Family Christmas Letter 2012

Dear family & friends,

It's that time again!

Our hearts are full of gratitude.
Our Maker and God has seen us through another year!
All glory to His majestic name, alleluia!
We are grateful for life and abundant life at that!
We are grateful for you, our families and friends.
We are grateful for the rain and the shine.
We are grateful for the smooth and the rough times.
We are grateful for the honour and the opportunity to serve God in 2012.
We are grateful for all our God has done in our lives and in your lives too. His mercies last forever!

We are grateful to God for our daughter, Angelique. She is 17 years old.
High school was full on for Angelique this year as she worked hard for series of assessments, projects and tests. She finished her HSC/year 12 in November and will start University next year.

We are grateful to God for our son Emanuel. He is 23.
(Aka J. Dwight), Emanuel continues to evolve as an artist- writing, singing, and performing at different levels. He has added more single tracks and mix-tapes this year. His group "Dream Big Music" is made up of talented young artists with great enthusiasm. They also work as solo artists showcasing their individual styles and trying to make headway in the music industry.

We are grateful to God for our siblings and parents in far away home and in other countries. It will be 20 years next year since we left home!! 1st to Austria and then here in Australia where we have been since 13 yrs! Grateful!

Hopefully, we will travel home again next year to be with them.

We thank God for the ministry. God has also been faithful despite the challenges we faced in 2012. Emphasis is still honoring God, loving people, sharing the gospel, making disciples and training leaders for nations' transformation. We are thankful that a lot was done in this direction this year and we continue to see positive responses. To God be the glory!

We have settled down into our new location at Kingsgrove. Indeed, having a permanent structure has helped put systems back in place.

We are so thankful to God for everyone who constantly supports us in various ways.

Our West church is doing great.
We are grateful for the dynamic team that's in place at Liverpool, headed by Paul and Ezinne Chibukwo. Praise God!

We have made some more connections in the communities. We started a breakfast club in a nearby high school. We have been asked by the school authority to put up a mentoring program for the kids in the club. This can only be God's doing and an answer to prayers. PTL!
We are taking it one step at a time.

We are still so grateful for the privilege of serving on the Apostolic Board of Every Nation Churches in the South Pacific region.

As we celebrate Christmas, we think of you, our families and friends. We really miss you!

We remember those who have lost their loved ones, especially in recent times. May the Lord of Christmas, our Saviour Jesus Christ, comfort them all. May their mourning be turned into dancing again in Jesus' name. May the peace of the Lord flood their hearts and home in this season.

As I stop here permit me to share some excerpts of Boney M's version of "Long time ago in Bethlehem" with you.
"Hark now hear the angels sing a King was born today and man will live for evermore because of Christmas Day...(...)For a moment the world was aglow all the bells rang out there were tears of joy and laughter people shouted let ev'ryone know there is hope for all to find peace".

Be blessed in this season and also in the year 2013.
Love you!

Joshua, Yinka, Emanuel & Angelique Opadiya