The Pfennigers – Fred and Lydia

A Thought

As we’ve been cleaning up our house, we’ve come to realize not only how busy we’ve been since we got married 14 years ago, but also in our lives prior to marriage.  Our lives today, over the last 8 months, feels different as we are not being driven by lives that pull us in opposite directions, but by a life that is pulling us in the same direction.  The result of this has been, un-intentionally, us spending more time together, not only as a couple, but also as a family.  The change has been subtle, but palpable.  Near the end of July and beginning of August, we traveled as a family to the west coast for 11 days, visiting family, friends, and Temple Baptist church.  During this time, we camped for 4 days, spent a day at a waterslide park, played games and spent time with people.  It was probably, from my point of view, one of the most relaxing vacations we’ve had as a family so far, as we simply enjoyed the journey. Do not get me wrong, we have a lot on our plate including worries and work, as we prepare to leave, but there was a peace.  Is this God speaking into our lives?   A.W. Tozer in The Pursuit of God, pg. 125, writes “It will cost something to walk slow in the parade of the ages, while excited men of time rush about confusing motion with progress.  But it will pay in the long run . . ..”  We are grateful as we reflect for the gift of time we’ve been given.

Updates – Preparing for the mission field

Language school.  Language school has been set and confirmed for Sherbrooke, Quebec.  We will start on January 13, 2025.  We’ve given notice to our landlord here in Fort Wayne for the end of December, and have been assigned a fully furnished 3-bedroom apartment in Sherbrooke.  We are planning to bring our van with us.  To help us in the move over the next few weeks, we will be getting a U-Haul hitch put on the van so that it can tow a small trailer.  Our goal is to travel with about 15 suitcases.  In Sherbrooke, the kids will be attending an English-speaking school with French language lessons.  We are happy for this as it seems like it will be less stressful for the kids and with them getting the first part of the year at BCS, the school year, from a learning perspective, can be “salvaged.”

Fund raising and presentations.  Noll turned 5 on August 21^st and is now a “big boy!”  This has had two effects.  First, he is now required to wash his dish and put it in the dishwasher after meals.  Second, it has increased our child education fund requirements.  As such, our monthly support level has gone from 100% to 96%.  Our O&P continues to be at 100%.  For us to leave for the field, both have to be at 100%.  We are believing that God will supply what we need, as we continue our plans to leave on time!  Thank you to all of you who support us financially, we could not do this without you!  For those of you who would like to become financial supporters, support can be given through https://abwe.org/pfenniger.  Our presentation schedule has slowed as we focus on packing and cleaning up the house.  We currently have three additional presentations scheduled, Sept 29^th at Legacy ABF at Headwaters, Oct 19^th at Noah’s Church youth group (DS3) and Nov 17^th at Wirt Baptist in Madison Indiana

Exercise equipment.  As you know from previous updates, Fred is getting older (but not Lydia), and exercise is not only important to him but us as a family.  The kids all participate in sports and are encouraged to exercise daily in some form whether it be basketball, soccer, running or hitting balls with dad.  In this we were looking for exercise equipment to encourage this aspect of our life.  We started searching in the spring of this year, and were recently blessed by a promise for 7+ pieces of commercial grade equipment for not only ourselves, but also for the other missionaries at HBB to use!  Our next challenge in this process is finding a place to set up the equipment at HBB.  Currently plans are in place, and a design is being worked on, to build a very basic and simple exercise room.  The expected cost is $21,500.  As such, we are now looking for funding for the building.  Are you interested in supporting this project, either financially and/or with additional equipment donations?  If so, please email us at mail@fredandlydia.com.  To ensure that the equipment does not get put in storage when it arrives, a backup plan is in place.  We have been assigned an 1,800 ft² home on the hospital compound.  Attached to the house is a 270 ft² screened porch.  So, in the absence of a dedicated exercise room we will set up the equipment in the screened in porch of our house for general use by the missionaries.  In considering all this, and with the fact that the kids enjoy sports and there are 35+ kids on HBB’s compound, we are praying and thinking about doing a sports ministry that would be offered to all the missionary kids on the compound.  We would plan to cycle through 3-month sport seasons.  No, we are not “sports parents,” but we have learned a lot about different sports as we watch our kids play, and do believe that these are important skill sets as well as opportunities to grow in faith.  

