Dear Friends and Family, 

      Michael and I have been thinking about you a lot these days. We want you to know how grateful we are to all of you who make it possible for us to be in the Congo. God sent Jesus as his greatest expression of love for the people of this world. We are called to follow his example. It is your prayers and support that make it possible for us to attempt to walk in Christ's example as an expression of God's love to people in Congo. We are honored that God has opened so many doors for us to do ministry here: training pastors at the Pastoral Institute of Kikongo, encouraging expatriate Christians in their faith through pastoral ministry at the International Protestant Church of Kinshasa (IPCK), encouraging the women of the Congolese Baptist Community as they strive to help young unwed mothers and girls who are trapped in prostitution, and being able to encourage Congolese and ex-pat young people through youth ministry at IPCK, not to mention all the informal relationships that we have with folks here. None of those things would be happening without you! As we deal with the constant struggle of raising our support we are ever grateful to all of you who remain committed to us. You are the face of Christ and God's love to us.

      It's Christmas time again! I love being in Congo at this time of year. The weather is perfect – hot and sunny, interspersed with dramatic rainy days. Mostly I love that we get to escape all the craziness that seems to invade the Christmas season when we're in the States. It's just a lot easier for us to focus on what Christmas is really about when we're out here.

      We started out this year in Bakersfield, CA with our pastor doing a series of sermons on the book of Philippians. All year long my mind keeps getting pulled back to those verses. This week I find myself again in Philippians chapter 2 where Paul, in just a few short verses, tells an amazing story – I believe the most epic heroic story that's ever played out in the history of our universe. Here you have God in Heaven, creator of the universe, with all his power and glory. He chooses to set all that aside, to be born as a baby to a temporarily homeless couple who's taking shelter in a barn. He grows up, in a human body, like yours and mine, struggling with all the physical limitations of this flesh. He lives his whole life obedient to God's commandments, and he never ever sins, not even once! He does all of that just so in the end He could die a humiliating death on a cross – a death so excruciatingly painful that it's reserved only for the worst of criminals. Why?!! What in all the universe would make him want to do that?!! He did it for love... for YOU and for ME... Amazing! God loves us so much that he refused to be separated from us. He chose to live as one of us, to walk with us, and die for us – just so he could have a relationship with us. That, my friends, is what Christmas is all about! My prayer is that we can wrap our minds around the reality and the good news of the Christmas story and really live it, not just for these two weeks at the end of December, but every day of our lives!  

      “...Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all people, for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”    

                                                                  ~Luke 2:10&11 

      We wish you great joy this Christmas season and many blessing in the coming year! 

Much Love,

Jill and Mike Lowery