Deputation Notes

December 2003

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,

and cometh down from the Father of lights”

James 1:17

Dear Family and Friends,

During this Christmas season, we have so much to be thankful for. First, we think of the perfect gift that God the Father sent into the world, the Christ child. Jesus was first laid in a manger and then later on a cross to save His people from their sins. His payment for our sins on the cross gives us the hope of eternal life with Him in heaven. It is our prayer that each of you has accepted Him as your own Savior. We look forward to continue spreading these “glad tidings of great joy” in Kenya.

Second, we praise Him for the safe arrival of our daughter. Becky was born at 10:40 AM on Christmas morning. Our special gift was 7 pounds 14 ounces and is 19 inches long. Mom and baby are both doing great and came home from the hospital on Saturday. Brothers spent the time with Grandma and Grandpa, but enjoyed coming to visit their sister on Christmas afternoon.

Third, we are grateful to the Lord for all His wonderful blessings this year. We began deputation, at least part time, on March 2^nd. Since then, we have had fourteen meetings and the Lord has provided almost 40% of our needed support. He has also given us safety over the some 6500 miles that we have traveled all without incident. We look forward to the coming year which is already filling up with many meetings. So far we are scheduled to be in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, New Jersey and the Carolinas.

It is also a blessing to move into another phase of our ministry – full time deputation. With the Lord’s provision, John is quitting his job at the 911 Office here in Greenville. Thus we

are moving out of our apartment, placing most of our belongings in storage and temporarily re-locating to Ohio. Please note that Ohio will also become our permanent mailing address at 4700 Avon Lake Road, Litchfield, OH 44253. For those of you who have used our personal “BellSouth” e-mail account we would ask that from now on you use our GFA account jsmith@gfamissions.org as we will be disconnecting our old accounts. We also want to thank those of you who pray for us, here are a few items you can specifically pray about:

Prayer Requests:

1. Health and Safety as we begin much travel and many meetings.

2. Continue to make contacts and schedule meetings.

3. As we adjust to the many changes – new sister, moving, etc.

4. Support – both prayer and financial

5. Hafler family – our teammates on furlough

Your missionaries to Kenya,

John, Sophie, Joshua, Caleb and Becky Smith