July Update

Two Weeks to go!    

It is hard to believe, but in two weeks we need to be packed up and moved out of our house! Please pray that we will be focused, productive and not overwhelmed as we finish up all the details for our move.

Our Schedule:

-          July 30 - Move out of our house

-          Aug 1 - Leave for North Carolina for a month of training

-          Labor Day week - Spend time with family

-          September 11 - Our last Sunday at our home church and then we fly to Tanzania in the afternoon

-          September  to January 2012 -   3 months of Swahili language school and a month of orientation (in Tanzania)

-          February - Move to Musoma, Tanzania

Packing for Tanzania

As we pack up the house, we have to decide what to store (in a local rental unit), what to take to Tanzania with us, and what to get rid off. Most of our luggage will be in the above totes (probably 13 plus some suitcases). It is too difficult and expensive to ship large items or large boxes to Tanzania. So, we will take everything with us on the plane. We will then purchase furniture, appliances, and anything else we need once we get there. While there are some items available in the town we will be living, most will come from large cities such as Dar es Salaam or Nairobi.

Our New Wheels!

We have arranged to purchase a vehicle from another missionary that is leaving Tanzania. It is a 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser. It is in great shape (I rode in it when I was there in December). As a part of our training in August, we will have a class on owning a 4 wheel drive. They will teach us how to get "unstuck" and maintain our 4 wheel drive truck. Chris and I are both looking forward to that class! It will be fun and very helpful!
    

Financial Update

We have enough financial commitments to meet our monthly financial need. We only need $7,000 to meet our launching expense needs. We are amazed at how God has provided and very thankful for everyone who has helped. Remember no gift is too small!

If you would like to give towards our launching expenses, please send your check to Wycliffe (address below) and include a note saying : "For Keith & Christine Bitikofer's overseas launching expense fund 270913-71".

 If you would like to give towards our general financial needs, you can donate with a credit card or direct from your checking account. Please click the link below:

http://www.wycliffe.org/Partnership.aspx?mid=D4BB23 

http://www.wycliffe.org/Partnership.aspx?mid=D4BB23

You can also send checks, payable to Wycliffe Bible Translators, to: Wycliffe Bible Translators, P O Box 628200, Orlando FL  32862. Please don't write our names on the checks. Include a note that the gift is for "the ministry of Keith Bitikofer missionary family".

 Thanks for being a part of our team and for all your encouragement, prayer and financial partnerships! We are constantly amazed by it and appreciate it so much!

Keith, Christine, Luke and Nikki

June 9 Update Letter

Tea for Two Chapters

Pastor Waynse is a Simbiti Bible translator. He shared this testimony about the distribution of the Christmas story (Luke 1-2):

"To reach the Simbiti villages I must board a small boat that ferries passengers across the lake. About 45 minutes into the trip, I began my work for the Lord. I called everyone's attention in the boat and began to explain to them that God could speak their language. I told them about my work in the ministry of Bible translation for my own people group, the Simbiti.

I pulled out a copy of the new Luke translation and began to read it. People crowded around to listen, and one woman purchased a copy on the spot.

And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man does not live by bread alone.'" (Luke 4:4)

Once I arrived to the village, a large group of people gathered to hear the reading of the Word. They were delighted and as soon as we broke for morning breakfast/tea [the typical Tanzanian breakfast is eaten in late morning], they immediately wanted to get their own copy. The Scripture portions are selling for 400 shillings (US$ .30). The cost of morning tea was also 400 shillings. All of them chose to buy the Scriptures and go hungry that morning rather than buy food. That's how strong their hunger for God's Word is!"

Status Updates

Less than 2 months to go!  

Schedule summary:  

• June 12: Commissioning service at Lebanon Evangelical Free Church 
• August 2: We go to North Carolina for a month.  
• September 9: We leave for Tanzania (with Laura Billingham as a tutor for our children during language school) 
• September 19: Start 3 months of Swahili training in Tanzania, but not where we will ultimately live.
• December 12: Finished with language school and Laura comes back to the US.
• December - January: Tanzania Orientation classes
• February: Go to Musoma Tanzania, where we will live. 

