Brian & Anita Weber, Jan Schenk (not pictured Larry Schenk)
Category Archives: Family
Weathering Florence
Just missed!
Hurricane Florence arrived in the Carolinas with a vengeance this past week. We prepared our home by putting everything away that was outdoors. We filled our tubs with water and bought food.
We prayed.
Living under a canopy of huge trees brings one to their knees during a hurricane.
But we were spared the worst of the storm, not even losing our electricity which was such a surprise.
Others did not fare as well, getting flooded, stranded or having to leave their homes.
We had one tree fall down in our yard. Anne heard it breaking while on the phone and threw the phone down, yelling for Ken. The tree hit the ground with a thud but missed our house. The “Y” in the tree split on either side of two sides of our house. Wow.
I wonder how many other “close calls” there have been in my life that I am not even aware of. I wonder how many other things could have harmed me yet I was spared.
But why do others get hit? These are the questions that have had people questioning a loving God for years. I’m sure others prayed this week too, but have lost so much. I don’t presume to be more righteous than them. Perhaps God knows they can handle problems better than I can!
I hope this week goes well for you…storms or no storms. One of you has just buried a son. God is your strength in this time of trouble. Another of you needs a job desperately. I know that God has one for you and pray that you will hear His voice.
Thank you for praying for us year after year.
Leading with BSF
Bible Study Fellowship
September is almost here! That means it is time for Anne to get back to her leadership responsibilities with Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). This wonderful, international study has been a big influence on me and how I approach God’s Word. My Michigan friend, Rita, introduced it to me many years ago as we were raising our support to go to Indonesia for the first time.
This year is a new study called People of the Promised Land. We will cover several Old Testament books as shown in the image above. Although I still meet every Tuesday morning with other leaders in Rock Hill, SC, I will be facilitating a virtual class online! Leading the class at 2pm every Tuesday may rule out those who work in the States, but it allows me to have people from other time zones join me.
As of today, I have four ladies in my group from Europe! We’ll be using English to discuss what we’ve learned during the week and to pray for each other. If you would like to join me or another leader either in your own city or online, please check out our online link BSF Virtual Class or www.bsfinternational.org.
Working with Wycliffe Bible Translators and Bible Study Fellowship feels like a perfect fit for me. Getting people into God’s Word is so satisfying!
Leaders are Learners…at least we hope they are!
Anne and her co-workers
“All leaders see MORE than others see and BEFORE other see.”
-John Maxwell
What a statement! When I heard leadership expert John Maxwell make that remark last week my first thought was, “Do I?”.
Anne spent two days last week with her colleagues attending The Global Leadership Summit hosted by Willowcreek Church. In spite of the many difficulties this organization is going through we felt we could learn from the presenters and better ourselves as leaders.
Both Ken and Anne will be moving into other leadership roles very soon. While not in leadership positions for the first time, we realize that all good leaders should be working on their skills day by day, year after year. We still have a lot to learn!
With God’s help, our hard work, other colleagues and your prayers, we move forward, doing our part in the Bible Translation task.
Thank you for continuing with us year after year!
Sacrificial Support
Ken with two grandsons
Ken just returned from his trip to SouthEast Asia. We’ll tell more stories about that in our monthly newsletter. Although suffering from jet lag, he spent the next morning with our grandkids who missed him very much while he was gone!
Christine & Anne
While he was away, Anne was able to spend a week with our daughter, Christine. She lives on the other side of the country, so it was a special treat to be with her. We only get to be with each other a few times a year.
When I think about how much we miss our children and grandchildren I remember how kind our parents were as we lived far from them in Indonesia for so many years. They missed those critical growing up years but supported us in spite of their loss.
Support comes in different modes. It usually means a sacrifice on someone’s part.
Thank you for your sacrificially prayer and giving month after month. Your support is immeasurable.
Serving the Easiest Way
Photo by Mike Tinnion on Unsplash
Food….one of our most basic of needs is right up there with water and air. A person can go without food for about three weeks and up to eight weeks if drinking water. Most of us, gratefully, eat every few hours when awake.
Eating food is a basic need, but when we are weary or hurting it can become one of the hardest things to supply for ourselves. The act of planning what to eat, shopping for the food, putting it away, cooking it, eating it and then cleaning it all up can look daunting when tired or stressed out.
