Andersons' Prayer Letter for March/April 2013

Dear Praying Friends,                                                                                                    March 2013

Our commemoration of resurrection morning (Easter) is this weekend.  Christ’s victory over death and the grave is the guarantee of our own future resurrection.  It is also God’s “APPROVED/ACCEPTED” stamp on the Lord’s redemptive work on the cross, along with God’s “VALID” stamp on every promise in His precious Word.  May the wonder of the empty tomb never escape us!

This letter is later than it should be—you may have noticed.  Several weeks ago, I went to the main file of our prayer partners’ email lists to edit something … and the file was empty!  No “note of explanation” was left, of course!  L   So, I have been trying to rebuild our email list from several partial sources.  Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.

Please pray that the Lord will give each one of us a growing passion for the souls of men, who so desperately need Christ.  They must hear the Word (Romans 10:17) from the lips of a believer (or through the written Word).  May God grant to us all the boldness to set aside our gripping hesitation and fear of reprisal—living “soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:12) and proclaiming the saving Gospel at every opportunity.

I was privileged to teach the Introduction to Missions class to thirty-four freshmen and two upperclassmen at Baptist College of Ministry in Wisconsin during January.  We had a serious, yet delightful time for the thirty hours of class.  Please pray for these young people … asking the Lord to soon thrust many of them to the fields of the world as church planters!

We ask for your prayers, that God would direct us to those fields where we can go as furlough replacement church planters, bearing “fruit that remains,” and thereby, be a great blessing to the missionary family we are privileged to serve.  God is opening a door for us to possibly serve in South Africa later this year and into 2014.

Thank you for praying for our children and their children.  We praise the Lord for our five grandchildren!  Kyle is now 13 and has grown “seems like” a foot in the last year!  Kathryn is 12 and still a reading machine.  Wyatt is now 6, and trusted Christ as his Savior in February—PTL!  Andrew turned 3 in January and talks nonstop J, and baby Owen was born to Scott and Sarah in February (see photo J)!  God has provided a buyer for the house Glenn and Becky have had for sale in Louisiana!

We rejoice in your laboring with us through your prayers and support!

He is RISEN indeed!

Debtors to His grace,

Steve and Martha Anderson

A ministry of Faith Baptist Church, 7306 E. Atherton Road, Davison, MI  48423

Mission Board:  Baptist World Mission, PO Box 2149, Decatur, AL  35602

sanderson@baptistworldmission.org

Anderson's June 2009 Prayer Letter

June 2009

Let me begin by apologizing for the delay in sending this prayer letter. We are seriously past due and very sorry for the long period with no update. The Lord is faithful, and He continues to bless despite our frailties–for His glory. We would like to use this letter to highlight a couple of critical prayer requests in our lives and ministry, knowing you will take these matters before the throne of God as you so faithfully intercede on our behalf.

The first matter concerns our current support level. Since this time last year, we have lost approximately $650 in monthly support. Seventeen of our twenty-two supporting churches (revised number) are in southeast Michigan. Though the economic situation nationwide is taking a “hit” from its past levels, the Midwest region is even more affected. Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the country. Please understand that this is in no way a “woe is me” statement. God has never failed to meet our needs (Ps. 37:25), and we praise His name for His gracious provision. Just this past week we learned of a car being given to us, replacing the one that was totaled in February! Praise the Lord for His goodness! The difficulty relates to our ability to maintain a house in Alabama (near the BWM home office), while continuing to do furlough replacement. As you know, we attempt to offset (as much as possible) the housing-related expenses on each field when we are covering for a missionary (rent, utilities, phone, etc.). Because of our current support level, we are finding that doing this while maintaining our own house is, in most cases, impossible. We are seriously considering selling the house in Alabama. The Lord alone knows where we would then live whenever stateside, and . . . He is more than able! We are asking for His wisdom, timing, and direction. Please pray! We are also setting up meetings in an effort to raise additional support.

Steve’s mother (83) is facing some significant health challenges. We all desire to see God continually glorified in her life, as well as arranging appropriate 24/7 care for her and for our brother Dave. We need God’s guidance and timing for these major decisions, and we thank you so much for praying about this.

Thank you so much for your prayers for our son-in-law Glenn, who was deployed in January to Central Asia and will be returning later this summer. We are all eager for his safe return, especially Becky and their two children. Glenn’s vehicle has been a tremendous blessing to use during the time since ours was totaled.

