A very happy New Year to you and loved ones!

1. A new year is a good time to look back and look forward. I have just come out of the Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks, California. For those of you who are not familiar with Southern California, Thousand Oaks is a small town of some 130,000 souls, right on the border of Los Angeles.
2. Last Tuesday around 11:00 a.m., I experienced severe abdominal pains. By 5:00 p.m., the pains were so severe that my doctor advised me to go straight to the Emergency Room. Beverley, my wife of more than five decades, rushed me there. Dealing with the trauma of the ER* was a challenge of serious proportions. The place was crowded with suffering humanity in all shapes and sizes. Mothers carried crying babies, farmers stoically bore the pain of cuts and fractures, and one young woman next to us moaned softly as she suffered the agony of kidney stones. The wait seemed endless with only one harassed person filling out the endless forms for admission. Beverley asked one staff member if I could get a pain killer. She was told, "Sorry, you will just have to wait your turn." My chance to swallow a small but potent pill eventually came around 9:00 p.m. There was no doubt about it: nurses and doctors were better than good, but quite overwhelmed. It has something to do, I am told, with cost cutting and turning a healthy profit. All quite necessary and commendable, I am told, but hard to appreciate when you think your gut is about to burst.
   
   * ER in America means EMERGENCY ROOM. It's where you go for a medical emergency. In the downtown of the big cities, they are often scary places. Sometimes dangerous. Thousand Oaks ER is relatively civilized, no shootings.
3. Around 4:00 or 5:00 a.m., I was finally admitted to the hospital. Earlier, I had been given a CAT scan that revealed I had a blockage of the bowel. That can be a rather nasty thing, and the doctor told me surgery was a real and eminent possibility. The body can endure a blocked or twisted bowel for only so long. Fortunately for me, the little white pill took care of the pain. And time, with God's help, worked a miracle as the inflamed bowel repented of its obstinacy and cleared itself. All told, it was a long two days and nights, made sufferable by a faithful wife, family, friends, and dedicated doctors and nurses who work long hours under difficult circumstances. These doctors and nurses are the heroes of America's traumatized health care system. Hooray for them!
4. I am now home and feeling much improved. My diet at present is strained soup and other doleful dishes. But tomorrow, with my indignant guts permission, I plan to add a little more excitement to my menu.
   
   You see, I need to make a complete recovery soon because the big Manila Evangelistic Campaign is coming on. I don't take this lightly. Thousands of souls are at stake. These meetings in Manila's most famous auditorium, the Philippine International Convention Center, could even influence the fate of the nation. I have a sense of destiny about these meetings. This could be my Last Crusade. How long will this body last? Long enough, I am convinced, to fulfill God's plan for my life.
5. So, at the beginning of 2020, I am looking back but looking forward. I need to raise the budget of $500,000.00. Only God and my friends and supporters can help me here. My little team is ready to go. Manila needs Jesus and His Gospel. I am ready for one last battle. I am ready to go.
   
   Please, dear friend, be my partner in what could be the Last Crusade. Please be my partner. I need you now as never before. The hour is late, the clock is ticking. Please write to me today.
   
   With thanks and blessings,
   John Carter

TWO MONTHS TO GO
We are on the launching pad, and the engines are running. The countdown has started.
THE GREAT MEGA MANILA CAMPAIGN IS ONLY WEEKS AWAY.

Aims and objectives:
THE SALVATION OF THOUSANDS OF SOULS AND THE REFORMATION OF SOCIETY. We plan to invite the President and First Lady of the Philippines.

WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE:

• Hundreds of thousands of color brochures printed.
• The most prestigious and best auditorium booked.
• TV and radio stations contacted.
• Hundreds of local churches involved.
• Pre-campaign meetings underway.
• Giant video screens organized.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE:
$500,000.00 must be raised to cover the costs.
THE MONEY IS STARTING TO COME. We are moving ahead in faith.

ALL CAN DO SOMETHING. "ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS FOR GOD, EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD."

SOUND THE BATTLE CRY! WRITE TODAY, TIME IS RUNNING OUT. WE ARE ON THE LAUNCHING PAD AND THE ENGINES ARE RUNNING.

USA write to:
John Carter
The Carter Report
PO Box 1900
Thousand Oaks, CA 91358

Australia write to:
John Carter
The Carter Report
PO Box 861
Terrigal, NSW 2260

You may also give your soul-winning gift on our website: www.cartereport.org

TIME IS SHORT, NOW IS THE TIME TO GIVE AND TO GO. WE ARE MOVING AHEAD. PLEASE BE A PART OF THIS GREAT MISSION OF FAITH.

All donations in the U.S. are tax-deductible

JOHN CARTER'S RECIPE FOR A HAPPY NEW YEAR

1. Choose happiness, because happiness is a choice. Most of us are as happy as we make up our minds to be.
2. Avoid grouchy people. Some people charge your battery, other people suck you dry. Also avoid people who are "religious over much," and who are always trying to impress with their piety or knowledge.
3. Make friends of positive, kind, happy, reliable, good people. Avoid liars like a mangy dog with fleas. Goodness rubs off, and Christianity is not only taught, it is caught.
4. Make it a habit to speak well of others. What goes around comes around, and a dog that will bring a bone will take a bone. Never degenerate to name calling.
5. Don't be a weeping willow, stand up for what you believe is right. Also remember that not every hill is worth a cross. Some arguments are not worth winning.
6. Stay awake, the world is full of cunning, charming crooks, some even in the church. Kindness is not stupidity, and forgiveness is not trust.
7. Don't lend money to friends if you want them to stay your friends.
8. Find a church where Jesus is worshipped, the true Gospel is preached, people are respected, and the preacher is neither boring nor infuriating, legalistic nor liberal.
9. Don't be a Perfectionist. Not only is it bad theology, it is bad for the liver.
10. Be generous. Remember Scrooge of "A Christmas Carol?" The happiest people are the givers who are not waiting for the trumpets. Jesus said, "it is more blessed to give than to receive."
11. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Trust in God, and do your duty. Don't hold grudges. The person who refuses to forgive is like the man who drinks poison and expects the other person to die.
12. Make it a habit to read your Bible every day, preferably out loud, especially the Four Gospels and Romans. Shun spiritual laziness. Remember, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it's been found difficult and not tried."

HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE,
THEREFORE CHOOSE HAPPINESS.