Dearest Family and Friends,
We can scarcely believe that it was a year ago when we said our vows under
God, before our family and our friends. The picture perfect, fairytale-esque
day still remains vividly in our memories, and we cannot help but smile as we
reminisce the happy beginnings of our married life together. As Christmas is
our favorite season of the year, Hunter and I count ourselves additionally
blessed to celebrate our anniversary exactly a week before Christmas Eve! This
Christmas - our first Christmas as a settled, married couple - will be
bittersweet as it will be my first winter Christmas
experience but also the first spent away from my Hammond
family in Cape Town. However, we are excited to spend this Christmas with our
Combs family, as well as my Grandparents, Bill and Harriet Bathman!
This year, has been an eventful, yet exciting, year! Our jobs have ranged
from substitute teaching to nannying, working in a library, and cabinet
refinishing. We also adopted two, beautiful cats, whom we named Sherlock and
Watson. They add much cheer to our home and provide warm and cuddly company,
particularly in these cold, wintery months. We recently moved to a beautiful,
two-bedroom apartment in the last month, although we still live in the same
apartment complex. We thoroughly appreciate having more room and enough space
to have a Christmas tree! God has truly blessed us richly in every way
imaginable!
I (Hunter) recently found out
that, by God’s grace, I have been awarded with a full ride scholarship to
Phoenix Seminary! It has been a deep desire of mine for a while now to attend
Seminary, but until now, it has not been possible due to finances. God has been
very gracious in giving me this opportunity, which will allow me to be further
equipped for a life of ministry in the mission field and to receive an
excellent education by some excellent minds in Christian academia.
Furthermore, Andrea and I will be
more actively pursuing ministry within our apartment complex (Copper Palms), by
helping out with events (possibly even hosting some of our own), further
developing relationships and building new relationships with our neighbors. All
this will be done with the sole motive of furthering God’s Kingdom and
hopefully winning some of our neighbors to the Lord. Ultimately, we know that
we are called to be ambassadors for Him wherever we are and we must be obedient
to His call. However, Andrea and I both know that this will entail a lot of
changes in our lives as I will have to cut back significantly from work and
will need to be devoting my time more fully to my education and to reaching out
to our neighbors. Consequently, we are taking a very big, yet very exciting
step of faith!
We still have our gaze on the continent of Africa and hope
to return again this upcoming summer,
if the Lord wills. Of course, there is much work to be done in order to
accomplish this goal, but we have faith that God will supply our every need. We
cannot wait for what the future holds, and we know that it is going to be a
great joy and honor serving Christ! We greatly
appreciate and covet your prayers.
Here's
to new traditions, a new family, and a very happy new year!
With
warm greetings and much love,
Hunter and Andrea
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