I remember when my daughter was in college and juggling taking a heavy load of classes as well as work and keeping up with relationships. She wished there was a pill she could take that would fill her stomach up. Cooking seemed like too much work.
On the other hand, preparing food for others can be one of the easiest ways to care for them. Preparing food from home or even purchasing it from a restaurant is a relatively easy way to give. It’s easier than having a difficult conversation where there is stress involved. It’s easier than talking deeply with people when a loved one is dying. It’s easier than sitting quietly with someone who is mourning and we don’t know how to make it better for them.
This past week found me in the kitchen cooking for a family. The instructions were that each meal needed to feed 10-12 people because there were many in their large family coming and going. Coming and going because their mother, wife, and friend was suffering terribly and could not lovingly prepare meals for her own family anymore.
After I delivered a meal to this family, the husband showed me some of their beautiful yard. But then I saw that weeds three feet tall grew in the garden planted by his wife just a few short months before. Too weak to clean it up and the family too busy to care for it, the weeds are growing with the same speed as the tumor in her head. One looks messy, the other will kill unless there is a miracle. They still pray and hope each day.
Sometimes the easiest gifts are one of the most necessary. So dozens have offered to bring meals to this family so that they can serve and survive. The harder part is the next gift: providing something else necessary to live but harder to give. It might be time, it might be mowing a lawn, it might be cleaning out a chicken coop, it might be weeding that garden….
Today I’m so grateful for all who have sacrificially given to me. It might have come easy for you. It might not have been easy.
Thank you. We try to pass on your generosity to others as able.
P. S. Just before posting this I saw that our friend has died and is now in the presence of God.
Celebrating 35 years of Marital Bliss
Got your attention? Anyone who has been in any kind of relationship knows that there are good days and bad days. We’ve had our own ups and downs, but 35 years ago we committed to each other publicly and plan on staying married for many more if God so wills it!
We’re taking time to REST and just enjoy each other’s company this week. 35 years ago, when we were newly married, we had moved from the east coast to Wyoming. Camping in the many national parks out west became the norm for us. While we no longer sleep in tents, we are enjoying the Great Smoky Mountain National Park this week. It’s so close to our home, yet Anne had never spent any time here.
Thank you for your care when we are working and when we are getting rejuvenated.
How will you rest this year?
The Love of a Prophet
Photo by Emmanuel Phaeton on Unsplash
I’ve been reading the Minor Prophets the last couple of weeks. Lots of gloom and doom mark these pages! Warnings, threats and more warnings from different men across the ages.
It must have been hard to be a prophet. I’m not sure I could have done it. I want to be liked too much!
But what has struck me this time reading is the love and hope that comes across from each of them save Jonah (recently called “The very worst prophet”).
Hosea 1:10 God, through Hosea, reminds people of His covenant with His people which will not be broken: “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured…”
Joels 2:13 implores them to “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from seeing calamity.”
Amos repeats the phrase from God “…yet you have not returned to me” over and over again, but then calls out “Seek me and live!”
This is the kind of follower of God that I want to be. While I want to warn, I really want to love.
Giving people God’s words in their heart language is one of the best ways I can love people.
Thank you for your continued support both prayerfully and financially that makes this possible!!
Whoop Whoop! March Dedications!
Didinga Men (Source: Africa Inland Mission)
Join with us in praising God for these March 2018 Bible Dedications! If you do the math, that is nearly 300,000 people who now have access to God’s words in their own language! Words like, But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us, from Romans 5:8!
Thank you for your prayers and finances which made this possible!
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Didinga New Testament and Old Testament portions dedicated on March 3, 2018.
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South Sudan
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Population: 60,000
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Ngomba New Testament dedicated on March 16.
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Cameroon
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Population: 120,000
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Avatime New Testament dedicated in Volta area on March 17.
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Ghana
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Population: 24,000
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Tonac Mixtec* New Testament dedicated on March 18.
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Mexico
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Population: 45,000
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Modla* New Testament dedicated on March 24.
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Americas
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Population: 14,300
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Baeggu New Testament dedicated on March 24-25.
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Solomon Islands
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Population: 10,000
*pseudonym
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The Haugh Herald 