Sunday, January 04, 2009

Letter from Our heart

"I was dead in my trespasses and sins
following the course of this world
following the prince of the power of the air
living in the passions of my flesh
carrying out the desires of my body/mind
was by nature a child of wrath like the rest of mankind.
BUT GOD
being rich in mercy
because of the GREAT love with which He loved me
even when I was dead in my trespasses
made me alive together with Christ
saved me by grace
and raised me up with Christ and seated me with Him in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  Ephesians 2:1-7

Dearest Supporters:

As we begin this 2009 New Year, we continue more and more to see the richness of God's grace and mercy in our lives.  And we continue to Praise Him for His free gift of grace through Jesus Christ and that He first loved us!

Our hearts continue to be filled with praise for your faithful prayers on our behalf!  You are our most vital link in ministry and we thank you abundantly for your prayers.

We are sorry that this update is a little delayed.  We had an incredibly blessed Christmas with our family and were so very thankful for the opportunity to be here with them to celebrate Christ's birth together.  Then we moved out of our apartment this past Tuesday and Wednesday and are staying with our daughter Lindsey until we depart for the Philippines Friday, January 9, 2009.

Would you please pray for safe travel for us?  We are flying for the first time on Philippines Airlines???  For those of you who love to pray us along our way (and we really thank you and covet your prayers) this is our schedule:

Depart Jackson at 12:05 pm on Friday going to Houston - 1 hr 25 min
Depart Houston at 3:00 pm going to San Francisco - 4 hrs 21 min
Depart San Francisco at 9:05 pm going to Guam - 12 hrs and 10 min
Then we depart Guam going to the Philippines - 3 hrs 35 min
We arrive in Manila Sunday morning at 5:40 am which is approximately your 5:40 Saturday evening (depending upon your time zone)

Please pray for God's grace for our family as we leave and for a quick transition upon our arrival.  And please Praise Him with us for His abundant provisions and meeting our every need.

How can we thank you appropriately for your prayers and support?  Without prayers and support, our ministry in the Philippines would be impossible, so we abundantly thank you and God for each one of you!

May God bless each one of you as you enter 2009 and may you grow in your knowledge of Him during this upcoming New Year.

We love you and thank you 
Steven and Deborah

4 comments:

Dabney 11 said...

We love you and we are praying for you. You are so very special to us.
Marian :)

Laurie M. said...

You will be in my my heart and my prayers. I so look forward to hearing about your service there. I will pray for your daughter as well, knowing she'll be bereft having to stay behing without you.

Also, when the time comes for our church to increase our support to missions I will bring your ministry to the attention of our membership. (That may be a ways off, though.)

May our Lord bless you and keep you...

Tonggu Grammy said...

I am praying for smooth travels and an easy transition back to life in Manila. Can't wait to see you both in March!

Let's trust God to be with Lindsay and shepherd her through the changes she will face without you nearby. You can rest in the knowledge that she knows firsthand what you are doing in the Lord's name. She will miss you terribly but be proud of what you are doing.

Ken said...

We will be praying for your travels and especially that you will not kill yourself trying to do to much to try to catch up with the ministry there. Pace yourself, be sure to take a day off!
Know you are being prayed for by the Cross Family!