Merry Christmas 2024

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from North Carolina! We wrote last year’s Christmas letter with no idea what 2024 would be like. It has truly been a year of change, growth, and learning new things! It hasn’t been easy. It’s been a walk of faith. And God has been there with us through every step. Our secret to happiness has been looking for things to be grateful for in every situation. If you follow Kristina on Facebook, you’ve probably seen some of her grateful posts! So continuing the spirit of gratitude, we will highlight some of the things we are grateful for as we tell the story of our year.

Spring 2024 was quite the upheaval for us. Making the decision to sell our home, close Kristina’s Kitchen restaurant, and move to North Carolina was the hardest thing we’ve ever done! But God made each step completely clear, so we knew He would take care of us through the transition. 

Kristina’s spring class for her master’s degree was taught by her Uncle John in Columbia, MD at the North American Division Office. It was her very favorite subject: Christian Church History! Daniel got to come too and we spent our 15th wedding anniversary there in a little AirBnB. We also squeezed in a quick trip to Indiana and Michigan to visit Kristina’s Uncle Derral and Uncle John and her cousin Sanna. We attended a concert of Mozart’s Requiem where Daniel’s brother Timothy was one of the performers. 

So here’s part of our spring grateful list: Kristina’s mother and step-dad helped us paint our home in March. Kristina’s brother, Erick, and his wife, Jonalyn, moved to Tennessee, so we enjoyed spending some time with them before we moved. We were excited to witness God’s providence in providing a beautiful new property and church facility for our London church congregation, and to be able to guide the church in the initial phases of purchasing this property. 

In April, we drove to North Carolina to interview with the Carolina Conference for a potential ministry call. While we were reluctant to leave our beloved Kentucky home, we made a list of our “fleeces”. By our return, God had answered every single one! Kristina was even offered a part time job! We prayerfully accepted the call and began working towards our imminent move.

Restaurant family and church family helped us to liquidate and close Kristinas’s Kitchen, and to prepare our home for listing on the market. We couldn’t have done it without them! A new restaurant leased our rental space and purchased all the big restaurant equipment.

In May, we celebrated Daniel’s graduation with his Masters of Ministry degree from Southern Adventist University. This was just a year after he was ordained as a minister at the Eastern Kentucky Camp Meeting in March of 2023, so his graduation completed his pastoral training! 

June ended with tear-filled goodbyes and closed our chapter in Kentucky. Our house was still on the market, but with no offers yet, we would have to spend the summer months in limbo. We left most of our furniture in the house, storing our boxes in a friend’s garage. Two friends graciously agreed to house sit and take care of our kitties. We packed only what we could take with our two cars: our teardrop camper, camping gear, summer clothes, a canoe, and our bicycles. 

We left on Kristina’s birthday at the end of June. We camped one night at our beloved Laurel Lake and spent her birthday enjoying family and a picnic on the water. The next day we set off for North Carolina via the scenic route along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We surveyed the view from the top of Mount Mitchell (the highest peak in North Carolina), drove across the Linn Cove Viaduct, and camped one night near Grandfather Mountain. July 2nd we arrived at the Dan Nicholas Park Campground in Salisbury, which would be our temporary home off and on for the next four months! 

Daniel began his ministry work right away in our new district: Salisbury, Concord, and Kannapolis Seventh-day Adventist Churches. He also became school chaplain for the Salisbury Adventist School, a K-8 elementary school with about 25 students this year. Our churches have become our new family and we are so grateful for all their help and support! 

Kristina started working as a part time secretary. The commute to Charlotte isn’t much different than driving to Somerset or London from our Kentucky home. Being a secretary is a huge change from running her own business and cooking in the kitchen all day! But she is adjusting and is thankful to still be helping with God’s work! 

We’re so grateful to see how God worked in the sale of our Kentucky house and the purchase of our North Carolina home. We received the first offer on our Kentucky home in early September. However, the buyer was applying for an FHA loan, with an approximate closing date of October 18th. We immediately stepped out in faith and put an offer on a home in North Carolina, contingent on the sale of our KY house, and a tentative closing date of October 21. 

Kristina spent two weeks in September in Maryland for two more classes towards her Master’s degree: The Gospel of Mark, and Church Growth and Development. (She drove back to NC through the night, arriving at our camper only minutes before Hurricane Helene hit!) It was a challenge for her to do the homework and reading assignments while camping, unpacking and remodeling, because she didn’t have a desk or office. Nevertheless, she survived both classes and finished the last bit of homework Thanksgiving weekend! She’s enjoying a break from school before her next classes start up again with homework in January!

Our highlight of the fall was taking a trip to Florida for the Rise Southern Union Pastors Convention, the first week of October. It was a wonderful change from camping to be in a comfortable hotel and not having to hike to the bathroom! We enjoyed rest, fellowship, inspiring meetings, and even speed-walked a 5k! On our way back to North Carolina, we spent a few hours at the beach near St Augustine and it was beautiful!!

Despite the obstacles, we saw God’s hand in every detail of our home sale and purchase. We were able to close on both houses exactly on schedule, despite the hiccups, and by late October we were driving back from Kentucky to North Carolina, this time with a loaded U-Haul.

Once again, both our restaurant family and our church family were a huge help in getting our stuff loaded and moved. Our church family here in North Carolina helped us with repainting, unloading the truck, unpacking, and even helped with the cooking until we had a kitchen! We are so grateful for all the love and support we have received! Our kitties moved with us, but it was another month before they could come home. Some friends about an hour away kindly housed and took care of them until Thanksgiving.

Daniel’s mom and his brother Andrew were our first company in our new home, arriving just before Thanksgiving. They helped us finish painting our kitchen by the wee hours of Thanksgiving morning! Daniel’s uncle and family and more dear friends from Alabama joined us, along with church members. On Sabbath, we had nearly 20 people gathered around our table!

Kristina has spent most of December cooking up a storm–for church groups, Christmas parties, church events, work events, and more! She has really missed the kitchen! We are looking forward to having more company here for Christmas, too.

So here’s some grateful recap from this summer/fall. Our teardrop camper kept us dry and comfortable for 5 months of camping. Church members looked out for us through the hot summer, fixing up a church office for Daniel, giving us places to camp and store our things, and providing places to escape the heat. Kristina cooked in the church kitchen or at member’s homes when it was too hot to cook outside. We stayed safe through both Hurricane Debby and Hurricane Helene in our camper. We got a house just in time for the cold weather. 

Our new home is in a quiet neighborhood outside the city limits, with over a half acre of land. Although the land is flat here, we can take an easy day trip to hike or visit the mountains. Kristina has a kitchen again and she will be maintaining her recipe website (kristinaskitchen.org). She plans to start cooking classes again soon. Our kitties are finally home with us. We can have company again. Facebook Marketplace has been a wonderful source for finding used furniture and appliances to make our home more comfortable. And the grateful list continues!

This year was definitely challenging: stretching us and bringing us out of our comfort zone. We miss Kentucky and all our family and friends, and we miss our home in the woods, but we are encouraged knowing that we are where God wants us to be. We are grateful for His care and His patience with our impatience. We are excited to see what He has in store for us in the coming year! 

May God bless you through the new year, 2025. We love you and pray for you. If you’d like to come visit our home, let us know–we love good company! And if you’re in the area, please stop by one of the churches — we always welcome those who wish to worship with us in the spirit of Christ!

Much Love and Hugs, 

Pastor Daniel & Kristina McFeeters