A few days ago, another worker told us that she feels like every few months she finds herself in a new daily rhythm of life and ministry. I am finding this to be true for us as well. As we meet more people and get more settled into our new life, our routine is changing. Because of this, I think maybe it is a good time to share what our daily life looks like this month. It is very likely to change next month, though! Our day starts when the sun comes up. We are no longer waking up with the 4am call to prayer, but the boys still wake up early, around 5:30. We start cooking breakfast (oatmeal, eggs, occasionally biscuits or Sudanese bread from the market), and we really need to be eating breakfast no later than 7. Josh has kindly started cooking breakfast several days each week just to give me a break from the kitchen…I am very thankful! Because we have a big breakfast early in the morning, I have started setting everything out the night before: counting the eggs so they can be bleached as soon as we walk into the kitchen in the morning; measuring water and oatmeal for cooking, setting out plates, bowls, forks, spoons, etc. Often at breakfast, we try to read 2-3 verses from Psalms or the NT to help the boys get acquainted with the language of Scripture. Also, Abd, the believer who is helping us work on the house, comes over and has breakfast or coffee with us before heading to work on our house with Josh. This has provided opportunities to discuss Scripture with him and it is so interesting to hear things from an African/Muslim background viewpoint. My house helper arrives between 8 – 8:30 to wash dishes and I usually sit down with the boys before she gets here to read books with them. Judah always runs and squeals excitedly when she arrives. They love having people come to our house – everyone here loves children and gives them lots of attention. She goes to the market most days for me around 9, when it opens. Some days I get to go with her – with or without the boys – and other days she goes by herself. When she gets home at 10, we all sit down and have a morning snack of peanuts, bread with peanut butter, yogurt, Chadian tea, coke, or whatever else we have available that day. This is a good opportunity to sit down with A and communicate to her that we value her for more than just the work she is doing for us. We also get to practice our Arabic with her. After that, she either cooks a “lunch” meal for us or washes clothes (by hand) or mops the floors. I am usually doing things like playing with the boys, doing the other household chores that are necessary, going with Josh to see the progress on the house, or making yogurt, etc. The boys usually get bucket baths in the warmest part of the day (before naptime) since it is too cold at night to bathe. They take a rest from around 12-2. We try to rest too, whether reading, dozing off, etc, but that is a little more challenging now because we have (finally!) started language lessons! N, our tutor, comes to our house around 1pm to start lessons with Josh. A little after 3, after our tutor does his ritual prayers and has a small break visiting with us, I begin lessons with him and Josh takes the kids outside to play. (Our lessons are in the front room, which is a screened in porch, so it is appropriate.) At some point between 1-5 we are eating the food that A cooked or some sort of substantial snack. We are still trying to figure out a meal schedule now that we have language in the afternoons. I am thankful for our big sit-down breakfast each morning, since our other meals are less formal. Usually for dinner, we eat grilled cheese, pb and j, fruit, yogurt, etc. We are doing our best to guard our evenings for family time before the kids go to bed. This could change once we get moved into our house, but we will see. So, for now, this is our daily “rythym.”
Category: Ministry
I have been reading and studying Colossians this past month, and it is so rich. It is a great book to use in discipling new believers. One observation I made during my study – chapter 2:20-22 talks about the “regulations” that the Colossians had submitted themselves to, even though they had “died” with Christ. Verse 23: “These [rules] have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” Legalism seems to be a natural part of our humanity – if we have a list of rules to conquer, our pride can fool us into thinking we are doing ok. I can’t help but read this portion of Colossians and think of my Muslim neighbors all around who have not yet submitted themselves to the “beloved Son” (1:13), “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (1:14). Instead they are bound by legalism, believing that somehow their prayers, fasting, modesty, chanting, alms giving – “good” works and following of the rules is enough to reconcile them to God. However, Chapter 1, verse 21 and 22 tell us that we were “once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,” (indulging in the flesh) but Jesus “has now reconciled [us] in his body of flesh by his death in order to present [us] holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” Pray with us that “God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ…that [we] may make it clear.” Pray that many will feel the hypocrisy in their own lives, the futility of their works before a holy God. Pray that we will “walk in wisdom towards outsiders, making the best use of the time….that [our] speech [will} always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that [we may know how [we] ought to answer each person” (4:2-6). Pray for us and yourself also – that we as believers will not fall into the lie that ministry or good deeds gains us approval before our Father. Thank you, Jesus that your death has made us alive, “having forgiven us all our trespasses” (2:13).