We have planned a trip to West Africa in August and September of this year to visit our missionaries in Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and DR Congo. May we be a help and blessing to these choice servants!

Debtors to His grace,

Steve and Martha Anderson

An Example of the Fruitfulness of Africa!!

Amanavil, Cameroon Update by Susan Yeiter

Friends,
Here is an excerpt of a letter from Matt and Susan Yeiter who serve in northern Cameroon. Your soul will be thrilled as you read of this "fruit white unto harvest" on the African continent!!

Steve Anderson

We are writing to let you know that we are alive and well and back from a WONDERFUL time in Amanavil. WOW! To put our experience into words is hard. We flew out around 1:30, arriving on the airstrip about 2 p.m. It was an hour hike from the strip to the village center. Tom couldn't accompany us, so we just hiked with some children who were carrying our mattress and bags. I had Trinity bound on my back, and Matt was overseeing DJ. The girls were running along with the children. We had to cross three streams/rivers. In all three instances, we had to leap from rock to rock to keep from getting wet. You can imagine how that turned out for the kids! :) We met people all along the way. They greeted us saying, “Thank you, thank you for coming, welcome.” The trail was up and down through tall bush grass/jungle-like area, then out into sun-scorched dry areas. It was a beautiful hike though; we climbed little hills and descended into valleys. Finally, over one last stream, up a steep, rocky incline, and there we were. Before us lay a clearing surrounded by about five block buildings with dry grass roofs. As we came into the village, people surrounded us on all sides—hundreds of men, women, and children—touching the children, touching their hair, greeting us, taking Trinity, shouting “welcome, welcome.” Our children are the first white children they have ever seen. Autumn, DJ, and Trinity did very well; Mariah hid in my skirt, but hey, that's Mariah. Then Trinity saw her favorite person from church, TomMike a believer from Faith Baptist in Bamenda. He had joined the team going out, so she was thrilled. I couldn't believe that in a sea of faces she would pick him out, but she did. Finally everyone calmed down, we got some water and relaxed for a few minutes. Then we jumped right in. I was immediately teaching a story with my flash cards about Heaven, as about 75 people gathered around to see the pictures. A local man translated the story into the local dialect. When I finished my story, Godlove, from the Bible institute came up and began to preach. About ten people made a profession for Christ right then. WOW!

Matt and another man went and cut machete sticks to use for poles on our tent (the poles for our tent never made it out), so Matt spent a lot of time with the local men setting up the tent, talking with them, and getting to know them. That night as the sun was setting, we brought out the projector and showed the film, "The Printing." While the villagers were watching the film, the team ate supper in the dark, and then shared and prayed together. Each day was this way—teaching songs and telling stories. Crowds would gather every time those flash cards came out. They loved seeing the pictures. On Thursday I spent the morning weighing patients, taking their blood pressure, and passing out LOTS of candy to the kids. Then we hiked up river for our baths. I put bathing suits on the kids, and they swam around in the river. I just got in with my clothes on (since I wasn’t really sure who was around), got the kids washed, and spent some time relaxing before hiking back to camp. We had another film last night and more stories this morning. I was able to lead a lady to Christ yesterday; it was so exciting. However it is frustrating to have so many people making decisions for Christ, and this village is so far from a good church or a good preacher. Even Felix, a national pastor in the Akwoya region, is an 8-hour hike away. He really has a vision for this area. I’m going to burn a CD of an interview with Felix. He has a great plan; he just needs help, so we are praying toward that end.

The kids did great; they LOVED it and made so many friends. They ran all over the village with them. DJ entertained everyone yesterday for about 30 minutes, while he chased a chicken over and around and under the entire village center. He had everyone laughing; he was so intent on getting that chicken! As we hiked out of the village, it was very emotional for us. I don’t know if we will ever see these people again, but they will remain in our prayers and in our hearts. Our lives have been impacted in just a few days. These villages are all over this region; a two or three-day trek from a ROAD—not from a city, from a ROAD! Most of the people we met had NEVER been out to a road. INCREDIBLE! They are living their lives to plant food, harvest it, eat it—just to live to plant it again. That’s it. They aren't making money; they survive to plant and eat, to plant again and that is all.

Praise the Lord for Working Airbags!!!

