We are confident that we scarcely need to tell you how our life has been this year, but our 20/20 Vision has cleared, and we are confident that God remains faithful and good. We praise His Name continuously.
Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness,
while I am here in the land of the
living. Psalm 27:13
Mikaela & Ethan
Ethan and I are thankful to have had jobs throughout
the pandemic thus far. Our jobs are 'essential' since Ethan works for FedEx and
I work at the Bread Store. We are also thankful to have stayed healthy thus
far. It has been a blessing to continue to be able to fulfill all our duties
with our secular jobs as well as our spiritual jobs since we were also a part
of the 'COVID-19 lockdown ministry team' that helps run the live streams and do
the music while we were in lockdown for the first several months of the
pandemic in America. The lockdown has made us appreciate the simple ability to
socialize even with family.
Brett
I really enjoy running video and sound at
church. It has been a little more challenging this year as we not only had
Sunday services live but also Wednesday night Bible Studies. I was deeply
honored and surprised to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the
church; I was just getting good at preparing steaks on the grill. This year I
have been trying my hand at steaks on the gas stove. Aside from the smoke
alarms sounding, it has been an awarding task.
Brian
On the occasions I
have been able to fly [as part of my free employee benefits], I've enjoyed
having extra space. Delta's policy of keeping center seats open means extra
legroom and more comfort on the plane. When not
traveling to Savannah, I have been able to join my family virtually at church. This
is thanks to Brett for his techie abilities at the church sound board. And I am
always blown away at the talent of my sister on the guitar.
Daniel, Tina & Austin
We are all thankful for good health, and for being able to be close to our parents and siblings with Brian being the only long-distance sibling. Thankful we have been able to see him frequently throughout the year. Thankful to be able to be church leaders this year, through all the craziness that is 2020. Thankful that it is December, which means 2020 will end soon.
Mike-n-Mandy
Through the grace of God and good friends, we
managed to move to a smaller, cheaper apartment in March. Ironically, just in time to stay “apart” from each other though within
walking distance of Mikaela and Ethan. So nice that they can peek in us more
often. We have found creative ways to travel this year. We “Zoomed” in on Mandy’s parents in Nebraska several times along with her siblings from Wisconsin, Texas, Nebraska, New Jersey,
and Kentucky.
We visited most of the 50 states via Aerial
America on the Smithsonian Channel, and
back in time by binge-watching old TV series like Andy Griffith, MASH, The Waltons,
NCIS, Columbo and further back to the revolution with the TURN series. Mandy
continues to blog with friend Michele Bruxvoort. but has also enjoyed writing
Bible Studies with a women’s online group, Gracefully Truthful. Her
studies pop up about once a month. She was excited to write for this year’s Advent Series which was published in
book form.
In the World
While we have attended both Harvest Church and Bloomingdale Church of the Nazarene in Chatham County virtually, we have also been logging
in to Greg Laurie’s’ Harvest at Home worship services every Sunday. Harvest Church has taken
this pandemic seriously and are going live 6 or 8 times each weekend. We
appreciate that Greg always preaches a Bible-based sermon and never finishes up
without an invitation to accept Jesus as Lord. He gives each new believer a New
Testament. This year they have had over 140,000 professions of faith. If for no
other reason, this makes the pandemic well worth it! This could be the start of
a New Great Awakening. At the same time, we invite you to pray for the persecuted. The pandemic has also caused greater oppression among believers in many places.
We hope and pray that you will have a
peaceful and quiet Christmas Celebration where you find 20/20 Vision and True
Hope in Christ.
The Farmers’
Michael
& Mandy, Daniel & Tina, Austin, Brian, Brett, Ethan & Mikaela
NEW ADDRESS IN 2020
Mandy & Michael Farmer
100 Saint George Blvd Apt 803
Savannah, GA 31419
