The Right Time for Support Raising

toffer    General     support raising

Throughout this phase of support raising that our family has been in (seemingly forever sometimes) a response that has come up more than once is that this is a bad time to be trying to raise support.  Gas prices keep going up, everybody feels uncertain about the future, civil unrest around the world, and unemployment (or the fear of unemployment) would all make great reasons to suggest that this is a bad time for us to be asking people for support.

That would be all well and good, except that God really isn’t limited by an American (or even a worldwide) financial downturn. read more

Survey for a New Nepalese Station

becky    Video    

Quite a bit of work goes into planning the different radio stations.  This video tells a bit about what goes into the site survey for a new station.

Hemmed In

becky    Uncategorized    

The reality of what our lives will be in likely just a few short months has begun to sink in.  We had significant increase in support last week and when I checked my email just a few minutes ago we had a new pledge that accounts for another 1%.  The increase is almost dizzying and unbelievable.  And it makes me emotional!

I’m overwhelmed by the sacrifice and generosity of people who are joining us on this journey. I’m overwhelmed by God’s provision and the sources of His provision. I’m overwhelmed with everything that needs to happen between now and when we board a plane in, hopefully, a little over five months.  That’s just a lot of overwhelmed!

I’ve written before about the verses we have on the boys’ walls in their room. read more

Stories from Listeners

toffer    Stories from the Region     india, nepal

Taken from HCJB Global’s “Voice and Hands” newsletter, November 2010…

From Nepal: “I am a 17-year-old high school girl who was living a normal life. Then I realized that I was struggling with sin issues and because of the program ‘Blessing Hour,’ I learned about Jesus. I kept listening and accepted Jesus as my Savior. I feel very blessed in my life.”

From India: “Please send me more information about Jesus. I want to know more and more about Him. I am also writing on behalf of my friends as we listen to your programs together.”

2010 – Two More Partner Stations Planted in Nepal with HCJB Global Voice’s Help

toffer    Stories from the Region     australia, cambodia, global voice institute, indonesia, nepal, spotlight english club, thailand

Taken from HCJB Global’s “Voice and Hands” newsletter, November 2010…

An HCJB Global radio planter recently spent 10 days in a village of central Nepal with a local partner who heads a community outreach. His father was the first person in the village to commit his life to Christ back in the days when it was illegal to become a Christian in Nepal. This led to the family’s persecution.

But things are changing in Nepal. After centuries of being a Hindu kingdom and decades of political unrest, the Himalayan country became a democracy in 2008. One of the results was that the government released applications for local FM community radio stations, and in 2009 HCJB Global Voice helped install two community stations.

read more

Stories of My Own

toffer    General     support raising

We all like stories.  We love to tell them (and sometimes we even stop to listen to them).  For me, the stories I hear about what God is doing in the field keep the real focus of the ministry being seeing lives changed with the Gospel, not just another bunch of equipment that was hooked up.  In emails, face-to-face conversations, and newsletters we have tried to share as many related stories of lives changed as we can.  They are fantastic stories of what God is doing in some really dark places in the world.

But now I’m ready to have some from my own experience to share.  read more

My Motivation

becky    Uncategorized     nepal

Toffer took this picture at a roadside tea stand somewhere in Nepal about a year and a half ago.
Around our house this boy is known as “soul-piercing boy” because I say his eyes pierce my soul and say “I need Jesus.” Oh, sweet Nepalese boy, I know you need Jesus.   We probably couldn’t find him again even if we tried, but that won’t stop me from praying for him.  And it certainly motivates me to get to work to raise funds so we can get to Asia!

I am not God and I do not know this boy or his situation. He may well be one of the few people in Nepal who already know Jesus.  In all likelihood though, he doesn’t.  He doesn’t know that God created him, that God loves him, and that God wants him to be reconciled to Him and spend eternity in heaven. He doesn’t know about the incredible, atoning sacrifice Christ made on the cross for him.  According to the CIA World Factbook (a resource we use plenty at our house) less than 1% of people in Nepal are listed as “other” with Christians being part of that “other.”

This means that the Christians HCJB Global works with in Nepal are on the forefront of missions in their country-not only having the opportunity to run Christian radio stations, but to tell their fellow countrymen about something they have likely NEVER heard.  I hope and pray that while I may never meet this little boy here on earth I will meet him someday in heaven because of the bravery and courage of Nepalese Christians and the radio stations that are sending out the “good news of great joy.”

Two Minute Radio Plant – Nepal

toffer    Video    

A radio station plant in Nepal from October 2010… see it all go up in two minutes!

Training Indonesian Broadcasters

toffer    Stories from the Region     global voice institute, indonesia, radio school of mission, sonset radio

Taken from HCJB Global’s “Voice and Hands” newsletter, January 2011…

At first glance, nothing stood out about John*. An unassuming fellow, he sat quietly, soaking in new information as a student in HCJB Global’s Radio School of Mission II (RSM II) in Bali, Indonesia, last October. RSM is held each year in Asia to train indigenous radio workers in broadcasting and management skills.

One of 17 participants handpicked for the course, John had also attended the introductory classes last March, again making the grueling journey from his remote home in West Timor, the Indonesian portion of the island of Timor.

“He sat in the front, quietly, not asking a lot of questions,” said former HCJB Global President Ron Cline, one of the instructors at the week-long event along with his wife, Barb. “But when we asked our partners if there was a radio station that we should visit, they suggested his.”

read more

Cautiously Optimistic

becky    General     Fund raising, prayer

We have desired through this entire process to go where God leads and do as He calls us to do.  Any goals we have set were set with the information we had at the time and things change, God reveals more of His plan.  A year ago we had our own “March Madness” we felt God had called us to-to pray earnestly, seeking Him to increase our financial support by 20% and our prayer team by 20 people.  And pray we did! At no point did we feel like we were praying outside of God’s will and we had several people confirm that for us.  If you’ve followed our journey you know that we did not see either one of those increases last March.  But I don’t believe that means we were praying outside of God’s will or that He doesn’t have every intention of fulfilling exactly what He called us to.

Fast forward to this March.  We have been faithful to God’s call on our lives and persevered despite everything that’s happened that could have easily caused us to give up and stay home.  In order to get to the field late this summer we have a fairly compact time table (we could potentially be boarding a plane 6 months from now-YIKES!) in which to get things done that still need to get done.  And here’s the kicker-we pretty much need a 20% increase THIS March.  I don’t believe God wastes any experiences we have and I don’t believe He calls us to do things without a plan to bring them to fruition. It’s just not in His character, which is why the result of last March was so hard to figure out.

When we were at the missions conference last weekend we had the joy of speaking to both the middle school and high school Sunday school classes.  During both hours each of the pastors had their students gather round us, lay hands on us, and pray for us.  A beautiful, humbling experience and one we will treasure.  And during both hours the wives of the youth pastors prayed the exact same verse for us-Psalm 50:10 that says “for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.”  The Bible has plenty of verses about God’s provision, but they both prayed the exact verse Toffer included when writing about our calling to pray last March.  And we originally felt called to pray as we did last March as a result of the missions conference we were at last weekend.

I’m not one to believe in coincidence.  I think things happen for a reason-God causes or allows them to happen or they happen because of the choices we make.  I might be making more of the way things seem to have lined up, but I’m cautiously optimistic that God fully intends to bring the 20% increase to fruition this March and we will be on a plane six months from now.  Here’s to waiting and praying and hoping for a really amazing testimony about how prayer works.