Thanks for praying for us, we are all healthier now! Tallis did end up getting a mild cold but not too bad thankfully. We’ve had a few rounds of sickness so hopefully we can stay healthy for the remainder of the winter.
This week we have a few group presentations and we’d appreciate prayer that we communicate our heart and vision clearly. We will be trying to maximize a toddler-free weekend (yay grandparents!). Please pray for health, energy, and a fruitful week.
Thank you!
Kira has some cold symptoms and a fever. Pray she will get good rest and get well soon.
Please also pray that Kelly and Tallis don’t get sick as well.
We just released our first official newsletter. I’ve been working and reworking the template for a couple weeks and am pretty proud of it, so hopefully you all read it. If you don’t see it, check your Updates folder (or whatever your equivalent folder is). I’d recommend you create an inbox rule to make them more visible (that’s what I always do with missionary emails), but that’s your prerogative.
I’ve also created a new page under our blog homepage called Assignment & Partnership that I’d love if you checked out! You can check how far along we are in building our Wycliffe financial partnership team and read about PNG. My favorite part of the page, though, is a video that a Wycliffe MK in PNG made about the need for Bible translation in PNG, which I have not grown tired of watching, despite several views.
To find that new page, you can click on the map image on our homepage, or on the one below.
Our main assignment as new Wycliffe members is Partnership Development, or PD. This is the process of developing a team of partners financially and in prayer for our Wycliffe ministry. We have been told by many people that PD will be a roller coaster of ups and downs. John is almost always pretty steady but I have already felt this on a small scale.
Last Wednesday we were having our weekly Skype meeting with our PD coach and he was encouraging us with the story of another couple he’s coaching and how God provided a very large and unexpected gift to cover the cost of their two week Equip training in Orlando in April. It was encouraging to hear an example of God providing but was quickly followed with a little bit of anxiety and/or longing for that to happen for us.
We finished the Skype call, ate dinner, and then had another Skype call with another Wycliffe member to go over our budget, tax information, etc. When we got off that call I had a text from my oldest friend, someone I met at homeschool co-op in 1st grade. We’ve been through a lot of life together and she’s always been an encouragement to me. It had been a few weeks since we’d talked but she was reaching out to ask how her family could support us in our Wycliffe ministry. It was so encouraging to have someone “out of the blue” reach out right when I was starting to feel a bit anxious. We video chatted that night and it seemed whatever answer I gave she wanted to do more.
Super thankful God sent my friend Sam to encourage me!
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
-Luke 2:10-11 (NASB)
Merry Christmas from the Knickerbockers!
This year we welcomed Tallis Pax to the family on November 8th. He had a brief stay in the NICU for monitoring, but was soon sent home healthy and happy. Tallis is named after Thomas Tallis, a 16th century English composer, to honor John’s dad. Kira loves “baby brother Tallis” and likes to take care of him by putting entirely too many blankets on him.
The other big news this year is that we became official members of Wycliffe Bible Translators on November 1st! We are so excited to finally be moving toward our goal of bringing the good news of great joy to all people. We have been invited to join the Wycliffe ministry team in Papua New Guinea; John as a translator and Kelly as a nurse. We are beginning to build our team of prayer and financial partners and would love for you to join us! You can find our ministry page at www.wycliffe.org/partner/knicks.
Kira is now 2 years old and still loves the zoo, her extended family, and seeing new places and things. She knows all her letters, numbers, and colors and puts together surprisingly eloquent sentences. One of her favorite places is our church and she especially loves to play there with her friend Melanie.
John is working for Opportunity Partners, Inc. (an organization that provides vocational and residential services to adults with intellectual disabilities and traumatic brain injuries) in their IT department and is planning to be there until we start working with Wycliffe full time.
Kelly is on call at a family practice clinic and working part-time for our church (Eagan Hills) as a Missions & Pastoral Assistant. She loves the opportunity to work with missionaries from the sending church side and coordinate prayer and support for them. She is thankful she has been challenged and grown in this role and really enjoys her job.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from our house to yours!
– John, Kelly, Kira, and Tallis Knickerbocker –
Knick News 