August 2019

Well, it’s been a great summer here in the Pacific Northwest, rather cold, but we’ve very much enjoyed some old American summer traditions around open fires with hamburgers, hotdogs, and s’mores. We’re not quite ready to talk about Pumpkins spice or sweaters, though.

Thankfully, my team in Togo gave me relief from my work there which basically means, I’ve been allowed to step away from my computer and spend the majority of my time with my kids. Ryan has been busy flying and even participating in ministry at Missionary Aviation Training Academy (MATA) continuing his education as well as sharing his skill with young potential missionary pilots. Tomorrow, he has a check ride testing his skills as a multi-engine pilot. You can pray that that goes well. The test begins at 10am. 

Leslie got to go to horse camp at Warm Beach Camps in Stanwood, WA where she learned how to ride a horse independently. She even got to learn vaulting, and she did NOT break any arms!

AnnMarie went to dance camp where she got to participate in a production of the Lion King, Jr. She was a wildebeest and a jungle dancer. It was fun to watch her enjoy her roles. She took her jobs very seriously. Both Leslie and AnnMarie also really enjoy catching up with their long-time English-speaking friends and wearing shorts and pants.

 

Christian has spent a lot of time with mom. His vocabulary has exploded since he’s only had to work on one language for the summer.

Other highlights of the summer include visiting First Baptist Church of Burbank and Hobart Community Church as well as catching up with our church family at Edgewood Bible Church at worship services, potlucks, VBS, and coffee and dinner dates, and a Golf picnic with our friends at Mabana Chapel.

Ryan and I were encouraged with reminders of our hope in Christ at ABWE’s (our mission organization) annual Missionary Enrichment Conference in Baltimore, MD. We also enjoyed catching up with long-time missionaries and friends who serve around the world. One woman was particularly inspiring as she was honored for serving for 59 years! in an Asian country. Ryan and I also got to visit Fort McHenry one afternoon, where Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner.

In the weeks to come we’ll be visiting the following churches:
Redemption Bible Church – Bonney Lake, WA – August 25
Faith Bible Church – Puyallup, WA – September 22
Calvary Baptist Church – Everett, WA – September 29
Elton Baptist Church – Delevan, NY – October 6
Mt. Paran Baptist Church – Jacksboro, TN – October 13
Triad Baptist Church – Kernersville, NC – October 16-20

Our plan is to go back to Togo in November. We’ll need to raise a little bit more monthly financial support before we go, but we are confident in God’s provision. If you feel that the Lord might want to use you this way, you can go to https://www.abwe.org/work/missionaries/ryan-and-stephanie-buczak and follow the prompts to join our financial support team.

To our prayer warriors specifically, THANK YOU! We know who some of you are and are so very honored by your faithful ministry to the Lord on our behalf as well as for the people of Togo. Many of you we’ve only met on quick Sunday visits over the years, and we consider it a great privilege to get to know you. YOU are our heroes! May the Presence of the Holy Spirit always be known by you, even on the days when you might not feel it. We honor you!

As I prepare to hit “send” on this letter, I’d like to add one thing. Please contact us! We love to hear from you. We understand that you have full inboxes and full schedules, but we want to hear from you. What is God doing in your life? How is your health? Do you have loved ones who have turned from the Lord? We want to know. We want to pray. Please let us know.

May our Lord bless you as you continue to learn more and more about Him by the reading of His Word, in the sharing your life with Him in prayer, and in fellowship with brothers and sisters. He is worthy of every moment.

