Birthday blessings

Hello, everyone.

I just have a quick note today; yesterday was Sarah's 21st birthday. Sarah is our youngest daughter and we are celebrating with her on Sunday afternoon since she is in the middle of studying for finals this week.

Sarah reminded me that 10 years ago, on her 11th birthday, we were in language school in Musoma, Tanzania. It was a difficult time for Sarah. Tim and I were away at school a lot and she was left alone with an African housekeeper who barely spoke English. She was home schooled and had no friends; she did not even know how to communicate with the Swahili-speaking children who lived around us. At that time, she was very homesick for America and the life she knew before Africa.

She reminded me that it rained on that day and she asked if she could go out and play in the rain for her birthday present. I said, "yes", so she danced and laughed and played in the rain on her 11th birthday; her first one in Africa. She thoroughly enjoyed herself and we laughed together; it was a good memory.

It rained Thursday on her 21st birthday as well; she didn't dance in the rain but she WAS driving in the rain. She is no longer the frightened lonely little girl she was then; God has brought her a long way and we are thankful for His faithfulness.

Be blessed.
Joyce Jarvis

Every member important in the body

Hello, Friends.

Sorry, once again it's been a week since I last blogged; sometimes time seems to go so fast.

Last Wednesday evening I accidently rammed my foot into the leg of the couch and heard a loud pop and felt a sharp pain. When I pulled my foot from under the couch my middle toe on my right foot was lying across the top of the two toes on it's right; definitely a broken toe situation.

We decided we needed to go to the emergency room; even though we know they only tape it. We felt we needed to have it x-rayed since I am diabetic and have some problems with my feet anyway. Five hours later, at 3;30 am, we left the hospital with my toes taped together, I was wearing a protective shoe, and I was attempting to use a pair of crutches. I was also given a prescription for pain medicine.

I am able to walk around fine without the crutches as long as I wear the protective shoe which keeps my toes from moving or bending. However, I have to walk at an odd angle because of the shoe that is too big and it is causing me more pain in my knee than I am experiencing with my broken toe, I am also having pain in my hip because of the awkward way I walk now. This has to continue for about four weeks.

Well, all of this has reminded me of the scripture in I Corinthians 12:12-26; read it for yourself and I won't take time to preach my little sermonette here. Suffice it to say, that every member of the body is important and necessary and it's pain affects all other parts. I just want to remind you that this applies to the body of Christ; we are all part of each other and need each other; I have been painfully aware of the truth of this for the past week.

Tim and I want to thank all of you for being part of our "body of ministry in Tanzania"; we need all of you and each one of you are important to us. No matter what part you have in our ministry; know that you are loved and appreciated by us.

Blessings,
Joyce and Tim

Trip to Michigan

Hello, everyone
We left last Wednesday for Michigan; we had a Mission's convention at Traverse City with Living Hope Assembly of God. We had a wonderful time at a house meeting on Thursday night; our hostess, Marianne, was so gracious and the group that gathered at her home were wonderful mission's-minded people. It was a great evening!
The other reason we were in Michigan is that our niece was married on Saturday and Tim and I were Master/Mistress of Ceremony. It was a beautiful wedding. Our daughter, Sarah, traveled to Michigan with us and our oldest daughter, Jenn, traveled from Iowa and joined us; we have always been close to Wayne and Connie and our children have always been close as well.

It was wonderful to be together with our two daughters again; we have not been together since right before Christmas. We didn't get much sleep over those three days but we did a lot of catching up and it was well worth the effort; we did a lot of laughing and remembering.
I was reminded again as we parted ways on Sunday and Jenn headed back for Iowa that our children grow up and go their own way whether we are ready for it or not. I was also reminded of how far away we will be from them when we are in Africa but I know that God will give me special grace for that time.

Blessings,
Tim & Joyce Jarvis

Old dogs and new tricks

Dear Friends,
As I check my last entry, I realize that it has been more than a week since I my last update; I do apologize. Time passed quickly and I didn't even realize it; there's a sermon in there somewhere!
Tim and I have really been concentrating on getting back into our Swahili lessons; we have a computer program that we are using. We have definitely gotten rusty and forgotten some of what we knew before; so we are trying to faithfully do some work on it every day. The old saying, "use it or lose it" definitely applies to language skills! I am finding that the older I get the harder it is to make things "stick" in my memory. Please pray for us as we endeavor to learn more of the Swahili language so that we can better communicate with our Tanzanian friends this next term.
Last weekend we were in northwest Kansas at two different churches; we had good services and enjoyed the fellowship and hospitality of our two host pastors. We were also able to stop in for a brief visit with another Kansas pastor who took us on for support without ever personally speaking with us; we communicated via email. It would be great if everyone was as quick to respond to our request for support as this pastor.
He indicated that they were getting ready to start building a new church and he wanted God's blessing upon them and felt that one way to guarantee that was to be a mission's giving church; he has learned that God blesses those churches/individuals who have a heart for missions.
We have now reached the 70% mark for our monthly support; please pray that the final 30% comes in quickly.
Be blessed today!
Joyce

