Kabiye Team News
December 17, 2001

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings! We pray that you are all having a joy-filled holiday season and enjoying cooler weather! Our temperatures here in Kara, Togo are also at a seasonal low, dipping down into the low 70s at night, for which we are very thankful. We miss all of you, especially around this time of year, and pray that God is surrounding you with His love and presence. We are excited to celebrate the holidays this year, as this place is beginning to feel more like home, and as we are able to share this time with our teammates, who are a constant blessing in our lives. Hannah and Elijah are both doing well. Elijah is on the verge of walking solo and is standing alone for up to thirty seconds at a time. He talks with his eyes, still, very expressively and is saying "Mama, Dada, Baba (banana), and can sign in American Sign Language for "more" when he wants more to eat. He is still the happiest baby I've ever seen! Hannah is especially enjoying all of our Christmas preparations this year. Tonight she prayed, "...and dear God, thank you for all of the presents you will give me and everyone else under the tree when we wake up and Santa Claus comes on Christmas in the morning..." Another sentence she repeats at least 5 times a day now is, "I'm really really hungry for something sweet." I have a feeling she's been eating too many cookies and too much candy already! She has also memorized Luke 2:11 in Bible Class this month, "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you: he is Christ the Lord." As you think on the incarnation of God in Christ during this season, we covet your prayers as our team begins to be used by God in a new way, becoming the vessels with which He will show himself, incarnate, to the Kabiye people. We will begin evangelistic lessons in the Kabiye language in mid-January. Please pray for open, seeking hearts in the Kabiye and humble, weak spirits for us that our mouths may not speak our own words but rather the words of God. We love each of you and miss you more than we can express. We hope to be able to see all of you sometime between the months of August and November, when we will be in the states for furlough. May God bless each of you beyond your wildest expectations in this new year.

Always in His Love,
David, Becky, Hannah, and Elijah