How Deep the Father's Love for Us

How Deep the Father's Love for Us
by Pillips Craig & Dean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYV7hpD9JTI&feature=player_embedded#!

How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
And make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the man upon the cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Quote of the Week

“Yes, dearest Amy, He has lent you to me all these years. He only knows what a strength, comfort and joy you have been to me. In sorrow He made you my staff and solace, in loneliness my more-than-child companion, and in gladness by bright and merry-hearted sympathizer. So, darling, when He asks you now to go away from within my reach, can I say nay? No, no, Amy, He is yours—you are His to take you where He pleases and use you as He pleases. . . .All day He has help me, and my heart unfailingly says, ‘Go ye.’ ” – the response of Amy Carmichael’s mother to let her daughter go

Buczak Buzz~July 2010

Praises
In our last letter we asked you to pray for opportunities for Ryan to share the gospel with his co-workers. The day after we sent that letter by email one of Ryan’s co-workers asked Ryan about the gospel. It gave Ryan the perfect opportunity to share about what Jesus has done on the cross for him. Your prayers are being answered! Please continue praying for more opportunities for both of us.

We also asked you to pray for Stephanie as she makes phone calls to churches and pastors on Tuesdays and Thursdays requesting to share about Togo. Those prayers were also felt. She made 54 phone calls and was able to make speaking engagements in six churches! One day, we got an engagement on the first cold call of the day! Please keep praying. The nervousness is still there.

We had the privilege of sharing in Deer Park, WA at Happy Home Community Church last Sunday (7/11). Thank you Happy Home and Mr. and Mrs. Purdy for your hospitality toward us. It was so nice to get out of the city, get some fresh air, and see the night stars!

Prayer Requests
Please pray for us as we travel to Harrisburg, PA July 18-25. We will be attending a Missionary Enrichment (ME) conference with ABWE. Immediately following ME we will be attending a Togo aviation meeting. This meeting will be attended by those of us who plan to go to Togo as missionary aviators as well as our Africa representative and the ABWE Air representatives. Please pray that the Togo aviation meeting will be profitable as we lay some of the foundations for our team such as a purpose statement and mission. We will also be discussing what the cost to run the ministry may look like.

Since we’ll be on the east coast and somewhat close to Ryan’s family, we will also be visiting his family for the weekend. Leslie will get to meet her aunt, uncle, and cousins for the first time. We can’t wait!

All this talk about the Buczaks and not much about Togo! Well, the hospital project in Mango is still in progress. The biggest concern of the moment is that they are having trouble digging deep enough to get to water for the new hospital in Mango. Please pray that the next time they drill, water will be found in abundance. I can’t wait to report to you that your prayers have been answered again!!! The gospel is going out in Mango. Keep praying for results.

May the glories of the cross be evident as you seek to know Him more.

Many Blessings!
Ryan, Stephanie, and Leslie

Would you consider partnering with us financially?
We need 400 families to commit to $11.25 per month or 200 families to commit to $22.50.

To Give:
Go to www.abwe.org/give
Put Buczak/0134443 where it asks for the missionary name/account number
Enter the amount you’d like to give
Click “Donate Now”
If you’d like to give specifically to flight costs, please note it with your gift.

If you intend to donate on a regular basis in the future, would you let us know by filling out a non-binding commitment form at www.abwe.org/give/commit-to-support-a-missionary/. This lets us keep track of our support level and helps us to plan accordingly.

Thanks so much for your
contribution!

Buczak Buzz~June 2010

"Oh Magnify the LORD with me; and let us exalt his name together." Psalm 34:3

Praises:

Ryan got a job with a wonderful company working once again in aircraft maintenance. This has turned out to be a blessing. Ryan works for a Christian boss and enjoys working in his field of expertise. He has had opportunity to work on a larger variety of aircraft. He plans to fly often this summer, and Lord willing, acquire his seaplane rating.

We’ve moved to Edgewood which is closer to our sending church. We have been able to participate more with our church and grow in fellowship with the believers there. Ryan is participating in a men’s Bible study before work on Friday mornings. Stephanie has been a part of the women’s Bible study on Thursday mornings. We were also both privileged to participate in a parenting course with William Farley called Gospel Powered Parenting. This course blessed us with more than just parenting tips. It has been helping us to refocus on the gospel (that Jesus died on the cross to pay the pentalty for our sins and rose again on the third day so that we might be declared righteous!) and its very deep impact on every area of our lives, including missions.

