2010 Year in review!

First, let me just wish you all a merry Christmas and happy New Year! As we celebrate a season of precious gifts and new beginnings let us focus on the MOST precious gift (our Lord Jesus) and THE new beginning He has created for us... praise God for His work, His life and His mission that we get to be a part of.

2010 was quite a year!

It is hard to believe that we spent 96 days on the road this last year between ministry and school... it might explain how tired we feel. But, God gave us so many incredible experiences and introduced us to so many amazing people - we truly have much to be thankful for.

After getting back into a good rhythm last January (including starting back into Seminary) we began our preparation for our Feb trip back to Northern India with Berean Way. Our Trip to the North was one of the most difficult trips we have done... the spiritual warfare was very intense and we were working in a part of India that even Indian Christians do not like to go to. As one of the local Indian pastors explained, "when I was in South India I saw myself as standing at the gates of hell, breaking down the doors, running in and rescuing the lost and hurting... now that I live in North India I see myself as having moved into hell, grabbing as many as I can and pushing them out the gates." But, God is moving mightily through the hands of His courageous followers there... it is truly inspiring walking with these men and women. Thank you Lord for these servants... keep them Lord I pray.

While in India I received a troubling call from my wife telling me that our house was on fire! Needless to say it made for a dramatic end to our trip. I made it back home and found that a shorted wire had burned out our front room BUT Brit and the kids were fine and that was all that mattered. Through the process God blessed us with a completely renovated wonderful home (through the hands of Jeff and Brian atCornerstone Construction - thanks guys). God continues to direct our steps leading us toward His purposes and not allowing anything more than we can handle ALL the while turning darkness into light... He is good at that. Praise You Lord for all that You are to us.

Through March and April we bounced from place to place as our home was being rebuilt while managing a trip up to Canada and our first annual Berean Way auction to raise funds for barefoot pastors (which went amazingly). In May I had the amazing opportunity to be a part of a three week intensive seminary class in Israel. With the help of a very special donor, a scholarship and approval from my family and boss I was able to go and spend three weeks walking where Jesus walked... lifting the stories of the scriptures off the pages. Thank you Lord for being more than just a theological idea but for being an actual person who was born and walked just like us... only perfectly.

After returning from Israel it was only one brief month later (which included teaching at a great Jr. High retreat for RHCC) that we were in Langkawi, Malaysia. Every four years CRM holds a staff wide mandatory World Wide Conference for all of us to get equipped, back on the same page and be an encouragement to one another. This year Britany and I were able to go together with a lot of help from the grand parents! As well as having an amazing experience with friends (especially those from Scotland) we were able to have a time of deep growth as a couple. On our way back from Malaysia we were able to stop in Taiwan to spend time with some dear friends of ours who are living there now working for Nike. It was great to spend some time in a new culture while having a bit of an adventure. Lord we are thankful for your provisions of family and friends!

After sliding in a bit of camping and family time it was time to prepare for the Fall and my trips to Canada, Nepal and Scotland. Canada was a fantastic whirlwind... a great chance for me to teach at a college retreat for Lethbridge E-Free and hang out with the next generation of world changers. It always feels good to be home! Now off to Nepal...

As I mentioned in previous updates, Nepal is a very different experience than India and yet shares so many similarities. Undoubtedly, Nepal is staggeringly beautiful... mountains, rivers and an amazingly diverse set of cultures make it a remarkable little country. Yet, it struggles with immense poverty and social/political ills that make it a desperate place of daily survival for most of its non-tourist inhabitants. Here, hidden amidst the great mountains and miseries, lies a tiny (less than 2%), young (both historically and demographically), fully alive faith filled Church. It does not take long in Nepal to see that God is moving amidst the Himalayas! We held 2 conferences over the course of a week with around 400 attendees total. We also spent time interacting with and praying for different churches and ministries in and around the Kathmandu area... it was an amazing time! Now off to Scotland...

My Trip to Scotland was amazing (it snowed almost every day!) and in many ways it was the perfect end to an incredible year. I returned to Glasgow to work with the team there doing team building and leadership training. While there I met with them as a group several times and one on one with most. The tool I was using with the staff helped ask important questions about who they are and who they are becoming... which is something pretty special. I am so proud of this team. They have worked hard to become what God wants them to be and this has taken grit, determination and a wholehearted commitment to Jesus. When others have quit they steadied themselves. When some have questioned their vision they looked to God, His Word and kept on. Their commitment to Glasgow is a challenge and encouragement to me and I pray it will move us - you and me - to reexamining what God has called us to DO... really, WHO God has called us to BE, WHERE He has placed us. Lead us Father on that we might be able to faithfully say with all of Your saints, "any time, any place at any cost."

