From our family to you and yours… ¡Feliz Navidad!
The moon shone bright
And the stars gave a light,
A little before it was day;
The Lord our God he call’d on us
And he bade us awake and pray.
The Christmas of 1996 is one of my favorite childhood memories. Each year, my family would drive to my grandparents’ house – where we would spend a few days with them and my aunts, uncles, and cousins. We always looked forward to a lavish Christmas dinner, card games, a massive all-family gift opening, the seemingly endless cookie tray (including several Norwegian classics!), and so much more. But in 1996, something rather unexpected happened: over a foot of snow fell on December 27th!
Typically, we left my grandparents’ house a couple days after Christmas, returning home until reconvening for New Year’s Eve. That year, however, no one in the surrounding area was going anywhere! The adults had to figure out work details and how pets back home would be fed… but with the lights and heat still working, we responsibility-free kids simply savored more Christmas festivities! We played in the snow, enjoyed extended access to the cookie tray, told stories around the Christmas village, and spent more time with some of our favorite people. When supplies ran low, we even took our sleds and hiked out to a ‘nearby’ grocery store to restock. It was the adventure of a kid’s lifetime, and we relished every moment of that unbroken time together through January 2nd.
Awake, awake, good people all,
Awake and you shall hear
How our dear Lord died on the cross
For us whom He loved so dear.
What makes moments like these stand out clearly so many years later? It’s the combination of two elements: we were already doing something special, and unique circumstances took things to a new level. In theory, our close-knit family could gather any old time… and often did, celebrating birthdays and other events together throughout the year! Yet these shorter gatherings weren’t as satisfying as the moments like Christmas, when we set several days aside from busy work and school calendars for extended time together. We needed to have a good enough reason – celebrating the birth of our Savior! – to make the extra effort worthwhile. And when winter storms forcibly lengthened the time we got as a result, while also giving the kids that rare extended white Christmas… well, that’s how you get lifelong treasured memories. Something already precious was unexpectedly elevated even further.
In this Christmas season, we find much with which to fill our days. Treasured traditions enjoyed with treasured people result in photos, memories, experiences, and celebrations which delight us and keep our hearts full well into the coming New Year. Yet it is all too easy to make these things the point – letting the fun and enjoyment be their own end, without any deeper purpose. After all, we could plan these kinds of events at any point in the year, if we were willing to put forth the effort! We celebrate now because we have a deeper cause for joy, a greater Gift of which our own small celebrations are merely faint reflections… and calling that truth back to mind as the root of our festivity, rather than mere excuse, is necessary for our hearts.
It is well and good that we mark Christmas in unusual and even elaborate ways, because the incomparable reality of God With Us outstrips anything we could do. We cannot orchestrate the unexpected ‘upgrades’ – like a generational snowfall – that turn ordinary gatherings into lifelong memories. We can, however, celebrate with intentional focus on the reason which gives cause to our revelry. By doing so, not only do we remain centered on what is most important as we walk with God through His gift of today… but when those lifelong memories are formed, they too can continually encourage us to live with our eyes on Jesus.
O fair, O fair Jerusalem,
When shall we come to thee?
When shall our sorrows have an end,
Thy joy that we may see?
Life has been rather busy since appendicitis came knocking back in September! With Christmas now here, we have many updates to share… so buckle up!
The news from Las Moras is bittersweet. One of the powerful local groups competing for control has moved in to the village, which has pros and cons. There is increased relative safety for our former neighbors – though another group choosing to make an issue of the resident group’s claim could certainly change that. Food shortages have eased as resupply is now permitted. However, some of our friends would still prefer to leave – which would come with many kinds of risk. Additionally, the newcomers have taken some team belongings and laid claim to others. This makes it hard to picture how it would be wise for our former team to return to ministry at that location for quite some time to come.
There is loss and mourning in this news – more for the Nahuatl people and the church planting team serving them than for our family, obviously – but it has hit hard for us as well. Since leaving the village in 2021, we made specific plans to return periodically in order to come alongside our former coworkers, encourage the believers, and strengthen the team’s position in the community. Apart from one trip only I (with other Chihuahua-based missionaries) made two years ago to bring out some family belongings, that has not happened… and now, particularly for the rest of our family, likely never will.
