June 2015

When Jesus calmed the storm on the seas in Matthew 8, the disciples marveled saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” We are convinced that God is still in the business of influencing the weather in order to glorify Himself. The day that we had planned to share the climax of the Story of Hope, the death of Jesus on the cross, with the Gnamssa family, the weather looked very much like it would rain on our Bible study, so we prayed that God would hold the rain until the end of the story. While teaching of Jesus’ trial before Pilate, we felt drops here and there on our arms. Ryan leaned over to Leslie and told her to pray that God would continue to hold it off. She did. Leslie prayed fervently and the sprinkles stopped. Then during the crucifixion portion and while talking about the thief on the cross, she felt rain again. “I felt a drop again, Daddy. Should I keep praying?” “Yes, Leslie, keep praying.”

Some of the Gnamssa Family and Komi on the far right

Soon the right moment came for an invitation for Mr. G to accept the gift of salvation by faith, just like the thief on the cross, and he gladly accepted. If you could have heard the victorious laugh that rang out when Mr. Gnamssa realized that he now, because of his new-found faith, can have assurance of being with the Savior in Paradise after his death! Just like the disciples at sea with Jesus, we marveled saying that even the rains obey Him in order that more might know Him.

The week that followed, we shared how Jesus showed his power over death even more by raising from the dead. Another victorious laugh!

As I’ve shared Mr. G’s story with some of my Togolese friends here, the general response is amazement and then always glory to God. They tell me that when they heard that we were working with him and his family, they were concerned for us. Mr. G does not have a good past with missionaries or with other people in general. He’s been labeled as violent, drunk, non-negotiable, etc. One person told me that they even wondered if he had a demon. We on the other hand, have never seen this side of him, which says to me that God clearly and widely opened a door for us to bring the Gospel to him.

The reason I mention all of this is because it couldn’t be clearer to us, that God, by His grace, has allowed us, Ryan and Stephanie Buczak along with our translator, Komi, to be a part of something so much bigger than us. We don’t even know all those who have gone before us to plant seeds with Mr. G, not to mention all of you and your prayers for him as we have shared him with you in churches, in our letters, and on Facebook. This has not been our doing, but we feel privileged to be part of something so wonderful. We hope you know that you have played a significant part in the life of one man and his family. We believe this family is going to have an influence on others in this area for the glory of Jesus! Please continue to pray for us and for the family as we finish teaching the Story of Hope and start a discipleship plan. We meet each Saturday at 3pm London time (also Togo time ;-)).

Work on our house continues at a snail’s pace. We are thankful for our teammate, Jason, who has cut out some time from his schedule to help Ryan rewire the electrical system in our house. No move in date has been set yet.

AnnMarie at the end of the year celebration

AnnMarie will already be celebrating her 4^th birthday on June 20^th. She just finished up her first year in pre-school with “Aunt Donna.” We love our little girl sooooo much. Please continue to pray that Jesus will guide her heart to Himself.

Leslie continues on with school. We will continue slowly through the coming months just to keep from boredom blues as her MK friends are all in the States for the summer. Her arms have healed up well, so apart from the lessons learned about God’s grace despite climbing too high in trees, we’ve almost forgotten that it ever happened.

Our airplane was recently sent back to the States for repairs. We are thankful for $50,000 that various ABWE ministry funds have been able to pool together toward this project. Please pray with us and consider contributing toward the $26,700 that remains to finish this project so that the airplane can return and we can continue reaching the unreached here in Togo. For more information on how to be a part of this ministry visit our website or contact us personally by email or on Facebook.

This email has gotten long, and while we could share so much more with you, I try to keep our letters down to one page and I’ve exceeded that now. Thank you for your continued prayers for us. Our God is the God who hears!

 In Christ,

Ryan, Stephanie, Leslie and AnnMarie