Dear Family and Friends,
It just seems like yesterday we were doing our last Christmas update. Anyways, we wanted to take the time to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year. It’s always encouraging for us to know that even though there may be an economic meltdown in the world, that there will never be a meltdown in the power and love of God.
This year marks a few important things…

It will be the last Christmas Luke and Pennie celebrate being just a couple. They will be welcoming into their lives their first child. This means that this will be our last Christmas as just parents and next year we get to celebrate the fact that we’ll be grandparents!!

This Christmas will be the first Christmas in Australia for Zac and Michelle as a married couple.

This will be our first Christmas with no family members to celebrate it with.

Penny clocks another year of being a walking/living miracle. I’ll not forget the look on the oncologists face when we last visited him. He became convinced that he had made a misdiagnosis!! Penny has gone past the maximum of nine months for someone living with this aggressive cancer and not undergoing the “normal” route of treatment and still be living. He has never witnessed this before however he obviously hasn’t seen God at work before!! In fact, the two years is looming since Penny was diagnosed with this more aggressive form of cancer.

This will be our first Christmas as house-parents at the ‘girls house’ as the project is ‘set up’ now. it’s been fun being more ‘hands on’ involved in the children’s lives again.

This will also be our first Christmas with me functioning as location leader for YWAM Chiang Rai. It’s been a wonderful challenge and I’ve been privileged to see God at work in the lives of our ministry leaders. It will also be my first Christmas where I am the northern regional leader for YWAM Thailand. This is only something just hot off the press and marks a new chapter in my life and leadership. It will be an even bigger challenge for me than being simply the location leader.

Some other bits of news and information…

Penny and I enjoyed a few days down at MaeSot where I had been invited to teach at a conference for Karen pastors. It was an incredible time and so humbling as we say God work in people’s lives. The pastors are now planning another longer time of teaching and to wider audience. Instead of just a handful of pastors (about 12 pastors and elders attended) they want everyone in their congregations to be there.

teaching pastors at Mae Sot

I have had a few travelling engagements where I taught on a Korean DTS over in North Eastern Thailand, went to Bali to represent Thailand at a regional DTS conference, and I was able to help the DTS in Bangkok do some debriefing at the end of their DTS.

Penny also travelled down for Bangkok for Project L.I.F.E. ministry leaders mtgs for a few days.

Penny’s pain level has fluctuated over the past couple of months. She has noticed that when she is too busy her pain levels increase significantly. She is trying hard to slow down more and be more focused on maintaining her health and resting. If she does this, she notices a significant drop in her pain levels.
Some things to pray for …

Please be praying for Penny and I as we travel to Vietnam to do some staff training (Dec 6th – 16th). This will be our first visit to this country and we are both looking forward to our time away. After we have finished we are planning a few days off down at the beach, south of Bangkok. Please pray that we’ll be able to enjoy our rest time and come back to Chiang Rai feeling refreshed and ready for the fun and games of Christmas season with 2 houses full of young children!

Please continue to be praying for Penny’s complete healing. Though she may be a walking/living miracle, she is still very much in need of our prayers for her complete healing. We are both so aware that every day is a gift and we are seeking to enjoy and take each day as it comes.

Be praying for us and for our children during this time of not being together. We will miss them terribly.

Please also uphold Luke in your prayers as he has been diagnosed with a benign tumour in his hip which has damaged his hip joint, it is a rare condition and he will need to have surgery. with their first child due next month, it’s not an ideal time for surgery and needing to recover from it.
We want to take this time to thank you for journeying with us throughout this year and we look forward to doing so next year. May you experience the love and joy over this festive season.

With love,
Paul and Penny.