"The Gathering"

MK Easter Dinner
Originally uploaded by timandjoycejarvis

Easter Sunday, we were privileged to have one of "the gathering's"; it was our first since last September and will be our last for a long while.
These gatherings are times when we invite the East Africa MKs (missionary kids) to our home in Springfield, MO for food and fellowship. We have been doing this since our arrival back in the states in 2001 and look forward to them. It has been part of our ministry to be Aunt and Uncle (family) to the group of East Africa MKs who live in Springfield; most are attending one of the local colleges. Our home was their home with most of them having a key to our home and an open invitation to come over whenever they wanted or needed to do so. However, that ended when we "went on the road" to itinerate and rented out our home.
Well, we are currently living in Springfield again until we finish our itineration and we did not have a service scheduled anywhere this past Sunday since it was Easter. We decided to invite the group of MKs over for Sunday dinner after we had all attended Easter morning services.
It was a great time of food and fellowship; we laughed over shared memories and enjoyed one another's company again. We are proud of our East Africa MKs and truly love them as family; it was great to be together one more time.
Be Blessed,
Joyce Jarvis

Flipping for Mission

Hello everyone...

It's the eldest daughter chiming in. Since I set up this blog, I figure I can hijack it every once in a while.

For those who don't know, I'm a reporter for KWWL News in eastern Iowa. And yesterday I was able to cover a story near and dear to my heart: missions fundraising.

Through the years I think I've heard everything imaginable when it comes to raising money for missions. Some people take the safe route using bake sales and offerings, while others get a bit more adventurous. I heard about one youth group leader who raised money for Speed the Light by letting the highest bidder name her newborn baby.

Well, two families in eastern Iowa decided to flip a house to pay for their missions trip to Mexico. Click on the video player to watch my story.



Thanks to all of you for your continued prayers. It's comforting to know that even though I won't be on the mission field with mom and dad, there are people who continue to pray for me as I'm separated from them.

God Bless!

Jenn

Good Friday thoughts

It is the most sacred season for Christians around the world; it's the Easter season. This is the time we remember the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Good Friday is the day we specifically remember the death of Jesus and all the suffering he endured; it is a sobering and sad day if you dwell on the events of Friday alone. However, as a famous Christian song states, "Sunday is coming". These lyrics remind us of hope in the midst of suffering and loss.
In Tanzania, Easter is known as "Pasaka" and one of the customs is that employers give gifts to their employees. It is interesting to note that they don't have the custom of giving gifts at Christmas but they do at Easter. And, it is the employers (those who have much) who give to the employees (those who have little).
To me, this is beautifully symbolic of Christ (who had it all) giving His very life for lost humanity (those who had nothing).
This week we have been encouraged; we have heard from two churches who have decided to financially partner with us in our ministry to the people of Tanzania. And, we have also been given another substantial one-time financial blessing. We have been concerned with how slowly our pledge support has been coming in. But, in the midst of this sobering reality, God shows once again that He is the God of supply and Hope.
Pasaka njema! (Happy Easter)
Joyce and Tim

Shangalia Yesu

Hello, friends.
We did not have services scheduled for yesterday; Palm Sunday and Easter are two dates which missionaries usually are not able to book for a service. That is, of course, understandable; so we were able to attend two different local churches yesterday.
The emphasis at both churches revolved around the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem just a week before he was crucified. As I reflected about the triumphal entry of Jesus, I remembered back to the many times in Tanzania when we would watch the people in various churches "Shangalia Yesu" (celebrate Jesus). We would watch people who were poor, sick, and often struggling to survive from day to day worship Jesus with great joy. I remember the African Christians waving palm branches that they gathered as they walked to church on Palm Sunday; they would often begin waving the branches and singing as they drew near to the church. Often, the people would get so swept up in their worship that the pastor or worship leader would have a special way of making the people stop worshiping so they could continue with the service. In one church, they would actually ring a bell to signify that it was time for worship to end and the preaching of the Word to begin.
Tim and I look forward to seeing our African brothers and sisters and joining them as they celebrate Jesus with great joy; we had hoped to be back in Tanzania in time for this Easter season but we were unable to do so. Please pray with us that we will finish our itineration soon and be able to return to Tanzania.
Have a blessed day!
Tim & Joyce Jarvis

