God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
1Corinthians 1:9
Greetings in Jesus,
Wow! What a busy few months we have had! First, I will start with our trip to conference in PA. In our family devotions and prayer time we had been studying about how we need to pray believing that God would answer, and that God is faithful especially when we are in obedience to Him and His will. This had such an impact on our oldest son John Allen. A special blessing had paid for our conference fee and all we had to do was provide the gas money to get there. We were way short of what we needed. Up until the last day that we left we received love donations, but were still lacking. We left believing that God would provide the rest of the money. John Allen and is great grandmother (ganny) had this system that for every “A” he made on his report card she would give him $5. This continued throughout the years and “ganny” would add to the collection for different things. On the way to “ganny’s” house to pick up my mother, who babysat at conference for the missionaries, we prayed that God would continue to provide. Even though we didn’t know how....we were trusting Him knowing that somehow He would. Out of the blue John Allen stated that he had his savings with ganny and that if we didn’t care he would like to help out in getting to conference. What a blessing! I had been praying for John Allen’s spiritual walk. At times he seemed to have a hard edge about him and I had been praying that God would work in his life. This was a tremendous sacrifice on John Allen’s part. Little did I know how much until we got to gannys and they started counting what he had saved...$605!!!!! I was stunned needless to say. John Allen handed us the whole amount and said “Mom take what you think we will need.” We only needed about $400 and that is all I took. God is so good and faithful…not only in His provision but also answering my prayers about the spiritual state of my son. Through this God was reassuring me that Tim and I are doing what we need to do raising our boys to love, know, obey, worship and serve Jesus with all their heart, soul and mind. I pray this for my boys daily and God is answering. Our boys had a wonderful time at conference as did we. We were encouraged, refreshed and excited about what God is doing through BCM in different parts of the world. We had great Bible studies and times of prayer, but we were blessed before we even started our trip by our son John Allen. Isn’t God wonderful!!!
What is God doing now that we are back? Tim has started a Bible Club on Tuesdays here at Good News Mission and at our first club we had 31 individuals with parents and children attending! Tim did a lesson, sang songs, played games and then we provided a meal. What a response with a lot of new faces. God is good!!
A local church was having a yard sale and asked would we like to have anything that was leftover to be passed out to the people we ministered to. I was invited to come and pick stuff out for my family before the sale, and there sitting on the table was a copier. The ladies were saying they had just gotten a new one for their church, and decided to put the old one, which still worked, in the yard sale. I was sharing how a copier has been on our prayer list for a long time. They wanted me to take it right away but I told them that if it was still there I would pick it up along with the other items that didn’t sell. Instantly they prayed asking God to blind people to it...we now have a copier! It needs to be serviced for minor repairs but otherwise is in great working order! God is so good and faithful. The following Saturday we had a clothes and knick knack give away. With the help of our southeast regional director, Ken Grubb, we were able to minister to 50-60+ individuals! Again lots of new faces and many of them hurting and needing Jesus so desperately. Please pray for this ministry…there are so many ministering opportunities but it takes time to build trust among these people…pray that God would bless our efforts of reaching out to them and that they would see the love of Jesus through all that we do.
On Friday, September 26th, we will be having our first ever cooking class. Through this class we will learn how to shop on a budget, make simple meals that can be frozen and eaten later, and how to eat healthier. Many of the women eat a lot of frozen or processed foods because they don’t know how to cook effectively and make their dollars stretch. We will learn how to set a table and how to prepare quick easy dishes. We will also be having a devotional and a time of fellowshipping with each other. My prayer is that this will eventually turn into a Bible study either weekly or bi monthly. Right now the plan is just once a month until the Lord leads differently. The women are excited and can hardly wait for Friday to get here.
In October the adults of the Mission will be doing an outreach on Halloween night. We will be handing out hotdogs, chips, drinks, candy and tracts at the Mission. We will also have a few games for the children to play for a short time and then we will send them on their way. My ladies (and the men) LOVE to serve and minister and are brainstorming about other things we could do throughout the year. They are precious and are such a blessing. Please pray that God would bless all of their (our) efforts.
Please pray for our family in the month of October. We will be making weekly trips to Chattanooga, TN for doctor’s appointments for Joshua. Pray that God would provide gas money for us to get there and that God would give the doctors wisdom and discernment while they test Joshua for possible Asperger’s (high functioning autism). Our prayer is that we will be able to find out how we can best help Joshua with his many challenges that he struggles with on a daily basis.
As you can see we have been and are going to be very busy over the next couple of months. God is doing great and mighty things and is blessing our obedience and faithfulness in abundance. Please pray that God would continue to bless our efforts here at Good News Mission.
Please be in prayer for our support. This last month was a low month for us. Giving is down not just for us but other missionaries and ministry organizations as well. Pray that God would give us wisdom as to what we need to do. Right now we are praying about possible part time jobs or that God would open doors for us to share our hearts for our ministry with churches and individuals. God has already opened some doors, but no commitments have been made yet. Pray that God would give us boldness to step out of our comfort zones in how we raise support.
We thank you all for everything you have done for us. We would like to especially thank those who helped us get to conference…again we were so blessed to be able to go, and then to see how God is working in our boys lives…we are humbled. You all have had a part in our children’s spiritual growth and I thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and willingness. Thank you for your faithfulness and perseverance in co laboring with us in this ministry. May God richly bless you in all that you do in furthering His kingdom.
Hearts greatly blessed,
Sarah & Tim Tinkel
Sarah & Tim BCM Int.
829 Hi Tech Drive 309 Colonial Drive
Livingston, TN 38570 PO Box 240
Tink38570@yahoo.com Akron, PA 17501
(931)823-9320 bcmintl.org
Acct. #642 (717)859-6406