We are approaching the end of our whirlwind trip to the States and we have less than two weeks before we will be moving to Chad. We’ve spent hours packing and repacking (and sometimes repacking). We’ve driven over 3,000 miles to visit family, friends and supporters. We’ve spent hours in doctors offices getting checkups, shots, prescription refills, and Judah even had a cavity filled (I know, already!?). We’ve seen God’s faithfulness demonstrated over and over again, and we finish our time here with heavy hearts but also high hopes. Emotions are all over the map as we say goodbyes, make final preparations, and collapse at the end of the day in prayer that God would help our children adjust well and that our marriage would thrive despite the immense pressures of daily life in Chad.
I am overwhelmed by an acute sense of my weaknesses and limitations. I’m not competent to complete this task. I like to sleep in a house cooled to about 68-70 degrees, not lay there sweating under a mosquito net hoping for a drop into the 80s. I love Mexican food. I prefer thick green grass to rocks and dirt. I’m not even that good at sharing my faith. Sometimes I struggle for the right words; sometimes I am too self-absorbed to even notice the needs and opportunities around me. I sweat. A lot. Am I crazy?
Maybe, but one thing that’s settled in my mind is that there’s nothing else I’d rather do than move to Africa to bring the Great News to those who certainly could use some. Millions in Chad exist among ethnic groups with NO ONE to preach to them the most amazing message in the history of the universe. And with my eternity secure in the hands of the One who spoke the world into existence, what do I have to lose? A little comfort? This illusion we call “safety”? If we believe in the absolute Sovereignty of God, then we must also believe that the American suburbanite is no safer than the missionary in the most dangerous field. What did the Apostle Paul mean by “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” in Colossians 1?
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
It seems to me that Paul is saying that through his own suffering he testifies to the One who suffered for us, proclaiming His greatness by Paul’s willingness to joyfully endure suffering for the sake of the church and those who would be added to it. Oh that we would view danger, risk, and suffering in the same way Paul did!
So here we go – by faith in the one who is made strong in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:8-10).
In the words of John Patton:
Among many who sought to deter me, was one dear old Christian gentleman, whose crowning argument always was, “The cannibals! you will be eaten by cannibals!” At last I replied, “Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms.
soli Deo gloria
I was leaving church today, chasing after my two boys who were heading to the car. Josh had left earlier to catch his flight to Colorado where he is spending a week learning about solar power and other practical skills for our life in Chad.
As I neared the door of the church, a lady appeared seemingly out of nowhere. “Are you the family who is moving to Chad?” she asked. “Yes ma’am,” I replied, and quickly excused myself to pull Isaac back in the door before he ran into the parking lot alone. The lady continued with tears filling her eyes and the sweetest expression on her face. “I have something for you. I am visiting here today and heard your story, how you are raising money for a vehicle.” She opened my hand and started to place something in it. “I don’t know how much this is worth,” she continued, “but I want you to have it.” I was at a loss for words and slightly confused. I couldn’t yet feel what she was placing in my hand until several moments later. It was a ring. I thanked her profusely and asked her if she would please give me her contact information so I could thank her properly. She declined, then turned and walked away with a smile on her face, but tears still in her eyes.
After I got the boys to the car, I took a look at the 14 carat gold ring. It has seven diamonds around the top. I couldn’t believe it. Like this lady, I have no idea the monetary value of the ring, but surely there is an added sentimental value as well. I imagine, as with most pieces of jewelry, there is some story attached to this ring. It’s a mystery to me what it might be, and I guess it doesn’t matter that much. But this lady’s generosity today served as a beautiful lesson and challenge to me.
