Dear Supporters, God has showered many blessings on Hard as Nails Ministries this year. Our missionary program in particular has been very fruitful. Dan Downes, a former missionary, is now working as our new Booking Manager and is doing a fantastic job. We were also blessed with the amazing talents of Kristin Laylock and Adam Weisbeck, who completed their stints as missionaries earlier this year. Ryan Krzykowski recently joined us as our new Office Manager, and he has gone above and beyond the call of duty to serve the ministry. On a personal level, we welcomed our third child, John Paul Patrick, on August 20. Yes, we have truly been blessed. Because of these and other blessings, we continue to reach so many young people and impact so many lives, all for the glory of God! It's truly amazing to see how God has brought hope and peace to such troubled hearts. Imagine how gratified we feel when kids tell us things like: • “If you didn't speak I would have killed myself." • “I don’t walk around thinking about cutting or starving myself anymore.” • “The fact you brought the ‘tough guys’ to tears is impressive. The fact you changed the lives of many students is amazing.” • “You’re seriously a life changer. You made me and several other people cry and you broke through our walls... and changed us for good.” • “You helped me get through a lot of things, mostly forgiving people that have hurt me so much.” • “I didn’t think it was possible to change a bunch of teenagers’ lives the way you have.” • “The retreat changed my view on life and I can’t thank you and everyone else enough.” Comments like these let us know that our work is not in vain and that God is transforming these kids’ lives to show them a better way. Your financial support is key to helping us continue our mission. As you know, Hard as Nails’ mission is to awaken youth to the power of God’s love. We were founded to help the growing number of young people who are engaging in self-destructive behavior or are lukewarm in their faith, if they practice at all. Many of them are struggling with suicidal thoughts, abuse, bullying, impurity and addictions of various kinds. We encourage them to strengthen their faith so they can deal with these problems. We also increase awareness of these issues so that more young people, regardless of whether they are struggling or not, will be less apathetic and more motivated and empowered to impact the world around them by growing deeper in their faith. Thanks be to God, we will celebrate our 10th anniversary next year. It is amazing to see how much we've grown in 10 years! As we prepare for this significant milestone, we are striving to expand our programs and services, but we need your assistance. To help young people who are struggling in mind, body and soul within our communities, we rely on the generosity of sympathetic individuals like you. Without your support, we wouldn't be able to serve the youth – our most precious resource – year after year. We hope you’ll be able to support our annual appeal by making a monetary donation. This year our goal is $35,000. Though this may seem like an ambitious target, we need to keep up with the costs we have incurred this year due to the growth of the ministry and to make up for a 30% decline in donations. We have been blessed to see the ministry blossom and grow, but with this growth comes more challenges and expenses. These expenses include the development of our new Prayer App, an exciting tool to help kids across the country who request our prayers; a new office space in Syracuse; increased shipping costs due to the popularity of our merchandise; and increased travel expenses as the ministry expands around the globe. We also need to address a deficit in our events fund that was established to host events in underprivileged areas with limited resources but immense needs. These kids need us too; we can’t abandon them just because they lack the material resources. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution by visiting clicking on donatenow. Your generosity will make a difference by allowing us to continue our work and expand our mission. Even if you’re not in a position to help the ministry financially right now, please keep us in your prayers. Please pray that we may continue to bring Christ to our young people, like those whose comments above have so touched us, so He can save them from the emptiness the world offers. And if you know of others who might be interested in our mission, please spread the word. Thank you in advance for your support, and God bless you all. Have a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year. You're amazing! In Christ, Justin and Mary Fatica