About this time 30 years ago...

...two young people getting ready for one of the most significant days of their lives. And on that very cold & snowy day in Steinbach, Manitoba, these two commited their lives together for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, 'til death do them part. Today, they are celebrating 30 years of marriage!

David & Lena Chapman - 1978

David, Lena, me & Elisabeth - 1985

David, Lena, Elisabeth, Joshua, me - 2008

Congratulations, Mom & Dad on 30 years! You have been such an example to us kids as to what a godly husband and a godly wife should look like. Thank you for that legacy.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This week at church we celebrated the majesty of God in His demonstration of love for us in sending His Son to Earth to live as we do in order to ultimately provide a way of salvation for us. However, this season of reflecting on God's love for us began a few weeks ago. Every two months, those of us from NTM who attend the church are in charge of the church service. We try to focus on God's heart for missions. This time we ended by giving every family a Christmas present - 31 Days of Praise by Ruth (& Warren) Myers - in Spanish of course. If you do not own this book, I highly recommend it. It has helped me keep my focus on the Lord & praise Him by meditating on truth when I do not feel like praising.

We had a wrapping party!

Then, last night was our special Christmas service at church. We praised the Lord for His sacrifice and humbling Himself to come to Earth as a baby through some of the traditional Christmas songs. And, there were a few specials.

We prepared a song to sing for the church. We sang part in English & part in Spanish. Hopefully there will be more participation from others in seeing us being willing to participate in the service. We're praying that others would be motivated to be involved also.

The kids had a fun song to sing with lots of jingle bells!

There were quite a few visitors who came for the first time last night. The pastor spoke on the salvation that Christ came to provide for us through His death on the cross. Pray that door were opened and that we might continue to have a witness to some of these people.

Merry Christmas!!

A Chance to Share

There are several of us "white" people who attend the Latin church here at the lake. One of those "white" ones is a local pastor who has a burden for the Latins in the community. Last week, he invited Rebekah Huffman (one of the students at the training center who also attends the church) and me to speak at his church this morning. One Sunday a month they have a missions emphasis, and he wanted each of us to share our "God story." It was a very friendly church, and it was fun to be able to share with them what God has done in my life & what He is teaching me.
It was a good day.
Thank you to those of you who pray for me. I appreciate your faithfulness.