Email Report from Susan and David Elliott on Jon in Iraq

(Matt's Comment: Jon is my prayer partner's son.)

Merry Christmas! This is just an e-mail to thank you very much for all your
prayers for Jon. He is still in Fallujah. We talked to him around 1:00
a.m. Monday morning. Things are still very rough in Fallujah and he thanks
you too for your prayers, note, and boxes.

Details:
On the 17th, Jon had a very close call. His team went into a house and
insurgents opened fore with automatic weapons - AK-47s. One of Jon's
buddies was in right in front of Jon and was shot through the head and
killed. Jon stood within feet of the insurgents, face to face, exchanging
fire. Jon received multiple bullet holes in his uniform (including one
under his left arm!), but was miraculously unhurt! He attributes his
survival to prayer.

Several in Jon's unit have commented on Jon's unusual peace and calm in
terrible situations--they asked if he learned that during his time in the
Fire Department. He told them no, peace comes from God and his Mom is a
Prayer Warrior. (I thank all of you for being prayer warriors!) Jon
commented on the difference between believers and non-believers in combat.
It was very encouraging to David and I to hear such testimonies from Jon
about spiritual matters.

Jon asked us to extend his thanks for the support back home. He appreciates
the letters and food of any kind are a welcome break from MREs! He told us
about some starved, orphan puppies his unit adopted -- the dogs wouldn't eat
some of the MREs! :)

He is especially grateful for the prayers. He is going through tough times
right now with loss of a close combat buddy. He hopes the house clearing
operations will soon end and they will begin rotating through various guard
missions and get back to the base camp a little more frequently in the next
few weeks.

Thanks again for your continued support - it means more to us than we could
ever say.

Love,
Susan and David