Our Christmas has indeed been All of the above. There is nothing quite as thrilling as reminiscing on the Lord's incognito intervention to our world's dreadful state of affairs; the culmination of a great rescue operation coming to light in the most unlikely place, a stable. A story for the ages; an epic of divine subterfuge.

This year our celebration was enhanced by the presence of all three of our children and Sarah's parents. Moreover, for the first time in 8 years, we were allowed the use of the 700 year old Nestorian Church in our city.

For many years we have been lobbying the local authorities to no avail, so we took our appeal to the highest court - heaven! This year a new mayor was elected in our town and he has proven to be a real ally to the Christian community in our city.

This year our municipality decided to host a real Christmas Bazaar right in the center of the old walled-in city. They asked us to help organize the events and market stands. Over half of the 25 stands were staffed by our church members, some selling handcrafts, others selling home-made food and drinks. They also asked me to build a sleigh for Santa which became a popular photo booth.

I also threw a Nativity Set together. The mayor kicked off the two-day event with a short speech urging tolerance and respect across the diverse cultures represented in our city. Later a local retro band played some songs, the Russian community had a series of dances and finally our choir got up to perform several classic Christmas Carols. It was surreal to be able to publicly praise the Lord Jesus at the heart of our city with hundreds of onlookers joining in. Truly epic.

The second day of the Christmas Bazaar started with our church service in the nearby Nestorian Church. It was filled to the brim with excited church members and their guests. Once again it was thrilling and a bit nostalgic to be able to praise the Lord once more in this long forsaken edifice lovingly crafted long ago for this very purpose.

Our hope is that the mayor will secure permission for us to be able to use this historic building on a more regular basis. In the meantime we pray that the seeds sown this weekend both at the church and at the bazaar will result in beautiful fruit to the Lord's glory.

There are of course other exciting things happening too. This past Friday I was asked to do an impromptu baptism for a lady from Iran. She had been suffering for years under the oppression of demons and was almost paralyzed.

Her daughter in Cyprus, who is an atheist, asked Bana our assistant to speak with her over the phone and pray for her. After reluctantly agreeing Bana was surprised to see how spiritually thirsty the mother was and she began counseling her and ultimately saw her delivered from evil spirits. Nur was so grateful that she traveled to Cyprus to see Bana. After giving her testimony in our church she asked to be baptized before returning to Iran.

Needless to say her daughter's atheism is in tatters as she witnessed firsthand the transformation the Lord has wrought on her mother.

This past month I also took a week-long trip to Antioch to continue encouraging the believers there in their efforts to serve the earthquake victims. We had many opportunities to share Christ's love as we built homes, handed out clothing and ate with people in their broken down homes. The need for shelter is still huge and we plan to continue serving those in most urgent need for the next year or more. Those interested in more information about supporting the disaster relief work in Turkey can visit this page.

Also, in the past weeks Sarah and I took a short anniversary trip to Munich where we visited some old friends from Turkey and Cyprus. Sarah prayed for snow and lo and behold they got the biggest snow fall in the last 100 years! It was a happy and much needed reprieve.

Indeed we have seen the grace and goodness of the Lord in this season. As we look forward we pray for continued fruit from the many seeds sown in people's hearts. You might also join us in praying for the Afghan ladies in our charge. We had a chance to share with them again the meaning of Christmas and several attended and made food to sell at the bazaar. We are grateful to those of your that continue to support the effort with the At Risk Women.

Once again we are greatly humbled by your faithful support and prayers on our behalf. We hope and trust you are blessed as you enjoy the Christmas season.

Blessings, Jerry and Sarah Mattix.