. Those were some of the greatest years of my life. So it was nice to be back there again, and it truly felt like home. Now we are moving into the new year. I don't know what to expect but I know that I can expect many wonderful things from God. Let's not forget how He has worked in the past and how much more He wants to do in our hearts this year. His coming is sooner today than yesterday and maybe tomorrow. I am thankful for that hope and it makes me want to ready my life more each day to see Jesus. I pray that you will feel and know the urgency to build bonds in your family and with friends that will help us get ready for His soon return. Praise God we will soon fly to meet Him in the air!