"For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord." We wish you a very blessed Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Love,

Doug and Jan

Katie and Nicholas, Ryan and Johanna

Even more "Typical" stuff

One of the cool things about living in central Europe is the plethora of old Baroque churches one may step inside of, and be awed by the paintings and reverence displayed by those who go in and out of each church. It is even cooler when one is able to do something like sing in one of these churches. Katie and Nicholas are members of their high school choir at Vienna Christian. The choir recently had the privilege to present their Christmas concert at St. Peter's Church in downtown Vienna. Not a bad place to have a concert and sing.

More typical

Another "typical" privilege we have is hosting guests. We were so happy to welcome friends from Germany, Albania, and Montenegro and share memories, laughter, prayers, and ministry together. It is a privilege to have guests and extend hospitality to them.

Daily schedule

Quite often we are asked to submit our schedule of a typical day or workweek on our mission field. When we receive requests we just kind of shake our heads and try to figure out what to put down on paper that will make sense to a reader far away from where we live. There are no typical days in our lives, at least they don't seem very typical. One example: when I was in Podgorica, Darko, the leader for CEF Serbia also joined Miruska and me. Darko and I spent time unloading a container of Samaritan's Purse shoeboxes and installing Miruska's kitchen! Not exactly typical for one's weekly schedule but certainly typical for us and the many and varied things God asks us to do in this work of being a light and life of our Saviour.

Mega-Church in MNE

It was a unique moment, for me anyway, being a part of a special church service in Podgorica. I was in a "Mega-Church," Montenegrin style. Some 45-50 people gathered on Sunday evening for the weekly service of one of the 2 churches in Podgorica. This number represents nearly 1/2 of all the known followers of the Lord Jesus in the country. It was a great evening singing praises together, listening to His word, and then listening and observing as a couple of people requested a few minutes time to confess sin and ask forgiveness of the local body. Continue to pray for the Church in Montenegro. It is small but loves our Lord. It is new and ripe for attack by the liar and destroyer. They are encouraged by your prayers.