We pray that you had a great Thanksgiving. We did. We were able to celebrate it with all the missionaries, and a team from the Cleveland area. They brought down some pumpkin filling for pumpkin pie, cranberries, and supplies for a green beans casserole. It was great and it felt very close to being at home.
As I mentioned above, we had a short term mission team from the Cleveland area this month come and visit. It was really nice to spend time with them and visit a variety of communities along the river. Each community that we visited the presence of the Lord was present. One particular community named Trapachino was particularly special. We had to tromp through almost knee high mud to reach the community and then we met outside under the mango trees. Trapachino is a new work and most of the people had not received Christ. We had worship and then preached the love of God. The response was amazing with 12 people receiving Christ as their Lord and Savior. It was an honor to be a part of this special moment for these 12 people.
At the church we had a group wedding and 5 couples got married. It is really great to see couples that have been living together for years, having children, finally go before God and lift their marriage up to Him. These couples have been regularly attending our monthly couples meeting and we were pleased to see the Lord changing and growing them in their faith.
On a personal note, I want to introduce you to Miss Japanese. Yes, Camilly was elected to represent her class to be Miss Japanese. Camilly’s school held a competition to see who could collect the most money so that they could rebuild their playground, and send money to missionaries to help spread the gospel throughout the world. It was really fun and in the end, Camilly, with the help of her class, earned the most money. Camilly was so happy. Alyssa joined in the fun by imitating her big sister. She was little Miss Japanese.
We pray that you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!
Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa
