End-of-Year 2008

Dear Friends:

Merry Christmas from C3 Missions International, Inc. ( C3 )! This is an odd end-of year ask from an orphan care ministry quoting horror novelist Stephen King. Hey, it s a different kind of ministry.

Right now, many of us clutch what we have fearful of the economy. I saw this quote the other day from Stephen King, of all people, and it really grabbed me.

A couple of years ago I found out what “you can’t take it with you” means. I found out while I was lying in a ditch at the side of a country road, covered with mud and blood and with the tibia of my right leg poking out the side of my jeans like a branch of a tree taken down in a thunderstorm. I had a MasterCard in my wallet, but when you’re lying in a ditch with broken glass in your hair, no one accepts MasterCard.

…We come in naked and broke. We may be dressed when we go out, but we’re just as broke. Warren Buffet? Going to go out broke. Bill Gates? Going out broke. Tom Hanks? Going out broke. Steve King? Broke. Not a crying dime.

All the money you earn, all the stocks you buy, all the mutual funds you trade all of that is mostly smoke and mirrors. It’s still going to be a quarter-past getting late whether you tell the time on a Timex or a Rolex….

So I want you to consider making your life one long gift to others. And why not? All you have is on loan, anyway. All that lasts is what you pass on….

Giving isn’t about the receiver or the gift but the giver. It’s for the giver. One doesn’t open one’s wallet to improve the world, although it’s nice when that happens; one does it to improve one’s self….

A life of giving not just money, but time and spirit repays. It helps us remember that we may be going out broke, but right now we’re doing O.K. Right now we have the power to do great good for others and for ourselves.

So I ask you to begin giving, and to continue as you begin. I think you’ll find in the end that you got far more than you ever had, and did more good than you ever dreamed.
Stephen King (Author); Reprinted From Twelve Giving Stories, Randy Alcorn, Eternal Perspective Ministries, www.epm.org.

Mr. King gained this humbling insight after a minivan ran over him in June 1999. He learned something that transcends the superficially smart, usually insecure, and always empty Me/More ideology that hardens our hearts.

What I love most about you, my friends and partners in C3 (from 6 year old Isabelle to 85 year old Granville, and everyone in between), is that you get this and live it out. Your hearts are recession-proof. You have a blast knowing that, collectively, we re taking a growing wave of little ones from trash heaps to homes.

Here is our ask. Give generously to your heart s passion. If that s not C3, terrific. Just give to your passion. If that is the C3 cause, terrific. We are seeking an end-of-year giving push that defies the fear of our day. Here is what we have to offer:

Purpose: We will use your donation to house and care for orphaned and abandoned children in some of the poorest places on earth;

Value: We will use 100% of your donation for this purpose, as private donors fund ALL of C3 s operation costs;

Results: Through C3, you ve taken this work to 2,200 children in 54 homes; 52 homes in the finish stage; and 110 homes on deck. Lord willing, we d like to double this growth in 2009. More money in = more children in homes. That s our motive for this ask. No self-interest.

You can make a tax deductible year-end gift to C3 by mailing a donation to the address at the bottom of our letterhead. Or, you can donate online (web address below). We can also make arrangements for non-cash gifts (e.g., cars, boats, time shares, etc ). Finally, we re offering a C3 Christmas Catalog on-line at our website, where you can buy unique gifts for your loved ones everything from goats for our children to new children s homes. If you would like to learn more about C3, and/or would like to peruse the C3 Christmas Catalog, please visit www.c3missions.org/Catalog

Thank you for everything. Enjoy and rejoice this Christmas.
Faithfully yours,
Joseph H. Knittig
C3 Executive Director