On February 2nd, the Lord showed once again how gracious He is in protecting our lives. I was bringing home a softdrink, and after negotiating the corner which turns onto our road, I noticed that some of the cup's contents had spilled onto the passenger seat. I grabbed some paper toweling that I had on that seat and swiped it acrossed the spill. When I looked back at the "road" I realized that I had, in fact, left the road just a split second earlier. I was about 10 feet from a telephone pole! I had NO time for a reaction - no bracing of the arms, no braking, nothing but a extremely brief cry out to God. Immediately on contact, the airbags both deployed and I was sitting in a smoke-filled car a bit stunned! I sensed that I had not been seriously injured, so I got out and stood in the rain to call 911. As you can see in the photos, the pole now stood about 5 feet West of where it had been! You can see the hole behind the front tire where the pole had been previously, with a four-foot section of the pole under the car, and the pole itself - now resting on a driveway. Why did not the pole fall down onto the car? More angelic activity, I suspect! The officer and I estimated that I had probably gotten up to about 30 MPH before the contact. Thanks for praying for your missionaries! Please continue to pray . . . as we must now find another trustworthy car. I sure did love that one. The Lord knows!

Prayer Update - January 2009

Andersons’ Friendly Reminders for Interceding Colaborers Abroad January 2009

Another New Year has dawned, and what a year it promises to be! The new administration has promised change, and many changes are certain to be forthcoming. “Oh Lord, bring revival to our land, and begin that work with your own people! Then, use your Holy Spirit and the precious Word, through the faithful witness of your people, to bring many to Christ in these days! Father, may this be the year when our Savior returns to catch His bride away.” And when He comes, friends, may He find us faithfully serving . . . for His glory!

The first of December Steve drove up to Laval, Quebec. Laval is an island just to the northwest of the island-city of Montreal. Baptist World Mission has two families serving in Laval—the Paul Pelletiers and the Steve Faucettes. Steve and Brenda have worked in an English language church plant on the south of the island since 2003 (after church planting in Nova Scotia for 17 years), and Paul and Kim started the Eglise Baptiste Centrale de Laval in 1994. Steve had the privilege of covering for Paul at EBCL for approximately five weeks. The folks there were very gracious, and serving with them was a real joy. The church averages about 70 in attendance and is a stong work—particularly by Quebec standards. This coverage was occasioned by Paul’s diagnosis of cancer in April of 2008 and the rest he needed following his rounds of chemo (2), radiation treatments (33), and surgeries (3)! We rejoice with the Pelletiers that Paul was informed by the doctors during Christmas week that he is apparently cancer free now! God is so good.

In the middle of Steve’s time in Quebec, he flew to Shreveport, Louisiana, to join the family for Christmas week. We had involvement in two different minstries to the homeless in the area (preparing and serving food) and had the unique joy of caroling in a veterans’ facility on Christmas Day! Our son-in-law Glenn was deployed on January 10 and will be overseas in Central Asia for not less than six months. We appreciate so much your prayers for him, and for Becky and the children in his absence.

We appreciate your prayers, too, that God’s will be done in our consideration of three different furlough-replacement opportunities during 2009-10. They are for ministries in South Africa, Ivory Coast, and New Zealand. We also hope to make a trip to West Africa in the middle of this year to visit our missionaries in Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and DR Congo.

Your faithful prayers mean so much to us and are being answered by the Lord. We want to assure you of our prayers for you as well—especially that God would greatly bless and use you all during 2009.