We have visited Grace Baptist Church of Bellingham and Hobart Community Church. Grace Baptist is a “Togo minded” church. They will be sending a group to the northern hospital project in Mango, Togo this August. It was a pleasure to fellowship with them and we look forward to hearing about their trip when they return. Hobart was a church where Stephanie went for youth group as a teenager. It was fun to reconnect with old friends. May our Lord bless the believers in these churches as they seek to invite others to join our Father in glorifying our Lord for what He has done for us.

Prayer Requests:

Please pray that Ryan would be bold to share the importance of the cross of Jesus with those who are not saved in his new workplace.

Please pray that we would grow closer to the Lord and to each other as a family as we learn how to be “gospel powered” in our parenting, marriage, mission, etc.

Stephanie makes calls to churches every Tuesday and Thursday requesting the privilege of sharing our ministry to Togo in churches. This makes her very nervous. Please pray for calmness of nerves, that Leslie would take long naps on these days, and that we would be able to completely fill our fall calendar with speaking engagements.

We have some tentative dates set up for late summer and early fall. We look forward to traveling to Harrisburg, PA July 18-25 for Missionary Enrichment Conference and a Togo Aviation meeting. We also plan to travel to North Carolina in October to visit the church we attended while we lived there. Final dates for that trip have not been established.

Thank you for those of you who pray for us on a regular basis. Our Lord hears and answers your prayers.

Many Blessings!

Ryan, Stephanie, and Leslie Buczak

Special Thanks

We’d like to extend a special thanks to the Sunday School classes of Edgewood Bible Church and to those who have given specifically to the cost of Ryan’s flight time. To date, over $2400 has been raised!

With an agreement between Ryan and some aircraft owners this has the potential of covering over 40 of the 100 hours of needed flight!

Thanks so much!!!!

Quote from Nate Saint

“And people who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we are wasting our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives . . . and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.” – Nate Saint –

God Won!

Below is an excerpt from the letter of a future co-missionary in Togo, Sharon Rahilly. Ryan and I just can't wait to see this ministry first hand. I hope you find it encouraging as we did.

I wrote “God Won!” on the subject line of this prayer update. In reference to that, I realize that He always does win – but sometimes He allows us to clearly see His victory! That happened a little over a week ago when I drove to a village outside of Lome for the funeral of the father of one of our nurses. One of the things I ask when hearing that a person has died is whether or not he had trusted in Christ for his salvation. When I asked that about this older gentlemen, I was told that about six months ago, after repeatedly hearing what Jesus Christ had done for him, he asked Him to be his Savior! Apparently his life totally changed as he experienced God’s forgiveness and God’s peace! Most of this man’s immediate family had made a similar decision for Christ – so, though sorrowful about the separation, they were rejoicing in knowing that he was with his Lord. However, the large extended family were fetish worshipers. Because of that, the decision had been made to allow both groups (Christian believers and fetish worshipers) to have a part in the funeral service. Our local pastor (Pastor Togbe) made the trip to Lome to preach the funeral service; he was accompanied by the choir from his church. The first part of the service consisted of a wonderful message, a testimony from the oldest son about how his father’s life had changed after his salvation, and lots of great singing by the choir. Then it was the designated time for the fetish ceremony to begin. The drums were already in place. There was a pause. But nothing happened. Suddenly I noticed some of our believers with huge smiles on their faces! According to the reports that I heard, one of three things happened (or perhaps all three): the person who was to play the African drums for the fetish ceremony had left the funeral service during the preaching of Pastor Togbe and did not return; the chief of the extended family had left the service during the preaching and was nowhere to be found; and the villagers themselves refused to allow the fetish ceremony! The bottom line was that no fetish ceremony was performed! As one friend said later, “God won!” I could not help but smile and praise God as we saw His power once again! And a reminder of the fact that, as strong as Satan is, our God is much stronger!!