In Christ,
The Buczaks

April 2019

We’re coming home in mid-May. When I use the word “home” I absolutely mean to use the word. I have a new definition for the word home. Home is where you enjoy fellowship together with the family of God while acknowledging the grace and presence of Jesus Christ. To me, that’s all over the world! It’s squishing next to my dad on his oversized recliner where next to him sits his worn old NASB that he’s been using since my elementary school years. It’s sitting on the beach with my mom with Bibles open pondering the things of God. It’s sitting in the one air-conditioned office in Togo where we discuss how to get the Togolese excited about enjoying the intricate details of God’s creation. It's sitting under a fan on my porch as we teach forgiveness one more time into the heart of a girl who is learning how to live the gospel at home. It’s sitting among the dandelions in France praying that God would call the hearts of our children to himself. It's meeting new friends in South Africa who you know immediately are "kindred spirits." It’s sitting in a familiar living rooms after two years of being overseas and sharing with friends who want to know all of the interesting details about what it’s like to do everyday life in our host country. It’s standing among a group of believers as we praise our Savior anticipating those days ahead when we will all sing a new song around that unimaginably beautiful throne. Home is where children of God fellowship together as we share the gifts of the Holy Spirit with one another. Of course, we know that this world is not our home, but the fellowship that believers have now is a real prelude to our final Home in the unbroken Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Before I jump several weeks ahead to our time home, it is necessary that I share with about the whirlwind of a few weeks we just came through. As I mentioned in our past letter, I have been working with a friend to teach sign language in one of our mission’s Christian schools. Recently, a friend named Rachel who specializes in the deaf and special needs education came out to Togo and confirmed to me again the need to work diligently on relearning ASL while I am home, but also in praying for someone like her to join our team. We really need someone who can be dedicated to teaching not just the deaf to communicate, but also their teachers, classmates, friends, and families. 

The deaf children watching the Jesus Film.

How loudly it has come to my attention that the deaf in Togo really are an unreached people group. While visiting a fairly new public school for the deaf in March, we showed the Jesus film that had a sign interpreter on the lower part of the screen. As I watched the children’s faces and reactions to the death of Jesus, I noticed some of the children telling each other that Jesus wasn’t really dead. I signed back to them, that yes, Jesus really did die and that he really did rise from the dead by the power of God. All of this made me starkly aware of the need to get a clear gospel to the understanding of these kids. We did make an attempt to clarify this message at the end of the film, but I feel strongly that I have to get back there and teach the gospel more clearly. My hang-up is my lack of language. Please pray for another opportunity this month to get back at least one more time before we leave to teach the correct gospel.

We just got back from a WONDERFUL trip to South Africa for the West Africa Regional Conference. This conference is meant to bring all of the long-term missionaries of West Africa together for refreshment and fellowship under the Word. I cannot say enough how much of a blessing it was for us in so many ways. Paul Davis, President of ABWE, spoke on the Wisdom of God from the book of Proverbs. He encouraged us to think right thoughts by telling the “voices in our heads” what and how they ought to be thinking and handling situations biblically. We also had sessions on dealing with team conflict and resolution, etc. There were games and fantastic outings, too! I really just want to give one more, big “Thank you!” to Jason and Kathy Laird for their creativity and insight into making it happen. It’s not easy getting 42 or so full-time missionaries to leave their work and travel across the continent for an event like this, but they did it and I know that everyone appreciated their having done

Visiting the penguins in S. Africa.

so.

Upon landing back in Togo, we hit the ground running. When we arrived, a representative from Mission Safety International (MSI) had already dived into doing a safety audit on our aviation work. This has been a much-anticipated goal of ours to get this accomplished, as it really authenticates finally, or in a way commissions, this ministry into the mission aviation community as a recognized work by the safety board at MSI. Not only were the auditors, Lyle and Becky, another “taste of home” as we fellowshipped together with them as members of the family of God, but they finished the audit and gave us very good and encouraging remarks including the following:

“ABWE AIR – Togo restarted the aviation program in February 2018 after a major overhaul of their Cessna 206 aircraft. There are two pilot/mechanic families in Togo. Another pilot/mechanic (with CFI and IA ratings) is based in Ghana, but assists in the program. There is a strong commitment to safety and a desire to take the necessary steps to make the program even safer. The families and staff work well together and have formed a close-knit team. There are many open discussions and sharing of ideas. The team is fully committed to the mission of ABWE, and hope to continue to expand the program in support of the mission.”

That paragraph alone, is worthy of a monument of thanksgiving and praise! The night the audit was finished, we celebrated with pizza, broccoli cheddar soup, Fan-Ice, and biltong from South Africa. I get giddy with praise just remembering it all over again! Jesus has done some amazing things!

In closing, I just want to remind you that when you see us on furlough this summer and fall, you may most certainly tell us without hesitation, “welcome home” as sharing fellowship with you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is home for us as we anticipate our final Home not far off in the future with the Savior himself.

