Hello all of you amazing
people that we love!
It’s been a BIG year for us, so we thought we’d share some
of our highlights with you!
We have a GIRL!
On March 6 we welcomed the most beautiful baby girl to ever
grace this planet- Ciella Charis Stevens. She was the most peaceful, sweet,
easy newborn- sleeping through the night since pretty much day 1. Now at 9 months, she is very much on
the move, ready to conquer the world and grab everything in sight. Judah just turned 3 in November
and is loving being a “big brother” as he gets to do what he does best with one
more person: entertain and make people laugh! He also got to be in his first wedding in June: uncle Josh
married beautiful auntie Katie, whom we all love!
Time to run!
I (Crystal) trained for and ran my first half marathon. It was a fun challenge and through it I
can honestly say I grew to love running! Though I am not speedy Gonzalez I did
complete the race without stopping and beat my training time. I was also able to raise (thanks to some
of you)- several hundred dollars to fight human trafficking- a passion that has
been on my heart for many years. My parents were even in town (all the way from
Canada) that weekend which was an extra special treat.
Shave Ice & Texas!
We helped a wonderful couple from our church start a
Hawaiian Shave Ice business this summer! It was a lot of work, but fun to
pioneer something new and introduce Redding to the delicacy of authentic shave
ice. =) If you’ve been to Hawaii you know what I’m talking about. As we were wrapping up our season in
October, Aaron had the opportunity to do some work in Texas. Obviously being
away from each other for weeks at a time would not be our first choice, but it
came at a time when we needed the work and he is being paid quite generously,
making it a sacrifice that is worth it short term. He is helping a very brilliant man, Steve who has invented a
water filtration system that will be used for natural gas fracking. He’ll be home the week before Christmas
and it will be a very Merry Christmas for us indeed! After Christmas he will be hired on again to do interviews
for the school of ministry at our church – a job he has done off and on for the
last few years.
Mexico!
Aaron will have the opportunity in March to co-lead a ministry
trip to Mexico City with his brother Josh. Josh has led this trip for several years and they have seen
INCREDIBLE fruit- hundreds of people saved and healed in radical ways. He’s excited to be able to be part of
this trip and we look forward to what God will do!
Africa at last!!!
For those wondering when we will ever be going back to
Africa longer term (as we have talked about for years)- 2013 is THE YEAR! Yep,
we have recently decided to join Tracy Evans and her crew in Mozambique. As some of you may remember, we have
been to Tracy’s base in Mozambique twice and have fallen in love with her and
her ministry (and the people of Mozambique of course). God is on the move in that nation and
people are so open and ready to know Jesus! As Tracy describes, “The harvest is
white. The fruit is dying on the
branches because there are not enough laborers to pick it off”. We are committing to a year for now and
at the end will evaluate where to go from there... our feeling is that it will
be more Africa but we are playing it by ear and seeing what God does! Our goal is to leave around June if all
of our support is raised by then.
We are also getting all of our “papers” in order for my US citizenship
and both of our kids Canadian citizenships before we leave, so pray for quick
processing for all of that! We
will be sending another letter in January with all the juicy details of our
journey, how God has led us to this decision, more of what we’ll be doing there
and a photo prayer card for your fridge. =) For those who already know you’d
like to support us financially and want to take advantage of year end giving,
we have provided the information you need to get a tax deductible receipt at
the very bottom of this page. And
as a little plug for Tracy, if you are looking for an AMAZING book that will
inspire & encourage you, Tracy’s life story just came out in a book called,
“Outrageous Courage”- by Kris Vallotton (available on Amazon)- I almost read it
in one sitting- it was that good!!!
So, as you can see- it’s been a full and exciting year and
we know that next year holds many adventures for us as well. Let us know how you are doing!!! We
love hearing from you. =) Merry Christmas and happy 2013!!!
Aaron,
Crystal, Judah and Ciella
Financial Giving Information for our move to
Mozambique!!!
1) Please make checks payable to: “Bethel Church”
2) ***DO NOT WRITE OUR NAMES ANYWHERE ON THE CHECK***
3) Our “missionary number” is “M54” and this should be
written in the memo line of the check- You may attach a note to the check with
our names but if our names are on the check, they will not be able to process
it!
4) Mail checks to: Bethel Church / Attention Katherine Edwards, Accounting /
933 College View Dr. / Redding, CA / 96003 / USA
No comments:
Post a Comment