earthen vessels, East Africa, and the gospel

Beth, Ferdinand, and Happyness with kids

I haven’t said much here about Tumaini, the orphanage associated with our team’s ministry. Since Beth, the American co-director of Tumaini, is currently in the States updating many of our church partners and inviting them to help in a new project, it would be a good time to provide some of the same information here. We’ve coordinated Beth’s visit with the beginning of a new campaign for donated items. I’ve already mentioned that we will be shipping a container with these donations and a few of our things this summer; there is still time to help if anyone is interested.

The highest priority for this campaign is to collect the clothing the children will use over the next five years. Other items on the wish list include school supplies, first aid supplies, and toys. We are trying to make the giving process as smooth and efficient as possible, but it is also important for everyone to understand the particular needs and the long process involved with getting everything from here to there. If you would like to help–great! Please see Beth’s instructions and the list of needs she has provided at the Tumaini web blog here.

Our one-way tickets to Africa have been purchased. We are now less than 19 weeks away from our departure. Thank you for being a part of God’s blessings in our life through your prayers. You may use the following praises and prayer requests to continue guiding your prayers for us.

1. In God’s providence, we are finishing our pre-field ministry ahead of schedule. While I don’t expect us to be supported at 100% of our budget by then, we are already supported at a sufficient level to begin our first term. That being said, we are still eager to fill the gap in our prayer and financial support. Please pray that God will bless our remaining meetings and that, as a result, we will find the best gospel partners for us.
2. Please pray that we continue to lean on God as we adjust to being a family of 3 and resume our church meetings.
3. We are focused on preparing for departure. Our most earnest prayer request in this regard is that God would use these remaining months to prepare us spiritually for serving him in Tanzania. Pray that all of the logistical work is completed so that it doesn’t become a distraction to more important matters.

a moving sale on our front lawn, April 21, 2012

Little by little we’re preparing for the move to Africa. The process is something like moving across the country, but even less of our stuff will come with us. We will be using a shipping container to send some essential difficult-to-get-in-Africa items. Most of the container will be used to ship items donated to the orphanage. Otherwise, we’ll be taking over whatever we can fit into our luggage. After our baby showers, I wonder if half of our luggage will be taken up with baby supplies! Fortunately, we’re moving into a house that is semi-furnished.

There’s nothing like moving to help you realize how much stuff you’ve accumulated. It has been a tough but profitable experience trying to justify everything that we will be taking with us. Putting a value on everything we have in this way is good to vet false priorities.

This past Saturday was our first moving sale (we’re planning one more). I was surprised at how successful it was. We’ve had fantastic help. I’d say we sold close to 80% of the stuff we put out for sale. And, since we advertised it as a moving sale, a few people expressed interest in renting our house. God continues to be kind to us in many simple ways.

Our son was born on Monday morning just after 7am. He was 9 lbs 6 oz and 23 in long. Laura and Ian are both doing very well. Thank you for praying for us.

Since the next thing you will ask me for is some pictures, I’ve included them here:

I made a solo trip to Faith Baptist Church in Port Washington, WI, for their missions conference April, 14-15. We considered the theme “teaming up with missionaries whether it is by participating on the field, prayerfully supporting them, or giving financially.” My contributions dealt with prayer and understanding the biblical view of calling. In addition to meeting the excellent people at Faith Baptist Church, the conference provided an opportunity to fellowship with missionaries on their way to or back from other fields.

Meanwhile, Laura stayed at home. She’s done with traveling for a while. In fact, we don’t have any more church meetings scheduled for 4 weeks. As we wait for Baby Gass to arrive, we’ll continue getting our house in order to move out.

After my last trip to TZ, I shared that I will be showing some of the pictures taken there. The following collection of pictures will introduce you to the property God has provided for our home and ministry. (Click on a picture to enlarge and read more.)

[I'm sorry that some of you have received this twice by email, but clicking on the pictures should actually work now.]

Following the Sunday morning worship service with First Baptist Church of Duxbury, MA, on April 1, we were told that we were about to have a “quintessential New England afternoon.” Indeed we did. We had our mid-day meal with a family in their more-than-200-year-old home. Later, we enjoyed a drive around the old sea captain homes near the church. But, in contrast to the New England stereotype, we found the First Baptist to be very personable and welcoming.

I was interviewed during the church’s live radio program that Sunday morning. This was a new experience for me! I was also asked to preach for their worship service and present our ministry in their Adult Bible Fellowship hour. Throughout the day we were encouraged by the church’s interest in what God is doing in Tanzania and the challenges before us in moving forward. Their interest was clearly expressed during our prayer meeting with them on Sunday evening.

One year of pre-field ministry down; only about five more months to go. But, my–what exciting plans we have for the next six months! Here are the latest praises and prayer requests:

1. We’ve decided to rent out our home in Michigan since selling it isn’t a likely option. We’ll be putting our home on the rental market early in the Summer. Please pray that God will provide renters for our home.
2. We are grateful to have people praying for the health of Laura and the baby. Baby Gass is due to be born on April 26.
3. We are eager to begin our work in Tanzania, but there is a good deal of work to do before we leave. There are a number of tasks on our to-do list, but the most important parts of our preparation have to do with spiritual growth and ministry training. Thank you for praying that God would use these months to effectively prepare us for ministry in Africa.

We were encouraged by our time with Medway Community Church as we participated in their first missions conference. So many of the people expressed great kindness towards us and their interest in what God is doing in Tanzania. The church organized an international dinner for Friday night (March 23). The next morning, the conference attendees rotated through four missions-themed workshops. And, on Sunday, we were introduced in the worship service.

I was asked to prepare a workshop for Saturday on “How do you Know You are Called to the Mission Field?”  My big idea was “God has given us means by which we can have confidence that our lives are occupied with works that glorify God.” Those means are (1) personal desire; (2) spiritual qualifications; (3) church affirmation. Much of my thinking on this has been influenced by Charles Spurgeon’s Lectures to my Students and Kevin DeYoung’s Just Do Something. You can view the visual part of my workshop online here.

On Wednesday, we traveled from Medway, MA, to Windsor Locks, CT, to meet with Calvary Baptist Church during their midweek service. We updated the congregation regarding the progress in our pre-field ministry since we visited them in July. This has been a privilege of  our pre-field ministry: to give an account of God’s blessings to our partners in the gospel and know that they are eager to give thanks to God along with us.

The ladies of Calvary Baptist Church threw a baby shower for Laura on Friday night (March 30). We are truly overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends who have helped us prepare for the arrival of our son–which should now be less than 4 weeks away!

Churches apparently like to schedule their missions conferences in either October or March. We are participating in a few such meetings this month.

On March 11 I was in Rockford, IL, with First Baptist Church. They invite one missionary to speak each Sunday throughout the month. Since I have lived and worked in Rockford for a time, serving a church there is something of a special interest. God blessed the fellowship and worship services with a great interest in his word and the work in Tanzania.

We drove up to the North side of the Detroit metro area to join Macomb Baptist Church for their services on March 18. They invite two missionaries to speak for them each Sunday throughout this month. I preached for their morning worship service and talked about our ministry in the evening. I had the blessing of sharing the day with a missionary who has been serving in vocational ministry for 45 years. May God be pleased to grant me the grace to persevere faithfully that many years!

Our last missions conference of the month will be this weekend with Medway Community Church in Massachusetts. They have already partnered with us; so, we are looking forward to this being a good opportunity to get to know one another better. A friend unexpectedly provided the means for us to fly Laura out to Boston. Otherwise, she would have to sit out on our road travel until the baby arrives. The church and I are both glad she can join us!