Thanksgiving kicks it off with a big feast and delicious leftovers that last another week or so until it’s time for tamales! Every area of Latin America seems to have its own variety, and they’re all good.
I always look forward to Eida’s famous “sticky bun” cinnamon rolls, a tradition passed down from Steve’s Grandma Zinke to his mom and on to the following generations. Eida used to bake several varieties of other delicious butter-and-sugar-filled treats, but for the sake of our health, we’ve had to let them slip into the category of holiday memories.
On Friday, the 15th, God willing, we fly to Los Angeles (courtesy of Eida’s parents) for our California Christmas — first with her folks and our friends at San Gabriel Community Church, then we’ll drive up to San Jose to see Steve’s parents and participate in Christmas Eve services with our friends at Neighborhood Bible Church and Church on the Hill.
One of the greatest blessings in our life is our grandchildren (and their parents, too, of course). What would a Christmas letter be without pix of the grandkids? Here is Art and Marlene’s little Kaylene Joy, with whom we enjoyed a Peppa-Pig-themed early Christmas at our house.
Natalie, Reuben, Kaylie and Kegan (Esther & Curtis’s kids) are looking forward to school letting out and hoping for a white Christmas. It’s plenty cold enough in Nova Scotia, as you can tell from how bundled up they were when they cut their Christmas tree, but there hasn’t been a lot of snow yet.
Our loving Lord has faithfully sustained us materially and spiritually through our first full calendar year here in Leander (just north of Austin, Texas). At Hill Country Bible Church, we’ve really enjoyed the teaching, the music and the fellowship, including our supportive community group and men’s and women’s Bible studies. Eida is also helping out with the children’s ministry and Steve with the worship team and the Spanish website.
This has been a very encouraging year for our Spanish Language Resources team, too. Lately, my focus has been on internet distribution, including:
setting up our Vimeo Spanish channel (hard to believe we really dubbed all those missions videos!),
working on the new Spanish Resources Library at our Global Partners Sharepoint site (still a lot of uploading to do there), and
editing the new Spanish edition of the Ethnos360.org website (very close to being published).
Thank youso much for being such great friends and reliable partnerswith us in this ministry of equipping Latin American cross-cultural church planters to share God’s Good News of life in Jesus with the least-reached people of the world.
We pray that you have a joyful family-filled time of worship of our wonderful Savior in this Christmas season,
Steve & Eida Irwin Ethnos 360
Spanish Language Resources Team
Postal mail: 1009 Lantana Ct, Leander TX 78641
Cell: 408-515-1721
steve_irwin@ntm.org
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