2019 -January

Dear Family and Friends,

A very late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year -we hope and pray that the time you had with family and friends was a blessing!

God has been gracious and good to us as we have been getting settled into the town of Fort Wayne Indiana, as Fred has been settling into work and as the kids have been getting used to the new environment and routines. Amidst all of this, we are continuing to pray and seek God’s guidance and direction for our future.

FORT WAYNE INDIANA (A few fun facts)

It is the second largest city in Indiana, with a population of about 260,000.
It is recognized as the final resting place of American folklore legend Johnny Appleseed.
It is sometimes referred to as the “city of Churches”, an unofficial title dating to the late 19^th century when the city was the regional hub of the Catholic, Lutheran and Episcopal faiths.

THE FUTURE

What are our plans? Good question! There are things that have become clearer to us and there are things that have remained uncertain.

The things we are certain of:

God – We wish to continue to follow Christ; discipleship (spiritual and educational) is crucial, wherever one is.
Family – we wish to job share such that we are able to actively be apart of our children’s lives and their development into who God has made them to be.
Job – Our goal is not to “create” something new, but to support a “system” and help it in achieving its goals; We wish to be a part of something that allows us to invest ourselves into it as servants and leaders; we enjoy practicing medicine and doing OB
Other – We enjoy the mission field; we enjoy being physically active

The uncertain things:

Our next step – Where do we go?

GOING FORWARD

In moving forward our plans are simple: we will be continuing to pray about our situation and we will reach out to opportunities and to stakeholders alike, with no expectations, having open and frank conversations.

So far to date, Fred has travelled to Louisville KY where he met with ABWE(Association of Baptist for World Evangelism) /HBB (Hôpital Baptist Biblique) representative to discuss the direction of HBB; we have sent thank you cards to our financial supporters; we have made one Togo presentation (MAG), we have communicated with ABWE to find out what would be required to become full time missionaries; we have explored a couple of job opportunities here in Fort Wayne and will be exploring other possibilities; and we will be meeting with an Ob/GYN in the spring to talk about the feasibility of a midwife program in Togo.

We must admit, this is a tough process for us for multiple reasons:

Kids –the decision is no longer just about what we want, but also about their future. Going to Africa vs. staying in the US could be looked at as “robbing our children of opportunity” and yet experience would tell us this was not so. Yet on the other hand we are back in the US, in part because of a concern for one of our children.
Family –we have extended family and are uncertain of what our role and responsibilities are.
Society –society (Christian and non-Christian) and family are not symbiotic, these are two divergent causes. Our experience in Africa is no less what we see here in the US, the demands of work put pressure on the family and visa-versa. The whole point being, what we are looking for is a situation in which the job and family exist as in a symbiotic relationship. This is tough because this does not seem to be the norm.
Finality –we pray that the next decision we make, will be our last allowing us to settle into “a life” for the long term.
Assurance -we want to make sure that we are doing is what God is wanting us to do -no matter what we choose there will be questions, doubts and fears -we want to have the assurance that this is where God would have us.

FAMILY

Fred turned 47 on December 10^th (he’s getting old! LOL) and is very much enjoying the learning and training that he is getting through the ER fellowship. He works about 40 hours per week, in addition to about 4 hours of lecture, 1 hour of patient simulation, and 12-15 hours of reading. His time here so far has made him reflect on two points: 1. After 5½ years working as the “expert” in OB and Hospital medicine in Africa, it is nice to be “the student” again, having his work not only evaluated, but having open discussion about diagnosis and patient care; and 2. What Africa needs is not necessarily money, but “informal” education like what he is going through, that offers training “on the job” and not necessarily through a university or formal system.

Lydia had another birthday in November (and is NOT old, LOL!) and is enjoying being “mom” –taking care of the home and kids, with transportation, cooking, cleaning, mediating and all the fun and hard things that this includes. For this coming year, when Fred is not working, she will be volunteering a ½ day a few times a month at “Mathew 25” –a free medical clinic here that serves the poor. Mathew 25 is an amazing clinic, with about a 2-million-dollar budget, and it services about the same number of people we did at HBB in Africa with one caveat; all the care (clinic visit, labs, medicine, etc) are free. They do this through grants and relationships with the local hospital systems and individual providers that allow labs and treatments to be done at no cost. It is truly amazing to see. We are grateful for Mathew 25 in not only the example it provides, but the opportunity for Lydia to be involved in medicine and ministry again.

Noah is experiencing a formal American school system for the first time (Grade 1 at Blackhawk Christian School) and enjoying it. As you may recall, he did his pre-school in France and was home schooled in Togo for Kindergarten. He is forming many good friendships and really enjoys recess (surprise!) and math. Noah has just finished a good fun season playing soccer on team “Seattle” and will be starting basketball in this month on the “Penguins.” He continues to have a gentile nature and we’re very grateful for the way he seems to be absorbing and memorizing scripture.

Nathanael is also attending Blackhawk Christian Preschool three times a week and enjoying it. His teachers described him as well behaved, kind and someone who follows instruction well, which we are thankful to hear, but also amazed. We were worried about how he would do as his speech was not clear. Nathanael also played soccer and for those who are wondering, he is an “aggressive” soccer player who has no problems going after players who have the ball and are twice his size. After a speech evaluation, the present diagnosis is he has an articulation deficit only, and he has been responding well to weekly speech therapy. We are starting to understand him more and more –yeah! He is also in the final stages of a growth evaluation by an endocrinologist and the present thought is he has a “constitutional” growth delay and that he will catch up in time. All of his labs have come back normal and we’ll just be having a 6-month follow-up visit.

Noémi spends her days at home with mom or dad. She is a very active child who loves to help in the kitchen, to help setting the table and to telling the boys (including Dad) that it is time to eat. She is a verbal child, always chattering and has no problems saying “no”, to everything and anything. She likes her shoes, but has yet to play with dolls, instead preferring to play with whatever the boys are playing with.

Prayer Requests/Praise

The future -that we would hear and know what God’s clear direction for us -that God would bless and be in our personal devotional time and in our conversations with regards to missions and home.
The kids -that God would continue to be with Nathanael in his therapy and evaluations and that all of them would choose to know and love God with all that they are.
The Projects and HBB -that God would bless the PET carts (we just got word that a new container of them just arrived) and other projects on the go and that he would give wisdom and insight as the hospital goes through a leadership transition and continues to face challenges.

“Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Thank you again for all that you have done to support us through the years!

Please feel free to contact us for questions/comments or if you would like for us to share with a group!

May God be with you and bless you and draw you close to Him as you go into this year 2019!

Pfennigers

Fred, Lydia, Noah, Nathanael, and Noémi

email: mail@fredandlydia.com

Please see our updated Prayer requests and Pictures pages.