“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:3-6

Dear Friends

Hope this January edition of the MCD eNewsletter finds you renewed and full of peace as we move from the Christmas season into a brand new year!

As we enter into this New Year at MCD there is an air of expectant anticipation for what God might accomplish in and through this community in 2009. For us, 2008 was a year of significant change and development (the most major of which was the restructuring of all MCD ministries under the umbrella of SupportWorks). This year there seems to be a shared sense among us that God will build exponentially upon this newly-laid foundation of change.

Realistically none of us can move completely past change. Wherever God is at work, change is never a distant reality. In His movement toward making all things new (Rev 21:5), everyone He calls He also continuously works in, renewing and reforming. As a community this often means sending off members of our staff into a new phase of life.

After a year of service, resulting in immeasurable blessings and benefits among the Burundian refugee population, Allison Nelson will be transitioning from her staff position with MCD in February. Bringing with her such a high-level of dedication, professionalism, and most of all love for her role, Allison will truly be missed. Please keep both her and MCD in your prayers, in the continued changes this transition will certainly bring.

Kingdom Come,

Christian Gray, MCD Emissary

The Vine

The Vine certainly knows how to bring the year to a close with a bang! Last Tuesday evening we celebrated the end of 2008 with a white elephant Christmas party! Last year some of our favorite memories were of pulling pants from the 1980s out of elegantly wrapped boxes, and so we knew this year would be just as “exciting.”

As 6:30pm rolled around, not only did we see the regulars, but those doors kept opening to bring in new faces, and eventually we had about 40 individuals crowding around to celebrate Christmas. So, in a tight circle, while eating donated Starbucks pastries and coffee, we celebrated the year by laughing at the gifts each person suspiciously and slowly unwrapped.

Last Tuesday evening also brought back some old faces we haven’t seen for a while, good friends who had disappeared without notice. We are so thankful that God has led them back to MCD, and relieved that they are safe and healthy. We pray that they will find stability and hope in the coming months, but most importantly they will find acceptance, healthy relationships, and that the love of our Savior would permeate every moment of their being. Thanks to everyone who came last week, and we especially hope to see some of those new faces again when we start up on January 6^th!

Jodi Cooper, Community Coordinator

Together Forward

Harambe has been blessed in the last few months by the opportunity to celebrate the holidays together. It’s been fun to take a few weeks off from English lessons in order to enjoy each other’s company more and to swap stories about holiday traditions…those in the United States and those from Burundi. We celebrated Thanksgiving over a traditional meal and gave the Burundians a run down of the pilgrims and why we celebrate Thanksgiving. They thought it was…interesting.

Christmas was also very fun to celebrate together and our party included the kids making edible snowmen…as well as a lot of singing! Some of the Burundian kids got up and sang, followed by the American kiddos that were there. Then the adults sang some Christmas songs all together. After the singing we read the Christmas story in Luke and opened some gifts from the Coram Deo community to the Burundians. It was a blessing to be part of the celebration! We have so much to be thankful for, and it is such a blessing to have a diverse community to learn from.

We’re looking forward to another year…seeing Burundians become more empowered to successfully acclimate to life in the States, and another year for us at Coram Deo to continue to build deeper relationships with the Burundian community. We’ve seen huge improvement in their English skills which is such a joy to share in. 2009 will be an exciting year as Mosaic starts to network with other church communities to begin building relationships with other refugee populations. We’re excited to see what God will do in and through us next year and are grateful to look back on all that He has done in 2008. Thanks for your support!

Allison Nelson, Refugee Community Coordinator