___________________________________________________________________________

Dear Friends:

Christmas Greetings of joy, peace and good will to you and your family. We are fortunate that we can have these when many in the world will not experience them this year, as the events of 1993 have shown. One of our joys is this contact with family and friends through our Christmas letters.

We have been keeping busy with our various activities. Wesley is on the Mission committee of Erie Presbytery, World Outreach and Economic Justice committees of Hamilton Conference and Mutuality in Mission of the Division of Mission in Canada. So he spends much time attending meetings and writing reports on them. He was especially excited about the Open Spaces concept of meeting that Hamilton Conference used this year. He is still an elder and member of the Official Board of our Church.

He completed the construction of a new illuminated church sign that he began about three years earlier. It has removable letters, so that various messages can be added to the main information. The other main project this year was the house roof. This required removing the aluminum roofing, adding a sheathing to the rafters and replacing the roofing with many more screws and caulking joints. At the same time he planned to replace some of the panels with fibreglas to make skylights in the living and kitchen areas. Jonathon helped out for a couple of weeks, doing a lot of the work on the roof. But he couldn't wait for his father to design the support structure between the rafters for the fibreglas panels, so left that part to Wesley, who was able to get one panel in place before the cold fall weather ended the project for this year.

Jonathon returned from his overseas travel in mid-July. In his year and a half abroad he visited Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Though he didn't have working visas, he did manage to find some work in each country but Indonesia. He spent nine months in New Zealand and enjoyed the people and climate. Hong Kong was very crowded and very commercialized. There is a lot of employment making goods for export, but the pollution of the air and water was overpowering. Since his return he has been living in Toronto, but has been unable to find steady employment. He has applied for a position in Japan as supervisor of the English Department in a High School. Apparently the Japanese government fills about 2500 such positions each year from English-speaking countries. He should know by March if he is successful in getting the position for next September. He still wants to travel in Europe as well.

I am still involved in our church, Sunday School and UCW; but less Involved in the WCTU than I was. As I expect to have eye surgery next year for cataracts, I am cutting back on activities that require driving to meetings some distance from home. In fact, even now I drive only when necessary and in daylight. My tutoring is a strain too, as I have to look very closely at what I am reading. But I am fortunate to have good health on the whole, and the vision problem can be corrected.

Travel this year took Wesley to Jamaica tor eight days in February and me to Lacombe, Alberta for a week in August. Wesley's tour was sponsored by Five Oaks Centre which is twinned with Madge Saunders Centre in Jamaica. In addition to lectures on the spirituality, culture and economy of that country, they had a trip to Kingston and a couple of days in Montego Bay sightseeing and meeting people. The Canadian WCTU Convention was held on the campus of Canadian Union College - an Adventist College just outside Lacombe. Though the convention only took four days we saved on air fare by staying a week. So it was relaxing, and we were able to take a day trip to the mountains at Banff and Lake Louise.

We enjoyed Evelyn and Eric's visit in July and getting caught up with family news. Their Antarctic-Falkland Islands cruise was disappointing due to stormy weather and poor scheduling. They hope to do an Arctic cruise next summer. Alice had a hip replacement in April, but is still raising pheasants, I believe. Etheridge's recovery from his stroke last November has been slow, though he was getting about with a walker last summer.

News of my family is good. Fred and Margaret are enjoying their grandson whenever they get the opportunity. Thanks to Rob and Faith they had a great family reunion in October to celebrate Margaret's 70th birthday. They brought Margaret's sister and brother from England for two weeks and Nancy from near Vancouver and Ann from Arizona for one week. Janet was able to come for the weekend as she lives in Connecticut. Nancy has just left for three to six months in Japan where she is to edit articles for an English magazine written by Japanese writers. The weekly paper for which she was a reporter ceased publication in October, so she was able to accept this other position.

Peter and Bev have had a busy summer attending several weddings, visiting and entertaining. Peter John is doing very well, working full time at General Motors Axle Plant in St. Catharines. He and Michelle are buying a larger house and plan to move by the end of January. Lori and Bob have another daughter, Hailey, a sister for Courtney and Joshua

We attended the wedding of Muriel's youngest daughter Robin last October in Hamilton. It was an opportunity to see all her family, and to visit with Ruth, Peter and Bev. Ruth's son Ron plans to marry next April, so that will be another opportunity for a family get-together. He has bought a house just north of Dunnville, so Ruth is now alone.

John and Rosalie are expecting another grandchild before Christmas. This will be Cindy's second child and their fifth grandchild. Shawn graduated from York University last June and is now teaching English in Japan and enjoying it very much.

Now it is time to close this letter with warm wishes for the best in health and happiness in the new year.

Irene & Wesley W. Leonard