Laying a foundation

(originally posted on 2016-11-14)

We moved to Oshawa at the end of October, a year ago. It feels like we’ve spent most of the year laying a foundation for our new ministry roles and our lives here. We didn’t know anybody in Oshawa when we moved here; we’re now involved in church and in a small home Bible study group; we all have friends here now. We’re grateful for how God has provided community for us at church, school, work, and in our neighbourhood.

Jeff’s work has involved:

• teaching two linguistics classes at Tyndale for CanIL, Wycliffe’s training partner.
• taking two seminary classes at Tyndale and the first year of his D.Min. program at Gordon-Conwell.
• helping six different Bible translation projects in Asia by checking drafts of Judges, 1-2 Timothy, 2 Kings, Jonah, Mark 1, Genesis 1-6, and Leviticus, and he’s currently half-way through 1 Kings.

Brandie’s work has involved:

• preparing resources for MK (missionary kid) care in Wycliffe. She’s been putting together resources for parents to better help their kids with challenges related to being an MK.
• care for Wycliffe members who come from Manitoba. Eventually members from Ontario and the rest of eastern Canada will be her responsibility as well. She is grateful for the chance she has to learn the Member Care Adviser role and to work with Wycliffe members around the world, encouraging them, praying for them, generally looking out for the overall well-being of our colleagues.

The foundation-laying parts of that have involved learning our new roles: curriculum development and lesson planning for Jeff, and getting to know Wycliffe Canada’s member care procedures and our colleagues from various parts of the country for Brandie. We’ve also been learning about the missions community in and near Toronto and opportunities to serve alongside other organizations for the benefit of the Canadian church.

Partners and support

We’ve also spent some time connecting with current ministry partners and sharing with potential new partners. God has provided amazingly through regular monthly donations from some of you, through increases in giving from some of you, and through one-time donations from others of you, to the point that our budget for the past twelve months has been completely covered!

We can’t expect one-time gifts to repeat themselves. We’ve received commitments for 70% of our monthly budget for the coming year, so if you know anybody who might be interested in what we’re doing, please help us connect with them.

Prayer requests

Please pray that we have indeed made a good choice of a church to become part of. Pray that our small group leads to deep friendships; pray that our kids would each make friends in their age groups.

Pray for Jeff’s students. They’re at a time in their life when they’re trying to figure out their future careers. One of his students is heading towards Bible translation; one wants to teach English overseas as a missionary. Among the others, there are some who seem interested in language-related missionary work. Pray that they find their places in God’s work.

Pray that Brandie would be a good learner and a good provider of member care in the different areas and ways that she provides it.

Praise God for the way you His people have supported the work of His that we get to do, specifically, that He provided through you 100% of our budget for this past twelve months. As for the future, please pray for the remaining 30% of our monthly budget to be met soon.