Back home in Germany we celebrate the 4 Sundays before Christmas, called Advent, by burning a candle for each Sunday on the Advent wreath and by preparing our hearts for Christmas and the good news that came with it. Each of the candle symbolizes something different and we will write about the meanings for the next 4 weeks.

The first candle on the Advent wreath stands for hope. A hope that is promised in Isaiah 11.10 but then also repeated in Romans 15.12-13 (The Message Translation).

There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,  breaking through the earth and growing tree tall, Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope! Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!

Hope is something so desperately needed in a world where we see so much hopelessness. People that had to flee their homes because of war, poverty in so many third world countries and hard to find jobs for young people in certain countries, to name just a few of them. In many ways Jesus was born into a world with not much hope for his people. The Romans were ruling the country and the Israelites, and people were hurting under the big taxes and ruthless leaders. So the world didn’t look much different then, then today.

But wait, it actually looks different today: When Jesus was born the world was still waiting for someone who brings hope. The Israelites were still waiting for the Saviour promised in Isaiah. But today he is there for us. God send his son so we can actually be set free. That is true hope. When we put our life focus on Him, we can find true hope. But lets not stop there, lets share this hope with a hopeless world. Share it with the people around you. Share about the one that gives you hope. We want to encourage you with the lyrics of this song to do that this week. Share this week with someone about the true hope bringer!!

https://youtu.be/haHT0SdKnxY

Hey our friend

We hope you had a fantastic week. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with friends from our neighborhood. It was a true blessing. We also had a visitor, our cousin Tina which was awesome!! It is amazing to see how  a dinner that brings hope can change the lives of people. It gives a total different outlook on situations. Lets pray for each other that we receive hope and bring hope to others.

First of all thank you to all who support us in our work here through Prayer and finances! You are a huge blessing to us! May god bless you richly!

We have a request for you! To do the work we are doing we depend 100% on support. Over the last few months we lost about $287 in monthly support through changes of circumstances in people’s lives. So at this point we need about $1410 more in monthly support to be fully funded and about $9,550 more to reach our full budget for this year. We want to ask for your help in sharing with people you know that have a heart for missions and would be interested in joining our support team monthly or with a year end donation. Of course if you are not a part of it you are welcome to join as well! When you click on this link you find out more how to do that. All donations are tax deductible. Thank you for all your help in this area.

Speak into all your and your friends hopeless situations, life and the true hope of our Father.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen