Buczak Buzz~June 2012

Hello Faithful Friends,

I wanted to send you a quick update on what we're doing. We arrived safely in Minneapolis, MN last night for a one-week course on Islam. We are excited about this class and look forward to learning.

Leslie and AnnMarie did well on the trip across the country. They are definitely ready to be out of the car for a few days. Both girls came down with funny bugs on the trip. AnnMarie broke out in a strange rash and Leslie had a crazy cold and puffy face yesterday. They seem to be alright now.

Next Saturday we begin our trek to Western New York where we will be visiting churches and potential partners for the month of July. From there, we'll travel to ABWE headquarters in Harrisburg, PA. We'll be having a Togo Aviation meeting and attending one of our courses with ABWE, Essential Missions Components. Then we'll travel down toward North Carolina, spend a couple of weeks there and then to Atlanta were Ryan will complete his technical evaluation with ABWE Air. We look forward to seeing so many of our friends and family along the way.

Praise the Lord:
We made it safely to Minnesota with nothing eventful along the way.
We are able to attend this course this week.

Pray with us:
That we will be able to soak as much as possible on how to share the gospel with the lost.
That we will stay healthy.
That we would continue to grow closer to Christ each day.
That God would be glorified through us.

We so appreciate you in our lives!

Buczak Buzz~May 2012

We would so rather tell you all this information in person. I’ve lost track of the exact number of readers we have; somewhere around 450, not counting those of you who pick up this letter off of the kiosk in your church. We would love to sit down and have coffee or lunch with you. It’s a good thing we have plenty of time to fellowship with you in Heaven. May He come soon!

Please pray for Ryan and his friend, Eric, May 18-21 as they fly the Stinson Ryan borrowed from ABWE back to Atlanta. When Ryan brought the plane here in October you were praying and the weather turned out to be perfect just until the plane landed in Seattle. Your prayers for safety and good weather are extremely important and we do not take them for granted.

We’re gearing up for a major 2½ month trip across the country. We’ve decided to go ahead and drive. At this point, we’d like to to sell our 1999 Toyota Camry (Yes, the legendary car Leslie was born in. This is emotional for me .) and buy a minivan. Please pray we are able to get a reliable van and sell our car quickly. Our departure date is the week of June 11^th in order to be in St. Paul, MN on June 17^th. We plan to be back home shortly after Labor Day (see schedule below). If you’re on the east coast and would like us to visit your church or home please let us know. Our purpose is to visit with friends (maybe for the last time before we’re shipped out), and recruit new prayer and financial partners.

We’re thankful for several new partners who put us officially over 51% of our monthly requirement! Our Outfit and Passage fund is full and has a surplus. We’re ready to be shipped out. If you sense God is calling you to give to this ministry we’d be happy to visit with you in person (especially you east coast friends). You may also click here to begin your partnership today.

I almost sent this email without asking you to pray for our friend, Kezia Kispert, who is applying to join us as our nanny while we are in language school in France. We feel a little guilty for stealing one of our best nursery workers from the church nursery roster... but then again... Please pray that Kezia would be accepted (no real doubts there) and be able to raise her support in time to leave with us in December (all this Lord willing of course). We'll get more information on how to give to Kezia's ministry in a future letter.

Micellaneous Snippets

We enjoyed meeting with a new church plant, Faith Bible Church, on January 29^th. Pastor Tim Atkins, his wife, Brenda, and four children were a pleasure to get to know. We trust God is going to do wonderful things with FBC as they reach out to their community in faith to share the story of Jesus. Thank you FBC for your ministry to us on our visit.

February 29-March 4^th we participated in what is often the highlight of our year and much anticipated Edgewood Bible Church Missions Conference at our home church. We were encouraged by Pastor Vern Wilkinson and Pastor Bob Emrich as they reminded us that whatever work we do is not ours. God will build His church with or without us. We are pleased that we get to be a part of His church building work here in the U.S. and in Togo. What a relief that it’s His responsibility, not ours!

Our Kids

Leslie has been asking lots of questions and reciting the story of Jesus death, burial, and resurrection lately. It’s clear that she doesn’t quite get the whole meaning of the story, but we are pleased that she is interested. Thank you faithful teachers in our daughter’s life.

AnnMarie will be 11 months old on the 20^th. She’s officially crawling now and has three teeth as of Monday. Her smile and laughter make our hearts giddy.

Thank you for your continued faithful prayers for us. God is so gracious to us all the time. We have had several opportunities to plant and water seeds here in the Northwest. What a privilege it is to be given this great gift to share with those around us! Please pray that we would be bold to speak the truth when the Holy Spirit wants us to.

Schedule:

Ryan flies the Stinson back to Atlanta-May 18-21

Sahara Challenge-St. Paul, MN-June 17-23

Calvary Heights Baptist Church-West Seneca, NY-June 27

Morton’s Corner Baptist Church-Springville, NY-July 1

Calvary Heights Baptist Church Picnic-West Seneca, NY-July 4

Elton Baptist Church-Delevan, NY-July 8

Rushford Baptist Church-Rushford, NY-July 15

Elton Baptist Church VBS-Delevan, NY-July 16-20

First Bible Baptist Church-Rochester, NY-July 18

ABWE-Togo Aviation Meeting-Harrisburg, PA-July20-21

ABWE-Essential Missions Components-Harrisburg, PA-July 23-27

Grace Baptist Church-Lewisberry, PA-July 29

North Carolina and Triad Baptist Church-two weeks in August

Atlanta, GA for Ryan’s flight technical evaluation-two weeks in August

For other little tidbits about what we’re up to join our group (not fan page) on Facebook, The Buczak Buzz.

In Christ,

Ryan, Stephanie, Leslie, and AnnMarie

Faith in Faith or Faith in God?

Faith. Try as we might, it can't be manipulated. My "impossible prayer request" for the year has been that we would be able to get all of our support raised by the end of 2012 and be able to leave for language school in France after Christmas. So, we pray in faith that God would grant this request, right? Hmm, I find myself praying in manipulation. "Dear God, I'm having faith so you should answer my prayer the way I wish. See how much faith I have God?" No, that's faith in faith. If I try to have faith so that faith will grant my wish it's a wrong view of who God really is. Obviously, He's not a genie in the sky, but I sometimes treat Him that way.

We know that saving faith is a gift from God. Romans 4 and 5 talk about how Abraham believed God in faith and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Then it talks about how faith is a gift from God and no one would have faith unless God had given it to him. So faith in that sense is supernatural. What grace, right! God gave me the gift of faith so that I could be saved! I could stop there and that gift of faith alone would be enough to satisfy me for life.

However, we are also called to faith. We are called to ask God for things praying in faith. I think I'm learning that this faith is also a gift from God. It's the kind of faith that trusts God when you pray that whatever His response turns out to be, you know He has the best plan in mind. This kind of faith is hard. I know what I want sooooo bad. I think I know what's best for me, but am I really keeping what's most important to God first and foremost in my heart when I bargain with God over the things I want. What if God were to give me what I wanted after my little bargaining session? Would I respond with a thankful heart that gave God the glory for the results? Hmm, I wonder. No, it's best to pray, leave my treasured request in God's hands in know that He is going to handle it with far more care than I would. After all, Philippians 4:6 says to "be anxious for nothing." If I held on to that request and worried and fretted over it, it would not be in the safest hands.

So, tonight I am going to choose to leave my "impossible prayer request" in the safe loving hands of God and trust that if He wants us to have all our support raised by the end of the year, He is able. Oh, how I'd love to worry. I choose not to. God's plan is best ALL the time.

“All down through the history of missions, there has never, ever been a missionary who arrived on the field late! They always arrived in God’s perfect timing!” – Wendell Kempton

Good Bye Old Blue

Ryan's 1989 Toyota Camry died on Tuesday. My dad was on location to pronounce it dead. It served it's purpose well. My dad gave it to us with several thousand miles on it already as a commuter car for Ryan. Two years later and a total of 316K+ miles on it, it finally gave up the ghost. The good news is that my cousin's husband came by and took it away for us. He also gave us $250 for it. Not bad for a dead car.

The bad news is mostly just bad for me. We're back down to being a one-car household again. We'll manage. I might go stir crazy some days, but with fair weather on it's way we can at least go outside. We're hoping that Ryan will be able to cut back more hours at work pretty soon so that he can focus his time and energies more on ministry calling. That would give me a day more a week for me to get out some.

God's been doing some neat things with us lately. I can't give details here, but our support percentage has the possibility of jumping significantly here in the next several weeks, and plans for an east coast trip are coming down the pike.