The challenge is this: how easily and joyfully this lady parted with a seemingly treasured possession. She knows how to hold earthly things loosely and store treasures in Heaven. Sometimes people think that Josh and I have learned this lesson, since we’ve given up our home and many of our possessions in order to move to Africa, but it doesn’t mean it’s been easy for us to give them all up. We still miss our comfy furniture, our dog, our screened-patio and nice yard, etc. etc. Sometimes I have been less than joyful in the process of “giving up” my possessions for this move. This woman’s actions today challenge me to be willing to joyfully part with those possessions to which my heart might be most attached.
Next, I can’t help but feel blessed as I think of my encounter with this woman. God reminds me that He loves me and He is the provider of all our needs. Many people wonder how we can go to the mission field by raising our own support. “I couldn’t do it if I had to raise my own support,” many have said. In response, I say it has been an immense joy and blessing to share in this ministry personally with many of you! We have been so encouraged to know that other people and families are sacrificing in different ways so that the gospel of Jesus may go forth to dark, unreached places. It reminds us that we are not doing this alone and it is not “our” work. It is the Lord’s work and He allows us all to play different parts. We couldn’t do this, take the gospel to those who have not heard, if it weren’t for people like you who are “holding the ropes” for us through prayer, encouragement, and financial support.
I thank the Lord, tonight, for the sometimes strange and mysterious ways in which He works in order to remind us of His goodness and faithfulness.
(a picture of the ring will come asap!)
This is a post for those of you who have a heart for what God is doing but aren’t exactly sure how to be practically involved in addition to giving financially or praying for general requests that we send out (both of which are infinitely important!). We are ever grateful for all of you, and we truly consider you as our partners in this ministry. Our heart’s desire is for you to feel ownership along with us, not because of who we are, but because you share God’s heart with us to reach Muslims with the Gospel that has power to change lives of people, families, and cultures in Chad. So, we want to give you some useful suggestions of how you can be a good “sender” and in another blog post we’ll share with you some specific ways to pray on a more regular basis. Many of you are already doing some of these things and we have been blessed by your thoughtfulness and encouragement.
So first, here are some practical ways you can be a good sender. Do you have other suggestions? Please let us know or just surprise us!
- Don’t forget about us! Put reminders on your calendar or phone to pray for our family and for God’s work in the hearts of those we are working with.
- Send emails, Facebook messages, or handwritten letters to keep in touch and remind us of your prayers.
- Adopt a person who we are ministering to. Commit to interceding regularly for just one person who we mention in our updates. You can email us and ask for updates or how to pray more specifically for that person. We’ve had prayer partners do this in the past and it is not only an encouragement to us in the ministry, but truly makes a difference in the hearts and lives of the lost!
- Set up Skype times with us – we love seeing familiar faces and it makes us feel not so far away!
- Send a Christmas card, family photos, birth announcements, etc. We may be farther away, but mail is always, always appreciated!
- Have your children color pictures for our boys or write letters to them. Or commit to having a pen pal relationship with them!
- Think of ways to encourage our family members in America (especially our parents who miss their grandchildren) and let them know of your prayers. Send them a card, take time to talk to them about any struggles they may be having related to us living far away.
- When we come home on furlough in America, be willing to donate items or help us get set up for our time at home. Ask what we need and how you can help make the transition easier for our family and our boys. Talk to our boys, set up play dates with your children, show them you are interested in them, and that you pray for them. Ask them about their friends and their life overseas.
- Come visit us and get your hands dirty and your feet dusty sharing the gospel and serving our family and our community. We love visitors, especially if you’ll bring Goldfish for Isaac and Judah!
Over the course of the last year, we have shared the statistic with you that there are 18-20 unreached and unengaged people groups in Eastern Chad. But, what does this mean and why does it matter to our family? Why does it matter to you? We want to take some time over the next few weeks to answer this question in a helpful, but concise way. Our hope is that you will gain a better sense of how you can be involved in God’s Kingdom work in Eastern Chad – what part you can play in bringing the message, hope, and life-changing realities of the gospel to these people.
For starters, what does an “unengaged/unreached people group” even mean? Simply put, an unreached people group is an ethnic group with few or no followers of Christ. A people group is considered “unreached” when the number of Evangelical Christians is less than 2% of the population. This means the people group doesn’t have enough Christians to evangelize the rest of the population. Furthermore, a group is considered “unengaged” when there is no gospel witness among the people group. A people group in not engaged when it is simply the object of focused prayer or is part of an advocacy strategy.