Pre-field courses.  Progress continues.  Fred has completed all the required courses, and Lydia is on her last two.  The two required book studies have been set up and are starting this week.  If all goes well, all our pre-field requirements will be complete by the end of November.

Container.  As full-time missionaries, we have been assigned a house in Togo and will need to furnish it with furniture and appliances.   This home, which is 1800 ft², is almost as big as our current home.  We have been focused on going through our house –reducing and organizing.  This is and will be an on-going process until the day we move.  However, we now have a clearer understanding of what we have and what we will ship.  In this, we made the decision of shipping a container from here to Togo as it will allow for both familiarity and allow us to set up a functional home quickly.  Our next steps will be the purchasing of appliances, storage containers, area rugs, and new mattresses and reconnecting with the church in Lansing Michigan that organizes and sends containers to Togo on a regular basis. We have communicated with them in the past and have an understanding that they will work with us. 

Other.  Outside of above big items, we continue to make progress on multiple other fronts including a retirement plan, the kids’ education requirements, and personal/professional goals (family, midwife training program, and ministry) for our first term (Jan 2025-Spring 2029).  

Prayer Requests and Praises

• Praise for the exercise equipment that has been donated!  Prayer that the funding will come in for the exercise building.
• Praise for the progress being made in preparations to go and the pre-field tasks.  Prayer for the continued encouragement, wisdom, and strength to finish well and to be ready at the end of December.  Very specifically prayers for progress on the container and in our packing.
• Praise for how far God has brought us and prayer for the last bit of our funding to come in.
• Prayer for the kids as they enter this school year knowing that they will leave at the end of December.  Specifically pray for our conversations with them, their conversations with their friends, their goodbyes that will come as we leave Fort Wayne, and the hellos as we arrive in Sherbrooke.

Dear Friends and Family,

As we come to the end of the school year and see the comfortable environment that we and the kids are in with a known road versus choosing an unknown road to follow can be very challenging at times. We are very grateful for your support and prayers! Click to read our Summer 2024 Newsletter to hear more of our story and journey.

God bless,

Fred, Lydia, Noah, Nathanael, Noémi and Noll

Christianity and Islam

What are the similarities and difference between Christianity and Islam?  I really never knew before.  After reading the Quran as part of my pre-field requirement, along with a book called Encountering the World of Islam, I was surprised to find out how many words and basic concepts are shared by Christianity and Islam.  Both religions have “their own beliefs” in creation, the power of God, faith, works, rewards, heaven, hell and judgment day.  Both religions believe faith cannot be forced and is, instead, a choice.  Both faiths believe that God does not need them. The difference is Jesus.  Interesting enough the difference is not His birth or His life, but His death-resurrection and its significance.  We were created to have fellowship with God. But we broke this and instead choose our own way, living in indifference to a divine law.  Atonement, through animal sacrifice was not enough.  Jesus remedied this.  It is in Jesus’ death-resurrection that we are brought back to God.  It is through Jesus that we are justified and have salvation.  Jesus’ death and resurrection is significant.  I am praying that with this better understanding of the culture and religion of Islam I will be able to build lasting relationships and share Christ with the people in Togo, Muslims and all.

Updates

As of the end of March, we are adequately funded (both monthly and one-time costs)! Thank You, Lord! This now gives us the “green light” to start final planning to depart for the mission field, which typically starts with time in language school.  In this there are a lot of things that we are needing to process and work through.

