Merry Christmas!
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:8-12
He is the reason for the season! We love Christmas, because it causes us to remember why Jesus came and why we do what we do. Jesus was born to bring salvation to all people, from then until now it remains true. Jesus is our Messiah and we want Him to be Messiah in the lives of all the students at UCSD.
This time of year we normally do not experience a lot of cold weather in San Diego, however Tess and I are spending this week of Christmas with our family in Washington State, keeping us nice and cold! It is a blessing to be with family this Christmas season. Our cousin Jennifer performed in her last Nutcracker Ballet this year as a Senior in Highschool, and we were all able to be there for her big day! Two days ago we celebrated our one year anniversary! God has been so good this past year, as He always is, as we have learned more about each other and marriage.
At the end of the school quarter we held our annual student Christmas party. This year's theme was "The Dorky Christmas Party." Can you tell from the picture above? It was so fun to have most of our students together one last time before they went home to family. This was also a great time for them to bring their friends to enjoy community together.
As we think about many of our students like Joe, Maria, Jenn, Jarod, Matt, Hanalee, Kelly, Deshan, Tung, Jon, and others, we get so excited about the work God is doing in their lives, transforming them to be more like Jesus. When I think about being able to help these students grow and seeing God raise up leaders and laborers in our group, I am reminded of you and your immense help in this ministry. Tess and I really want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for everything you do to help this ministry. Your prayers, support, encouragement, and faith have helped bring us to where we are today, and we trust God to continue to use you, us, and these students to continue on the good work for many generations to come at the Universitry of California, San Diego. We are so very thankful for you and really, truly could not do it without you standing with us. THANK YOU! The students you see in that picture, and many more lives, are being touched because of your faithfulness.
Merry Christmas!
Celebrating the birth of Jesus,
Stephen and Tess
Together at the Nutcracker Ballet
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