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!