So, how does this information affect your family and our family? We believe that the information above is unacceptable! What a tragedy to know that in 2000 years the church has made very little progress in pushing back the darkness in this part of Africa. Over a million people have yet to hear the good news of Jesus Christ! So, with God’s guidance, our goal is to take His life-giving message to a part of the world saturated with unreached/unengaged Muslim people groups. Our challenge to you is twofold.
First, we challenge you to ask God to burden your heart not just for these people, but for God’s glory to be made known in these hard places.
May He grow in all of us a heart to pray for His word to go forth and transform lives.
Second, we challenge you to ask God not only if he is calling you to GO, but that he would make you WILLING to go the unreached/unengaged peoples of the world.
Over the next few weeks, we plan to highlight a few of the people groups in Eastern Chad who are waiting for someone who is willing to come tell them about Jesus. As always, we are grateful to your generous, faithful hearts in supporting our ministry through prayers, encouragement and financial partnership.
People Groups of the World (each red dot represents an unreached people group)
For His Glory,
Josh and Kimberly
I had a fantastic trip to Chad from January 27th to February 3rd. The purpose of the trip was to visit a town in eastern Chad where we are considering moving shortly after our arrival this Fall. Since many people have asked about the trip, I thought I would post a summary of our activities to give you a better idea of what it was like.
Sunday, January 26th
I left the house around 6AM Sunday morning and took a 3 hour train ride to Paris. I flew out of Paris in the late afternoon and arrived in Chad that evening around 10PM. Same time zone!! My other trips to Africa have started in the States, which makes for killer jetlag after changing 5-6 time zones. Spent the night with a friend and fellow team leader in N’Djamena.
Monday, January 27th
Met in the morning with a family working in the north. Wow, wish I could share more about their situation. Amazing perseverance.
Spent the afternoon having tea with some African church planters hearing about their work and their needs. These guys train church leaders among the Christian church in Chad to reach out to their Muslim neighbors with the Gospel. Very encouraging. One of them from West Africa is the son of a very high ranking Muslim leader, and has lost all contact with his family since he followed Jesus. There was a sadness in his voice as he told us his story, but he serves the Lord with great joy and excitement, leaving his family for months at a time to train church leadership in Chad.
Tuesday, January 28th
12 hour bus ride from N’Djamena to Abéché. Long day, thankful for air conditioning on the bus.
Wednesday, January 29th
Spent the night at the WEC guest house. WEC is a mission organization founded in 1913 by CT Studd. They have been in Chad for at least 50 years.
Spent the day meeting with a couple from our organization who live in Abéché. Enjoyed fellowship with them, and they took us to see the market, various neighborhoods, the sultan’s palace (along with his pet ostrich that sticks its head over the wall when you drive by), and the area just outside of town where bricks are made. Talk about hot work!! 
Thursday, January 30th
Visited the WEC Education Center where they teach English and basic computers classes.
We had tea in the afternoon with a lady who has been doing translation work in Chad for 20 years. She’s done many language surveys among various people groups and worked on literacy programs. She speaks Arabic and one of the tribal languages fluently, having lived in a village for a few years.
Had dinner Thursday evening with an American family from a different organization that has been in Chad less than a year. Great time of fellowship and learning from their recent experiences.
Friday, January 31st
Met with another family recently arrived in Chad. They arrived when their youngest child was 2 months old! I was able to talk with the husband about solar power, buying a vehicle and other practical matters that we’ll be facing before too long.
Visited a Chadian association that provides a place for street boys to come a few times a week and have a meal, wash clothes, learn skills,etc. There are many street boys in Abéché who have no family, little or no education, and no one to help them.
The leadership of the association. Go Colts!
Saturday, February 1st
12 hour bus ride back to N’Djamena. The bus had TV screens that featured a wide variety of programming: Sudanese music concerts, WWE professional wrestling, Jackie Chan movie in Chinese. The Chadians especially liked the wrestling. Not one of my proudest moments to be an American.
