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. Jeremiah 29:11
So many changes have taken place in the past few months
that, although Sarah and I have used Jeremiah 29:11 before, God laid it on my
heart to use it again.
At the beginning of
December, we held our first annual Cando Bazaar. All things were either made or
donated by the people of the public housing are to help them earn extra money
for Christmas. The bazaar was a great success. Then, as most of you know, in
mid-December we got word that, after graciously allowing us to live and
minister at the property on Hi Tech Dr. for 16 years, the owner received an
offer and decided to sell. We received the news on the same day that we were
having our annual ladies Christmas dinner for the ladies of Good News Mission.
So with heavy but expectant hearts we hosted over 30 ladies, the largest group
that we had ever had, realizing that this would probably be the last event that
we would have in our beloved mission building.
The first task was to find a place to relocate our family.
After much prayer and soul searching, we really felt that God wanted us to
continue ministering to the same folks that to we have been ministering to all
of these years. Therefore, we desired to stay in Livingston. I called a friend
of ours that has rental properties to see if anything was available. Praise be
to God that He had already prepared a place for us. Someone had just notified
our friends that they would be leaving at the end of the month so a three
bedroom apartment would be available to us the first of January! However, that
wasn’t all. The apartment was in the same neighborhood that we lived in only
three blocks away. It was on a street that we had ministered to in a limited
manner over the years so the Lord not only allowed us to stay close to those we
had been ministering to but also expanded our ministry.
Now that the matter
of family housing had been taken care of, we then focused on the mission
building and how we were going to minister. All of these years God had provided
a building and property where we could hold our weekly Bible studies and Bible
clubs but also our summer day camps and other year round special activities.
Without the building how would we hold our events? We could do some things in
our apartment, but it certainly wasn’t big enough for all of the things that we
were accustomed to doing. Our thoughts ranged from looking for property close
to the public housing area to perhaps even buying and renovating a bus. All of
those things required money that we didn’t have at the time. As God often
chooses to do, He didn’t fill us in on all of His plans right away so our next
step was finding a place to store all of our ministry things. We really didn’t
want but were willing to use some of the donations to our ministry to pay for a
storage facility but, again thanks be to God, a local church graciously offered
to let us use a huge building that they own for the time being free of charge.
So, the moving began. Sarah’s mom lives with and takes care
of Sarah’s elderly grandmother. Sarah had already committed to giving Mom a much
needed break by watching “Granny” over the holidays. However, we only had a
limited time to move. So, John Allen and I traveled back and forth between
grandma’s house, an hour and a half away, and Livingston to begin the task of
moving. We would spend a few days in Livingston, then go back to spend a few
days over Christmas and then a few days again over New Years with the family.
Finally with the holidays completed, all of us returned home to continue moving
only for things to be complicated more by two deaths in the family. Toward the
middle of January Mom’s longtime friend and grandfather-figure to our boys
passed away. Sarah again went with her mom to help during this time. Then, just
a couple of week later, “Granny” had a major stroke and passed away a week
later. Again, God called Sarah to go and assist. By God’s grace and with the
assistance of many friends, almost everything from both the mission and our
home got moved. The recent snow storms and ice storms that we have had the past
couple of weeks have prevented us from moving the last three or four heavy
items but that task should be completed next week.
Where does that leave
us? Well, we are settled into our new place and love it. It is a bit smaller
than the mission home but not by much. We were worried about how the kids would
take being uprooted from the only home in which they could ever remember living
but it has not fazed them a bit and they love it as well. We also have a
wonderful bus in which to minister when it gets repaired.
All of these things don’t come without a price, however. As
with most missionaries, we have been under supported and this past year our
personal support has gone down even more. Now we have the added expense of rent
which we didn’t have at the mission house. That makes things even more
difficult. We desperately need to raise more support and are looking for
opportunities to share our ministry. Since we homeschool, we are able and
willing to travel and take speaking trips but would like to group speaking
engagements together as much as possible. If you would be willing to host us at
your church or would just like us to come and share with you personally please
contact us at the address or phone number listed below. If God is leading you
to support us now, there are several ways in which to do it. You can send a
check made out to BCM International with our name and missionary number #0642 on
the memo line to the BCM International address listed below or you can go
directly to BCM’s website at http://www.bcmintl.org/
and click on the “Donate Now” tab at the top of the page. On the new page click
on the “Designation” box and then on “Other” and put our information “Tinkel
#642” in the box provided. Thank you so much ahead of time.
Our ministry, Good News Mission, has a small account that
helps with some of our local ministry expenses. Since we don’t have a mission
building at the present time, we are planning on changing our name to “Good News
Ministries” but for now, if you would like to send a check to that account,
please make it out to Good News Mission and send it to that address below.
Again, thank you ahead of time.
Finally, nothing that we do could be accomplished without
your prayers. Please praise God with us for all that He has accomplished. Also,
continue to pray for our ministry and for all of the changes. We still desire
to have our summer day camps and other events throughout the year but at
present have no place to hold them. Please pray for God to provide in those
areas. Also be in prayer as to our family perhaps someday owning our own home.
Thank you again for all that you do for us. We love you and
are praying for you as well.
Tim and Sarah and the boys
Tim and Sarah Tinkel BCM
International Good
News Mission
904 Lee Drive 201 Granite Run
Drive, Suite 260 % Don
MaxsonLivingston, TN 38570 Lancaster, PA, 17601 608 Big Springs Road
Tim – 931-319-2551 Toll-free (USA): 1-888-226-4685 Monroe, TN 38573
Sarah – 931-319-3113 931-403-2888
Blog - http://familiesagain.blogspot.com/
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