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Merry Christmas! We would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We pray that God has blessed you with His bountiful supply of blessings this year. Our prayer is that as you reflect upon what God has provided materially for you this past year that you too will find that God has truly blessed you with an abundance of love, joy, peace and prosperity.I have already had an opportunity to reflect upon all God has done for us this year at Calea. As I was driving through the mountains one day and looking out at the beauty of the snow that covered the mountains, I began to look back over this past year’s blessings. It seems like only a few short weeks ago that summer was here and we were busy with every project imaginable. Now snow covers the ground and winter is settling in. The pace is slower and you have opportunities to think back over God’s amazing handiwork and how He moved His hand right before our eyes. This year even our Thanksgiving was snow filled! I took several occasions to look out and pause to look even deeper into all of the blessings of the past year. I can truly say that we have so many blessings to count this year and we have truly witnessed God’s mighty provision. We have experienced God’s blessings through each of you! God has used all of you who support us prayerfully and financially each month. Without you we could not have accomplished anything. What is accomplished here each year depends without a doubt on you. We praise Jesus for the opportunity we have had to serve with you as we ministered in Romania. We have had the awesome privilege of seeing God’s provision flow through our ministry into hospitals, elderly care centers, centers for the handicapped, and to many individual families. Not to mention, we were able to minister to many more families this year in Ferma Larga and Ferma Cojocna through the weekly children’s program, Copiii Regelui. And certainly not the least, we were able to see the glorious hand of God move through different teams who came and gave of themselves with the water and tracts distribution in the center of Cluj and as construction teams came just to bless us here at Calea with the expansion of the foundation’s facilities. Then too, we were able to see the love of God displayed as He moved upon many of the elderly who expressed such gratefulness as they received used eyeglasses. However, the greatest blessing this year was to witness people’s lives being touched by the preaching of the Word in the villages. This is what makes being a missionary in a foreign land worth every hardship, every trial. Seeing the smiles and the tears of those you are ministering to as they hear about the love of Jesus and then respond by reaching out to receive HIM. There could never be anything that could make Christmas more meaningful than to know that you have been a part of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as the Word was poured into others. There is absolutely nothing that can bring more joy than this. No material gift can ever bring that fullness or that feeling that you receive when other lives are being touched or transformed with the love of Jesus Christ. I praise Jesus that I have been able to experience the amazing blessing of witnessing Christ pour HIMSELF into others. I feel so small and inadequate to be a part of what HE has done this year. We give God all the glory! I want to say thank you for it has been only through Jesus using you that we have witnessed what HE has done here in Romania this year. Other Tasks Of Missionaries: Here at Calea we are confronted daily with the ordinary day to day tasks that must be sandwiched in between ministry, teams, and responding with humanitarian aid to the poor and needy. There are the daily office demands that have to be caught up on and emergency repair situations that every organization experiences. Sometimes it gets so hectic that you feel like you are just treading in deep water. Recently, we had a situation of water running under the doors of the newly remodeled rooms. So what to do? You do the best you can. We had been limited in our efforts to take care of the situation because of the snow and cold. Time was running out and finances for this year’s projects were about gone. Hiring someone to replace the gutters was out of the question. However, something had to be done but there was nobody here but Lyn and me. So guess what? I went out back and dug out an old gutter. Armed with a stepladder, tool bag, and Lyn (that is after I finally hunted her down), off we went to tackle the job. They say that necessity is the mother of invention and that is what we needed, an invention. Indeed it was a “wing-ding” of a task, and we found that the best tool of all was a broom handle. Hey, when all else fails you use what will work, right? In the middle of the project, Barbara and the girls come driving in from Zalau and she called out from below in her usual humor some hilarious remarks about us just “hanging around.” Between laughing and trying to get the broomstick in the right place, the job took longer than expected. Finally the gutter was in place, we hope, despite Barbara’s helpful remarks and the peering eyes of some professional carpenters next door that were no doubt watching and wondering what those crazy American ladies were up to again? Life on the mission field has its ups and downs, the fun tasks and the not so fun; but through it all we stand in awe at God’s faithfulness to manifest abilities in us that we could in no way ever have acquired ourselves. His ability is available to the believer for the “big and the little” of each day’s tasks. Thank you, Jesus. God’s Protection of His Missionaries: There are often many times on the mission field that right in front of your eyes you see God’s hand of protection. On Thanksgiving eve I had to travel to Zalau for our yearly re-approval for “Foster Care” from the Department of Children’s Protection. We had scheduled ourselves for several other appointments that had been on the back burner but needed to be completed – meeting with a local mayor, paying taxes, filing reports with the Zalau financial office, etc. The day was a rush from one appointment to the other. We were feverishly trying to finish everything and start back home before dark because the snow could start at any moment and the road would start freezing. Even though the roads in Zalau looked ok, there was always that long stretch over the mountains ahead of us. Sure enough about 11/2 hours outside Cluj darkness moved in and the snow started to blow. The closer we got to Cluj the worse the conditions became. As we crossed over into Cluj County with that last mountain ahead, the ice got thicker on the road. We slowed down to barely moving. Up ahead I could see two vehicles that looked as if they were stopped on the road. The closer we got we could see they were not stopped but had wrecked. Then just as we passed the two cars, our car went into a spin and headed straight toward the side railing. I felt totally helpless and Corina looked really scared. All I could do was say, “God help us.” As I spoke those words the car made another spin around and headed toward the rail on the other side of the road. I whispered, “God there is a clearing just straight ahead if only we could straighten up and go there.” The car made another sudden turn and went straight where I had asked God for us to land. Not only had God driven us to safety but also HE had held back the traffic while we were spinning helplessly around in the road. Thank God for HIS hand of protection! Christmas is Romania: December 9th through 14th we will be hosting Diane Smoot’s team from Ocala, Florida. This is our final team this year and they will be bringing the tidings that Jesus is King. Each year the team starts early accumulating supplies and gifts to bring Christmas to so many people in Romania. This year they will be ministering in the Miracle House (center for the handicapped), Fundatia Agape, a Christian elderly care center, and the village of Rascol in Ileanda and Ferma Cojocna. A big plus and awesome opportunity was given to the team this year. They have been invited to present a 30-minute Christmas carol program at the Ethnographic Museum in downtown Cluj. We have lots of exciting places and plenty of families for them to minister the Spirit of Christmas this year, so please be in prayer for the team as they come to share with us the ‘Birth of our Risen King.” Manna Ministries: A special thank you to Pastor Dave and Wanda Martin of Manna Ministries for their faithfulness to regularly ship humanitarian aid to us. We received 43 boxes of goods to be distributed to different villages as the needs arise. Also, we are very grateful for the extra blessings that they had stuffed into every box for us here at Calea: lots of different kinds of groceries from home such as Spam, Vienna sausages (the kids favorite) and, Jif peanut butter. You guys are such a blessing! Thank you all at Manna Ministries for thinking of the poor in Romania and us here at Calea too. Prayer: § Continue to pray for the van that is badly needed.§ Pray for my safe trip home on Dec. 16.After Dec. 17th I will be back in Alabama. If any of you are interested in us coming to speak at your church, please call us at 205-755-4000. God bless and Merry Christmas! Yours in Christ, Freddy and Rita
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