In Community:

March 2019 Newsletter

All Those Flakes

by Pastor Craig Swanson

It has been quite the winter. Things started out drier and warmer than normal. Ski resorts were struggling, and concern was growing about snowpack levels for the coming summer. And then the calendar flipped to February. The temperatures dropped and then the snow began to fall… and fall and fall. Typically, when snow falls in Seattle, the weather warms up a day or so later, the snow turns to slush and in a couple of days, the white landscape is just a memory. But the freezing temperatures continue and there are still patches of snow on the ground in places.
There were some days that the weather map for the entire state was completely white. Every square foot of land in Washington was covered with snow; thousands of square miles blanketed. In some ways, it appeared as one single massive sheet, laid out over the region. But when we stop to think, that single sheet was actually made up of billions upon billions of individual, unique snowflakes. The one mass that we see consists of seemingly uncountable individual elements.

I think sometimes we assume that when God looks at humanity, He sees the masses; the vast community that inhabits the globe. While God is able to see all at once He also is intimately familiar with each individual. He knows us by name. He knows our needs. He cares for us individually. He provides for us uniquely. In fact, God knows more about us than we even know about ourselves. Jesus tells us that our Heavenly Father knows even the number of hairs on our heads. This statement is made as an encouragement for us not to be afraid. Since God knows us, not as a part of the masses but as individuals, uniquely created, He also knows our needs and is abundantly able to meet them. Just as no two snowflakes are alike, no two individuals are either. God creates us in our uniqueness, relates to us individually and takes care of us personally. Even when the snow falls, we have nothing to fear.

It’s All About Love

By Pastor Mike Kurtz

It is said that people love others in the way they like to be loved. If the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, then this year’s Valentine’s Day Fellowship Hour is certainly an example of that. As is the tradition, the men of FBC hosted the Valentine’s Day Fellowship Hour in February that displayed love through baking, frying, crock potting, and many other forms that showed off their culinary skills. From soup to sweet potato pie to mini cupcakes, this year there was more food than ever. Thank you to all the men who helped make this year’s celebration of love a success! To the CYC guys who set up, the guys who volunteered to serve and clean up, to the men who spent that extra time preparing a dish – thank you. And thank you to the women of FBC. Your contribution to this greater labor of love for the sake of the Kingdom does not go unnoticed. We are grateful beyond words (and food!).

Seattle Public Schools-Faith-Based Partnership Meeting

by Reiko Aramaki

On February 1st, Seattle Public Schools held a Faith-Based Partnership meeting where over 120 attendees gathered at First Free Methodist Church to discuss and highlight how Seattle Public Schools can effectively partner with churches to support students and families in the Seattle community. Although there have been church-school partnership meetings in the past in Seattle, this was the first meeting of its kind that was actually hosted by Seattle Public Schools. Roughly half of the attendees were principals and family support workers from various public schools in Seattle and the other half were key leaders from churches and Christian organizations such as Union Gospel Mission and Urban Impact. The keynote speaker was Denise Juneau, Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools, who shared about her Native American upbringing and also expressed her support in seeing schools and churches working together to strengthen communities. Pastor Mike, Juan Torres (family support worker at Beacon Hill Elementary) and I also had the opportunity to briefly share about Faith Bible’s partnership with Beacon Hill Elementary and how that has made a positive impact on meeting the needs of families at the school, as well as the way it has positively impacted our church. We also had discussions in smalls groups on next steps in our partnerships; Juan, Pastor Mike and I talked about having a spring supply drive at church for the school in May. The meeting was encouraging to attend, especially since compared to a few years ago, church-school partnerships in Seattle have increased from ~20+ partnerships to about 45 partnerships today – God is definitely moving in Seattle! It was also a great opportunity to spend some extended time with Juan Torres. He expressed many times to us personally and publicly at the meeting how grateful he is to Faith Bible for our love and support for Beacon Hill Elementary. Thank you, Faith Bible family!

We’re a Team!

by Dave and Akiko Bauson

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We’re the Bausons: Dave, Akiko, Hikari and Takumi. God has led us to become missionaries to reach out to children in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The School of Promise ministers to these children who are at risk of trafficking and abuse, giving them a quality education in a Christian setting for free. It’s one of the most effective means of presenting the Gospel to them and their families, since it makes God’s work evident in both word and deed.

If you had asked Akiko what we’d be doing after sixteen years of marriage, “missions” would have been her least likely reply. For my part I’d been waiting about twenty-five years for God to answer my heart’s desire to enter full time ministry. But that kind of wait can dull the edge on any vision. We’d been leading the relatively peaceful life of software engineer, housewife, and family when God initiated His plan to turn our lives upside down. Now here we are, headed to Thailand and building a team of supporters!

