The Eads to Tanzania

Back Online

The last three weeks have been a blur. I am finally getting online to record what all has been happening as of late. Bass Lake Bible Camp was great. We had a wonderful time making friends and renewing acquaintances.

We have presented our ministry plans to four different congregations, with great response. What a wonderful time to share about our burden for Tanzania and our love for its people, and then how exciting to see people "catch the vision" for what God may see fit to accomplish in these coming years.

There has been more exciting news that we will tell about in the post to come.

Busy Weekend

I have officially graduated from CBTS! Done with one stage and onto the next.

These last few days have been busy but memorable. Friday, we drove down to Ankeny, IA to our old stomping grounds for Jon's (my brother) graduation from college. Katheryn (our future sister-in-law) and Tina (my mom) threw together a delicious picnic graduation party for him in the afternoon. We're so happy for you, Jon! We got home that evening and hung out in our neighbor's apartment until almost 1:00am (Tim and Janelle- if you're reading this- thanks for having us over).

Saturday morning bright and early we got over to Jana's parents' house to get things set up for the graduation party. The ceremony was at 10:30a.m. and was excellent. From 1-5pm in the afternoon we enjoyed celebrating with lots of freinds and family. (I have to say a word of thanks to Jana and our mothers for all of the work that they put into the party. They did such a good job.)

Yesterday we had the priviledge of being with Chisago Lakes Baptist Church in Chisago City, MN (about a 40 min. drive from our place). It was a valuable opportunity to present, and we had some great conversations with the people there. A lot of people took prayer cards and told us they would be praying. We will be praying that as people pray for us, that they will grow in their burden for God's glorious gospel to 'run' through Tanzania.

Tomorrow Begins a Busy Month

Well, the March calendar is looking very intimidating.

I am trusting the Lord for his grace, and I would be appreciative of your prayers.

I am being pulled in multiple directions now, between school, work, and our deputation efforts. We have three missions conferences that we will be a part of, all of which entail multiple preaching opportunities and speaking engagements. I have my mid-term exams in the middle of the month, and much of my course work will be coming due. At the end of the month, I have my oral doctrinal defense. This is when each of the graduating seniors spends two hours with four professors having their understanding of Christian doctrine and their knowledge of theology tested and tried. This can be one of the most intimidating days in a seminarian's school career.

Thanks for your prayers.

Silas' First Birthday & Missing Digital Camera...

Last year around 6 a.m. on Groundhog day, our Silas William was born. He has brought so much joy to our home in the past year! Yesterday we celebrated with all the grandparents and uncle Grant in our cozy apartment. The grandparents let us download some of their pictures.

UPDATE: We found the camera no worries.

Passports and Miscellenea

The last two days, I have been getting the paperwork in place for getting passports for the kids. It can be difficult to substantiate the identity of a child! I had to write a letter for the temporary release of medical records to use as a second form of identification. We will all be posing for pictures and making application here soon.

Tomorrow (Friday) is the last day of my class on the Book of Acts. After that the brunt of the semester will begin on 29 Jan.

I am finding the book, The Scramble for Africa, a very interesting read. It is about the colonization of Africa and the vying European powers and personalities in the struggle for imperial gains. for me, the jury is still out concerning the good and bad that the colonization did. The more I read about that era, the more interested I become in it.

Christmas Open House

Apartment living can be paradoxical. You can live in such proximity to so many people that, because of having different schedules and living on different levels, you may never meet. Thursday night was one of our efforts to try to remedy that problem.

On Wednesday night, I toted Grace in one arm and a bundle of invitations in the other and made my way down the hallway of our apartment building. I went door to door saying hi to some familiar faces and introducing myself to our new neighbors. Grace thoughtfully said hi as the door was opened, and as I spoke, she persistently held out one of the invitations. We were inviting everybody in building 600 to a Christmas Open House, in hopes that we could build some further relationships with our neighbors. Jana went all out in making a bunch of snacks, and we had bought a load of food in faith that we would have a turn out. Thursday night arrived, and 6:00 came. For an hour, we waited, and no one came. Then, one by one they came until we had ten neighbors arrive, a few of who I had never met. It was a great time to get to know one another better, and we are excited to see what will come of it.

We sincerely desire and pray that our testimony for Christ will shine as we meet with our neighbors, and Thursday was one exciting way of seeing that process continue.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Well, the snow has found its way to us here in Minneapolis (about 10 inches in the last week). Complement that with the semester-end due-dates for my seminary projects and the Christmas lights out on our apartment patio, and it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

I have a couple new books that I plan on conquering over the winter break. I have put them up, and hopefully I will be able to post what I am learning as I go along.

Jana, the kids, and I will be going out to Little Falls, MN on Dec. 16, where I will have the opportunity to preach. The church has already been a blessing to us just by inviting us. Every year they invite a seminary couple to come up for a Sunday in December to be their "Christmas Family." It sounds like a missionary Christmas for a seminary couple. We will do a brief presentation of our ministry plans during the Sunday School hour.

Next week is finals week. By the way, we are planning on doing an apartment building Christmas open house at our apartment two weeks from now. It is a way that we can make more connections with our neighbors and, Lord-willing, get the gospel out. We are going to start inviting people to it next week. I hope that it will make a way for new connections, and give us the opportunity to renew some old ones.

All is Quiet on the Family Front

The Eads family has been doing well. The kids have had a little batch of sickness lately, but nothing that has kept them from being their smiley little selves. Jana have been trying to keep Grace busy by doing a lot of fall crafts lately. The front door of our apartment is draped with construction paper autumn leaf garland. Our dining room and kitchen have become an art gallery for Grace's fall scenes. We have all been enjoying the changing colors of Minnesota leaves outside our apartment windows.

Catching Up

I am going to add a few posts today in order to get everyone all caught up with our lastest happenings. With Seminary, Church, Family, and Work and Deputation, we have had a lot going on, but we would not have it any other way right now. Truly we are blessed. Thanks to so many of you for your encouragement and prayers. By the way, our first prayer letter is going to be coming out this month. We will be sending our information out via email, so if you would like to be on the list, send me an email by clicking on the link on the right.

Second Birthday, Support Level, and School

We thank the Lord, as of September 16th we are now at 44% of our support. This means we are nearly halfway! We thank the Lord for the support of Parker's Lake Baptist and Inter-City Baptist.

A couple of updates on the homefront: 1) Grace had her 2nd birthday on September 18th and we now have a little "girl" instead of a little baby. Her creativity + her ever-growing capabilities = a need for supervision at all times (with a capital S!). We love this little girl, and she keeps us busy. Pictures of the birthday festivities are in the family album. 2) We are now over a month into the school year and things are going well. I'm learning lots, and as always, seminary is both a challenge and a blessing.

Update on the depuation front: We have begun scheduling meetings for this coming fall, winter, and spring. Please pray that we may have additional opportunites to minister to other interested congregations.