Debtors to His grace,
Steve and Martha Anderson

African Trip from August-September, 2008

We returned in mid-September from almost seven weeks in East and South Africa.  It was a profitable trip, though not without a glitch or two.  We have come to expect that with each trip on the continent!   Our time started in Kenya, where the Simonsen, Rains and Halstead families all serve.  The stay in Kenya included a side “survey” trip to Kigoma, Tanzania where we (Rick, Brent, and I) had the privilege of teaching for three days on Baptist Distinctives to a conference of about 100, including some 30 Pastors.  I was able to stand on the spot in Ujiji where Stanley uttered his famous line, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.”  God is greatly using our three families in Kenya for His glory.  Martha and I then went to Johannesburg, South Africa.  Though we both fell ill, our time there was a great blessing to us.  The work of Calvary Baptist Church in Sunnyridge took a significant turn during recent months with an outreach into two massive refugee camps in their area (mostly Zimbabweans and Mozambiqueans).  The regular Sunday attendance has essentially doubled, and the Bible Institute is also swelling with refugee students who have made professions of faith and are growing much spiritually.  God is good!  The work at CBC is the primary ministry of the Kevin Brosnans, and Miss Saundra Smith (our hostess for the entire time in Jo’Burg).  The Brosnans are also working toward the establishment of a full-time Bible College.  The Stewart Overmillers have been overseeing the exciting work at Elandsfontein.  A garage belonging to a nursery school would seat probably 25 kids comfortably.  However, on a typical Sunday morning, it is “filled” with over 100 kids and 30+ adults meet in a small adjoining room!  They need another facility desperately.  This ministry is literally bursting at the seams.  Folks are being saved weekly and the congregation is growing spiritually as well.

 

The next leg of our journey was to be to Lubumbashi, DR Congo.  However, the airline had oversold the flight departing Nairobi by about 50 seats and we were not allowed to board the aircraft for the first of our planned four flights.  The bottom line was that we were forced to cancel our trip to Congo!  We have not visited the Curtis family since before they left Kinshasa in 2005 and we look forward to making that a part of our next trip.  We made the next flight down to Cape Town where the Eric Grahams serve along with Miss Amy Blackburn.  The work there in North Pine is small but growing.  What precious believers they are.  Martha stayed in Cape Town while I returned to Nairobi and Thika, Kenya to teach a grad course on Apologetics during the second week in September.  There were 16 Pastors who took the course, and it was a delight to both teach them and learn from them.  The training program in Nairobi continues to expand at all levels, including T.E.E. (Theological Education by Extension).

 

We have enjoyed giving update reports to a number of our 25 supporting churches this year.  It is always a delight to do this, and our sincere prayer is that God will raise up additional laborers for the fields of the world.  There is so much to do . . . and potentially so little time.  “Even so come, Lord Jesus!”  May we all ‘be about the Father’s business.’   We praise the Lord for each of you, and for your faithful intercession on our behalf!

 

Steve and Martha Anderson

 

East and South African Trip

The time since our arrival in Nairobi, Kenya on the 5th of August has been packed, including a week-long trip by Steve and two other missionary men to Kigoma, Tanzania. We are currently in Johannesburg, South Africa. Sadly, we have both been ill for several days but we are beginning to improve and plan to continue on to DR Congo this Friday evening. We GREATLY appreciate your prayers! Pray that we can be an encouragement and a blessing to both missionaries and national believers alike. Thank you so much for your faithful intercession!

Andersons' June, 2008 Prayer Letter

Andersons’ Friendly Reminders for Interceding Colaborers Abroad
June 2008

The term “colabor” does not appear in the Scriptures. The concept, however, certainly does. A number of texts speak of a working relationship between believers serving in different capacities, regions, or ministries. The word most often used to express this ministry cooperative is sunagonizomai, and it means, literally, to “strive (agonize) together with.” We cannot begin to express our most sincere thanks to you for “striving together with us” in this work. Many of you do so financially, and the Lord meets our needs through your faithfulness. All of you pray for us, and that is a priceless striving, which only eternity can repay. Thank you for “colaboring” with us!

It has been over 2½ months since missionary Don Winch suffered a perforation of his colon while serving in Douala, Cameroon. After his status was somewhat stabilized on the field, he and Karen flew back to the States for further evaluation and treatment. The shortened version of this story of God’s omnipotent care is that Don had, in fact, two resections performed on April 21, 2008. There were two needed because God had orchestrated Don’s small bowel to rotate around and “park alongside” the perforation in the large bowel and “attach itself,” preventing leakage, sepsis, and likely death, until the Winches were in the States. The damaged section of both needed to be removed. Praise the Lord for His goodness and grace! The Winches are both growing stronger each day and plan to return to Douala in early September. (Karen had some health challenges which were not as severe.) We also appreciate your prayers for the Hassmans, the Winch’s colleagues now working in Douala who, along with the national believers, are awaiting their return.

