New Year, Same God!
December '24 Newsletter
Happy New Year!
2025 may be the new year, but 2024 was the year-of-new for our family. New defined every season. Every month. New found its way into every crevice of our lives like sand after a day at the beach. New identities. New schedules. New routines. New duties. New environments. New experiences. New friends, family, church, language—pretty much new everything.
And where there’s new, there’s inevitably…
Transition.
Christina transitioned from being a teacher. I transitioned from being a student by graduating from Seminary. We transitioned from a duo to a trio (Thanks, Asher!). We transitioned to roughly half a dozen living spaces. Transition, transition, transition.
And where there’s transition, there are inevitably…
Questions.
Same is familiar. We know what to do with same. New, however, confronts you with questions. New throws you into a dingy, dimly-lit interrogation room, causing you to fumble over your words whether you know the answers or not. Questions begin to bombard you, and there’s no luxury of the right to remain silent.
When we no longer have metrics to measure our success as we did in the school system, do we still feel valuable and find our worth?
When a third human now dictates how our day goes, can we handle the constant self-sacrifice and self-denial?
When it’s Christmas Day and we know there won’t be grandmas and grandpas watching Asher open his first Christmas present, will we still smile and find joy in the holidays?
When there are new anxieties, losses, struggles, aches, pains, arguments, political leaders, personal identities, questions… how do you stay grounded? How do you remain joyful? When there’s so much new, how does your sense of peace remain the same?
The answer lies in the One who is consistent yesterday, today, and tomorrow—the One who stands still when shadows shift.
When facing new, we constantly seek this idol and that idol to handle it. And what happens? It never works. Not one single time. It always fails eventually—worse yet, it always betrays eventually. Meanwhile, our same, consistently good and gracious Father is standing with arms wide open through it all, ever-present and waiting for the prodigals to return. He’s the only one who carries you home unscathed every single time. He always takes you in—better yet, he always blesses.
In fact, he makes you new.
If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
2 Cor 5:17
He whispers secrets through his Word to be heard by those he has renewed:
You’re valuable beyond measure. You’re worth my own precious blood.
As you care for others, first take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Find your emotion not in who is absent, but in who is present. I am Immanuel—God with us. I am the One who enters into your world, then promises to never leave you nor forsake you.
This month our pastor repeated this point multiple times: A Christian doesn’t so much pray for their circumstances to change, but for the courage to face changing circumstances with confidence. And that courage, well, it’s something God loves to give.
When you’re grounded in God’s promises like that, you can rejoice when new comes your way.
And as great as that joy is, it’s only the beginning. It’s but a taste. A glimpse. The tip of the iceberg. There’s so much more to come.
Behold, I am making all things new!
Rev 21:5
Perhaps new isn’t so bad after all.
Happy New Year from Manila.
December Updates:
Simbang Gabi
December kicked off with the women taking a trip through the streets of Novaliches, inviting the neighborhood moms to join them at the church for a women’s night Simbang Gabi.
I suppose you’re wondering what in the world Simbang Gabi means.
Simbang Gabi is a Filipino Catholic cultural tradition with 9 days of devotional gatherings leading up to Christmas (many Filipinos superstitiously believe if you make it to all 9, your wish gets granted!). One night was dedicated to the women of the neighborhood, and I got the opportunity to preach a few nights later.
The First Annual Friends Network-Manila Christmas Party
While keeping our focus on Christ’s birth, we didn’t want to let the opportunity Christmas time brings slip through our fingers. Christmas is a great excuse to gather tons of people together—so that’s what we did! We decided to throw a party, host it in our apartment, and have every person on our team invite a few friends.
It was so. much. fun.
We got to finally put faces to the names we had heard from our fellow teammates, our guests got comfortable with the idea of our home being a gathering place, and new connections were made! We even played a few Otto-family-favorite Christmas games:
So, we’d all like to wish you a very belated…
Christmas at Home
After all the party chaos, things slowed down, but not by much! We handed out 100 bags of homemade Christmas cookies to our neighborhoods, and hosted a 2-day Christmas Eve sleepover for our whole team of Manila Missionaries! By the time Christmas day came, we woke up sick and exhausted (which meant worship at home and a day full of Christmas movies with the team).
Study
Katrina, Chai, Christina, and Brea gathered at a Jazz Cafe for an afternoon of studying through the Gospel of Luke. They hope to make it into a regular thing. Stay tuned!
Growing Friendships
We have so enjoyed deepening our relationships with existing friends, while also being introduced to new friendships that come along, as well!
Pictured from left to right: My Tagalog tutor, Lester, and I. Meeting up with a family we share connections with from our time in China. Trying out joining the Spikeball club at the University of the Philippines.
Speak the Gospel with a Filipino Accent
Now that our first 100 days in the Philippines are up, it’s time to get down to business! We gathered together for a business meeting, discussing the online evangelism tool we’re helping to develop for the Philippines. We are thrilled to be a part of developing something so exciting, and the work overlaps so naturally with the way our ministries are already operating.
Once completed, this video series will seek to help local evangelists facilitate in-person gatherings, discussing contextualized law-gospel topics. The goal is to have the good news connect to our specific context, speaking the gospel with a particularly Filipino accent. If successful, we’re hoping our work will be a model for countries throughout Asia and beyond!
New Year’s Eve
There are fireworks shows, and then there’s your entire city exploding all at once. As you can see, Filipinos like their fireworks.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read our update. We are especially grateful to those of you who have helped make this ministry possible and for trusting the process of these early days. We know many of you have new things coming your way in 2025, and we may not be praying that your circumstances necessarily change, but we will we praying that you have the courage to face the changes with confidence, knowing your Father has you in his caring arms through it all.
Oh… And here’s an Asher photo dump as a reward for those who made it to the end.
He’s obsessed with his mom and loves when she makes gingerbread.
Asher and Amina hit it off as instant forever friends.
That’s all for now! ‘Til next time!
- Micah, Christina, and Asher