Merry Christmas from Jon and Melodee!!
 
Dear friends,
 
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

We are very happy this year to be able to celebrate Christmas in Italy, in our ministry, and with all of Jonathan's family here for the holidays!  What a year it's been!  We praise God for each of you.  Thank you for being an active participant in our lives, through your encouragement, your prayers, and your giving.

We would like to send each of you a present, so we have decided that the best present we could give you (and affordable!!)  is to share with you what God did this weekend!
If you have time amidst the festivities to read about it, you can read the next paragraph.
If you want to save it for a less hectic moment, you can also do that!

Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo!
(Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!)
Jonathan and Melodee Whitman

Jon and Melodee Christmas 2008
Our Christmas Outreach

Wow what a day!  How we praise God!  Some have dared call it one of the defining moments in our church life thus far.
  • We praise God because the Gospel was presented clearly from Creation to the Fall, to Redemption, to Consummation,  through the reading of Scripture passages, and an invitation was given.
  • We praise God because 130 people were in attendance (I think another record was broken!!)
  • We praise God because at least half of the people in attendance were unbelievers!
  • We praise God that at least half of that half were first time attenders!
  • We praise God that between the choir and the drama team, there were 25 participants in the presentation of the Gospel!
  • We praise God because the decorations team prepared magnificently for the occasion, including four original paintings that depicted the four moments!  (If I get a chance, I will send you a picture of them!)
  • We praise God because there was almost 100% involvement of all the believers in our church.
  • We praise God that one of the bathrooms was functional (and beautiful, if you ask me!) for the occasion!  We praise God for those who worked tirelessly, including my parents and my brother Jeremy, to make it happen.
  • I personally thank God that one of the people I invited came!!  One of my classmates from High School!  It was the first time any of my classmates have ever come to an outreach event!!
We also praise God that Melodee did extraordinarily well on her exams!!!  How she did it with all the confusion around here we shall never understand!  Now she can take a break until the second week of January, when she will start her last courses!