Yet our hope is not in what WE might do, but in Jesus whose Name we praise and proclaim. Ministry was (and will continue to be) accomplished through the Ethnos México team, but God’s Spirit was at work among the Nahuatl before their arrival and remains so after their departure. To date, two Nahuatl youths (including my good friend Efraín) have received training at the Bible Institute here in Chihuahua… and we are hearing rumors of more training to come for some in that group. God is already using them to encourage, grow, and equip His church – both here and back closer to Las Moras – and this is just the beginning! We choose to trust the Lord with the hard circumstances of today, confident that His purposes continue unabated when our limits have been reached.
The fields were green as green could be,
When from his glorious seat
Our blessed Father watered us
With His heavenly dew so sweet.
In our Chihuahua-based ministries, we have pressed on since putting September’s unexpected hospital stay in the rearview mirror. Here are a few highlights:
- In November, I preached at a local church (on my birthday!) as part of their missions month. The teaching on individual believer’s responsibility in the Great Commission was well-received, resulting in good conversation and encouraging comments on its clarity, and I found it profitable in continuing to grow more effective as a teacher in my host country’s cultural context.
- Amy and I continue helping out with the e2 program (for new missionaries studying Mexican culture and Spanish), enjoying that greatly! I taught a pronunciation class in the takeoff course for new learners, we’ve gone through a few eval cycles helping learners plot out their next six months of study, and our family joined in with the department’s annual Christmas party last week.
- Progress in updating our fields’ IT infrastructure and child safety policies is ongoing. We continue promoting and supporting full transition into our new email domain, and implementing new training for both our child safety team and the field as a whole.
- Amy enjoys ESL work with a student at Binimea – our MK school – and the kids’ Christmas program (for which she was an assistant director) came off beautifully! This year, the kids did A Charlie Brown Christmas. We were proud of Lily’s work as a narrator, and Joel’s performance as Linus.
- I continue filling in as needed in different places, which this past semester included speaking at a Binimea chapel on Philippians 2, and emceeing our annual all-field Christmas party.
And for the saving of our souls
Christ died upon the Cross;
We ne’er shall do for Jesus Christ
As He has done for us.
Looking ahead to 2026, there is a lot we greatly anticipate. We continue refining our roles here on the field, looking to pass on some ministries we stepped into when first leaving Las Moras. This will free us to focus more fully on our ongoing roles, and to prayerfully consider other opportunities the Lord is opening here in Chihuahua. We will continue in the development and training projects for IT and child safety teams in particular, and Amy will also keep going with her ESL ministry. As always, we will keep you posted on what the Lord is doing – both in our family’s immediate sphere of influence, and in the broader picture of how He is at work among Mexico’s unreached! Until next time, as we enjoy this Christmas season…
My song is done, I must be gone
I can stay no longer here,
God bless you all, both great and small,
And send you a joyful new year!
For Prayer:
- Please pray for the Nahuatl believers, community, and team. The church is dispersed, but God is at work. Pray for His provision of work, safety, escape, unity, encouragement, and growth. Pray for the young believers for whom God is opening doors of training in His service. Pray that He draw more Nahuatl to Himself through these hard circumstances. Pray for the Nahuatl church planting team in the coming months – they need stability, rest (both physical and in Christ), opportunities for productive service, clear vision for the future, and discernment with an eye to future ministry. Pray for peace in the mountains, and that the Gospel continue going forth among the Nahuatl people.
- Our family appreciates your prayer as well for wisdom and discernment in decisions relating to our specific roles and trajectory which will be made in the weeks and months to come. We know where God has us and for what broader purpose, and desire His clear guidance in His timing regarding how to best focus on the specifics He has for us here. We also appreciate prayer for peace as we come to terms with personal implications of the changes in the Nahuatl context; we love and hurt for our brothers-in-Christ, and feel their losses in these things as well as our own.
- We have had new graduates from the e2 Spanish language/culture program in the past months, and several learners have taken large visible steps forward in their studies – in terms of their speaking level, their approach, or in polishing broad areas like pronunciation and grammatical accuracy. All are working hard, and it’s a privilege to serve the Lord alongside each one!
- Joel’s stomach issues have been responding to a new medication, for which we are thankful. A higher dose seems to bother him, however – so we are taking it slowly. Health is always a challenge for this time of year – please pray for our family and the field broadly. We particularly desire to see Amy come out of her mono low cycle before the end of February; your specific prayer is appreciated. And we are so thankful for my full recovery from appendicitis, as well as my sister’s strong response to four months of treatment for fibromyalgia.
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