Merry Christmas!

Hello dear friends and family,

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas! We celebrate this holiday season full of gratitude for you, and we pray that this month is a time of gathering and rejoicing for your family. For Zach, Addy, and I, we just returned home from four weeks of international mission training: a time of preparation, learning, studying. But most importantly, it was a richly intentional time of fellowship! We came together with 45 missionaries (adults, teens, kids) who are launching onto various mission fields around the world. Like us, they are preparing for cross-cultural life. Our first two weeks of training were rather difficult because all 3 of us caught a respiratory virus and a stomach bug…no fun. We had to adjust our expectations and process the loss we felt being stuck in our rooms while we healed. However, it opened our eyes to our need. We practiced vulnerability and asking for help from our newly made friends, and it was profoundly humbling! We made amazing lifelong friendships and found such refreshment in the deep community at MTI. Our month was packed with training sessions, small group discussions, and individualized coaching. But there was plenty of margin for chats around the fireplaces and walks along the local trails. Adelaide settled into a new routine quickly and thrived in a big family setting! She loved the other babies and children and enjoyed the outdoor playground on the property. We’ve never experienced such a “pause” from the day-to-day life before, and we were able to unplug and breath deep. We worshiped and prayed and sought the Lord. Thank you for praying with purpose and diligence for us while we were away! If you would like to hear more details about our training, please let us know and we would love to share more. Zach and I experienced God’s peace and assurance as we press on toward our call to go to BFA.

Which leads into our next update: we are over 75% supported towards our monthly goal! Praise God!

Thank you to those who joined our team nearly a year ago and to those who joined our team more recently. We consider all of you, your prayers, your friendship, and your financial giving a sign of God’s love and provision for us. Because of your generous hearts it looks very likely that our aim to be in Kandern, Germany by February 2026 will come to pass. So, we enter this winter season with watchfulness and expectancy. We will be seeking the Lord for more connections and more partners to raise an additional 25%, and we welcome your connections towards this goal. Stay tuned for our next letter with details about our plane tickets, moving logistics, and more.

Adelaide’s Addition

Addy is almost 10 months old and crawling all over the place! She can say “Mom” and “Dad”, and she loves to wave (sometimes she practices waving in her sleep). Addy loves to read books, stick out her tongue, clap in excitement, and she loves to dance!

Impact Beyond BFA

On the next page we hope you enjoy reading stories and highlights from BFA families serving globally. These snippets share how God is at work through their work. Your faithful investment in this school makes a difference!

50 churches were planted amongst the Ukrainian diaspora across Germany.	Clean drinking water projects have been completed in 10 villages across North Africa.	A daily feeding program has been launched in Slovakia, providing meals for over 1,000 Roma (Gypsy) children.
For the first time, the Book of Solomon’s Proverbs was published for a Muslim community in West Asia with over 90 million speakers. This translation and publication were a collaboration between Muslims and Christians, allowing the Scripture to be publicly launched in a country that is 98% Muslim.	Following the recent earthquake in North Africa, over 400 families received temporary shelter. Even more significantly, many heard the gospel for the first time. We’ve been able to build ongoing relationships with many of these families—sharing Bible stories and continuing to point them to the hope of Christ.	Refugees from Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Iran were served in four camps in and around Kandern, with many BFA students actively involved. BFA also played a key role by providing care for our children through teachers and staff while missionary parents served in the community.
Every Christmas and Easter, thousands of children in Hungary hear the Gospel message.	Fifteen new global workers have been trained to serve in eight different countries.	National kids who grew up in our ministry are now launching out into their own ministries.
Five church planting teams across the middle east were visited, encouraged and sharpened.	Hundreds of patients in North Africa have been seen, treated, and prayed for.	Over 100 North African villages heard the gospel for the first time in their heart language.
We provided theological and discipleship training to pastors serving in remote mountain villages, equipping them to lead and strengthen their local churches.	Three women - of Ukrainian, Turkish, and Syrian nationalities respectively - meet regularly to read through the Bible together as each of them are seeking.	A Muslim-background refugee near Kandern has begun studying Scripture and is close to becoming a believer.
Ten people heard the gospel for the first time.	A church was planted among an unreached minority people group.	We successfully started the first school in a village without any roads.
A believing couple participated in a training focused on building a Christ-centered, godly marriage.	We have seen new believers grow in their passion to want to know more and more about the Lord.	Basic needs like food, diapers, and formula were provided to 150 families.
Pipes and water towers have been built to provide clean water in surrounding villages, meeting vital physical needs. As a result, the gospel has been shared for the first time in many of these communities.	Five individuals from an unreached people group in an Islamic country have recently been baptized—a powerful sign of God’s work in a place where the gospel is rarely heard.	In our Middle Eastern city, two believing families began meeting in a larger space to welcome unbelievers interested in learning more about faith.
When we serve in the darkest corners of Germany, we can do so with a lighter heart, knowing our children are hearing the Gospel in their classes, chapel, and through you—their teachers—living it out every day!	In the past year, our humanitarian aid projects for displaced people have reached 683 individuals with the Gospel message.	We had the incredible privilege of witnessing three people come to faith, be baptized, and join the local fellowship we’re partnering with.
We have launched the very first Awana Program in Northeast Germany, reaching 15 children with the message of Jesus.	A brand-new Youth Group for German teens is now meeting every Friday night in our new church plant.	A smartphone app is being developed to share Scripture and extend access to a large Muslim community.

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With much love and gratitude,

Zachary & Emma

If you would prayerfully consider joining us by supporting the mission please hit this link: www.OneChallenge.org/give and find us in the drop down menu: Sanford, Zach & Emma 110405.