What a great time to celebrate all that God has done in our lives in this last year!  Truly we are blessed to serve an awesome God who gave His son as a gift to you and me.  This Christmas I am celebrating both Love and Peace.  Love because we genuinely feel loved by our creator and by the many friends and family that support our ministry in Africa.  We celebrate Peace because even though the world around us is in chaos, we have the Prince of Peace who guides our lives and gives us hope for the future!

This year has flown by with so many great events.  We had the privilege to travel to the USA for general assembly and then three months of home assignment and visiting our family.  We thank God for so many churches and friends who have given generously to our ministry support.  We also enjoyed special time with our parents and our children and grandchildren.

Our first event once returning to South Africa was the PALCON23.  This event brought in over 800 pastors and leaders to Johannesburg where we were able to train leaders, share ideas about ministry, and host key leaders from the Southern Hub.  It was a first-time event for our new hub strategy and there was some great collaboration from across the 11 nations that attended.

Coming from those meetings we immediately had our annual Strategy Meetings for the Region and had some quality time together to strategize and plan the future development of the church growth in Africa.  We are seeing a rising leadership that is making some key changes to help the church grow in maturity and effectiveness.

Just before these busy times of conferences and meetings, Michelle traveled to Senegal for a week of training, and then a Jesus Film Equipment Delivery team came from South Central Ohio.  Jerry Carpenter and their team delivered 8 sets of equipment to South Africa.  These were then taken back to places like Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  What a blessing this team was to be able to help us get equipment to the field right at the time when so many leaders had gathered.

Michelle has now fully transitioned into her new role as the finance internal auditor and trainer for the Africa Region.  She is helping to sort out books, train new field treasurers, update and input data into the new systems for tracking on the region and helping to locate and track special funds that are being used to build the kingdom here in Africa.  She is doing a wonderful job and helping so many leaders and missionaries to keep their records straight.

This month of December I was able to travel to Angola to deliver this equipment and to also spend time with the leaders for the first time.  This marks the 30^th country of Africa that I have traveled to for ministry and training in my lifetime.  What a great time we had with the developing leadership in Angola.

It was a long but productive week with over 30 leaders from the 7 different districts across Angola. Not only did we have the Jesus Film team leaders and DS's but also the seminary students. The Lord gave us times of prayer and challenge that I believe is transforming the leadership in Angola. We held the training at the seminary in Lubango, an extension from Maputo, Mozambique, that was started in 2014. Jonas and Thais Sitoe have been instrumental in helping the seminary grow. Currently they have five teachers and 13 students in the program. Two of the current DS's have come from the graduation classes of this seminary.

As we finished the training, we were able to see some of the sites in the mountains on our descent to the coastal town of Namibe. This coastal district now has more than 10 churches and 3,000 members of the Nazarene church. The mountain pass cut from the rocks was impressive. The scenes were breath taking.

What a day of celebration we had in Namibe, Angola! The representatives of almost all the churches in the district attended Rev. Alfredo Chitombi's church. As the DS, he led a day of celebration like a dynamic leader. We sang and danced and enjoyed choirs for more than an hour before our FSC Rev. Adérito Ferreira gave the Christmas message that it is the Christ child that brings true Joy to the world!

It was a beautiful day but just as soon as we arrived back in Luanda we heard the bad news!  Rev. Laurindo Domingos is the new Jesus Film coordinator to help manage reports and encourage the teams in Angola. He was returning that morning around 5:00 am from the bus station to his home, when they were in a motorcycle accident. He was injured and knocked to the ground.

In the chaos of the moment, a group of men gathered around the accident and by the time he was able to gain back his senses, someone in the crowd robbed him of his bag. His phone, the Jesus Film replacement battery, the replacement projector, his phone, his new laptop to do the reporting for the Jesus film reports, his clothes, his shoes, his training manuals, and his new lightstream device.  Everything he had with him on his trip was gone in an instant.

What discouragement! It is a spiritual battle and we know that this young leader has been making an impact and is a passionate evangelist opening new areas and new work. He will recover, and by some means, we pray that God returns to him all that he needs for ministry.

That is how the days go sometimes in the life of ministry here in the field. We rejoice with praise and thanksgiving, and the next moment we are on our knees pleading for God to have mercy and to bring healing and restoration.

There is still much to be done, but more than half of the leaders in my classroom that week were under 30 years old. That gives me hope that the emerging leaders of Angola will continue to carry the message of holiness and hope to every province of this country and every city.  Please lift up this group in prayer as the spiritual battle here is real. We know who wins the battle! May we continue to persevere with hope in Christ!

Our special blessing this year is the opportunity to go home to the USA for Christmas.  Our daughter Amber and her husband Derrick had a baby girl in October just after we returned to South Africa.  Thanks to generous friends we have been able to purchase tickets and come home to see our new baby granddaughter Jade Ivy Demars and hold her for the first time.  We praise God for his goodness! 

We ask that you remember our family in prayer during this season.  Chris and Cristen are still in Seattle with Chris serving in the Army.  Connor and Caleb are now teenagers and soon headed into high school, and Chloe is doing well in elementary school.  Heather and Marc are serving in ministry in Des Moines, Iowa.  Emory has started pre-K and is loving it.  Amber and Derrick are living in Mississippi where he teaches, and she is doing private practice counselling.  Mommy, Daddy, and baby Jade are all doing well.  Jonathan is still in Nashville, working to raise funds for his land development and doing well. 

We start the process of applying for our South Africa visas again in January.  Tim’s expires in April and Michelle’s in October of 2024.  We are applying for both to get our dates consolidated again.   Pray that we will find favor with the South Africa Consulate in New York and that our visas will be renewed for another three years.  Although at times life can be stressful, we rejoice in the fact that God is the God of Peace.  We rest in that Peace this Christmas season and hope that you too will find love, joy, and hope in Him.  Truly He is the Prince of Peace! 

God bless you,

Tim and Michelle Eby