During the years of our marriage God had been preparing Akiko to take the steps of faith that a missionary life would require. He wanted us to bring two kids in tow, so He gave us children that would be excited to live in a different country. Imagine our shock when God closed the software world to me one year after the elders’ vision trip to the School of Promise! He spent the year from November 2017 to 2018 stretching our faith in His provision and leading just short of breaking. Our small team of four saw the possibility of missions in our future. So we sacrificed some savings in February 2018 to take a family vision trip to Chiang Mai. Akiko began to see that His will included building her faith even further with her own call to ministry overseas. As her vision grew I began to see that God hadn’t forgotten the desire He gave me while attending seminary.

One year after pushing us out of the secular working world the Lord drew us into the missionary world. After talking with a few missions agencies we applied to The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM). We attended a missionary orientation week last October. Soon afterward we began raising support to carry us through eight years of work at the School.

God often takes a long time preparing His children to be most effective at the tasks He has arranged for them. When He finally does begin to lead He can move very quickly! We’re experiencing that even now. FBC was among the first to take up some of our support. We’re very grateful that many of you have joined our team; so many that we were able to attend the final orientation week the middle of February. Praise the Lord, He has raised 77% of our monthly financial needs! He’s also given us confidence in your continuing prayer support. Our small team of four has grown into a group of a couple hundred! We really see God finishing this phase of our preparation soon.

Please join us in prayer for the next few months, as they will go very quickly and we’ll need to make many more changes and prepare for our move. We’re aiming at mid-July of this year! Pray that the Lord would work out Akiko’s becoming a US citizen in time to get our visas and depart. Also pray that the Lord would raise up more financial and prayer supporters to join our team. He’s brought us all so far, so that He can do a big work in Thailand through each of us following His lead!

If you’d like to receive our monthly updates please send us an email at akkydave4him@gmail.com. Contact Lynne Otsu at lynneotsu@yahoo.com if you’d like to join our prayer team.

School of Promise God is Moving… Opposition is Growing

 by Gary Kato

She was not the same energetic Unna the team knew. She coughed through the evening and hardly ate a bite of food. The months of coughing and rounds of antibiotics had taken its toll. She would force a smile and push the dishes of food she ordered to us. She needed help. Something was wrong. The local clinic was very limited in what they could do. Noby and Bob mentioned that there were lung specialists in town, but there was no insurance for that and no medical help available for the children and families of the teachers. Kru Unna stopped at the Kennells home before her lung doctor appointment and noticed Bob was preparing for his Thai language Sunday School class. This class had grown from a handful of students to over 50. Unna knew that is what she needed. Could Bob teach all the Thai teachers the Bible? Through illness, two Bible studies for all the Thai teachers began at the School of Promise. Unna was so excited to get into the Word that her last catch up Bible study was in the waiting room of the hospital, waiting for the doctor.

Just before that the students wanted to continue what was started with the VBS program that FBC sponsored. To continue in the Word, a discipleship class for the students began. Joel also told the story of visiting a graduate who was unable to attend church because of required soccer practices at his non-Christian High School. From there a Bible study for students who graduated from SOP began.

So thru adversity God is moving. FBC was able to launch a fund to help the teachers and their children get essential medical care. Joel mentioned that there is a battle going on now with the teachers and their children facing a lot of medical challenges. On our last night there in February, teachers Pim and Da dropped by with presents for the FBC VBS team. Teacher Pim showed us a worrisome picture of her daughter Dola on her phone. The local doctors called it lazy eye, but its appearance was just not right. Bob and Noby got the baby into the ophthalmologist and the baby had no pupillary reflexes and severe pneumonia. The mother is petrified, coming from a small village and seeing her baby hospitalized. Teacher Da’s little girl, Diana was suffering from severe hives day after day over her entire body. The local clinic blamed the warm weather and just gave her topical Benadryl.  Noby and Bob got her into a pediatrician and Diana’s hives disappeared with the appropriate oral medications. Now on a low allergen diet, she has not had any recurrence of hives. Teacher Neung suffered from swelling and pain for 6 months. The local clinic only gave her aspirin. Noby and Bob got her into a good hospital. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with a serious condition called Scleroderma. With help from the medical fund, she will be able to see a rheumatologist in 2 weeks. Please pray for these situations and others.

