Did you hear it? Did you hear it? We heard it. The starting pistol… it went off and the rat race begins. The first thing we’ve decided to do in 2024 is BE STILL !! The tendency is to hit the ground running, I’m sure we’re not alone but Jenn and I have decided to be still and know that He is God. We’re not going to try to catch up on any undone business of 2023. We’re not going to try to check off our to-do list or New Year’s resolutions of 2024 before we learn to practice the art of being still before our great God and king. We were grateful to be able to have a week of downtime between Christmas and New Year’s. 2024 started off with a short week in the office, followed by a weeklong time of prayer and fasting that our whole church engages in.
I heard somebody say the other day “no one is as busy as I am” ! That saddened me, but I begin to wonder if the same could be said of us. I think we are all the equal amount of busy, there are only 24 hours in a day, but just exactly what are we busy doing? That’s what Jenn and I have begun to pray about. Ministry matters and affairs around the church have to be tended to but people matter more and being still before the Lord matters even more than that.
THROWBACK TO 2023
We had the opportunity to serve at one of the church plants, Calvary Chapel Pedregales in Tijuana, Mexico. Taking Christmas shoeboxes and being part of an outreach for the community was such a blessing. SGWM missionary Deanna Jevas has been serving down there for 20+ years. I love her testimony where she committed 1 year to serving at the church and now she doesn’t ever want to leave. Deanna runs an afterschool program/soup kitchen with 40 children ages 6-12. She also oversees the Children’s Ministry at CC Pedregales, as well as correspondence for groups that come for short-term missions trips. She’s an amazing lady and friend and we were honored to be a part of blessing the families in the community. The children there are very poor so several of them wanted to wait to open their gifts on Christmas because it is the only gift they will receive. Please pray for these children and their families, that they would come to know Jesus and attend CC Pedragales. We love serving alongside each other, we provided the craft for the children ages 3-12yrs old. The theme was the “birth of Jesus” in the manger.
As you know we recently began to be able to serve together as a couple in this new season of our lives. One of the things we love most is pouring into the missions training students, discipling and teaching them the ways of the Word. We also get to provide housing, transportation, and a safe place for the students to pour their hearts out. One of the really cool and kind of unexpected things we love is discipling the students who are engaged and married. It’s crazy to sit back and look at how good our Father is by raising these like minded youngsters up to marry and be sent out to the mission field! AND they want to hang out with US!! Tim and I love every minute of it.
Another one of the blessings over the years has been to host and visit with missionaries around the world here on furlough. We had some great times in our home with Vincent and Melissa Aniku from Uganda. They are dear friends of ours, and we love to spend quality time. Before we closed out 2023 we had a wonderful opportunity to have dinner with some friends of ours from Uganda. They were at our home and shared the wonderful works that the Lord is doing there. We are hoping to go out and visit them and their ministry sometime before June. Another friend from a different area in Uganda was in the office for one day and Tim got to have great fellowship with him.
We are thanking our Father for the many blessings He has brought us in 2023. We are so grateful that we GET to serve the Lord in the capacity He allows us. As we are reminded, our God is our Provider, Redeemer, our Salvation, and He saved a wretch like us! We have had our challenges in 2023, but God is faithful and sovereign through it all!
Prayer Requests:
- Please pray for the 2024 Calvary School of Missions and for us as we get to lead this wonderful work of God’s.
- Please pray for us, as we are implementing some personal disciplines that will enable us to serve the Lord in this capacity for many more years.
- Please pray for our son Andy as he is still wandering in his wilderness and desperately needs Jesus. Praise Jesus we are able to minister to him and see him frequently. We pray for our Father to renew his mind.
- Please pray for wisdom as we navigate this new year in a way that honors God and brings much glory to Him. This year’s calendar for missionary care and equipping is quite full and opportunities are not lacking.
We love you all so much and thank you for being behind us. You are also part of this ‘Great Commission’!! We are so dependent on and grateful for your prayers and want to say thank you to those who have already joined us in this area. We realize it’s by God’s grace and through your prayers that we are able to serve the Lord the way we do! But if the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, we are in need of additional monthly supporters, and if you desire to increase your already generous support, please know that it would be a huge help.
Saving Grace World Missions
17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 62886
*Note Pappas support in memo
All for His Glory,
Tim and Jenn Pappas
