Jennifer Tibbetts

Dear Friends,

Well, a month has gone by since I've written to you.  God continues to work and bless and teach - He is so good!  Let me know how He is at work in your life.

Scott has commented on my energy lately - that I have 4x the energy I did a month ago - praise God!  I've also found a new sense of well-being and contentment in living in Florida and in my job.  I believe that is part of the fruit of why God took me through that health crisis in early May.  Though I have not found an "in person" place to work, I have found more contentment in working from home, inside or outside.  (I enjoy being outside in God's beautiful creation, but with "feels like" temperatures creeping over 100° most afternoons, I usually retreat to air conditioning at that point!!)

I think one thing that has helped me find more contentment is that with God's prompting, I've begun to Zoom with some TCK Advisors and Child Safety Officers in New Zealand, US, Thailand, UK, Korea, etc. to ask them how I can be supporting them - what am I doing that is working well, and what should I change.  This has provided some of the networking and engagement that I have been missing since I no longer work in an office with my team.

Thank you for praying for me and my team as we have worked on planning the virtual TCK Advisor consultation which will be held September 28-30.  We have made good progress.  A couple in our organization who are well-experienced in counseling and debriefing are going to lead our sessions on Mental Health and possibly do some debriefing training with us.  We will have other updates on TCK matters including a Flow of Training project that a member is working on with some teams.  It is so encouraging to see my dreams come to reality as I seek to equip TCK Advisors, CSOs, families and all of our members to understand TCK matters, as well as to provide good care for TCKs so that families thrive on the mission field, and are empowered to serve the Lord as godly examples to the nationals they serve amongst.

Another project that I would request prayer for is a virtual training on "Practical Child Safety" developed by a fellow member and me to train our Child Safety Officers (CSOs) who will in turn train the members/families on their fields.  We are rolling this course out in August, for all of the Asian/Australia/New Zealand folks (August 10 and 12) and for all of the Americas/Europeans (August 24 and 26).  Here is a description of the course:  “In this course, we will explore resources and tools to prevent child harm, ways to empower yourself, children and local communities to prevent and respond to child maltreatment, child safety issues particular to cross-cultural workers as well as how to respond to allegations of child harm.”  Please pray that these trainings will go well, that all technology will work, and that CSOs will feel empowered to follow through on training the members/families under their care.

In other ministry, a Thai lady that I've reached out to in the past, Nuansee, moved to Utah for 1 month to be with family, decided she was too lonely there and moved back to Bradenton.  I'm thankful that after not attending the local Thai church for awhile (due to a conflict), she is now back attending church.  I've helped her a couple times lately with some times when she's needed someone fluent in English to help her communicate with a local business.  I've asked the Thai pastor if one of the women at church can disciple her and he is looking into that.  Please pray that Nuansee will grow in the Lord and share Christ with her extended family and neighbors.  Also pray that she will soon get hearing aids which are much needed.

Scott and I participated in our church's Vacation Bible School July 7-11.  I led the songs and Scott worked with another fellow to lead the games.  About 25 children attended.  It was a great week with a wonderful team of volunteers from the church.  On Sunday, 17 of the 25 kids showed up to sing two songs during our worship service representing 6 families.  One new family has started attending our church as a result.

I continue to pray that Katherine, our church secretary, would get back into reading and studying the book of Mark.  Since our wonderful meeting in April, she has had some health challenges which have distracted her from Bible reading.  The enemy is at work, but God is greater.  Katherine ran the sound board for our VBS so she heard the wonderful memory verse songs the kids sang (Psalm 145:1-3, Proverbs 3:5-6, Romans 5:8).  I was hoping she would come to our church on Sunday to hear them sing, but she didn't.  She is considering attending a Roman Catholic church as that is her background.  Please pray for Katherine to be transformed by God's Word (and her husband and 2 young adult children as well).

The church Ladies' Bible study is going well and encouraging.  I have invited Carleen, a co-worker of Scott's, to attend and also Amanda who just began attending our church.  Please pray that they will come.

We are excitedly looking forward to Nathan and Katelyn's wedding on July 3.  We will be in Iowa from June 30-July 5.  Our daughter Alysha is bringing her boyfriend Jacob and our son Joshua is bringing his girlfriend Megan.  This will be the first time for us to meet Jacob and Megan.  From what we hear, there may be more wedding bells in the future!    And of course, Matthew, Rachel and baby Graham and lots of other special folks will be at the wedding.   Please pray for the time we are together as a whole family, as we get to know these special people, and for all of the sharing times.  Also, Scott is performing the wedding ceremony, and I'm leading country dancing during the reception :)    We trust that God will be glorified in it all.

Thanks so much for your prayers,

Jennifer and Scott