For the school itself, please pray that they would be able to lease the next-door building and renovate it for a temporary high school building. They are looking for about $68,000 for this project. For the future, they are looking to build and expand a new campus so they can reach a broader community and more students. Currently, the price of the land is $380,000 and the entire project will cost over 2 million dollars. Intimidating numbers, but amounts the leadership at SOP are trusting the Lord for.

Missionary Update – The Kennells

 by Bob and Noby Kennell

Dear Faith Bible Church;

Greetings from Chiangmai Thailand.  Recently our grandkids received their report cards/evaluations.  We loved hearing how they did and of course are so proud of their excellent marks and achievements. It got us thinking that maybe we need to do the same – not to share our achievements but to “high five God” and all that HE has done.  We consistently stand amazed watching God at work and are honored and humbled to have had a small part in seeing His Word go forth.  We give God all the praise for each life who has been changed, including our own. Rejoice with us as we share some of the answers to many, many prayers. This will be quite long so at your leisure please read and be blessed.  YOU are a part of this.  This is your fruit as well.

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After finishing the New Testament in Malaumanda we waited for God to show us our next journey.   As much as we would have loved to remain in PNG Noby’s health was not good enough to do so.  When we were invited to Thailand to assist church planting teams and teach Bible Foundational Truths in National Bible Schools in neighboring countries, we agreed to come and serve for 5 years.  Another request was to serve in a Thai church.  Learning the Thai language was very important but with only five years we did not want to be in language study for most of our time here.  We studied for 18 months which was enough for Bob to acquire a level of fluency to minister.  Of course, the first thing we could and did was begin to build relationships so from day one that was our focus.

Assisting church planting teams has given us many opportunities to travel to different parts of Thailand and Cambodia.  The majority of our teams have suffered loss and hardships… co-workers leaving, lack of interest in learning about God, serious medical situations, family members in their home countries who need help, and difficulty in working within a Buddhist context.  Giving practical help is good but all our teams just need encouragement.  This last year one of our teams finished their New Testament after 30 long years – PRAISE.  Another should be done in a couple years and both tribal churches seem to be growing and maturing.  PRAISE.

Training national leaders is a special privilege for Bob.  In two weeks, we will travel again to Vietnam.  Bob will join a team of bible teachers who will train Vietnamese and Hmong lay pastors how to use the Foundational Bible Truth lessons in their various villages.  The men and some women come with their own stories, all of them so inspiring and many times heart breaking.  They love God and appreciate the training so much. What a privilege to give them tools to be able to teach God’s Word.  It is quite amazing to have the freedom to do this so these visits twice a year are a gift.

Saisamphan Fellowship Church has become our family.  A year after we arrived Bob was invited to join the pastoral staff at our Thai church alongside three other pastors from different language groups (Lawa, Hmong, and Kamuk.) Opportunities to serve and teach opened up to us in unbelievable ways. We have taught marriage seminars, spoke at family conferences, connected with the college/career group, and led a leadership workshop. Discipling young couples and teaching young men and women allowed us to connect more personally with families. They are a very active church with (probably too) many activities for all ages – youth, college career, women’s and men’s groups and we have tried to attend and participate in as many events as possible including a weekly prayer meeting that BEGINS at 8:00 at night. Prayer is a strong core value for the church which is something we admire and appreciate.

Teaching Sunday School was a prayer request that God answered this year – January 2019.  We have been burdened for the lack of real understanding of foundational bible truths and have been asking God to show us how we can teach them.  So being able to do this has been amazing.  Attendance has been excellent with 50+ attending (9:40 – 10:30.)  We had hoped it could have been sooner, but it is all IN HIS TIME.  We believe that God’s sovereign plan is for Bob to teach truth (in Thai) for as long as we are here.  At first, he was very disappointed that his Thai may not be as good as it should be (because spiritual terminology is very different) but everyone has been so encouraging and assuring him that they are understanding clearly.  In the end it is the Holy Spirit who helps them understand it anyways right?

SIT – Two years ago Aw (our foundation secretary) asked Bob to teach her boyfriend about God.  Thankfully they both came faithfully twice a week to learn.  Bob used the Building on Firm Foundations Curriculum, the same course that we have used since we first taught the Bisorios in 1980.  Praise God Sit trusted Christ as his Savior and has since been growing in the Lord… visibly a changed young man.  Both Sit and Aw have come faithfully each week to be discipled and it is pure joy to watch a person who was once so shy and quiet change into a more outgoing social person excited about learning new truths about God and walking in them.  They have since become engaged, so we have had the privilege of giving them godly counsel from the Word to help them in their upcoming marriage.

