“The Christian faith can never be separated
from the soil of sacred events,
from the choice made by God, who wanted to
speak to us…
in a particular place and at a particular
time.” – Pop Benedict XVI
Esteemed Friends and Family (Stakeholders in our
lives),
Christmas
has always been intended as a time to remember the First Coming of Jesus Christ
as well as anticipate the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The joy, anticipation,
and brotherly love we feel at this time of year should be the spirit we feel
everyday as we await our Lord’s triumphal coming as King and Judge. Gospel
ordinances also allow us to experience the First and Second Comings of Christ
personally. The first coming of Christ as Savior in our lives occurs through
the preparatory gospel of faith, repentance, and baptism, while the second
coming of Christ in our lives occurs through the fullness of the gospel, which
is the gospel of endowment. These ritual encounters with God have blessed Chloe
and I greatly as we continue to increase the dominion of our little Kingdom in
Christ. We know with all surety that our Kingdom established by God on earth in
2011 will grow on into the eternities because of the creative knowledge that
God has given us. As stakeholders in our
lives, we want to share with you our ministry, and they ways in which we wait
the Second Coming of our Lord.
Zaytoon
International, a non-profit which Chloe and I helped launch in 2011, is still
changing lives. Zaytoon has always been about facilitating interactions between
Eastern and Western peoples. We believe in peace through understanding.
Sometimes increased understanding challenges our core paradigms, but with
courage we can change them. For the past 4 years we have been facilitating
internships to Jordan for American college students in all types of areas. We
have placed interns at the UN, the Ministry of Social Development, the Royal
Scientific Society, the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation,
Ernst & Young, and several others. Our interns have gone on to take
positions at several prestigious organizations like Disneyland, Morgan Stanley,
Azteca Systems, and Oasis 500 among others. In each case, they said that it was
their experience in the Middle East that their future employers wanted to hear
about most. While we are always pleased to hear about the difference our
internships make in students’ professional lives, we are most excited to see
them change their worldview as they interact with our Arab family. We have been
blessed to come to know many great people across Egypt and Jordan who work in
all areas of government and business. We have also been blessed to share a
close association with the AMAR foundation. AMAR was started by the Baroness of
Winterbourne, and is patroned by Prince Charles of the UK. We have had the
pleasure of meeting with the Baroness, and her CEO, for the second time this
year to discuss issues in the region. As always, the Baroness displayed great
knowledge of facts on the ground.
Motus,
our consulting company, is completing its third year of operation, and we could
not be happier with the impact we are also having through this new
organization. Last year we finished up our work helping Thrive-Gulu develop
organizationally so that they can continue to help rebuild the community of
Gulu, Uganda. This year we have had the opportunity to teach some great
workshops at Columbia University’s Middle Eastern Research Center in Amman,
Jordan, as well as develop a working relationship with other great
organizations such as IRADA and InfoGraph. Our Motus family, however, was very
sad to experience the passing of Ralph Brown, one of our six partners, in
August of this year. Ralph Brown was a great mentor, friend, and one of the key
people who lead me to also take up a career as a scholar. We carry him always
in our hearts.
As if
working with Chloe and our friends (our Framily) on two new companies with
international operations was not enough, I have continued to progress through
the ranks of Academia. First, I was in Peru this summer conducting research on
innovation adoption within developing tribal communities. It was a blast to
collect data, and work with both sociologists and engineers to provide new
knowledge that can help Global Engineering Alliance with their mission in that
area. Also, after interviewing with USC, Rice University, London Business
School, and Cornell, I decided to undertake my doctoral work at Cornell with
Pamela Tolbert and Wes Sine. Chloe and I feel absolutely blessed with the
opportunity to be in New York at such a prestigious educational institution.
Cornell, and its faculty, have given us the resources to pursue a research
agenda on entrepreneurship and strategy in developing areas that we are sure
will provide important new knowledge to governments and practitioners.
At
Church, I am serving as a Sunday School teacher and a substitute seminary teacher,
while Chloe is serving on the activities committee for the Relief Society. Our
ward family is a close knit community of Saints here in Ithaca. One of the
blessings of organized religion is the instant network you get plugged into
when you move somewhere new. We arrived to find movers, cookies, and a packet
that told us everything we needed to know about the community.
Most
importantly, Chloe and I could not be happier with the growth and development
of our beloved son Tucker. He is tackling both English and Spanish, teaching us
how to use iPads, and playing outside every chance he gets. Chloe is the
absolute center of our home. She is Tucker and I’s master teacher. Her depth
and breadth of knowledge from geology, physics, and geography to literature,
history, and art is astounding. Through Chloe, our home is a base of operations
from which our little team goes forth to create positive social change in the
world. Recently we found out that our team is going to get even bigger
next year. Our second baby is due to arrive on July 10, 2015. We are excited to
be a part of the creation of new life, and we know that this child will be an
important asset to our family as we carry on our work as a family to bless the
world.
This
year took us to London, Houston, Portland, Seattle, the Middle East, Peru,
Hawaii, and New York. Next year should take us to other new places to explore,
and have positive impact. We know that we could not fulfill our roles in the
world without your support through the years. Remember at this Christmas time
that “God never gives someone a gift that they are not capable of receiving. If
he gives us the gift of Christmas, it is because we all have the ability to
understand and receive it” (Pope Francis). Let us all receive and share the
gift of Christmas.
With
Love,
The
Coles
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