Dear Pastor/Friends,

Congratulations to two of our congregations who have found new pastors. In both cases, the pastors will begin their service in January. First, Pastor Premal, and Kavita, Awasarmal are our newly elected pastoral couple at Fort Worth Westridge. Premal will begin his ministry there on January 19. He will continue to be the director of the East Asian Initiative international student ministry at UTA as well as our district secretary.

Also, Congratulations to Pastors John and Paula Gentry, our newly appointed pastors at Seagraves. John and Paula have served at Abilene Trinity for the past 4 years. We are so grateful for them! The Gentrys served as missionaries in Spanish-speaking countries for many years. They are excited, as is the congregation, about beginning a new Spanish-language ministry in Seagraves! I’m pleased to announce that Pastor Scott Jimenez will be serving as pulpit supply/interim pastor at Trinity.

What a blessing it was on December 1st to install Rev. Stephanie Ruiz as our newly elected pastor at our Wichita Falls Lakeview church. She has been serving as the interim pastor for several months and has been doing a wonderful job. However, we wanted to wait until her husband (and associate pastor), Carlos, returned from his deployment in Kuwait before the official appointment and installation. They are such an awesome couple! Needless to say, there is a great sense of expectancy and excitement about the future!

On November 17th, I had the privilege of traveling up to Dodson where Pastor Kevin Harris and his congregation honored Pastor Al, and Carol, Mixon with special recognition as Pastor Emeritus. Al and Carol served there for over 26 years and are deeply loved and admired. Of course, Al and I have spent a lot of time together over the years on motorcycle trips. I know him well. He is one of the finest pastors, and individuals, I’ve had the privilege of working with.

December is such a busy and fun month on our district. It’s been a great pleasure to see many of you at various zone parties. Each year it seems like, for scheduling reasons, I have to miss one or two of them. This year we weren’t able to be with Ted Taylor and the Amarillo Zone gathering…so I am including their group picture for you to enjoy. They had a great turnout and a wonderful evening of fellowship and worship.

Remaining zone gathers are as follows:

High Plains, December 14th, 1PM, at the Texas Rose Steakhouse in Borger.

Denton/Fort Worth/Metro Mid-Cities, December 16th, 6PM, at the Spring Creak in Arlington.

I distributed the annual tree ornaments in Lubbock, Borger, and Abilene, but most of you will be receiving them by mail this year. They were mailed out on December 11. Be watching for them. I think they turned out very nice this year!

Also, Here is a picture of the Wichita Falls Zone fellowship which was held at WF Lakeview. Allen Hughes is the coordinator.

Pastors, below, please see the dates and registration information for this year’s Shepherds’ Sabbath, which will be held on January 10-12 in Abilene. We are very pleased that Dr. David Graves will be our speaker. Bruno and Gabby Ponce will lead worship. It’s going to be a great weekend. Please make every effort, unless providentially hindered, to register and attend. IT WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL IF YOU REGISTERED BEFORE DECEMBER 18TH.

Also, please be sure to update your congregation’s Ministry Safe participation prior to the district assembly. Each church leader, and particularly teen's and children's workers are asked to receive this vitally important training…as well as undergoing appropriate background checks. Guidance regarding this policy and how to enact it is available here.

Can you believe we are only 2 1/2 months away from the end of the annual church year? It’s definitely time for each pastor to double check your church’s Funding the Mission status. Please make every effort to participate fully in your support of missions, our district, SNU, and our pastors’ pensions. CLICK HERE for the latest update.

Finally, we had the privilege of hosting our district staff Christmas party at our home recently. As you view this picture of our awesome staff and their families, know that each of us feel very grateful for the privilege of serving our awesome WT District family. We wish you a very, very blessed Christmas!

For you and still with you,

Pastor David Downs

Trash or Treasure?

West Texas District NMI Storyteller, Susan Downs

They shared everything…toys, clothes, coats, shoes. Rarely did the dozens of physically and mentally disabled orphans and older sibling groups who lived in the Angel’s Haven Orphanage in Seoul have anything they could call their own. So, years before we even moved to Korea to serve as missionaries, we joined together with friends and church family to provide something special for each one of these precious kids on Christmas.

We first visited Angel’s Haven in the summer of 1984. It was then, through the help of Pastor Cho, Kyu-Hwan, Director of Angel’s Haven, that we first met our oldest daughter, Kimberly, and started the process of adoption. And from that day forward, this compassionate children’s home held a special place in our hearts. Their needs were so great, but with the Lord’s help, donations from Stateside corporations, and generous individual contributors, we were able to provide things like washers and dryers, winter clothing, sneakers, and lots and lots of toys. (One sporting-goods company provided us one year with 200 leather basketballs, among other things. An airline arranged to transport this rather large international shipment without charge. But we all got a good laugh when Pastor Cho informed us that when he started to open the boxes with the basketballs, they were all stamped MADE IN KOREA.)

One particular Christmas, though, when we were living in Seoul, our annual gift presentation didn’t go as planned. We had collected donations from the mission community and foreign school patrons and were ready to transport the gifts from our apartment across town to Angel’s Haven. We loaded the packages into large lawn-and-leaf bags and packed our Kia van to the brim. When our family arrived at the orphanage, our boys lined the director’s office with all the bags of gifts. Many of the children gathered around Pastor Cho, their eyes sparkling with anticipation. He walked to the first bag and opened it. But when he looked up at David, his expression was one of shock, not gratitude or joy. David crossed the room and took a peek into the bag. It was filled with our family’s trash. Our boys had gathered it up and tossed it in among the bags of gifts when they were loading the van. Thankfully, all the others were filled with Christmas presents.

When we were living on the mission field, our family LOVED getting packages and boxes from our LINKS churches. (This program is now called Care & Connections.) I received a still-treasured handsewn quilt from a LINKS church in Indiana. Our boys were gifted their favorite packs of trading cards and sporting goods. Our girls found beloved babydolls nestled in those boxes. David received a valuable antique fountain pen, picked from the prized collection of an elderly Nazarene layman in the States especially for the missionary.

While almost all of the LINKS packages our family received contained welcomed items that reminded us of home, we heard lots of stories of boxes sent to other missionaries that contained more trash than treasure… clothing and coats with all the buttons removed…teabags that had only been used once so that they should be good for at least one more cuppa…used hairnets…worn items that were destined for the trash as soon as they arrived but for which the missionary had been forced to spend precious funds on customs and duty taxes. 

Our current assigned West Texas District Care & Connections/LINKS are the Douglas and Jennifer Mann family. (Doug was our missionary speaker at Family Camp this past summer and did a fantastic job!) Your WT District NMI council encourages you to include them in your Christmas giving this year. For information on how to give, please follow this link: https://storage2.snappages.site/B2VZPJ/assets/files/2024-LINKS-Missionaries_Douglas_Jennifer-49.pdf

As we enter this Holy season of Christmas and prepare for gift-giving, I’m reminded of the old song, “Give of Your Best to the Master” (page 540 of the Nazarene Hymnal, Sing to the Lord.) And from my heart, I pray, “Lord, in light of the great and sacrificial gifts of love, mercy, grace, and salvation that you so freely give, may I, too, give to others as unto you!”