CHAO came to Bob after viewing our Bisorio video in church last year.  He was struggling with fear.  We concluded that since Chao was a faithful, involved member at our church, serving on several other Christian foundations he must be a believer. He came to our house to talk and as Bob encouraged him to trust God for help it was very clear that his understanding of God and the Bible was very weak. When Bob went to John 3:3, Chao stated that he didn’t know what being born again meant and that he had never heard of that truth. Yes … Chao eagerly agreed to come twice a week to be taught.  By his own admission Chao confessed that he knew a lot of stories from the Bible, but he never connected the dots to see how they all fit together.  Every week he would get so excited because things started making sense. Tuesday night after his lesson he left our house but stopped around the corner.  He wanted so badly to come and talk to Bob about trusting Christ but felt bad because it was late, and he didn’t want to bother us.  The next evening, he called Bob (in the middle of our time with Sit and Aw) and sounded so desperate to come over to talk.  He did come over and quickly explained that he understood what Jesus did for him on the cross and that if something happened to him, he would spend eternity apart from Christ.   Bob explained that if he truly believed that Jesus Christ died for his sins, he was a believer.  They prayed together and there was much rejoicing that evening.  Since then he comes twice a week and loves learning about God and trusting Him intentionally each day.

The School of Promise (Christian Thai school for kids at risk) was initially just a way for us to keep our visas valid.  However, God had greater plans and it has been one of our favorite weekly involvements.  Not only do we read (English) to 5th and 6th graders but we have built very close and special relationships with the staff, students and families.  One of our churches in Seattle has become a significant partner with the school helping in numerous ways.  (Plans for their third mission trip are already in the works.)  Because it is a private school funding is very minimal which affects medical needs. Health care in Thailand is available but there have been several difficult situations recently that have necessitated us taking them to a better hospital for medical help and care.  Not too long ago God laid this need on the heart of a friend and within a week a fund was set up to help the Thai staff when serious conditions come up.  God’s timing is perfect because in the last 2 weeks we have been involved directly with three of those and praise God most of them are receiving proper medicine and improving.  We are very thankful and see the hand of God in bringing us to this school for more than reading English books.  Recently Bob was asked to teach the Thai teachers and that has become one of our favorite activities.  The ten Thai teachers engage each time and get very excited to learn more foundational truths from the Word of God.  What a privilege to teach them.  Please pray for Bee, Unna, Diana, Nueng and Dola.  We will give you more details later.

Khun YAI our neighbor befriended us the first day we moved into our house.  We quickly became great friends with her and her husband.  With all their kids grown and in Bangkok we visited them often especially helping her care for her husband whose health was failing.  Two years ago, her husband died, and she spent the next year doing all the required Buddhist merit offerings etc. etc.  In December she agreed (at first reluctantly) for Bob to teach her the Bible and about the one true God.  Our prayers were answered because within five minutes her interest was sparked.  She quickly asked for a pencil and paper so she could write everything down and has been a great student.  From our first meeting we have prayed for Yai’s salvation.  Her husband’s dementia was too advanced so we accepted the fact that he would not be able to hear the Gospel. Yai is hearing the truth as she has been coming often each morning.  However, we are very aware that Satan does not want her to hear the truth as lately there have been circumstances that have taken her away from her home which means she has not been coming to her bible lessons regularly.

Bisorio and Malaumanda are still very dear to our hearts so staying connected continues to be a priority.  We are so thankful that we have been able to visit each year. The end of March (two days after we return from Vietnam) we will spend two weeks in both tribes in PNG.  From all reports the churches are remaining true to the Word of God and continue to teach God’s truths.

A Big Move and Change of Ministry – Before coming to Thailand our children asked us to consider returning to the States to be near them and our grandchildren.  After our time in Malaumanda, they had thought that we would probably be returning stateside.  But after much prayer we believed God’s plan was for us to come to Thailand and they agreed that God’s plans are best.  But it is now time.  We are thankful that our daughters and their husbands want us to be near them and interact with our grandchildren.  Even though we have spent much of their growing up years apart we have tried to stay connected and feel that we have built good relationships with them.  Now we get to build on that and nurture a relationship that God can use to grow them into men and women who will love Him with all their hearts.  We are blessed and excited.  We try not to get too excited at this wonderful gift from God.

