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December 2000
Dear Friends, Family, Brothers and Sisters,
¡Feliz Navidad! Christmas greetings to each of you! It’s
hard to believe the year 2000 is coming to a close already. The
leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner are gone, the Christmas lights
and decorations are on their way up (thanks to a bit of pressure
from my neighbors), and my December calendar is filling up with
graduations, a board meeting, dinner parties, weddings, importantisimo
choir practices, worship services, and a round-trip flight to
Nebraska to visit family between Christmas and New Year. It’s
an exciting time of year, but I’m thankful that Christmas
lights are not the only lights flashing. There’s a bright
flashing yellow light that warns me to slow down from time to
time and remember that the most important appointment I have each
day is with the One whose life we celebrate.
The other night I was outside gazing at the stars and I wondered
what it must have been like that night so long ago when Christ
was born. What that star must have looked like. Although I didn’t
see a special star that night, I must say that I have seen some
of the love, grace, joy and hope that it represented over and
over again throughout this past year in the twinkle of my friend
Catalina’s eyes now that she has rededicated her life to
Christ, in our dear mission volunteer Marty Hutton as she has
so faithfully and humbly served her brothers and sisters in Piedras
Negras over the past year and a half, in a physician’s diagnosis
of celiac disease, in a road trip made to visit friends in the
Carolinas, in visits with family in Nebraska, Michigan, and Minnesota.
In the hugs and kisses of my young friends Leo, Cheli and Jenifer,
and in the way they shared their crayons and markers with other
children at the laundromat one day, in friends both near and far
who demonstrate His love and grace to me, who have shared their
lives with me and through whom the Lord works to help me learn
and grow in Christ, and finally I have seen His light in the daily
challenges that bring about growth in my life and in that of the
Amistad ministry. Indeed I have been greatly blessed!
This magnificent Light also shines into the coming year (and
from it!) as I face decisions about continuing my education and
my work here on the border, as significant changes are made in
the way we do ministry at Amistad, in the relationship the Project
has with Uno en el Espiritu Presbyterian Church, and in the growth
and development of new Presbyterian congregations in Acuña
and Piedras Negras. Please join me in prayer for these specific
situations, that above all, the Lord’s will be done in us
and through us.
Dear brothers and sisters, my prayer is that the peace of Christ
would reign in your hearts as we celebrate His birth and gift
of abundant and everlasting life. May His grace be sufficient
for us whatever the challenges we face in 2001, and may we declare
together with Simeon:
For my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared
in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel (Luke 2:30-32).
With love and gratitude for each of you!
Susanne R. Frerichs
The 2000 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 242
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