Big Things Happening and Transitions Coming

Family, friends, and partners in ministry, the past month has proven to be one of the busiest this year, but it just shows that God is continuing to work here amongst His people. March was filled with planning for three trainings, one being a large conference with over 600 people. At the end of the month we were able to celebrate Maundy Thursday as a family where we shared the Lord's table together. On Good Friday we attended a house church where we again reflected on the death of Christ in our place, and on Easter Sunday we celebrated the resurrection of Christ with some of our close friends in our city.

Matt finished up two trainings at the end of March and although they did not go as planned, God did some great things by providing some new men to invest in and some testimony of a handful of people that went under the water this month. Although we always celebrate individuals going from death to life, there is much more to be done. At the start of April Matt along with our team leader and a few others led a conference for the language group Matt is focusing on. This conference was most likely the first time that this many believers from this language group met together. The mission of the conference is to see at least one church planted in every village that speaks this language. Thank you to those of you who have given special gift money to help make an event like this possible and please join us in praying that this mission will be fulfilled.

Andrea is getting into the last stage of pregnancy so she is spending much more time at home, although she weekly meets with other ladies she has formed relationships with over the last year. Please continue to pray for Andrea as she gets closer to her delivery date and as we have an active two year old who does not understand why mommy cannot do everything for him that she did a few months ago. In two weeks we will travel to the BIG city to wait for baby #2 to arrive and to get all the necessary paper work done at the embassy.

During the next two weeks we are preparing to welcome a team from our sending church, the Summit. This will be a small team that will assist our work here and travel with us to the Big City. We are thankful for groups like this that come to serve us and serve alongside of us. If any of you are ever interest in coming out to work with us or lead a team from your church, please send us a personal message an we can make this happen.

We are also excited that sometime in May Andrea's best friend Gloria is going to join our team for six months. She will serve us in many ways as we embrace the transitions of our family growing and we already have many ministry opportunities lined up for her in our city. Thank you to those who have assisted her in getting here and if any of you would like to help her during her time here let us know.

In the coming weeks please remember us in the following ways:

• Arrival of baby #2
• Many transitions
• Obedience of the believers from our focus group
• Arrival of six month volunteer Gloria

March Madness

Partners in ministry, we want to fill you in on the past month of life and ministry. At the beginning of February we were able to spend the weekend in big D-city for some medical purposes, but also to visit with our campus pastor Daniel Simmons and some other friends from our sending church, the Summit. The time with them was enjoyable and encouraging as we were able to share life with them for a few days. We especially want to send a shout out of thank you to the individuals that sent goodies over with the team.

Matt was able to finish up his capstone project for his M.Div this month, so you could say that he is "mastered," although he knows his journey in ministry is just getting started. And though he said he was going to take a break from any further degrees, he is already looking for his next class to finish a second masters degree in the next year.

In addition to finishing up school work, Matt has also been able to meet with some of his guys from his discipleship group in order to further develop them as leaders and church planters. Due to some unforeseen circumstances the last training with his entire group was cancelled, but will be taking place at the end of this weekend. Please continue to lift up these men of God as they push back darkness in one of the darkest places of the world.

Andrea has continued to stay busy with her ministry involvement this last month as there have been more short-term teams come through to assist in the work she is involved with than one can count. She is currently spending a few days in the capital of our state where she is interviewing students at two different Spanish schools as she is finding translators for Spanish speaking teams. God has really opened the doors for Spanish speakers here and now he is providing translators from our own state.

Last week we had the privilege to  celebrate Elliot's second birthday with a mix of close foreign friends and some close national friends. The party was a big success, thanks to Andrea for all of her hard work to make it extra special. Now that we are officially parents of a two-year old, we need all of the prayer that you can send our way!

Moving forward we are making plans for a very busy spring. We thank you all for your continued prayer and support and ask that you would remember us this next month in the following ways:

• Opportunities to share during the Easter season.
• Matt's training this week and two more within the next month.
• Continued energy and health for Andrea as she is now 7 months pregnant.
• Elliot's allergy issues.

*If you would like to receive our monthly newsletter written by Andrea please send us your email address or leave it in the comment section below.

Boyd Family Update

Friends, family, and partners is ministry we wanted to let you know that 2013 has started off extremely busy, but it has also been a great start. To start out the new year we spent two weeks in Taipei, Taiwan for Matt to finish up his final two courses for his M.Div. He is currently finishing up his final writing assignment and although he will not walk to graduate until we are stateside, as a family we are proud of him and all of the other guys in his international church planting cohort.

The time in Taipei was also refreshing as we were with 15 other families that are serving internationally. Andrea was able to spend time with all of the other wives where they were able to study God's Word, fellowship, and shed a few tears. You do not fully realize how much you need to step outside of your current state sometimes until you actually get the opportunity. Elliot also enjoyed his time of playing with all of the other children and we want to express our gratitude to the volunteers that came out the first week and provided free childcare as a blessing to us all.

Returning from Taiwan we hit reverse culture shock as Taipei is a very modern city and perhaps the cleanest that we have ever been to visit. We hit the ground running by playing catch up on our life in S. Asia. Matt started organizing his next training and also took up some local opportunities to teach in a church that is in a nearby village. It is amazing how God will bring different leaders into Matt's life that our desperately desiring assistance in the equipping of their people to be sent out on mission.

