Who is on the Lord’s side? Who will serve the King? Who will be His helpers, other lives to bring? . . . By Thy call of mercy, by Thy grace divine, we are on the Lord’s side: Savior, we are Thine!
It is such a joy to be on the Lord’s side. On a recent plane flight, a young man named Kyle told me that he had spent two years as a volunteer missionary in Ireland. My heart sank when I realized he was Mormon. We discussed the Gospel at length, and he stumbled over its simplicity. Last weekend on another flight I spoke with John, a young medical student at Stanford. He had a very sketchy knowledge of the Bible, and was willing to discuss the Gospel for over an hour. Many of the things I showed him were completely new to him. He had excellent questions about the reliability of Scripture and the necessity for any religious belief to bear up under intense scrutiny. At the end of the conversation, I said, “Even if you go on to accomplish great things in medicine - at the end of your life, God will confront you about your sin problem.” “That’s a big problem,” he replied seriously. “I’m going to investigate these things further.” Please pray for these men to be saved.

Not for weight of glory, not for crown and palm, enter we the army, raise the warrior psalm; but for LOVE that claimeth lives for whom He died . . . By Thy love constraining, by Thy grace divine, we are on the Lord’s side: Savior, we are Thine!
The SGI conference in Detroit (www.studentglobalimpact.com) was an unspeakable blessing. It was like having Thanksgiving dinner every hour for two solid days. My soul was greatly refreshed by the preaching, the music, and the fellowship. I also saw the Lord’s providential hand in the messages that were preached (especially one about making love the theme of my ministry), and in the opportunities He gave me to encourage several college girls about missions.

Chosen to be soldiers in an alien land, Chosen, called, and faithful, for our Captain’s band; In the service royal, let us not grow cold, Let us be right loyal, noble, true, and bold. Master, Thou wilt keep us, by Thy grace divine, Always on the Lord’s side: Savior, always Thine! (Havergal)
God continues to speed me on my way into an alien land. A new supporting church in MA has increased my support level to 93%. I hope to be on the field in just four months!

On the home front
This Christmas season was an extra-special time for my family since some of our extended family came to visit from WI, MI, and TX. We braved the frigid temps in the Rockies and laughed over many games of Rook and Dutch Blitz. Although my sister Karen and her husband were not able to come, we all are rejoicing over an exciting answer to prayer: both of them have been accepted into medical school. My brother Eric flew out for a few days after Christmas, so I was glad to see him one more time before I head to France. We are also thankful that my youngest sister Kelli had a safe trip back to college despite heavy fog that caused a huge car pile-up on the interstate.

Prayer requests for January
Kyle and John: salvation
Visa: Applying in the next few weeks
Quebec ministry trip in March: Pray that the Lord would give me good contacts and resources for French sacred music.
Bible study at assisted living home: Pray for Kathryn to trust Christ; after a recent stroke she asked to speak to Pastor Maxwell, who shared the Gospel with her again.
The Lewis family: My dear friend Pam lost her 22-year-old brother very suddenly the week before Christmas when he died in his sleep. He did profess to know Christ.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support! Be sure to read the second installment of the special eye-witness report from France (see below).

For His glory,
Kristi Colas
PS: Yesterday I asked a little boy if he remembered the name of my puppet (Chef Soufflé). He asked, “Chef Boyardee?” 

Eye-witness report from France
Part 2: Fear & Ignorance
(This special series is courtesy of 20-year-old Deborah Myers, whom I met last spring at a church in Kansas.She recently spent over two months in southern France, where she lived with her pen-pal Delphine and her family. Deborah has an amazing aptitude for languages (inherited from her grandma, who speaks no less than nine) and she adapted well to French. Unless you personally have spent significant time in France, you will probably be stunned by Deborah’s humorous and heartbreaking report.)
 Deborah writes,
“The biggest need I saw in France is simply the lack of availability of the gospel. Also, most of the French people are satisfied with their life, and have no idea how religion could improve anything. They are also quite wary of anything outside of Catholicism, fearful of being caught into a cult.They are also fearful of death. They would constantly say how awful it was to grow older, and that they wished they could live longer. It was almost as if they already felt they were dying, and were terrified. Almost anytime death, or even heaven, was mentioned, the A. family would say, “Oh, no, we’re not in any hurry to go! We’re too young to die. We have time.”

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