Current Furlough Schedule:

2 June - Edgewood Bible Church, Edgewood, WA

9 June - First Baptist Church of Burbank, Burbank, WA

15-18 July - Missionary Enrichment Conference, Baltimore, MD

29 July-2 Aug - Edgewood Bible Church Vacation Bible School, Edgewood, WA

25 Aug - Redemption Bible Church, Bonney Lake, WA

22 Sept - Faith Bible Church, Puyallup, WA

6 Oct - Elton Baptist Church, Delevan, NY

16-20 Oct - Triad Baptist Church, Kernersville, NC

Please contact us if you would like us to visit and share with your church, family, or small group.

February 2019

We just finished our annual reports which entail looking over the past year, reviewing the goals we set last year, and making goals for the new year. Wow! We have to stop and thank the Lord that we were able to see great things happen in 2018! The biggest thing was that after years of waiting and planning, the airplane was finally working and put to ministry use! Ryan flew nearly 50 hours and had over 60 passengers of various positions including pastors, leaders, surgeons, doctors, and other medical staff and national partners. We are always thankful for your prayers for safety.

Already this month, Ryan has made several flights to Mango transporting surgeons, medical administrators, and as an added bonus, he got to transport some Bibles and hymnals on one of his flights.

When Ryan is not flying, he can be found using his service gifts helping friends in other ways. He serves on a local church facilitation team encouraging local pastors and helping where needed, as well as a hospital security team and the missionary worship team. He also just finished transforming some old apartments at our house into guest rooms. This month, we were able to host our first guests; two local pastoral leaders who had come out for our team meetings. We hope to use these guest rooms for traveling pastors and ministers. Already, we have some wonderful people lined up to stay with us. Perhaps you, too, would like to make a visit to Togo? Now you have an excuse.

I, Stephanie, continue chasing around Christian and helping with miscellaneous needs. I stay busy during the week taking care of the home, watching Christian grow and learn, and I serve with our missions guesthouse leadership and help with bookkeeping at the Christian Resource Center. Last year also brought an opportunity to minister to a local girl as she navigated a difficult school year and a crisis pregnancy. Sadly, this young girl lost her baby, but we continue to help her physically and spiritually when we can. Please join me in praying for Esther as she continues her studies in high school with hopes of one day becoming a midwife.

Another opportunity to revisit my interest in serving the deaf in Togo has presented itself. Several years ago, our mission began establishing Christian schools in connection with our local churches. This past school year, a young deaf boy named Jonas enrolled in one of our schools. Our friend, Liz, has begun working to teach him some signs and his school teacher has expressed interest in learning sign so that she may communicate with him in the classroom. This week, I had the opportunity to visit the school and even had a chance to teach the classroom along with the teacher some general classroom etiquette using sign language. The schools have interest in serving special needs children, but personnel are definitely needed to really invest in this sort of ministry well. I love the idea of working with the deaf, but my sign needs a whole lot of help as it’s been many years since I’ve really had anything to do with it. Please pray for guidance for the schools' administrators that the Lord would fill their hearts' desire to serve special needs children. Also, pray that the Lord would make it clear to me if he would like me to pursue getting involved in this work (It will involve some beginning ASL lesson planning. If you have some you'd like to share, I'd much appreciate it.)

This brings me to another subject. This and last school year, the Lord has blessed us with such a wonderful teacher at our MK* school. Aunt Marilyn has invested two years of her heart into our girls and both Leslie and AnnMarie are doing well. However, in June, Aunt Marilyn will retire and return to the States. Aunt Marilyn’s time here has allowed we moms to apply ourselves to other works and ministries on our team. We are all prepared to homeschool again next year, but it would cause us to have to minimize what we are able to do for our team. Would you please pray with us that God might send us out another teacher for 1-2 years to teach our 10 elementary aged MKs? If you know someone who is interested, please let us know right away and we can help them to get the ball rolling on the application process.

Lastly, we have purchased tickets for our six-month furlough to the States starting in mid-May. We will begin contacting our supporting churches and friends. We will be making a trip out to the east coast in July and probably in September/October as well. I’ll plan to put better specifics into our next letter. In the meantime, please pray that we will finish what we are doing here well and that we will be able to get all of the logistics in order for our time home. If you know of someone who has a car to loan us for that period time, it would be extremely helpful.

This year our family has adopted the word “words” for our word of the year. This encourages us to use our words well toward one another and for God’s glory. May our God also give you love and grace with words as you seek to honor Him this year. We are ever thankful for your love and support for the work that God has called us to here in Togo.

In Christ,

The Buczaks

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14 (ESV)

*MK – Missionary Kid