Andrea is progressing along in her pregnancy and in case you missed our announcement, we found out that baby number two is going to be a boy! We are very excited as a family and Andrea grew up with four men in her house so she is fully prepared for three. She is continuing to disciple women in the red light district and teach one rescued lady art as a possible way to generate future income. God continues to deepen friendships with neighbors and we ask that you would pray with us for one particular lady as she is reading the Bible and asking many questions.

Please continue to pray for us as we desire to be very strategic in 2013 in our ministry here. Matt is working on fully developing his intense discipleship group of church planters, and at the same time working towards the goal of working through his close national partners so that the work never depends on him. We are excited to see the people of S. Asia continue to respond to the gospel and make disciples of them that will continue to advance the Kingdom of God here.

Thank you for your prayer and support, we ask that you remember us in the following ways:

• Friend of Andrea's asking questions about Jesus.
• Matt's development of his discipleship group and national partners.
• To be strategic in 2013.
• Elliot's allergies.

Celebrating Christmas in S. Asia

Here we are with Christmas Eve upon us and although tomorrow we plan to celebrate Christmas primarily as a family and with a few other close friends in a very American way, we wanted to share what celebrating Christmas over the last month has looked like for us in S. Asia.

Local Nepali congregation caroling

Elliot in his first Christmas dance competition 

Playing Joseph and Mary for the red light district ministry

Decorating the house for our party with neighbors

Another local church caroling

Traditional Nepali song and dance

A mix of Indian food with American sweets 

Matt telling the Christmas story to the children

Playing games

Time to get our grub on!

Elliot with his new buddy

The beautiful woman that helped make all of this possible!

Elliot opening an early gift from a friend.

To think all of the above has happened in the last two weeks and we still have a Christmas eve dinner to attend, a Christmas day dinner with two other families, and one more Christmas party. We pray that this update finds you all well as we celebrate the birth of our Savior into the world! Merry Christmas from the Boyd family!

Latin Americans Serving in S. Asia

This past week we have been extremely busy as we moved from our house into a new apartment (pictures to come soon) and we immediately hosted our first team completely by ourselves. This team was made up of five Spanish speakers that all now live in the Chicago area. It was an exciting trip as they are just now exploring how their Spanish congregation can be involved with God's greater mission around the world.

During their time here we spent two days doing evangelism out in nearby villages and saw many people come to follow Christ. This was exciting to see and we are already planning follow up as we want to see these new believers get baptized and start getting discipled.

We also were able to partner with a national to start a new church planting training set, which had over 40 people attend. We spent Sunday morning worshipping along side these brothers and sisters on a dirt floor with a tarp over our heads. Worshipping together really impacted the team as they saw how God is moving in this part of the world.

Aside from that we were also able to take a fun day up into the famous hills of Darjeeling (Queen of the hills) and see some amazing views of Mt. Kangchenjunga, the third largest mountain in the world. This allowed for a little down time as we ran hard the first few days and it also was a good place to debrief what the team had witnessed their first few days in town. This church is just now knocking on the door of internationally service, but we can already tell that God is going to use them in mighty ways.

We want to thank you all who were lifting us and this team up during their time here. We saw God move and look forward to see what he does through this group in the future. As you enter into a new week please remember us in the following ways:

• Hosting a Christmas Party for friends and neighbors 
• Our first Christmas away from family
• Decision making in regards to ministry here this upcoming year
• Upcoming travel to Taiwan for Matt's modular classes

Following the Light of the World

"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

John 8:12

In recent days we have continually returned to this verse as this week one of the largest Hindu festivals of the year, Diwali, has been celebrated all over the world. It is popularly known as the festival of lights and is typically a five day festival celebrated with parties, dancing, food, lights, and fireworks. For Hindus this is one of the most important festivals of the year and is traditionally celebrated with ones family. In honor of this holiday, lights are strung up everywhere, appearing similar to Christmas, and candles in clay pots are put all over ones house. The oil from the candles are supposed to represent the triumph of good over evil. In addition these lights are left on over night as a way to make Lakshmi the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity, fortune, and beauty to feel welcome in ones home. 

In addition to the lights everywhere, fireworks is another huge part of this holiday. Going off during the day some and all through the night. In our city fireworks typically started at dark, 5:30, and continued into the early hours of the morning. The main reason for fireworks is that it is believed to drive away evil spirits, especially ones that would interfere with Lakshmi finding her way. 

On the surface level this holiday seems like a lot of fun and in fact if I (Matt) were a Hindu I think that this would be my favorite holiday based on the lights and fireworks alone. But the truth is that this holiday represents the 1.1 billion Hindus in the world that are still walking in darkness as they have yet to follow the true light of the world in Jesus.

Our prayer has been and will continue to be that during this holiday season that the light of this world (Jesus) would make himself known in this dark place. The people are searching, they are already worshipping, but are left with no hope for their future. This has been an eye opening time for us being that it is our first Diwali and we hope that as we live our daily lives that we are able to show the people the light that we follow in Jesus.

Vacation/Summit Retreat

In part 2 you will find just a sample of pictures from our vacation and retreat in October. Also at the bottom you will find a few ways that you can remember us as you get ready to enter into the holiday season in the US.

River in Buenos Aires

Good friends.

Family photo, Elliot is not so happy.

Anticipating our last flight to our final destination.

Elliot meeting family for the first time.

The men.

Bhopal, family picture.

The End.

Please remember us in the following ways:

• Matt: Upcoming meetings with nationals and to use wisdom in choosing a discipleship group.
• Andrea: Continued conversations that lead to sharing the good news.
• Elliot: Complete healing from an ongoing chest infection due to moldy conditions.
• As a Family: Wisdom in creative ways to share during a huge festival season here.