Greetings in Jesus! If you'd like to read this e-Mailer with photos, or see past issues, click on "Ministry" at www.jonesjournal.org. This includes updates on ministry, family, praise and prayer.
Please receive our belated yet cheery greetings of "Happy New Year!" And thanks to those who sent Christmas cards, letters and kind wishes.
Christmas season was busy for us and our kids as I'm sure it was for you too. Chloe played the ghost "Marla" opposite her good friend Becca, AKA "Ebony Scrooge," an adaptation of the famous Dicken's tale.
Celina played one of the grandchildren learning family Christmas traditions.
Anthony was a sun glass-wearing cool choral member. Gracie was one of the
specially-wrapped Christmas gifts. And Yvonne directed.
In early December we delivered about 5000 Christmas & children's evangelistic tracts, plus about 40 children edition Bibles to children's ministry leaders across the country. Thanks for making that possible by supporting Light-For-The-Lost literature fund-raising through your pledges and offerings.
Right now (Sunday - Wednesday) is the Panamá Assemblies of God Annual Business Session. Our team members, led by Fani de Quinzada and Dallis Quiñones (both featured in past Panamanian Profiles in Newsletter section), are ministering with our AG minister's children. We ask you to join us in prayer for young lives to be touched by the Lord, even though we're not there with them. The reason is that we are vacationing with family in Oregon and California during our kids' Christmas break from school.
It's been wonderful to reconnect with family. We've also enjoyed the cold, gone
sledding in the snow, and even got caught in a hail storm! Friends in
Panamá asked us to bring some snow back for them. ¡Ojalá ~
wish we could!
As it turned out, I was able to meet with Phil Malcolm, the International
Coordinator for KidsQuest. I enjoyed getting to know him & his family as we
worked through details for the upcoming Crusade-Training-Parade-Seminar 29
March - 7 April 2004. As always, we appreciate your prayers during preparation
for a big-scale event like this.
We also appreciate your prayers for traveling mercies. God's protection upon us was evident in an accident a few days ago. While we were stopped at a red light, two cars collided and ejected a young man out the back of the pickup. His body dented the side of our car and flew by landing several feet behind the car. Needless to say we were all a little traumatized by what looked like a fatal accident. A couple days later the police told us the young man was in stable condition. God answered our prayers!
Our kids have enjoyed wrestling with cousins, playing games, doing crafts, and telling family stories from great-grandmas all the way down to current family pets.
Gracie is at that stage where she equates size with age: "When I'm a hundred, I'll be bigger than Daddy!" But it still surprised us when she looked up at Chloe and noticing that she was taller than Yvonne said, "Why don't *you* be the Mommy, Chloe?"
Today I heard a tremendous challenge to risk more for Jesus in the new year. May this passage help me do so!