1. Presentations – fund raising.  Although we are adequately funded presently, our financial supporters consist of one-time donors, and recurrent short-term and long-term commitments.  Given this fact, along with inflation, we will continue to do presentations and fund raising with the goal of increasing our prayer (always important) and financial base (to offset anticipated shortfalls).
2. Pre-field requirements.  To date and in preparation of the mission field, we have attended two mission conferences and completed reading The World of the Spirits, African Friends and Money Matters, Crucial Conversations, What is the Mission of the Church, Cross-culture Connections, and Global Church Planting.  Fred has also read the Quran and Encountering the World of Islam for a Muslim course and is working on The New Testament Story (an online course).  After that he will have to do a Basic Mission Theology course and lead an individual(s) through two book studies.  Lydia is currently working on Methods of Bible study (an online course).  After that she will have to do a Basic Mission Theology course, complete the Muslim course, and lead an individual(s) through two book study.  All this has to be done prior to leaving for the mission field.  (On average the on-line courses are taking us about 6+weeks each.)
3. Medical Licenses.  We are in the final year of three of our recertification exams for family medicine which consists of on-line test every 3 months.  We started in Jan of 2022 and will be finished at the end of this year.  Outside of that we continue to do continuing medical education to maintain our certifications and Lydia continues to volunteer at the Matthew 25 clinic. 
4. Language Study.  We took a language test this past month and tested out one-level below the required level.  We have a meeting set up with the Togo South Team Leader this week to determine whether we need further language study prior to departing for Togo and or if our current level is acceptable.  If yes, we will then need to go to either France or Canada for additional language study.  We will be meeting with our Togo South Team mentor next week to discuss plans.
5. Move. As we have started to accumulate furniture, we have decided to ship furniture to Togo, and not start from scratch, such that we not only have a starting point for a house but that there will be some familiarity for the kids.  Our goal this month is to make contact with a container-shipping company to figure out the details of how and if this can be carried out.  In May we will be meeting with our Togo South Team mentor to discuss containers.  In this and as we will be moving onto a hospital compound that consist of many acres, it had been recommended to us to investigate the practically and affordability of getting a gator that would allow us to move around the compound efficiently.
6. Exercise equipment.  As exercise is important to us.  We have reached out to a local gym, via email, to see if we could acquire a commercial grade treadmill, elliptical, and rowing machine, and a stationary bike.  As we will be joining a large team in Togo, getting the exercise equipment out there would not only benefit us but be a blessing to many on our team as well. To this we would also love to add some free weights.  We will be following up our email with a phone call in the next two weeks.
7. Kid’s Education. We have a meeting set up in April to talk to a missionary family in Togo to figure out how and with what resources they are schooling their kids.  We will be following this up with additional meetings with other missionary families in Togo and with the MK school at the hospital.
8. Determining a departure date.  At this time, it is hard to nail down a departure date due to not only multiple moving pieces that need to come together, but also incomplete information.  Adding to this are the facts that the kids’ school, in Ft. Wayne, starts mid-August (and if we start the semester, we wish to finish it), we wish to visit Fred’s family on the West Coast in the summer, Fred has a follow up medical procedure that needs to be scheduled in the summer, and language school has two start dates: at the end of August and the beginning of January.  With all this, we are anticipating leaving for the field either at the end of the summer and/or end of the year. 

Prayer Requests

As you pray for us, please pray for peace and that God would provide the wisdom and insight that we need for each of the tasks listed above.  And that He will continue to encourage us by opening and closing the right doors.

Thank you again so much for your support and prayers! Please feel free to reach out to us at any time for any thoughts and/or questions, including how we can be praying for you!

God Bless

Fred, Lydia, and family

God bless and please let us know how we can be praying for you!  

the Pfenniger’s (Fred, Lydia, Noah, Nathanael, Noémi, and Noll)

www.fredandlydia.com Now at 66% of our monthly costs!

Dear Friends and Family,

We’re excited to share with you how God has been working in our lives and the blessings that He has given us in the midst of challenges! Click here to read our new newsletter.

Look forward to hearing from you all and how things are going and how we can be praying for you!

God bless,

Fred, Lydia, Noah, Noémi, Nathanael and Noll