Greetings to you, our supporting family, and Happy New Year from the Stevensons!
From November through the end of December, we were working hard, even while sick. We did two choirs, one with the local Mormon Church and the other with the Sunnyside Adventist Church and their orchestra. Their Christmas program involved a live camel and nativity. The camel even came inside! While all those things were lively, and still our relationships with both congregations grew as their questions of our mission with Adventist World Aviation increased, we could not help but wonder what was around the corner. We also thought about what was happening with you as our supporters, our donors, our prayer warriors! We had a feeling something was building in the background; we could feel it, though there was no putting our finger on it…something massive like a mountain growing.
January 1st rolled around. All seemed uneventful at first, and then we received a text that set the beginning pace for 2019. The text came from one of our close AWA supporting friends. Though the conversation was about a deep desire to minister to her church on a non-aviation matter, it became evident that AWA and aviation would indeed play a part. As God’s providence would have it, a door began to crack open and she got back to us on Wednesday the 2nd. Though it may be in the relative future, the pastor of the church loved the idea of having an AWA presentation on our work! We knew we were seeing a glimpse of the mountain we have felt building for a while. We know God is forming a mountain range of plans ahead of us, vastly more spacious than just the plateau that He has revealed to us at this time.
“Spanish? We don’t have any Spanish literature or brochures,” replied Doreen Stocker on the phone from the AWA Smithfield airbase when we inquired. “We would have to have some translated and we really do not have anyone to do that,” she mused. While our conversation continued, we began brainstorming and found some exciting possibilities opening up. Some so thrilling, like finding a translator, brought some interesting avenues we could explore in the future. We could see that there is a great need for Spanish literature to give to Spanish church members who are excited to share about the work we do at AWA.
We purchased a Spanish hymnal to start and found this an exciting start down the road to reaching many, and we mean MANY Spanish churches in the northwest area. God will aid the opening doors for the further building up of the Kingdom of God through minds and hearts soon to be awakened by God’s love and timing. The avenue of aviation has brought so much relief and hope to the precious people in need in the remote areas of the Earth that Adventist World Aviation has the honor to reach. That means that you, as our supporters, are included in this, and will help us walk through the doors God opens!
Friends, because of your contributions last year, from the spiritual to financial, have helped place us in the position to adopt new adventures like this. Because of your desire to help build the Kingdom, the missionary spirit of God is moving and succeeding, even here in Oregon at the Gladstone Adventist Book Center where special staff friends are promoting Airways by taking them to their churches to spread the word. They are excited about the work that is happening, and because they are excited, they cannot help but share. Keep praying! Pray for our Spanish church mission, for successful literature translations, for presentation translations as we speak. You are helping to make this possible!
Thank you so much! Until next time, everyone!
The Stevenson Family
