Christmas Greetings from a very cold Austria!

In a dramatic departure from my typical Christmas letter/newsletter, I am resorting to sending my Christmas greetings via e-mail. I hate this because it's boring and not as personal. Unfortunately, it's necessary this year as I've run out of time to get the newsletters finished and mailed by the end of 2004. I hope you will forgive me this year and will look forward to a "real" newsletter in early 2005.

Focus on Ukraine
I don't know if you've been reading about the presidential elections in Ukraine, but I've been keenly interested in this. I've been to the country twice and OM has two teams that are doing great ministry, mostly with children and youth in Ukraine. For an old political junkee like myself, this stuff is interesting, but also one that has needed a lot of prayer. Corruption, threats, voter tampering, fraud, a run-off election on December 26, and even allegations that the opposition candidate was poisoned with dioxin by the incumbent party.
If you could see pictures of Victor Yuchenko, the opposition candidate, before and after he got sick, you'd hardly know it was the same man.

Our OM team in Rivne, Ukraine, has used the opportunity to make hot soup for the all-night protesters, many of whom have camped out in the city square since the Nov. 21 election. OMers have gone there late at night, passed out soup and hot drinks to the freezing stalwarts, as well as sang songs, shared Bible stories, and for many people, just listened to their stories.

Last week, a woman from the OM Ukraine team stayed with me, as she's working with GE's literature production department during December.
Oksana translates books from English to Ukrainian and then the GE team produces and publishes them. It was very interesting to hear her testimony of how she became of believer in Jesus, despite her family background. Oksana's father is very high in the Ukrainian government, and, during Communism, his department was responsible for persecuting Christians and generally made life miserable for churches and church organizations. Growing up, Oksana was taught that there was no God and that Christians were a cult and sacrified children. When Oksana discovered the truth in Jesus Christ, she rushed home to tell her parents, just sure that they would be happy to hear her good news. Sadly, she was mocked, rejected, and disowned by her parents, who told her that they'd rather her become a prostitute than a Christian!

That was in 1991 and over the years, her parents have welcomed her back home, embraced her again as their daughter, and have softened to God and Christianity, even paid for her to attend Bible School in Hungary. Her father's cell phone now rings to "Amazing Grace," but Oksana is sure he doesn't realize what tune it is!!

In hearing Oksana's story, I was reminded that our God is the God of the impossible. "...but with God all things are possible." (Matthew
19:26) Sometimes we use this phrase flippantly or as a cliche, but I love this scripture verse because it says ALL things, not "some"
things or "most" things, but "all things" are possible with God. I've been reminded over and over again the reality of this verse. And, it's exciting, challenging and motivating for me, day in and day out, as I strive to follow and serve the Lord in my small way.

Meetings, Meetings and More Meetings
I had several meeting trips in November -- the first week to England to represent Central Europe at OM's international financial development committee meeting. Boy, was I out of my league, but I tried to hold my own as the only woman and as the only person not really qualified in the fund raising field. It was good, however, to meet people and to talk about some of the Central Europe projects that need finances and to see how the Lord was providing finances through some of these very people. Even though Central Europe hasn't had a full-time, experienced financial development person in the role for almost two years, the Lord has been faithful and we continue to trust that He will provide us with just the right person.

In the meantime, I have been "released" from some of these responsibilities in order to focus more time on the communications and recruiting work for Central Europe. The financial development work has been taking up a lot of my time, and I actually left those meetings feeling more overwhelmed and underqualified to be in this role. So, someone else has stepped in (Thanks, Dane!) and I am just his assistant, which is much, much, much better for me.

The week following the fin dev meetings, I was in Germany meeting with 60 other OM Europe leaders from Spain to Sweden to Russia to Greece! It was exciting and encouraging to assemble together, to share about our ministries and to see how we can work together better in the future to promote OM's work throughout Europe, not just in our various "areas."

As I've mentioned in past communications, I have been involved in writing and producing an OM Europe brochure and will soon start working on an OM Europe web site. I'm also organizing a Europe presentation team to go to Australia in April-May 2005, and that has been a challenge. But, it seems to be coming together, and I will trust God again for the "impossible."

Christmas in Europe
This will be my first Christmas in Europe and I'm looking forward to it. My niece Samantha, who graduated from college in May, will be visiting for about 10 days and we'll do some traveling/sightseeing while she's here. We'll also celebrate Christmas together with some teammates, which will be a real departure from the typical Barnhart Family Christmas (which is anything but typical!). The temps are cold here and if we'd just get a little snow around December 24, that would be great!

My Christmas wish and prayer for you is for you to know the God of the impossible and to experience His incredible power, ability, love and possibilities for you, even when life seems impossible. And, as always, "I thank my God every time I remember you." Phillipians 1:3

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Becky/Rebecca/Aunt Becky/BeckyB/PB/RB

Prayer Points
1. Praise the Lord for the opportunity to spend Christmas with my niece Samantha here in Europe :-). Pray for safety as we travel to Poland (Dec 19-21) and Prague (Dec 23-24).
2. Pray that January would be a very productive month in finalizing plans for the Europe Presentation Team to Australia (April-May), as well as the Europe brochure and web site.
3. Please continue to pray for a full-time person to take on the Financial Development role for OM Central Europe.
4. Pray for wisdom in planning and scheduling trips for Spring 2005.

Contact Information:
E-mail: becky@ge.om.org
Snail Mail in Austria: Operation Mobilisation, Postfach 25, A-2104 Spillern, Austria
Snail Mail in US: 2444 Allen St., Owensboro, KY 42303
Phone Numbers:
43-2266-80867 (work)
43-2266-72353 (home)
43-676-712-6311 (mobile) - 7 hours ahead of Central Time
Financial Support: OM-USA, P.O. Box 777, Tyrone, GA 30290-0444, Acct. No. BARB801
to give towards OM projects mentioned in this e- mail, please designate the Country and project. Thanks!