Buczak Buzz~August 2013

Who's afraid of a little dirt?

Aircraft mechanics are excellent painters.

I keep telling myself, “Just keep moving.” Packing and moving can be very overwhelming, but I just have to keep moving. My day of rest will come… eventually.

We are finally within reach of leaving the country, so we have reserved our airline tickets to France. We are scheduled to leave on August 25^th. With only three and a half weeks left to go, our heads are spinning with things that need to be done before we can leave. Rather than list ALL of the things we need to do and bore you to death, I’ll just major on the highlights.

Our commissioning service will be held on August 11^th at 6pm at Edgewood Bible Church. Ryan and I would be honored to have you join us for this very monumental occasion in our lives. Thanks to Calvary Heights Baptist Church of Elma, NY, Ryan’s parents will be able to attend this service. We will be so very grateful to have them and especially grateful to their church for flying them out.

Please pray for us on August 12-14. Ryan and I will be driving down to San Francisco to apply in person (required) for our French visas. The consulate warns that visas may take up to thirty days to be processed, but we are praying that they will be willing to expedite them. Most of our friends received theirs within a week so we are praying for the same to happen for us as we could not get an earlier appointment.

Lastly, we are so thankful for our new friends who have joined our support team. We are blessed to have such a wonderful team of supporters teaming with us as we take the gospel to remote parts of Togo and West Africa. We would brag on every one of these people, but we will save that for Heaven when we all see Jesus! We are still in need of $227 in monthly support commitments and $6,000 in one-time Outfit and Passage funds. We are praying and trusting that God will provide. Might God use you?

I’ll mention just one last prayer request before I get moving again. Would you please pray for us and our families as we cherish just a few more days together before our leave? The thought of taking our girls from their grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. breaks my heart every time. Please pray that these days would be memorable and fun, but that God’s presence would be clearly felt. For this we will honor and glorify Him.

God Bless,

Ryan, Stephanie, Leslie, and AnnMarie

13, 12, 11,... to July 15th

Mr. Gnamssa is the man crouched down behind the little kid in red. This is him with a small handful of his children.

Some of the Gnamssa children we took to a Bible study.

Me with a Gnamssa girl. She is probably 7 or 8 now!

Dear Friends,

We have two urgent requests to send your way today. The first comes all the way from Togo. As you may remember, the Gnamssa family was a family that we met and had opportunity to minister to when we were in Togo back in 2007. After spending some time with this family and getting to know them a little bit through our translator, Mr. Gnamssa told us that when we return to Togo he wants to "give" us his children so that they may be our disciples. As far as we know, to this day, Mr. Gnamssa and his children still live daily without the Lord Jesus. We got word from our friend and translator, Komi, yesterday that Mr. Gnamssa is very sick and may die before we return to Togo. The thought of Mr. Gnamssa dying without the grace of our Lord Jesus bothers us very much. We know that God loves Mr. Gnamssa and we ask that you join us in praying that God would bring someone to him in his sickness to share the gospel with him and that he would accept Jesus' free gift of salvation. We are also praying that if it is God's will, he might heal Mr. Gnamssa. I'm sure it would be very difficult for his family both emotionally and financially if something were to happen to him.

Our second prayer request seems urgent, but we know that God's timing is always perfect. Today, our support level is at 91% and our goal date to have 100% is in 13 days, July 15th. We are encouraged by so many of you who we KNOW are praying that our support requirement would be met by July 15th. We are blessed and thankful for your faithfulness not to us, but to the Lord concerning His ministry for us (and you) in Togo. Please keep it up. We know that our God is not lacking anything and if it is His will, we will be moving forward in August. Would you consider financially supporting this ministry to Togo?

As for our family, this past month has been very... dental. Ryan's teeth are now up to date, I got my wisdom teeth taken out, and the girls are in good shape. AnnMarie celebrated her 2nd birthday on the 20th, and Leslie continues to learn to read. We have good days and difficult days just like everyone, but we are thankful that God uses all things to teach us so that we may learn and bring glory to His name.

We want to wish all of you a happy Independence Day! I have been reading From Sea to Shining Sea by Peter Marshall and David Manuel and am reminded of how God has blessed this country through many great named and unnamed men by prayer and dedication. May we continue to pray for our beautiful country and trust that God is completely able to change the heart of our country again. Have a wonderful weekend praising the Lord with fireworks! (if that's legal in your area)

Yours in Christ,
Ryan, Stephanie, Leslie, and AnnMarie