Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings from our snowy little town of Taos! We hope this letter finds you all doing well and rejoicing in the blessings of the Lord Jesus whose first coming Christmas is all about!
Speaking of firsts, this past year has been full of them for our little family. On February 25, we welcomed our first child into the world, Isaac Nathan Britton. Isaac means “laughter” and Nathan means “a gift.” Well, this little fellow has certainly been a wonderful gift from God who daily fills our lives with laughter and smiles! We are deeply grateful for the tremendous blessing Isaac is, and we long to raise him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It has been a delight to watch all the “firsts” that have filled these past 9 months of his life: his first time to roll over, his first time to crawl, his first time to eat solids, his first words, etc. We are still waiting, however on those first steps to be taken without assistance and the first tooth to come in!
This has also been a year of firsts for Nathan. He conducted his first memorial service for an elderly church member who passed away, officiated at his first wedding for good friends in Colorado, and will be finishing his first Master’s degree this month! While experiences like these are often part and parcel of a pastor’s job, his main responsibilities continue to be the teaching and preaching of God’s Word in our little church. On Sunday mornings, Nathan has been preaching verse-by-verse through various books of the Bible including I and II Peter, Jonah, and II Timothy. For Wednesday evening Bible studies, his focus as been on teaching through the overall story of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation and looking at how it all works together in perfect harmony. (As his wife and the writer of this letter, I will say that getting to sit under Nathan’s Bible teaching is one of the highlights of my life - he is so gifted!) In addition to graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary this month, Nathan is looking forward to his first trip to Israel and watching the Bible come alive before his very eyes!
Growth in church attendance has been slow but very steady this past year, which is a huge blessing as we continue in the work of revitalizing a church that almost had to close its doors. It’s been exciting to welcome to the congregation several new people who moved to Taos over the last year as well as a few locals! During the summer, along with the help of some churches in Texas, we hosted our first-ever evangelistic sports camp as well as the first-in-a-long-time Vacation Bible School for children in the community. Both events were very well received and resulted in over 60 children/youth hearing the Gospel message! One family whose children attended the VBS in July had given up on finding a solid, Bible-preaching church in Taos; however, they immediately started coming to services and have been coming ever since! They are the first family in the church with children (besides us) and have been a big encouragement in many ways. We have also started our first AWANA club during the week as a way to continue reaching out to community children through a time of games, Bible memory, songs, and lessons.
My year, as the wife and mom of this pastor’s family, was not filled with firsts so much as hundreds, it seems! Hundreds of meals cooked, hundreds of diapers changed, hundreds of messes to clean, hundreds of trips to the grocery store, and hundreds of hours nursing a baby! (Lest you get the wrong idea, I really do love my life!) Of course, giving birth was a very significant and memorable first. Along with it came a few physical complications due to Isaac being a big baby at birth, so I received my first real taste of suffering in the health department and learned much through those rough months. That time passed awhile ago, I am grateful to say, and I have enjoyed getting back to full-time care of my family as well as involvement in church ministries. In May, Nathan, Isaac, and I enjoyed a trip to Estes Park, Colorado in celebration of our first anniversary. The mountain views were absolutely breathtaking and the chance to get a little R&R was so refreshing! We also had a great time this past October meeting up with the Britton clan in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a family reunion.
As we look ahead to the new year, we are eagerly anticipating several significant “seconds”: Nathan’s second season coaching boys’ basketball for the local Christian academy, our second year in ministry at Taos FBC, and the birth of our second baby in July!
In the midst of our celebrations this Christmas of Jesus’ first coming as the Babe in the manger who is the Savior of the world, let us not forget that He is coming a second time - as the Judge of all the earth! May we strive to live in such a way that when He comes, He will be able to say, “Well done, my good and faithful servants.”
Merry Christmas with Love!
Nathan, Katrina, Isaac, and Baby Britton
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