November,
2002
“See, I am
doing a new thing! Now it springs
up: do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the
wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19
NEW MINISTRY
In April,
Michael received and accepted a call from the mission board to serve as
evangelistic missionary to Puerto Rico.
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has had a missionary presence here in
Mayaguez for the past ten years.
There is a small congregation made up of about five families. Our
job is to help that group grow to become a self sustaining church, able to call
and support their own pastor.
Church in
downtown Mayaguez
The plan is
to have four missionary families working
on the island, including us. One
couple, Matthew and Susan Prince, is now in Guatemala at language school. We hope to have them here by Christmas,
but will wait and see how their language study progresses. As of this moment, we do not know who
the other missionaries will be.
PRAY that we
could be effective instruments of God’s purpose in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
PRAY for the
Prince family, Matthew and Susan, that they would be encouraged during their
time of language training.
Mayaguez
PRAY that the
the Lord will connect the mission board with those missionaries He has chosen to
serve with us here in Puerto Rico.
NEW HOME
The past
months have been hectic, to put it mildly! Between selling a house, packing, Cathy finishing her degree
at the University of Iowa and moving into our new home and school we have been
tested to our limits. We praise
the Lord for His faithfulness through all of the arrangements and details. By now we are pretty much settled in
and things are starting to feel more familiar.
The boys are
attending a private Puerto Rican school, where the academics are all presented
in English. 95% of the student
body is Puerto Rican, so Spanish is used outside of the classroom during lunch,
recess, etc... We are very
thankful for the way the boys have adapted to their new surroundings and the
positive attitudes they have shown.
PRAISE the
Lord with us for His strength and grace during these past months of transition.
PRAY that
Lucas, Nathan, Mark and Adam will continue to be positive about all of the
changes in their lives and that the Lord might give them a sense of mission and purpose.
NEW CHALLENGES
We are
discovering that there are many “Venezuelan” words which are part of our Spanish vocabulary
that don’t quite work here in Puerto Rico. Our new Puerto Rican friends have been very gracious about
correcting our errors!
First youth
group meeting
PRAISE the
Lord for the ability He gives us to laugh at our mistakes.
PRAY that any
communication barriers the enemy might try to use to keep the message of truth
from being understood and received would be destroyed.
Another
challenge we are facing is that with the reduced budget of the mission board we
find that our resources for ministry here are pretty limited.
PRAY that the Lord will give us creative ways to reach the lost using the resources available.
e-mail: TanneyMC@aol.com Telephone: (787)-832-5428 Address: Michael & Cathy Tanney P.O.Box 3085, Mayaguez, PR
00681-3085 |
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Juan, one of our youth…he’s the
one on top
In closing,
we want you to know how important your prayers are to us and thank those who
are willing to intercede before the throne on behalf of those who do not yet
know Jesus as their Savior.
Your Servants
in Christ,
Michael and Cathy Tanney
Lucas, Nathan, Mark and Adam
Our new home