God's Work for Us Now
What a joy it is to see a missionary I have been working with for months see God bring in all of the necessary funds for him and his family to return to ministry! On March 1, this missionary was quite discouraged - "This is really wearing on my family. I'm at the stage where I'm saying, 'I never want to do partnership deveopment again.'" I suggested that he get in touch with our partnership coach who helps people in this process of talking about their vision and ministry and inviting people to partner in ministry. The coach recommended that this man send out an email explaining that he needed to get his financial support to 100% by March 31st and to provide a daily countdown. He followed her suggestion, and day after day he would send me emails announcing new supporters or increases to support - $26/month here, $40/month there.
Yesterday, he wrote "Thank you, Jennifer, for encouraging us to talk to the coach. In the future, you can say to others "I know of a person who (pridefully) thought that talking to the coach wasn't a good use of time. They repented, did what they should and saw God finish the task!" And now I can give him financial clearance and his family can continue their important ministry of sharing Christ with the Chinese. What a blessing to be one cog in the wheel to making this happen!
One of our missionaries has developed an extremely painful condition, and the hospitals in Asia that he has been going to haven't been able to bring him relief. Today there were a flurry of emails from the missionary, his field leader and his medical advisor as they seek to figure out whether the missionary needs to leave his thriving ministry to come back to the US for medical care. I wrote some email responses, seeking to provide appropriate care and direction. I also took some time to pray for this situation.
Another conversation today was on providing Child Safety training and background checks for our Board of Trustee members when they come to Littleton for board meetings next month. In my role as Child Safety Officer, I've worked to oversee that all members, staff and volunteers are trained and screened. I want to ensure that our Littleton Headquarters is child safe and that our missionaries can come here with the sense that this is a "mission home" to their families, much like we appreciated when we traveled to the Bangkok mission home during our years of serving in Thailand - a home away from home.
In some ways, my OMF role is much more administrative than it was when Scott and I were serving in Thailand (1997-2011). I enjoy being able to use my experiences as a missionary and my administrative gift to serve our workers in a variety of ways. And in order to continue using my gift of evangelism, God has allowed me to start various Bible studies in our little village of Louviers where Scott serves as pastor. It brings me joy to continue to share the Word of God with those who do not yet know Jesus as Lord and Savior. Please pray for the four women who are currently meeting with me regularly. Three are studying Ephesians with me and the fourth is studying "Seamless - Understanding the Bible as One Complete Story".
Thank you for praying for us and our work here in the US. God has reassured me time and again that this is where He has us for this season and that He will receive glory as we continue to be faithful.
Blessings,
Jennifer for the Tibbetts Family