Sunday, February 2nd
Back in N’Djamena, I treated my hosts to a meal at a Lebanese Restaurant before catching a flight back to Paris at 11:55PM.
Monday, February 3rd
Back in Paris around 5AM. Caught a train back to Albertville, home around lunchtime.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Our family’s holiday season looks different this year. Because we are overseas and in transition, we won’t decorate a Christmas tree, we won’t wrap lots of gifts, and we won’t visit all of our family. Is your holiday season promising to be as magical as the TV commercials suggest, or is the reality of life for one reason or another creeping in and taking away the “wonder” of the holidays? May we encourage you this Advent season with what God has been teaching us lately? No matter how big or small your tree is, no matter how many family and friends surround you this December, and no matter how many gifts you receive or are able to give this year, our sovereign God, in good times and bad, is at His very core, a Giving God. This is what Christmas (and each day) is all about as a follower of Jesus! God gives us good gifts in Jesus, and He gives us grace in each moment of each day. Even the difficulties are full of abundant blessings because God is using those things to make us into the image of His Son. Sometimes, it is all too easy to have a mouth overflowing with complaints, isn’t it? Ann Voskamp, in her book One Thousand Gifts, says “Complaint is the bitter howl of unbelief in any benevolent God in this moment, a distrust in the love-beat of the Father’s heart.” Our family is learning to keep a thankful heart, believing that God has sovereignly ordained our every minute. We look for God’s blessings in the ordinary things by keeping a thankful journal to recount God’s grace in our lives. This Christmas season, will you join us in practicing His presence? Give thanks to Him in everything and receive much joy in return! Is there any better gift exchange could we ask for this Christmas?
This life is really just all about God conforming us to His will and His image, whether we are in America or France or anywhere else. God allows us to go through difficult circumstances so that we learn to trust Him more. In the end, God shows Himself to be more gracious and good to us than we could have imagined or hoped for. I wanted to share about our decision to put Isaac in nursery “full time” – 4 days a week – while we are in class. I fought and fought against it. I really wanted to keep my boy with me. I did not like the thought of someone else “raising” my child. I wanted to be the one to train him up in the way he should go. It is, after all, our responsibility as parents. We realized that having him in the afternoons was not going to allow me enough time to learn the language. So, we started taking him out for naps and taking him back in the afternoon at 2ish. Every day was SO hard, I hated saying goodbye to him and he cried each time I dropped him off. 8 goodbyes in one week was a LOT. I wanted to return to part time but Josh really thought we should toughen up and leave him all day. I cried! And prayed! And talked to a few people here who said they had the same response when they realized they really needed to leave their children all day. For me, I finally realized it was the control that I didn’t want to give up. I wasn’t trusting that God would take care of him. I knew God had orchestrated us being here, but I wasn’t willing to fully trust him to also take care of the little details with my children. But in the end, after lots of praying, I was convicted that Isaac is God’s child on loan to me. I agreed to try it for a few days and see how he did. So two weeks ago, we started leaving him all day. And guess what? He did amazing!!! He slept 2 1/2 hours at nap time when at our house he has not napped longer than one hour since we have been here! When Josh went to pick him up, he hardly wanted to leave. He wanted to keep playing with some toy. He now asks to go to his school each morning! I had peace and confidence in our decision when I left him the first day and I have not regretted it. We are able to fully enjoy our time with him when he is with us and we know he is having fun and being taken care of by fellow believers. I am able to study better instead of feeling overwhelmed with how to balance all my responsibilities of mom and student. Thankfully it’s only 10 months and Isaac won’t remember it. That is comforting to me too. I thank God for how He is taking care of Isaac (and Judah, who has been a great sleeper for us). I thank God for giving me the peace I needed to let Isaac go full time.
kimberly
Well, after a crazy 6 months of having our plans to go to another African country upended we have decided to go to Chad. We will spend a year or so in France, just outside of Paris, learning French before heading to N’djamena, the capital of Chad.
We are excited to have a new direction after the disappointment of the last several months. We have been praying and discussing the possibilities with each other, our church, and our wise mentors within our organization. Chad will be a very difficult place to live but there are so many opportunities for work!!
His grace is always sufficient to accomplish his work.
josh