April 2015

Our new home in town

Our lives and lists of things to do always seem to get bigger don’t they? Lately for us, that means that Ryan has been busy at the house we told you about in our last letter preparing it for our upcoming move. This kind of physical labor has opened up more doors for Ryan to build relationships and to be a shining light in our new community. Recently, the house had flooding problems due to mud and dirt that had accumulated in a ditch outside of the walls of our house, so Ryan and some guys went out and dug out that ditch with shovels. Many people stopped as they were passing by, because it is not often that they get to see white people doing physical labor (let me assure you that missionaries do physical labor, it’s just not that people see it publically very often). People started calling him “le yovo qui travail” or “the foreigner who works” and soon enough, even the mayor of the region stopped by and thanked Ryan for making the town look better. Truly, he was just getting the flooding away from our house, but it was noticed and people seem to be looking forward to having us living in town with them. Please pray that we would courageously open our mouths to clearly speak the gospel to our new friends.

April 20^th was the one-year anniversary of the death of Ryan’s dad. It’s difficult to explain the grief and emotions that Ryan and his family have been through in this past year and we thank you for your prayers on our behalf. We are constantly reminded that death was not a part of God’s plan for his creation. Recently, one friend of Ryan’s, Mr. K, lost his brother suddenly to illness and then shortly after that, his mother. Ryan has been able to be a friend and comfort to this man and his family during this time as he can identify with the pain of losing a loved one. Somewhere in between the death of Mr. K’s brother and his mother, he switched from attending the Catholic church to the local Bible believing church and has become a Gospel believing Christian. I am reminded that while death is ugly and horrible, Jesus allowed himself to be horrendously murdered so that we could have life. While Ryan’s dad’s death has been a very painful experience, Jesus has used it in Ryan’s life to share the hope of Jesus’ life with others.

On the Gnamssa front, our study through the Bible continues. We have seen some opposition lately, from heavy, heavy rain storms that prevented our translator from making it to pressing Gnamssa family concerns. Two weeks ago, our Bible study was interrupted by a very angry family member concerning a piece of wood cutting equipment. He came storming into the Gnamssa family courtyard during our Bible study just as we were getting into the prophesies in the Old Testament concerning Jesus’ death. Mr. G excused himself and we continued the story with his wives. After finishing, his wives asked us to make sure that we re-do that story with him the following week because they recognized its importance. However, the following week, Mr. G was not able to come again due to another family meeting that happened to fall on the same time slot as our Bible study. Last week he missed the prophesies lesson again as well as the birth of Christ. His wives (and I) seemed disappointed, but we encouraged them to bring him up-to-date on our lessons. The thing is, the following lessons concerning Jesus are, as you know, extremely important. Please pray that there would be no more interruptions on our meetings and continue to pray that the entire family would understand God’s plan of salvation for their own lives.

Our aviation ministry for the moment is unfortunately on hold. After reviewing the condition that we found the airplane in, our team has decided that it is necessary to send the airplane back to the States to have it properly fixed up in a clean environment where parts are readily available. Most of the work could have been done here, but significant corrosion was found on the wing spar (important structural piece between the wings) that can be fixed to the highest level of integrity in the States. Plans are in the making now for significant fund raising on this one-time project. What we really need are some good ground working fund-raisers on your side of the ocean to help us find people who would like to financially participate in getting the gospel to unreached peoples with an airplane. While we are enjoying the multiple opportunities to participate in gospel work right around where we are living, we do believe that our call is to unreached people groups in Togo and the airplane is the tool we plan to use to do that. If you know of some good people who might be interested in this project, could you get them in contact with us, or show them to our website at www.togoaviation.com. Maybe a Sunday school class or Bible study group you know of would like to participate in the replacement of the wing spar, shipping, corrosion control/paint, electronics, etc. See our website.

At home, life continues as usual. Leslie got her stinky casts off last week and is now in splints until her arms finish recovering from her fall. She has continued just fine with her school and play. Lately, we have been asking for prayer for AnnMarie that her interest in family prayer and Bible time would increase. Please pray that God would soften her little heart and that she would soon come to know Jesus as her Savior. Please also pray for Ryan and me as parents, that we would show the gospel of Jesus to our children through our own lives and in discipline.

We thank you very much for your prayers for us and notes of encouragement. May you be encouraged as we pray that our Father would open opportunities for you to share His great message with those He places around you in your life.

Psalm 90:16-17
Let your work appear to Your servants,
And Your glory to their children.
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands.