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Once again we come to the end of a very eventful year! Each one seems to be more eventful than the previous! Those of recent months may indicate that our redemption is closer than we realize!

We want you to know how grateful we are to our Lord for your prayers and support of our ministry. As you can imagine, a lot of folks are asking, “What is the prophetic significance of the war in Israel and the world-wide rise in antisemitism?” Really, I see these events as “Previews of Things to Come”! In addition to seeing the Biblical and Historical basis for the conflict, on our online Zoom study, we’re seeing what the prophet Isaiah is teaching us to expect when a country turns it’s back on God. Isaiah is also reminding us of the hope believers can have when they trust in Him! It is so relevant to what we’re seeing in our world today.

In February, we celebrated our 40th Anniversary! Over the years we’ve watched each other’s hair go from dark brown to senior-discount white. And our gracious Lord Jesus continues to lead and guide us as we seek to glorify Him together. The verse He showed us when we first got married was Psalm 34:3. It’s etched on the inside of our wedding rings.

This year we added another great grand-child to our family. Hadassah Newman is the ninth: five girls and four boys! Her daddy, Chaplain Major Brett Newman and family are in Cleveland, OH where the Army sent him to school . Upon graduation he’ll be assigned to teach “Ethics” at a military college.

A highlight of our year was a trip to Nebraska and Colorado. We rendezvoused with our cousins for a visit to Fremont, NE my home town. My cousin’s daughter found the simple gravesite of our maternal grandmother in the “B’nai Abraham Cemetery” in Bellevue, NE. The cemetery was originally part of the Fisher Farm and served Jewish people living in the small farming communities around Omaha. Fifty miles away in Fremont, we found the location of my grandfather’s clothing store on Main Street, which since the 1970's has been a bakery and is now an Italian restaurant! Further up Main St. was the two-story wood- frame house where I remembered my grandfather and aunt lived. All in all, it was the typical mid-western town seen in a 1940’s black & white movie.

A couple of years ago a young man’s Jewish mom came to faith in Jesus as her Lord and Savior. When we began our online Zoom Bible Study due to Covid, both started faithfully attending the study from where they live in Colorado. They expressed a desire to visit us, Grace Church and meet others in the study. However, when our schedules didn’t work out for them to visit us in CA, we made plans to visit them in Colorado on our way back home from Nebraska. Which we did!

You know, it’s one thing to see people on your computer monitor, but to actually meet them face to face and stay in their home! How did that go? In a word: GREAT! We had a wonderful time of fellowship, sharing, praying together, going on walks and meeting their friends from church. “We met as strangers, and left as family.” And, yes we’re looking forward to when they come to visit us and meet others who know them from our study group.

As a result of a presentation I made on sharing the Gospel with Jewish people, TMAI (The Masters Academy International) wanted this information for a textbook to train pastors their academies in such countries as Mexico, Italy, South Africa, the Philippines and India. FOI doesn’t have a presence in these areas so it is our prayer that as pastors train their people to share the Good News, the material on sharing the Gospel with Jewish people will encourage them to reach out to their Jewish friends as well.

On a personal note, we thank God that our daughters and their families are doing well. We would appreciate it so much that as you pray for us, you would pray for them as well. Especially for our great grand-kids who are in school and our youngest grandson and his wife, who are not believers yet.

So, as we close out another eventful year, we wish you and yours a most blessed Christmas and a very fruitful New Year!

Sincerely in Christ,

Marty and Pat
Maranatha!