Merry Christmas

Dear Friends/Family;

Greetings from sweltering Mombasa, where our day time temperatures reach 95-104 degrees! Those of you who do not have email, I must apologize for not writing a letter to each of you. Now and then I send out updates via email. This time I plan to print this and send it to you via snail mail. Kenya mail, by the way, puts a new meaning to “snail mail”!

We are doing very well! We thank God that He has been sustaining our health! We had a bumpy (literally) beginning with Gary falling and then Jean following suit. We both hurt our backs. But I am grateful to report that we are doing well now.
This Christmas is very strange indeed. No kids coming home for the Christmas break, no extra food to buy and cook, no presents to shop for. It makes us homesick to be with them during this holiday especially. In fact tomorrow is Gary’s 63rd birthday and the only thing he wants to do is go out to eat. He doesn’t want any fuss. In fact we aren’t even exchanging gifts. But we are praising God for his wonderful gift, Jesus Christ! He is the only Gift any of us needs!

As far as ministry goes it has been very exciting! Gary, of course is pastoring Crossroads Fellowship church. He preaches on Sundays and Tuesday evenings. He does a lot of counseling and of course is getting all the paperwork done for us to begin building Phase 2 (the Sunday school rooms, kitchen, etc.). He has had numerous meetings with the Deacons and the architect and contractors. So he stays busy! Jean has been involved with outreaches of the church such as visiting a number of different orphanages and teaching, playing and encouraging women and children. That has been lots of fun. Those of you on Facebook will find pictures of various orphanages and the children that live there. There is a group of people here that work with children in the government hospital that have Burkitts Lymphoma (curable cancer if it is caught in time and if the medicines are taken properly). The organization raises funds for the chemo medicine for these kids. Jean has loved every minute getting to visit these kids in the hospital as they receive their medication.

I apologize for this letter being so late in coming. But we just wanted to thank you for your prayer and financial support. We are so blessed to have partners in the ministry such as you!

May you have a blessed Christmas and New Year in Christ!
Love, Gary and Jean