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The Whitmans -
Merry Christmas!
Christ incarnate, humbled and crucified, is both the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:18-25).
The Dawn of Redeeming Grace: Daily Devotions for Advent
by Sinclair B. Ferguson
You may be thinking: “Jon, you missed it! It was two days ago!”
Well, First of all, I assume you got way too many letters, notes and Christmas wishes from missionaries, stores and friends and family. But today is fair game!
Secondly, In Italy, Christmas goes until the 6th (hence the 12 days of Christmas).
As we prepare for a new year, our desire is to be better connected to you , so that through your prayers and encouragement we will do even better than last year in sharing the Good News.
My last sermon before the Christmas season was by God’s grace from Matthew 9:35-38, where Jesus came, saw and had compassion on the crowds, then called his disciples to pray for God to send workers.
Interesting how that works out almost perfectly to the famous words spoken by Julius Caesar: “VENI, VIDI, VICI”.
But now a much greater ruler has come!
The True King has COME, the TRUE KING has SEEN us in our spiritual affliction, and The True King has CONQUERED.
And you and I are part of that conquering!
The conquered are sent by the King to conquer for Him!
Here are three ways you can pray for us in the next month:
Outreach – Pray for the many contacts we are having with people through music and Bible calendar distributions this Christmas season. One of the band directors, Franco, even came to church a few weeks ago!
Preaching – I will start back up preaching in the new year with Matthew 10, where Jesus sends out his disciples for the first time!
Equipping – On January 16th I will be called on to teach my very first lessons at Seminario Biblico Umbro, a new local seminary that my dear missionary friend Tom Boehm in Deruta has had the vision to begin. We already have several students signed up, even from our church! SOLI DEO GLORIA!
We are truly and enormously blessed by the fact that you would make time to open this letter, maybe even respond, pray, and for many of you, give so generously so that we can serve God and the Italian people here in central Italy.
You truly are a gift this Christmas season!
PS. Happy Birthday Noah! Today he turns fifteen!
Posted in Monthly E-letter
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No news, bad news, Good News
Happy March!
Okay…so we kind of missed February…it slipped by us so fast!
I hope it was a good February for you. In Italy, February is the month of Carnival, which precedes Lent. Yesterday was Mardi Gras, if I’m not mistaken. In laymen terms, for about a month you can let loose to the flesh before you repent of it.
This is so representative of the mindset of the human religion: celebrate sin, then make holiness look like the most pitiable of lives, trying to appease God with your own efforts.
Preaching through the Sermon on the Mount, we are discovering that the Pharisees had a similar mindset when they adapted the Law of God to their own evil way of thinking.
Today we talk about news: some “no news”, some bad news and some very good news.
- No news is good news…at least we hope!One of the reasons I did not write sooner was that I was hoping to give you an update on Melodee’s Italian citizenship that you prayed so hard and long for.
We have not received any more news about that, which is a very good thing, most likely, because the first time around we received almost immediate rejection. Her official paper status is “processing”. We are encouraged.
- Now for the bad news…We’ve actually received quite a bit of it lately.
- Today we went to the funeral of a friend’s dad who passed away suddenly on Sunday.
- Our friend Nicola has had cancer now for five years.
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Nicola
Then there is our other friend Nicola. Nicola is one of our original deacons. He was diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer about a month ago and is most likely living his final days on earth. He and his wife are some of the kindest and most generous people I know. Their joy and faith through it all are such a blessing, despite this being a huge hit to all of us. Please pray for them and their unsaved sons.
- Next week my Dad has a biopsy for possible prostatic cancer. He is shy about asking for prayers…but I’m not! Your prayers are part of why I am still alive! Pray for wisdom for us all.
- Lastly, for some Good NewsYou know what news I am talking about. THE GOOD NEWS!
It’s what gets us up in the morning!
- Going to a catholic funeral today, we were reminded of how important our job is. Here are a few of the blasphemies we heard:
- Jesus becomes bread and wine and dies again every time a mass is celebrated.
- We must pray to angels, saints and to the Virgin Mary to intercede on our behalf.
- We need to pray for the deceased to be saved.
- Pray several people who I have been able to share the Gospel with
- Pray for God to continue to use the preaching of His Word. Last Sunday was on adultery and divorce. This Sunday is on oaths and speaking truth.
- Going to a catholic funeral today, we were reminded of how important our job is. Here are a few of the blasphemies we heard:
What a privilege to know that God is in control of the unknowns, of the challenges, and of ultimately prevailing against sin and unbelief! We are just grateful to have a small part in it with you.
Gratefully,
Jonathan and Melodee, Noah and Eva
Posted in Monthly E-letter
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If you’re not living on the edge…
I try not to send out too many messages, but what is the point of asking you to pray for Melodee’s citizenship request if I don’t tell you how it went?
My Dad is very quotable…and he sums uf our life perfectly when he says: “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space!”
In this case, the edge was the deadline for getting Melodee’s citizenship request sent out before the “apostilled” documents ran out this weekend.
Would you believe it if I told you that Friday we were able to finally get the request through with less than an hour to spare?
If God was wanting to get us praying and to convince us that He did it, not us… I would say that He succeeded!
Now we await to see if the request was approved this time!
Three more exciting things to share:
- Yesterday, I began preaching through the Sermon on the Mount by preaching the…Sermon on the Mount! After a brief explanation and introduction, I read through the Sermon on the Mount as if it were one of my manuscripted sermons. It was fun and challenging! Pray for God’s Word to change lives!
- We are stilling being asked for Bible calendars, even from strangers! Today the owner of the coffee shop I go to asked for one for a friend of his! Pray for the seeds sown!
- In less than two weeks, we will have with us an intern for two months from the US. Pray for Cassandra!
This was just too cute to pass up…
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Tomorrow it’s make it or break it!
There’s no tomorrow except… tomorrow…at least for Melodee’s citizenship papers.
You have been so patient with us and faithful in praying with and for us, so how could I not bring you along on yet another leg of this adventure?
Here’s the scoop: We are in one of those make it or break it situations.
We have handed the papers Melodee worked on in America to the lawyer, she had them translated and sworn in, in front of a judge.
Tomorrow at 10 AM our time (4 Am EST) we turn them with the lawyer online.
Melodee’s other documents run out on January 11th, so there can be no retries after tomorrow!
Right now Melodee is meticulously gathering the list of places and dates she lived for her whole like…which, being a pastor’s kid…is a lot!
A lot can go poorly still, but also, everything can work out if God wants it to work out.
Sometimes it can be hard to expect a happy ending when we have had our full of big little challenges…but God has brought us thus far, so we must lean on Him even more! For His glory!
Would you pray?
Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.
Posted in Special Prayer Request
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Melodee is home! Praise God!
You prayed, and prayed and prayed some more…
And at 11 AM this morning, Melodee arrived home!
So many things in this trip point to the grace and power of God through the praying of His people.
What more can I say? Melodee is home for Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Posted in Follow-up
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