Dear Praying Friends,
Greetings from River City! The Christmas season is upon us. We are looking forward to enjoying our first Christmas together here in River City.
We want to ask you to pray regarding our visa situation. There have been some recent changes in visa regulations here, which could significantly effect us and many others. Please pray for us and many others here, who are in a similar situation, that our Heavenly Father would grant to us much wisdom and much faith in his goodness, wisdom, and kind, fatherly orchestrating of all things in our lives for our good.
We continue to wait to move into our new home. As we look forward to Christmas, it is our desire to welcome our friends from "The Hood" into our home to share with us in the celebration of the birth of our Savior. However the progress has not advanced as swiftly as we had hoped it would. Pray as we wait to move in to our home, that the Lord will grant much grace, joy, and patience.
The Weavers of River City (along with Mslms around the world) recently celebrated a special religious festival (Bukra-Eid) in which a goat or other animal is sacrificed. We were given gifts of meat and were invited to many homes to celebrate this special occasion. The picture below is from one of our visits to a Weaver home. "Babi" is the older sister of one of Ch@d's good friends. As we sat and enjoyed chai and snacks Ch@d was able to share about the sacrifice that our Heavenly Father sent - the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Please pray as this story was heard by the women of the house that the LORD will use it mightily. While we were there, the father of the house was sick and we were able to pray for his health in Jesus' name. On our previous visit it was the mother of the house who we had prayed for, as she has been struggling with health problems for quite awhile. Please pray that Christ would work in power in this family, that he would reveal himself as the great Healer of physical illnesses, and of the greatest sickness of all - sin.
Thank you for standing with us in prayer. As we visit and pray for "Babi's" family (and others like them) we seek to trust God with this visa situation, knowing this is where He has called us and this is where, through His powerful might and great power, He will keep us - until his work through us here is completed.
Trusting in our Savior and King, Immanuel,
Ch@d & Ch@rity