In May we will move to South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.  We are planning to sell our house in Florida and buy a house in PA.  That is presently all in the Lord’s hands.  We will continue to be full-time missionaries with Ethnos360, and our main focus will be BISORIO.  Because Noby will not be able to live in the tribe for long periods we would like to try and see if this will work – one month visits twice a year.  Thanks to technology we can work on our projects in the States.  Bob will do more Old Testament translation. Noby will develop a refresher course for teaching the national language of Melanesian Pidgin English to the church leaders who are very weak in their knowledge of spiritual terminology.  This is a huge need as they meet with church leaders from neighboring tribal groups and are finding it difficult to interact well.  Noby would also like to write a devotional book for the women.  Twice a year we will travel to PNG.  One of our churches has graciously given us funds to make necessary improvements on the little house in Bisorio.  This will include a small bathroom, running water, solar power, solar fridge, screening to make it as bug proof as possible for starters.  The little 15 x 15 house presently has 2 windows so we will definitely be cutting out several more windows (to catch as much air and wind as possible.)  An audio bible in Bisorio is also another big project that we will be checking into.

Bob has also been asked to continue helping with the training in Vietnam twice a year and also be available when needs arise in Thailand.  We are quite sure that we will keep very busy AND hopefully still get to as many of our grandkids’ school and sports activities as possible.

If you have gotten to the end of this very lengthy report – Thank you.  As you can see there are many things to PRAISE God for as well as needs for you to commit to prayer.  Thank you for your faithful involvement and partnership in God’s work.  We are blessed to have such amazing friends, God’s people, to support us.  It makes all the difference in the world to know that we are not in this alone.  We have never felt abandoned or neglected and for that we thank you.

If you have any questions about anything, please email us.  We welcome your input and continued involvement as we end this journey and begin another one.

All for the glory of God,

Bob & Noby Kennell

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It is difficult not to acknowledge the consistent involvement that our Faith Bible family has in our lives.  This letter is possible mostly because of the generosity of Faith Bible Church.  We are truly humbled at every significant gift and ask God always for wisdom in using the funds wisely for the glory of God.  Your recent increase to $1500 keeps us on our knees with thanks and praise to God for His provisions.  You bring us to tears so often and we are truly grateful.  THANK YOU!

We are trusting that our other three churches can also be involved in upcoming projects and feel bad that we have been using all of Faith Bible’s money as others are probably in need as well.

Missionary Update – The Takanos

 by Chris and Missy Takano

It’s amazing to think we’ve already been here in Germany for six months! Before departing, wise people told us to take time to settle in before taking on extra responsibilities. We really feel like our first few months here were focused on just that: adjusting as a family to cross-cultural life and getting a feel for our new city, apartment, language, school, church, and workplace. Now, we are starting to take on some more commitments, and the timing of it feels right!

We moved here to Germany so that Chris could be a middle school teacher at Black Forest Academy, a Christian school primarily attended by missionary kids. Chris is a favorite teacher among the kids (Missy is writing this, by the way) because he connects with them through humor and then uses that connection to speak the truth of God’s love and of Scripture right into their young minds. Mr. Takano is known to students as “Mr. Taco” and we are now part of this community as the “Taco Family.”

In addition to teaching, Chris has taken on coaching roles with high school sports teams. Missy leads a small group of seven freshman girls who meet together weekly, but also come to our house for games and food at random times. These kinds of connections with students – “doing life” with them – were part of the dream God planted in our hearts when He called us to Germany. We love building these bridges with kids who grow up in a cross-cultural context as missionary kids. They have unique outlooks and problems, and we pray that God uses us to speak truth to them about their place in His kingdom.

Our boys, Caleb and Eli, are thriving in their new setting – but they definitely miss our Seattle and San Jose families. This was especially pronounced around the holiday season. We are mindful that they’re missionary kids now, too – the exact group we came to be in ministry with! Their German language learning is really amazing, and a couple of times I’ve overheard them use a German word here or there in conversation with each other. The boys also have their cousins here, as Missy’s brother and his family are missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators and live just two blocks away.

Kandern is a beautiful little town. We are thankful to be planted here and we really enjoy the slower pace at which we have to do everything. We also have to do everything on a smaller scale! During the recent snowstorms in Seattle, we saw on Facebook that our friends and family were stocking up on supplies at Costco. It felt strange to remember that we used to shop at Costco too! Now, we have a refrigerator that’s about 1/3 the size of an American one, with no pantry or garage shelves available. We wouldn’t be able to stash anything that comes in Costco-size!

We would love for our Faith Bible family to be praying for God’s wisdom to abound in us. As we sign on for more responsibilities, nurture our own kids, attend to our marriage in a new context, and navigate the paperwork of things like taxes and visas in a language we don’t yet speak – pray that He would give us His perspective and peace! We know that He gives wisdom liberally when we ask for it – and we sure need it!

Thank You from Sacred Road Ministries