We had the special privilege of seeing our second daughter, Sarah, wed on Saturday, June 7 to Mr. Scott Hose. Scott is a deacon at our sending church, Faith Baptist Church of Davison, Michigan, and Sarah teaches second grade in the church’s Christian school. We rejoice in their desire to establish a Christ-honoring home for God’s glory. God wonderfully used many friends to help with the entire day, and the Lord Jesus Christ was greatly exalted. We will work at getting more of the photos on our blog page (see final paragraph). Thank you for your faithful prayers for missionary children! We want to encourage you to be in prayer, as well, for our son-in-law Glenn who is in charge of a busy airbase hospital in Louisiana. His load is extreme during these days, and we know he would greatly appreciate your prayers! We have had the opportunity to be in several of our supporting churches during this early summer, and that is always a delight for us. Our 25 churches are each very special to our hearts!

There are still “hot zones” in Africa. We appreciate your prayers for South Africa in particular. The missionaries tell us the military was deployed last month to quell the worst civil unrest since the fall of Apartheid. This violence was a reaction to the flood of refugees, mainly Zimbabweans, fleeing the starvation, hyper-inflation, and political oppression in Zimbabwe. If they return to Zimbabwe, they face possible detention and beatings. Many South Africans resent these “foreigners” who compete with them for jobs and resources (sound familiar?); however, South Africa has always been a multi-ethnic society and is thus known as the “rainbow nation.” Ironically, because of AIDS, South Africa actually has a negative population growth rate. The BWM missionaries there have passed out thousands of gospel tracts during this upheaval, and a number of people have made professions of faith in Christ. Fourteen walked to church on their own during a recent Sunday in addition to those picked up at the refugee camp. Pray for this unique opportunity to meet many needs, both physical and eternal.

We very much covet your prayers for us as we travel to the countries of DRCongo, South Africa, Tanzania, and Kenya during the months of August and September. Pray for fruit and encouragement. Steve will also be teaching a grad course on Apologetics in Kenya during this trip. Finally, we have a new blog page. Feel free to leave a comment, or read our updates at www.africaharvestfields.blogspot.com. We praise the Lord for YOU.

Steve and Martha Anderson

Biographical Information . . .

Steve and Martha Anderson - BWM

Steve Anderson was born and raised in the Flint, Michigan area. He married Martha Cook in 1972, and they now have three grown children: Rebecca [with husband Glenn Donnelly and two wonderful grandchildren], Sarah, and Ben. The Andersons spent three terms as missionaries in Togo, West Africa, from 1979 until 1991. In 1991 they took a leave of absence to get their children through college. During this hiatus in the states, Steve was 7 years on staff as the Music and Discipleship Pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Davison, Michigan. He and Martha both taught in Faith Baptist Schools during that period – he, part-time [Choirs, Bible, H.S. French] and her, full-time [1st grade]. Additionally, he served on the Board of Flint Crisis Pregnancy Services for 10 years. Steve and Martha joined Baptist World Mission of Decatur, Alabama in 1997 as Furlough-Replacement church planters*, serving anywhere in the Baptist World Mission family, which includes currently 53 countries. In April of 2002, Steve was appointed as BWM’s Field Director for Africa. They currently serve in both of these capacities. They have lived and ministered in, of course, Togo, as well as Quebec, New Zealand (three times), Italy and Kenya. Steve is currently pursuing a doctorate at Northland Baptist Bible College in Dunbar, Wisconsin and is an RN, graduating from Hurley Medical Center in 1974. Martha is a 1972 graduate of Eastern Michigan University.

Above is a simple biographical sketch. Below is the fleshed out “children” portion:

Our oldest, Becky, is 34 and is married to Glenn Donnelly. They both went through pre-med together at BJU, graduating in 1996. Glenn is a physician, currently paying the U.S. Air Force back for putting him through med school. They have lived in Dayton, OH, Abilene, TX, San Antonio, TX and last year (July, 2007) they moved to Shreveport, Louisiana for serving at Barksdale AFB. They have our two GRANDchildren, Kathryn (7) and Wyatt (1)! J
Our second daughter, Sarah (31), graduated from Maranatha BBC in 1999 and is in her 9th year of teaching 2nd Grade at Faith Baptist Schools in Davison. She lives in Grand Blanc, MI and will be married on June 7, 2008 to Mr. Scott Hose!
Our son, Ben (29), graduated from Northland BBC in 2000 and then with a Masters in 2003. He currently lives in Appleton, Wisconsin. He works with Spectracide as a marketer, covering over 20 Home Depot and Lowes stores between Iron Mountain, Michigan and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.