John and Anna Weeks YOUR link to tribal missions 
Merry Christmas from the Traveling Weeks’ Family! We want to thank each one of you for your love, support, and prayers the past several years as we’ve ministered in Indonesia. We also want to wish each and every one of you a blessed Holiday season time of getting together as families and worshipping our Savior Jesus Christ.
A Time to Celebrate and Remember Jesus Christ’s Birth: One of my favorite idioms in Indonesia is “Masuk kandang kambing mengembik; masuk kandang kerbau menguak” or roughly translated “When you enter the goat’s barn make a goat’s noise; and when you enter the cow’s barn make a cow’s noise.” In English we say, “When in Rome do as the Romans.” How does this apply to us? This is exactly what we’ve been trying to do the past four years in Indonesia, that is, adjust to our new culture and language and the people we’ve come to serve, setting aside our own culture and even “rights as believers” and our own preferences and to take on a new culture and preferences in order to be accepted and build relationships, and in so doing, build a bridge for the gospel. Paul alludes to this principle as well in I Corinthians 9:19-22 “…I have in short, been all things to all sorts of men that by every possible means I might win some to God. I do all this for the sake of the gospel; I want to play my part properly…” –J.B. Phillips version.
This is one facet of what Jesus Himself did as He humbled Himself in obedience coming to earth to be born a man, lowering his stature so that mankind could be saved. Philippians 2: 5-11 “Let your attitude to life be that of Christ Jesus Himself. For He, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to His privileges as God’s equal, but stripped Himself of every advantage by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born a man. And, plainly seen as a human being, He humbled Himself by living a life of utter obedience, to the point of death, and the death He died was the death of a common criminal. That is why God has now lifted Him to the heights, and has given Him the name beyond all names, so that at the name of Jesus ‘every knee shall bow’, whether in Heaven or earth or under the earth. And that is why ‘every tongue shall confess’ that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Ministry: We’ve been away from Indonesia since July 13th, but have tickets to return January 6th, stopping over in Singapore where John will have an eye check-up and possible dental consultation. We will help welcome two new families in mid-January after we’ve barely settled in ourselves and then 5 more families in March/April! Please pray for God’s strength as we invest our lives in these new missionary families. Please pray also for our ministry with neighbors and the local Indonesian church body.
Travels: We spent our first 2 ½ months in our home area Eureka, California where we enjoyed time with our family and our church family. Highlights included skim-boarding and playing at Moonstone Beach, backpacking with brother Dan and some of his kids, church Family Camp at Ruth Lake, fun with friends in Redding and at Whiskey Town Lake, and a trip to San Francisco. We were also able to get much needed dentist work done for everyone, speak at several local churches, spend time with Grandma Mary, and do some shopping for supplies for Indonesia.
October 3rd we left Eureka and took the train from Redding, CA out to Anna’s folks’ in Belleville, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis where Anna’s dad works. We thoroughly enjoyed the train ride and were surprisingly greeted by 90 degree weather. Midwest activities included kids raking leaves, John attending language conference in Colorado as well as eye clinic in Wheaton, hiking with Tony as well as with Anna’s sister’s family, outdoor ice skating in St. Louis, John painting Ernie and Gail’s house, exercising and swimming at the YMCA, visiting Papa Ernie’s workplace at the AT&T Building in St. Louis, and relaxing with Grandma and Grandpa. We also made two trips to the Lake of the Ozarks area to speak at 3 churches and traveled to Texarkana to visit relatives and speak at another supporting church.
Then December 3rd we drove back to California hitting snow over the Sierra Mountains where we had to buy chains just to make it over Donner’s Summit! The kids had been praying for snow so I joked with them that they had to pay for the chains! Back in California we are getting final dentist work done (Ho, Ho, Ho), immunizations, final supply shopping for Indonesia, packing and sorting for the trip and storage, decorating for Christmas, and planning for a house-full of relatives next week! This will be our first Christmas with family here since 1998!
Again, we want to thank you for your prayers and support and for being a vital part in reaching Indonesians with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Have a blessed Christmas and Holiday Season,
Love,
John, Anna Marie, Katie, Grace, Paula and Kurt
