Greetings in Jesus' mighty name!

Let me first say with all my heart;  Merry Christmas!

It's good to be home in the States again for a while.  We have been around a bit, and have seen some of you either in churches or in other places around the Florida/Georgia area.  We look forward to seeing many more of you in the few months to come.  We just got back from visiting our sons and their families in Tennessee and North Carolina. I can truly say that God's grace is being poured out on our sons and their wives, sons and daughters. I am so thankful for this.  God is making my sons mountain men, both physically and spiritually. 

What a wonderful and fruitful year its been for us in Africa!  Lives have been powerfully impacted and eternally changed by the Lord in 2011.  This was as an effective year as I can remember for all of the many different projects we are involved in. Let me share with you some of the statistics;

1. We drove  and ministered in towns and villages over a section of southern Zambia covering a total of  35,000 sq. Kilometers.  That's a bunch of driving, especially considering 70% of that is in tough off road African bush.

2. Our teams spoke to at least 7000 people.  Remember that this is rural ministry, not cities!  Of this number, at least 10, possibly 20 percent of the people were leaders. That means the potential of the reach this year was tremendous.  We have found that when you reach a leader, you reach his people! Anointed preaching and ministry is always taken home and shared with others within the territory of the leader who was touched.  It's exciting to think about the potential numbers that were impacted  as the leaders went home after being touched by God in our many meetings and mentoring sessions.

3. We distributed gospel literature, and handed out literally hundreds of bibles in at least 4 languages.  Some of the villages are so hungry its like handing out food to starving people. They ran and pushed their way to the front where we were, and some almost fought over who got the bibles first!

4. We opened up a new chiefdom.  I was the first person to minister to them publicly in the setting of a traditional old world Africa. 1500 people (military count) listened as I spoke to their chief publicly.   Chief Moomba was so impacted, that he has opened up his land and villages to our Overland Missions teams. I ministered to them again the next day, and 59 came forward.  340 have given their lives to Jesus to date.  As I write this, I have a young man in the chiefdom during this  rainy season with a dirt bike and my GPS.  Nathan Finney is there right now,  living and preaching among them while he  surveys and maps out the villages.  I will write much more of this as the story unfolds!

5. Over all we recorded just under 1300 new believers.  All of you who pray and support us financially were part and parcel of this fruitful report. Nothing could have been done without you!

6. God gave us a couple of strategic relationships with  anointed, Christian, Zambian men and women. These dear friends have already influenced our knowledge of the political and cultural world here. They are tender and powerful, new friends that have the Spirit of God on them. Having God given friends like these is a vital part of permanence and success in Africa.

Personally,  Candi and I are well and full of the joy of the Lord.   The church on the base is growing in stature and people from Livingstone are coming and joining up. The fellowship and unity on the base is wonderful, and everyone has taken a step forward this year in maturity, Word and worship. Some of our challenges this year were tough, but so what?  Life in God  isn't supposed to always be easy. God's rest is not an absence of warfare, but is His presence and peace in the midst of it.  Life is to be lived simply and powerfully, refusing to draw back in discouragement. We are called to overcome all opposition by faith and steadfast endurance. We had challenges this year with politics, people, travel, hard to reach places, Land Rovers, weather, building on our home, labor disputes, snakes, and other things like that.  Candi was even sprayed in the face by a spitting cobra!  It was the last final act of its short  miserable life lol.  When Paul listed his many trials, he called them light afflictions, and not worthy of the Glory to be revealed in us!  If you are troubled today, trust Him and don't quit!  Our testimony is that He is able to put us over the top in victory, and make us who He has called us to be.

Once again, Merry Christmas!  We are celebrating the birth of the Savior of the world!  Lets remember that love was the reason of his coming, and that love is the reason he committed his continuing ministry to us. Lets remember how this Savior showed us to live, and what this Savior commissioned us to do.  Lets not just get caught up in honor of his birthday, but lets be renewed in honor of His life. Lets be refreshed in His presence  and  remember His life and commands to us.  Lets live for him in a renewed passion and fervor!  He is no longer the babe in the manger, He is the Lord Christ, King of the Universe. Jesus the same yesterday, today and forever!

You are all greatly loved and appreciated by your African missionaries. You are prayed for, and treasured by us.  As our agenda stands today, our ministry travels this time home will take us from Florida to New York, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, Georgia and back to Florida.  We will update our ministry travel on face book and by email.  We trust the Lord to see you in some of these meetings.

God bless you!

Jeff, Candi and Isaac Martin