December 16, 2021

God Sent His Son! He Sends Us!

 

Advent Greetings from California!                                                 

 We are still on the road! We have logged 12,759 miles, slept in 49 beds, enjoyed 23 National Parks and Monuments through 33 States of the ‘Beautiful Land,’ a.k.a. USA. Wow! It has been wonderful.

We are very grateful to the Lord our Keeper and Companion, and to our gracious hosts. What a blessing to belong to the family of the living God. Emmanuel! 

 



Now we are in California sharing with supporters and churches that have kept us going in mission.

November 21 Biola Congregational Church, Biola, CA

December 5 New Life Presbyterian Church, La Mesa, CA

December 12 St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Montrose, CA    

We look forward to spending Christmas with our family in Oregon!

January 2 Sierra Presbyterian Church, Nevada City, CA

January 16 Church of the Living Savior, McFarland, CA

January 23 Chinese Community Church, San Diego, CA

January 30 New City Church, El Segundo, CA

February 6 Carlsbad Community Church, Carlsbad, CA

February 13 Arise Presbyterian Church, Vista, CA

February 20 Valley Presbyterian Church, North Hills, CA

March 20 Kauai Christian Fellowship, Kilauea, Kauai, Hawaii

 What are we going to do?

It has been very encouraging to have so many friends praying for the Lord to lead us. We have made two decisions; we will join IDEAS, and we will explore living in Hawaii.

We have been invited to work with a new organization, IDEAS.

https://www.ideasworld.org/

From their website: “IDEAS works…in over 13 countries to demonstrate love, holistically serving among the forgotten and overlooked in order to see transformed lives in communities of contagious hope…We offer professional opportunities in five areas: agriculture, business, community development, education, and health/well-being. These projects deliver tangible value in community and provide for critical encounters and relationships that embody, inform and offer true and lasting hope”

 Our role will be pastoral care and coaching. We are thankful for this great opportunity to remain involved in global mission.

We will need travel funds for our new work with IDEAS. Once the world opens up – as we trust it will! – we hope to visit IDEAS colleagues in their ministry locations.

As we have mentioned, we will finish our current Home Assignment with Pioneers in February. We would be grateful if you prayerfully consider on-going support for us through IDEAS.

In March we will be flying to Hawaii. We think our new home is in the islands. We are still not sure where. But we want to encourage the local church, pastors and leaders, and the work of global mission.

 The View from Under the Bus

Mark has been writing the story of our life in mission - Uganda, Hawaii, Kazakhstan, and China. He has finished the first draft of the part one, Uganda. We’d love to share this first section with you.

https://pastormarkblair.org/downloads/Writings/Books/The%20View%20from%20Under%20the%20Bus%20A%20Blairs%20in%20Uganda%20REDUCED.pdf

Your feedback would be appreciated. We plan to offer this work freely to any who may want to know more about the joys and challenges of missions.

 ‘A Witness to Aloha’

For those who want to know more about what God has done in Hawaii, we recommend this one-hour documentary. It is a beautiful presentation about the coming of the Gospel to Hawaii; celebrating the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the missionaries from Boston in 1820. More people need to know the amazing way God used Spirit-led workers proclaiming His Spirit-inspired Word, then and now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p13qU7yKEm4

If all you have heard is the world’s bad rap against the missionaries, you need to see this well researched and encouraging presentation.

Ohana (‘family’) Update

Your love and prayers for our children and grandchildren over our years of mission have been a constant encouragement. We thank the Lord for our three sons and three grandchildren, and our terrific daughter in law!


Nathan and Heather and their sons Kekoa (6) and Makana (4) are thriving in Portland. Nathan continues to work for the www.bibleproject.org and Heather is their busy mom and homeschool teacher.

Josiah and his daughter Maylee (18, next month!) are in Almaty, Kazakhstan. They ask for wisdom in navigating the challenges of life there. Maylee graduates from high school in May in Moscow, Russia (she has been on-line all through her high school years). We’d love to be there!

Aaron still lives and works in Eugene, Oregon. We are glad he has a good community of family and friends there.

 Advent means ‘Come – past, present, and future

As we enjoy another Advent season, we praise the Lord for the ever-new wonder of the old, old story. Jesus our Lord and Savior has come, is come, and will come again.  Everything this world offers will one day break, fade, die, or need a new operating system! But God our Maker knows how we are made. God our Judge knows how we have messed up. And the great news of Advent is God our Savior has come to redeem and restore. He offers a new life that is abundant and eternal. We really hope you have received this greatest of all Christmas gifts freely given through faith in the Risen Jesus!

Mele Kalikimaka, Mark and Dayna Blair

 Our Phone Numbers    Mark 808-218-4872 / Dayna 808-218-3698


Emails  blairstan2@gmail.com or blairstan@hotmail.com

 

Our Missions

 

Until the end of February 2022:   Pioneers - 10123 William Carey Dr - Orlando, FL 32832         

 

Checks to ‘Pioneers’ – with attached note: ‘Mark and Dayna Blair, Beijing.’                     

Electronic transfers: https://give.pioneers.org/p-75-give-to-a-missionary-or-project.aspx  (Our Account # is 110565, Mark and Dayna Blair)

FUNDS SENT TO PIONEERS AFTER FEBRUARY 2022 WILL BE RETURNED TO SENDER

 

Beginning March 2022: IDEAS - 7852 S Elati St., Ste 202 Littleton, Colorado 80120

WE WILL SEND MORE DETAILS ABOUT GIVING THRU IDEAS IN THE NEW YEAR

 Blog  www.blairstan.blogspot.com                                        Web Site  www.pastormarkblair.org




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