As we launch into another new year would you join me in making this your daily prayer...

Lord lead us and make us,
mold us and break us
that through each day Your Spirit might take us

and create in us hearts and lives that all know
any time,
any place,
at any cost
we will go

and then in Your hour
when You come Lord in power

You will see just Your Son
and all He has done

and we will find there our place
as we look on His face.

Thank you for your faithfulness to this call financially, prayerfully and passionately... this does not happen without your faith-filled support.

grace and peace friends,
the McDonald clan

Prayer & Praise

Prayer & Praise

1. Praise God for all of His travel mercies as we traveled to Canada, Seattle and Nepal this October. We were able to get all of our curriculum, trip prep and visa issues sorted. Also, this is officially the first trip with The Berean Way that Tim never got sick... Thank you Jesus!!

2. Praise God for all the pastors that will be came to the conferences... it was a very powerful time. Please continue to be pray for their ministries and the ongoing fruit of our time there... there is still much work to be done.

3. Please continue to be praying for Tim's trip finances. Though we came under budget for the trip as a whole (praise God), overall it was still a more expensive trip than others. We are still needing to raise the remaining money for his plane ticket.

4. Please be praying for Britany as she dives into local ministry with young moms. God has opened up many great opportunities in our community. Specifically, Britany has begun working with a ministry that connects young mom's to mentors. She will be teaching in this ministry next month and would appreciate all the prayer you can give!

5. Finally, please be praying for Tim this month as he travels to Glasgow, Scotland to work with the RE:hope team there. He will be doing some leadership and team training.

Nov/Dec UPDATE!

Season's greeting to all of you! We pray you all had a wonderful time giving thanks last weekend. I think that probably my most special moment, besides being with family, was when McKenzie brought home her Thanksgiving book she had made at school. It was filled with 5 pages of things she was thankful for. On the first page she wrote, " I am thankful to be a christian because God is on my side!"... along with a picture of her and God. I stopped as I read the first page and thought, WOW Lord how many hands helped her with this book and got to hear a tiny bit about Your goodness and a little girls heart! My prayer for all of us as we enter this time of year where Christ should be the most awaited event is that we would give someone a little glimpse of Christ goodness this Christmas!
Thank you to those of you who prayed for me as I finished my training in October. It truly has been an incredible journey from it's beginning 2 1/2 years ago. The path God lead me on has been life changing. A few of the nuggets I've learned are: Always be open handed with the Lord as he is redirecting your life and taking your faith to greater levels through it. Secondly He also calls us to put on our armor everyday whether that means putting down our fears or stepping out in faith. The Lord also reminded me that life will go by in a blink of an eye so take every opportunity to share my faith, stop and take time for a cuddle with one of my precious babies and to minister out of the gifts God has given me despite my weaknesses. A key verse I have taken on these past few years is 2 Corinthians 12:9...

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

When we first arrived in Portland we told God that we would take all the opportunities that He opened to us. It has been amazing to see all of the teaching, training and discipling that Tim has literally had opened to him here with the Berean Way. In the midst of all this, an opportunity opened for Tim to do some training in Glasgow! We were so blessed to be able to meet in Scotland at the end of my trip. Tim did leadership training with the Re-Hope team (and other friends) and then we just met with everyone under the sun, err, I mean rain!

Our time in Scotland was wonderful!!! The first few days were a bit surreal, but once I could get my feet under me I was pleasantly surprised at how good it felt to be back. We were able to visit with all our friends and team mates. I was able to go to the kids school and see all the mum's I knew, I even helped in one of my kids old classes (with our favorite teacher). I saw all my kids' old friends and could not believe how many of them remembered and loved them still. We were blessed to see Re Hope in their new building, visit our closest friends homes, have coffee with people we had discipled and see those who we had ministered to. It was so important that Tim and I were able to meet and experience it together though we really missed the kids not being there. I think the best part was being there and it feeling good NOT sad... it was a true blessing to visit a huge piece of our lives and to see just how much ministry is still happening even from a far.

It has been a very busy fall between settling into a new role, Tim starting school part-time, Sam and Suzannah visiting, kids getting set up in another new school and our trips overseas. BUT even in all the craziness of planting roots God continues to confirm this has been His plan along. Thank you for walking our journey with us as we seek to be all He asks of us... truly our motto as a family is to simply share the love of Jesus through our lives, all 6 of us! From the village pastors in India to praying for my kids with Mom's In Touch to my kids sharing about Jesus in their school... may He continue to use us were we are.

Merry Christmas to you and your families!

Much love,
Britany