We came home on Sunday Night the 21st ...to this. Our neighbor's 100-year-old tree was ripped up by its roots. Every ten years or so our area has small twisters. This twister knocked over three trees on our property. We came home from church with no power, and the road into our property was completely blocked by this tree. Thankfully, the Lord protected our houses and the lives of our horses who were out in the storm. The biggest damage was to our fence and to this run-in shelter for the horses. Fortunately, the insurance on our property should cover everything, so we are very grateful for that blessing. When we couldn't get anyone out to help us remove this tree, our neighbors called all of their brothers to come with their chainsaws and machetes, and we were able to remove the fallen trees in a single morning! Our electrician also managed to come and reconnect our electricity, so we were not very much time without power (we we're expecting to wait for days because everyone goes on vacation for Christmas and New Years). We are thankful for the people that God has put into our lives to help us in crisis, and we pray for every one of them that they will accept Jesus as their savior.
After that fiasco, several good things happened this month! We had a marvelous Christmas program with our choir this year. We had a small theater performace of the Manger Scene, and a kantata with our choir, who just keep getting better every year! They've come from minimal musical training to a confident and beautiful choir in the short time we have been here already. We are so proud of what they accomplished, and we believed that the Lord was honored this Christmas. We had several visitors, and an excellent gospel message.
Christmas eve on the 24th, we had a smaller group for our Wednesday Evening service (not suprising because of the holidays and vacations). We had good fellowship, played some games, and John Yelle gave the lesson for the evening. We were happy to bless our people for Christmas with good church family fellowship.
And then that night...I got the flu. Yes, I spent Christmas day on the couch. It wasn't fun. I was badly sick for two days, and recovering for 5 days. Fortunately I have made a full recovery, and I'm thankful that the Yelle's were back to help keep the ministry going while I was down.
New Years Eve the 31st was similar to the 24th. We had an even smaller group! After our church service, we stayed fellowshipping until midnight. At midnight we prayed into the new year for God's blessing and guidance for 2026. We are excited for what God has for us this upcoming year.
This year ended with some difficulties. The last two weeks of 2025 were full of adrenaline, cortezol, and viruses. But it was also full of fellowship, joy in the Lord, excitement for what he can do through us in the year to come. He did so much for us in 2025. Imagine how much more he can do in 2026. We have great plans for camps, events, and even a missions conference this year! Be praying for us as we are making some changes in our church in the coming months. This year we are hoping to draw out faithful leadership with Godly standards who will lead our church to have an effective ministry. Be praying also for us and for our health. We have a missions trip group coming to visit us at the end of January! We are excited for OUR FIRST MISSIONS GROUP EVER! But also feel some anticipation since none of us have ever had a missions group here before.
Thank you so much for keeping up with us this year!
God bless you.