Other updates: 

Monthly Support need: $230 yet 

Launching Expenses: 62%

Our house is sold and we our now renting what used to be our house. Feels strange, but it is such a blessing to only have to move once!

We now have 5 churches (all in PA) supporting us.

God continues to amaze us and confirm our call to Tanzania.

April 8 Update

Believe or Rely? Several years ago I was at a conference where an American pastor shared that he had just returned from Africa. He had been a guest preacher at a church in Africa with a dirt floor. He was amazed at how excited the people were about praising and worshiping God. After the service he asked the African pastor about how they could be so excited about God, compared to American Christians, when they had so little. The African pastor quickly responded- "In America, you believe in God. In Africa, we rely on God!" Ever since then, I have pondered the profound difference between believing in God and relying on God. As we transition to becoming full time missionaries, we are being forced to rely on God in many new ways. We are also being challenged to face and let go of other things we naturally rely on, whether it be our bank accounts, our regular paychecks, our comfortable house, or close (in miles) friends and family. I'd like to challenge you as well- Do you simply believe in God? Or do you truly rely on God?

House for Sale!  As of a week ago our house is now for sale. That certainly makes the upcoming transition feel more real! We also just had a large garage sale. After forecasts of rain, snow showers, and high wind, we prayed for good weather and had great weather! We also had donations of things to sell from friends at church and sold an amazing amount of stuff! Praise God!  Please pray for us as we prepare to sell our house and that God would work out all the details and timing related to selling it.

Launching Expenses As part of our financial needs to move to our home to Africa, we have to raise our launching expenses. These expenses include items such as language school and orientation, purchasing a four wheel drive vehicle, setting up our home (initial rent deposits and purchasing appliances and furniture) and related taxes. Our launching expenses are $37,000 ($11,000 for language school and $26,000 for startup expenses) and we have 27% of it raised. If you would like to give towards our launching expenses, please send your check to Wycliffe (address below) and include a note saying : "For Keith & Christine Bitikofer's overseas launching expense fund 270913-71". Or use the website link below and include the above note in the notes field for the donation.

Answered Prayer We were looking for a tutor for our children, for while we (Christine and Keith) are in Swahili classes during language school in Tanzania this fall. We are pleased to announce that Laura Billingham has decided to join us for 3 months to be a tutor for our children. It is a wonderful answer to prayer and we are excited to have her join us! (After language school and orientation, we will move to Musoma and our children will attend a local homeschool coop with other missionary children). Please be praying for her as she prepares for this. If you would like to finanically support her, checks can be given to Lebanon Area Evangelical Free Church written out to 'LAEFC' with a note saying it is for Laura's mission trip to Africa.

Financial Update As of this week, we are at 59% of what we need for our financial needs. We are praising God for how He is already providing! Remember no gift is too small! If you would like to give towards our financial needs, you can donate with a credit card or direct from your checking account. Please click the link below:  http://www.wycliffe.org/Partnership.aspx?mid=D4BB23 You can also send checks, payable to Wycliffe Bible Translators, to: Wycliffe Bible Translators, P O Box 628200, Orlando FL  32862. Please don't write our names on the checks. Include a note that the gift is for "the ministry of Keith Bitikofer missionary family". Thanks for being a part of our team and for all your encouragement, prayer and financial partnerships! Keith, Christine, Luke & Nikki

Following God's leading in your life

Recently I and a pastor from our church talked with a men’s group about identifying and following God’s leading in your life. I created this as a part of that talk and thought it might be interesting for others as well. Enjoy!

My life verse is: Proverbs 3:5-6 (KJV)

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Other helpful verses:

Psalm 37:4 (New International Version, ©2010)

⁴ Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Romans 12:1-2 (New International Version, ©2010)

 ¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Jeremiah 29:11 (New International Version, ©2010)

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.[Remember to read this in context! God said this to the children of Israel while they were being taken as captives to Babylon!]