Please pray for health for our family. AnnMarie has been sick off and on since December. Last night she had a random puking fest with no fever. She's fine today, but we are ready for the sick season to be over.

Continue to pray for our spiritual growth. I have two studies in our home every week. It has been fun, but busy. Sometimes business has the potential of draining you spiritually. Pray I'll be sensitive to the "still small voice."

Buczak Buzz~January 2012

I have writers cramp real bad. You know you have it when you stare at the keys on the keyboard and hope they'll produce something for you. No such luck. Writing just anything helps to get your fingers warmed up though so that's what I'm hoping this sentence will produce.

Ryan and I are excited that with the help of some new monthly committed supporters, we've reached 52% of our requirement (Unofficially. Meaning that some are commitments whose paperwork has not been filed with the main office). Fourty-four percent is official. We are so pleased.

Our Outfit and Passage fund is hanging in there at 93%. This is basically the "shipping and handling" of the Buczaks. It will cover airfair, passports, visas, and getting generally set up in Togo once we get there. Which reminds me, it's time to get Leslie and AnnMarie's passports done!

As for the year ahead, we have a lot to accomplish, but it is all within grasp at this point. We have to:
1) get the girls caught up on their vaccinations, 2) finish our Missionary Theology course (which we're half way through), 3) attend an Islamic evangelism course in either June or July, 4) attend Essential Missions Components seminar in July, 5) get my wisdom teeth taken out sometime at the end of the summer :(, 6) attend Field Prep Seminar in November, 7) apply for language school for January, 8) pack up our things and prepare them to be shipped to Togo, and 9) leave for France!!! There are more minute details, but that's pretty much the year at a glance. Our "impossible prayer request" for 2012 is that we would be able to accomplish all these things. We know that nothing is impossible with God. Would you join us in praying that we would meet these goals?

We're still working on setting up meetings with churches and individuals. We prefer meeting with individuals at the moment, but church meetings are always welcome. Just last night, I had a church call and schedule with us. It's fun meeting more of brothers and sisters in Christ, and we love to share our vision for our ministry in Togo! As always, if you're interested partnering with this ministry financially go to www.abwe.org/give and follow the directions on the right had side of the screen in the orange box.

As for family news, life is busy as usual. Our girls are growing. Leslie turned three in late October and AnnMarie will be 7 months old on January 20th. Poor AnnMarie has a fever right now and is requesting that I get off the computer to give her some attention. She has a sore throat. If she's not better tomorrow morning I'll take her to the doctor to get her checked out. You may pray that she gets better before then.

May our Lord bless you as you seek to accomplish your life goals this year! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (a little late)! Thank you always for your prayers.

Weekend Prayer Request

Dear Praying Friends,

We’ve got a busy weekend ahead. As a praise report, Ryan recently learned of the opportunity to bring home one of ABWE’s aircraft in which he’ll gain the majority of his remaining 79.2 of 400 hours. Early Thursday morning he’ll be jumping on a commercial flight to Atlanta, GA. On Friday and Saturday he’ll be regaining his proficiency in a tail dragger at ABWE Air headquarters with Herman Teachout and Dale Fogg, on Sunday he’ll probably be attending a southern good ol’ Baptist church (he’ll get to have sweet tea, too. I’m jealous ;-)), and Monday through probably Wednesday he and a friend, Kelly, from the Northwest will be flying the Stinson tail dragger back home.

Please pray for Ryan’s safety all weekend as he flies quite a few hours. Ryan and Kelly will probably be flying in 3 hour segments at a time and stopping to sleep in the evenings. Please pray that they get the rest they need between flights. Please also pray that the weather is good for them. Ryan and Kelly are instrument rated, but it’s always safest to fly VFR (visual flight rules, or visually and outside of the clouds in laymen’s terms).

Please also pray for the girls and me. Though I believe Ryan is a completely competent pilot, that does not mean I might not be tempted to worry from time to time. To keep myself distracted, I will be driving up to my mom’s house on Camano Island and maybe canning apples or playing Settlers of Catan.

I’ll make an event invitation on Facebook in order for all of us to keep up with and pray for Ryan as he flies across the country. If you don’t get “invited” to this event and you’d like to, please write on my wall or request my friendship and I’ll make sure you get “invited.”

Thanks for your prayers for all of us. We appreciate it!

In Christ,

Stephanie Buczak