Let me add an addendum about the funeral. I just talked with Virginie this morning – the nurse whose father died. She told me the rest of the story! She said that the evening of the funeral, an older man came to her brother and told him that he had been very interested in the message about salvation. He has been like a grandfather to the extended family. He is not only a strong fetisher, he is a sorcerer/charlatan – he is the one who tells others what sacrifices to make, what fetishes to buy/worship. As he talked with Virginie’s older brother, he said that he realized that his fetishes did not count for anything – and that he wanted to follow Jesus Christ! Virginie’s brother explained that Jesus had died for him, that He had taken his sins on Himself – and that salvation from sin and assurance of heaven was available through faith in Christ alone. That older gentleman made the decision right then to follow Christ. Not only did he make that decision verbally – he then said that he wanted to destroy all of his fetishes! So he did – burning them publicly! He desperately needs our prayers – people in the village do not understand his decision. They are coming to him and saying, “you have been our savior (the chief fetisher); now you are abandoning us”. There is anger on the part of the villagers. This is a very new believer who is being strongly attacked for choosing to follow Christ. Please pray for him!

The story is not over! Virginie and her family saw such opportunity to talk with other villagers that they returned to their village this past Sunday. They went door-to-door sharing the wonderful news of Jesus Christ. They even decided to have a church service in the village. Approximately 30 people came to that service; many of them said that they wanted to accept Christ as Savior – including the chief of the village! Wow – if that does not make a person ready to jump up and down with joy!!! Some of the villagers asked why their village has been neglected so that there is no church there. Virginie’s brother lives about 10 miles away; he is a strong believer and is offering to go to the village on Sundays to teach the people! Please pray for these villagers as well. God is doing an incredible work in this village and in others!!

The same Sunday that the “grandfather” was destroying his fetishes in Virginie’s village, there was also a fetish burning service at our church in Kaduasso-Kope – and another wonderful illustration of how “God won” in the life of a young man, Kedeyo Komi, from a nearby village who had given his life to Christ. That Sunday morning, Pastor Martouka taught about idolatry. He asked how many of the people there had been involved in worshipping idols. Almost every hand in that little thatched roof church building went up! Following the teaching, Komi brought his sack of fetishes (shells, carved wooden items, bottles, incense) to the front of the church. There he described each of the fetishes that he had, and explained how Jesus Christ had delivered him from the fear he lived with as he worshipped those idols. Komi and the pastor then took his fetishes just outside the church, placed them on a large bundle of sticks, poured kerosene on top, and lit the fire! We watched and sang as those fetishes burned! At the end of the burning service, the pastor had Komi kneel at the front of the church – and then, as we held hands in a circle around him, Pastor Martouka committed this young man to the God Who truly loves him and the God Who alone is powerful enough to protect him! What an incredible time!

Truly, Satan is at work worldwide. But Satan is already defeated – for eternity, as well as in the hearts and lives of those who belong to Christ now! Please pray for Komi – that his faith would hold firm during the testing that is bound to come! Pray for Pastor Martouka as he serves in these villages! Pray for our Community Health Evangelism (CHE) teams as they invade Satan’s territory each week, sharing the wonderful news that freedom is offered through Jesus Christ! Pray for the people in Virginie’s village and for Virginie’s brother as he teaches them about following the one true God!

Thank you for standing with each of us here in Togo through your prayers! You are an essential part of what God is doing – and your prayers are necessary in the ongoing battle for souls in this part of the world!

Serving our Lord together,

Sharon

Dave's Bone Marrow Transplant Wednesday

My heart is broken. I just read my Big Brother's blog and my heart aches for his healing. The possibility of Dave's death is real, but I choose not to acknowledge it. Cancer is like the scarlet letter only instead of an "A" sewn onto his chest it's a giant cursive "C". Please pray for Dave this week as he faces chemo in preparation for his bone marrow transplant on Wednesday. No, a donor was not found. Instead, he harvested his own cells. These cells are not free from cancer, but they buy him quite a bit of time. The doctor has told him that this transplant will buy him 10 years with chemo every six months. Oh, if only he would be healed... or better yet, maybe Jesus might come today.

Big Brother

Praying for you oh brother of mine
That you will sense God’s love divine
That you will have peace to understand
On the days you can’t trace God’s hand

Praying for you oh brother of mine
Trusting He has a plan in mind
If it’s in His plan, I pray He’ll heal
If not, to Him be glory still

And yet, I pray for faith from Him
That maybe if only just this time
He’ll heal your body miraculously
This prayer I pray so selfishly

Praying for you oh brother of mine
That God will give you strength divine
Praying for you oh brother of mine
And thanking God that we have this time

With Love, Stephanie