Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that each of you had a wonderful Christmas yesterday and that your hearts are rejoicing in the great hope that our good God has promised us. I want to start off this month’s update with a passage from Titus that I’ve been pondering on this month.

“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:3-7)

What a great joy it has been celebrating that God our Savior did appear and save us! This past month in core, we finished reading the book of Mark which we had been reading throughout this semester. It was really awesome! We went in a circle that last core and shared on what they had learned about Jesus and what he was revealing to him through reading the book of Mark. It was so life giving to get to hear their responses. One of them said, “Jesus is just way better than I thought he was”. Another said, “Reading through the book of Mark, I believe God strengthened what I already believed about him–that he is so good”. Another said, “Jesus is just so good. He is so patient and refuses to be rage baited, which just goes against everything in me because I can be really impatient and easily angered.” Hearing their responses to this question, I was so moved and encouraged in my spirit. Please join me in praying for each of these girls as they go back to their homes. That what God has started to reveal to them would settle in their hearts and that they would continue to allow the Spirit to move in their lives and transform us all to look more like him.

We ended the year with lots of Christmas festivities! I got to see a couple of students at their recitals–Cathy at her harp recital and Marlon at his piano recital. We also had our Christmas party where we got to celebrate the end of the semester. We tried something new this year and had a candlelight service where we read passages about him and sang songs of worship to him. It was a really sweet time!

This Christmas, I had the opportunity to have a few of the students from our Mi Gente ministry come down to San Antonio and spend some time with my family making tamales! It was so awesome getting to host such a sweet get together. For some of them, it was their first time making tamales so it was really fun getting to show them. We also made enough for each of them to take back to their families. Getting to share brings me such joy in my spirit!

As the new year comes around, we are really going to heat up Winter Retreat! For many students, winter retreat can be a hard sell, especially if they’ve had poor experiences at a camp or Christian retreat in the past or if they’ve never been to a retreat and don’t know what to expect. Please be praying for each student in our ministry, that God would make a way for each student to come that he wants there and that it would be a blessing to them.

I pray a blessing over each of you as we begin this next year. That 2026 would be full of God’s eternal mercy for each of you and that He would continue to work in your hearts so that we can be a blessing to all those around us. He truly is so good and I am grateful for each of you who show me his goodness through your provision for me. Blessings to all! Love, Andrea