Specific Steps I have used in determining God’s will for my life:

• Pray for God to open the doors for where He wants me to go and close doors for where He doesn’t want me to go. Pray that I ‘get it’ and don’t try to find another way around a closed door.
• Talk with Godly friends. Ask them for feedback and for their prayers. Seek out mentors. They WON’T seek you out!
• Keep track of what God has done. Make a list of all the little confirmations.
• If married, discuss and pray with your spouse about any major decisions. If God is truly leading you to do something, He will lead both of you that way. [may be different if your spouse is not a Christian or not actively seeking to follow God]
• Hold loosely to what you have- whether that is your job, your money, your possessions, or those you love. These are all gifts on LOAN from God! They aren’t yours!
• Disciplines: getting away with God (going on walks, praying, reading the Bible, reading other Godly materials, listening to praise music, journaling, driving without radio / music). How do you connect with God? Figure it out and be intentional about doing it!
• Emotions: This isn’t an indication for everybody, but often, when I feel God speaking to me, it is very emotional (with tears). I don’t trust my emotions completely (to be a validation) but they are definitely an indication that something bigger (i.e. spiritual) is going on and I need to pay attention.
• ‘What are you (God) trying to teach me?’ Pray to God, ask Him to teach you and prepare yourself to learn. But it may be difficult and painful.
• Continue to learn: Go to conferences, read books, listen to sermons or books on cd…

This is just an initial list from my own experience. I'm sure there are more to add. Hopefully this will encourage you as you seek to follow God's lead in your life!

Leaving August 2011!

 Yes, you read correctly! We were planning to leave in January 2012, but recently the Tanzania Branch asked if we would be willing to come earlier. So, now we are planning to leave PA in August of this year, dependent upon us reaching 100% of our financial goal. This means we have 5 months to finish building our prayer and financial partnerships, sell our home, pack to leave and transition out of our work positions. Lots of work in a little time! :-) We appreciate your continued prayers about this!
 

As we head out in August, our first stop will be one month of training, as a family, in North Carolina. Then in September, we will fly to Tanzania to start four months of Swahili training before heading to the translation center in Musoma.

Check out our March 4 prayer and update letter!

The JESUS Film

While we were at our training in Florida, we had the opportunity to visit the Campus Crusade offices and we learned about how the JESUS film is translated into other languages. We saw videos of people watching the JESUS film. It was probably the first movie they ever saw, and it was in their own language. It had a huge impact on them. We talked about how cool it would be to be able to participate in that! This week, someone asked us why the Musoma translation center translated the book of Luke first. We honestly didn't know. After researching it, we found that it was because the JESUS film is based on the book of Luke. Once Luke is translated, they can translate the JESUS film and be able to reach people for Christ earlier.

Within the last few weeks, the Musoma translation center completed the translation of the book of Luke in most of the nine languages. They are planning to start translating the JESUS film script within the next several weeks! So- hopefully we will be able to participate in taking the JESUS film to the villages around Musoma. We can't wait to see how God uses His Word and the JESUS film, in people's heart language, to transform lives in Tanzania! We will send pictures and videos as it happens!

It's Official!

We are now missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators! It has been an amazing process to see how God has led us. We are excited and humbled that God has chosen us to be a part of the incredible things that He is doing around the globe! Thanks for all your prayers, advice, and encouragement along the way!

For more information, check out our February newsletter...

Facebook

We have been home for almost a week now. Thank you to all who were praying for us while we were at training. We are getting back into the swing of things, balancing work, home life and partnership development. The kids have been able to ease back into school with having two days off this week because of winter weather. They enjoyed their two days at home.

When I last posted I talked about finding out about a friend of mine who was not doing well. She passed away this week. I will be going to the viewing with another friend of mine.

It was really cool to see how Facebook played into her last couple weeks of life and then this week after she died. It was amazing to read all the posts of encouragement, prayers and tributes that people wrote. Some people faithfully posted encouraging words almost every day until she died. After she died there were many posts about what she meant to them and how they were praying for her family. Many comments that would not be shared at a memorial service because there isn’t time. I don’t know how many of them she knew about before she passed away but her family and friends were able to read them and see how special of a person she was.

Most people that posted are thanking God that they will be able to see her again some day in heaven.

It was very encouraging to me to see how Facebook helped people share there feelings over these last several weeks. It shows me that there are other ways to say good bye when you can’t do it in person.

--Chris