Merry Christmas from the Clementes

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Clemente Newsletter
December 2016

Robert Lin is a student at Holy Light Theological Seminary in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Here he shares his testimony of how God listened to Annie's prayer:

My daughter’s name is Annie. When she was in Kindergarten, she usually had swimming class. One day, Annie had an outdoor swimming course, and she was looking forward to that day. On that day morning, I drove Annie to the Kindergarten. The sky was pouring. I saw so much rain in the car. I said to Annie, “Because of the heavy rain, it’s impossible to have swimming lessons today.” Sitting in the back seat of the car, Annie heard me say this. She had been crying and said, "I want swimming lessons." I kept saying to her, "It's impossible to have swimming class today.”

Later on, Annie started to pray to God and said to God, "I want to have swimming class today." After sending her to school, I went to work. Just half an hour later, I found outside the rain stopped, and it became very sunny. I was surprised how weather transformed so quickly. Suddenly there was sunshine. At that time, I was shocked to think of Annie’s morning prayer in the car. God heard her prayer. The weather was sunny, so she can have swimming lessons.

At that time, I prayed to God, "Lord ~ Pardon my faith is too small. Thank you for listening to Annie's prayer and her strong faith. Thank you, Lord, for letting Annie’s faith prayer teach me the lesson of faith."

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with David's Theological English class at Holy Light Seminary. We ate good food, talked about the origins and traditions of the holiday, sang songs, played games, and took time to share what we are thankful to God for this year. Our family is thankful to God for our many partners in ministry. You are such a blessing to us!

We enjoyed our annual FMWM Fall Fellowship with fellow missionaries Susan Yu and Tim and Lily Kinkead, as well as our Morrison Academy affiliates, the Griffins, the Laythams, and the Millers.

Jacob's Journey

In fifth grade, the moment I was interested in playing the trombone was when I saw my friend, Samuel Wyss, play it at the Spring concert. The notes were pretty hard to get because of the slide. So I tried it out in sixth grade, which is where I am at today.

When I started it, all I had was the mouthpiece. I practiced and practiced, and I got the notes right when I got the trombone. I was so happy after that!

We also practiced and practiced for the Christmas concert. We had three songs: Rocking Around the Christmas Tree, Christmas Angels, and Fanfare for Christmas. When it was time, we played in front of more than fifty people. We were fabulous!! My mom was so proud of me!

Merry Christmas from Holy Light

As we make our way through the Advent season, we have had the opportunity to participate in several activities at Holy Light Seminary. David's Theological English class had a presentation day where groups of students put on skits about the Christmas story. A Christmas chapel service was led by the Seminary choir as they celebrated the coming of Christ in song. The Student Mission Fellowship organized a rummage sale with all proceeds going to an outreach to Syrian refugees in Turkey. This week is a break from classes at Holy Light, and we pray it is a time of rest and renewal for the students, faculty, and staff.

Financial Facts

Thank you for praying with us regarding our missionary support balance. We are still experiencing a deficit for the year 2016. If you feel led to help us meet our goal with an end-of-the-year gift, you may do so online at our FMWM website here.

Or you may write a check made out to "FMWM" with "Clemente MSA" noted in the Memo line and mail it to:

Free Methodist World Mission
770 N. High School Rd
Indianapolis, IN 46214

FMWM will provide you with a receipt as all financial gifts are tax-deductible.

Commitments

Thank you to those churches and individuals who have registered commitments to our 2017 Missionary Support Account (MSA).

If you would like to make a commitment, you may do so by filling out the online form here. (Note: Individual supporters who give by automatic withdrawal with no end date do not need to renew their commitments.)

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support as you partner with us in Asia!

Prayers and Petitions

***** Pray for churches in Taiwan this Christmas as they take this opportunity to present the Gospel through Christmas programs and community outreach activities.

***** Pray for overseas contract workers (OCWs) as they work through the Christmas season away from their children and families back home.

***** Pray for Rick, a Filipino OCW. He will have a court hearing this month to determine his eligibility to continue working here in Taiwan. Pray for him and other OCWs who are living in halfway centers waiting for their cases to be resolved in and out of court.

***** Pray for rest and renewal for the students, faculty, and staff of Holy Light Theological Seminary as they take a break from studies this week.

***** Our family will visit the Philippines December 20 - January 3 to celebrate Christmas and participate in a Clemente family reunion. Pray for joyful and meaningful fellowship.

***** Pray for Tito, David's brother, as he continues to undergo treatment for cancer. We look forward to seeing him while we are in the Philippines.

Wait...before we go...we are so happy we had the opportunity see our dear friends, Joe and Jo Ann Noble, today!! We thought they picked a fine time to leave Illinois to come visit their friends in sunny Kaohsiung. Already they have enjoyed smooth travel and good visits, and we pray for God to continue to bless their time here.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Follow us on Facebook at "Teaching in Asia"

Visit our FMWM mission page:
http://fmcusa.org/fmmissions/david-and-sarah-clemente/

Read David's blog:
http://davidclemente.typepad.com/davids-reflections/

Give to our Missionary Support Account (MSA):
https://give.fmcusa.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=407

For a printable version of this newsletter:
http://davidclemente.typepad.com/Clemente%20Newsletter%20December%202016.pdf