Michigan trip

Good afternoon, everyone.
We just returned last night from almost a week in Michigan. We had several appointments scheduled around the state and spent time traveling back and forth; we witnessed an accident and barely missed a deer that leaped across in front of us. Again, we are thankful for God's protection as we travel.
During our travels we had the opportunity to spend a day with very good friends of ours that we have known since before our children were born. We met many years ago when we were both pastoring our first church; we pastored the Assembly of God church and they pastored the Lutheran church. We met at a Gideon banquet for all the local pastors in the region and we have been close friends ever since.
They were having a get together and all four of their children were going to be home and they invited us to stop in and visit with them. It was good to see their children and think back over the years our two families have known each other. We have laughed and cried together and prayed for each other for almost 25 years.
We also were able to see Tim's brother and his family; they had one of their daughters who got married in January and the other one will be married next month; it seems like only yesterday they were born.
I am constantly amazed at how quickly time passes! We have been itinerating for about 18 months and still have more money to raise; we are long overdue to return to Tanzania. We feel an urgency to return to Tanzania before too much more time passes and we lose opportunities to reach lost people and do the work God has for us to do.
Please continue to pray for our remaining funds to come in so we can return to Tanzania as soon as possible.
Blessings
Tim and Joyce

March 3, 2008

Dear Friends,
Yesterday we did not have a scheduled service so we attended one of the local Assemblies of God churches; it was very refreshing. Sometimes we go months "ministering" without actually being "ministered to" and you can become very drained. It is important for people to remember and be aware that people in ministry need to hear the word preached just like everyone else; if we don't we can become empty ourselves and have nothing to give to others. Even though we can read our Bible and pray, it is still important for us to be part of a group of believers and to participate in cooperate worship and hear the Word preached. It was a good day yesterday, and I was thankful for the opportunity to "refuel".
Be Blessed!
Joyce Jarvis

February 28, 2008

Hello Friends,

This past weekend we were in a small Kansas town, Moran, for Sunday services. Again, we were granted safe travel. It rained on us the last hour of the 3 hour trip and a few minutes after arriving safely at our destination the rain turned to ice followed by a couple inches of snow.
Tim helped clear the sidewalks the next morning for services and we had a good group of people who braved the weather and made it out to church.
The rest of this week will be a quiet week for us; Tim had surgery yesterday. For many months he has been having pain and it continued to increase in severity; after seeing a Doctor it was determined that he needed to have his gall bladder removed. He went in yesterday morning and had a successful surgery and was released from the hospital late yesterday afternoon.. So, we will be doing things such as catching up on paper work, emails, and phone calls. All of these things he can do with little physical effort. He is already feeling better except for the tenderness from the surgery. Keep him in yours prayers for a a quick recovery.
As always, we appreciate all of you who support us with prayers and/or financial support.
Blessings,
Joyce Jarvis

February 22, 2008

We have finished our "tour" through the frozen states of Michigan and Iowa and have returned to Springfield, MO. Our first experience with the Iowa churches was good; the pastors and people were very welcoming to us and we appreciate their hospitality to us even though we are not Iowa missionaries. It seemed to us that they felt our heart for the lost people of Tanzania and our yearning to return to Tanzania as soon as possible and somehow wanted to be a part of that.
On our way home on Thursday there were winter weather warnings for most of the areas that we traveled through; although we had to slow down from time to time we made it home safely. God has been very good to us during our thousands of miles of travel; we have not had an accident of any kind nor have we been stranded due to weather. I am reminded how Jesus stilled the waters for the disciples when they became frightened in the boat as it tossed around on the waves. In the same way, God has kept us safe through rain, sleet, ice, snow, fog, heavy traffic and inattentive drivers doing too many other things while trying to drive the highways.
Thanks to all of you for your constant prayers; they are needed and appreciated.
Blessings,
Joyce and Tim

February 18, 2008

Hello Friends,
We are in Iowa and it is very cold here; we've been on the road for the past two weeks between Michigan and Iowa. We have seen a lot of snow and have safely traveled many miles over snow and ice covered roads. PTL.
I am enjoying being in Iowa and spending time with Jenn, our oldest daughter. She is a reporter and we watch her on the evening news each day; I can't believe how grown up and professional she is. I often wonder where all those years went when they were little and at home with us. I miss those days.
Another thing I am enjoying is seeing the snow; I know that may sound crazy to many of you. However, it's a beautiful sight to see fields and trees covered with white snow glistening in the sunlight; it will be our last winter for four years. I won't miss the "mess" of winter but I do miss the seasons when we are in Africa. Fall is my favorite time of the year and during the months of September - November I have magazines in Africa that have beautiful Fall pictures in them that I place out on my table. It's not exactly the same but it's the closest I can get.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support; we keep on pressing towards the goal. I will try to start blogging more frequently and sharing not only the itineration news but share with you some of my thoughts and feelings as we continue traveling down the path God has placed in front of us.
Be blessed!
Joyce

January 28, 2008

Dear Friends,

We are busy calling churches in the Southern Missouri, Iowa, and Kansas districts; we try to keep a regular schedule each day to make these contacts with churches, pastors, and Mission's Directors.
We had three services here in Missouri this past week, one on Wednesday evening and two yesterday (Sunday); we are enjoying getting to know churches in the Southern Missouri District.
Please continue to pray for us as we work to finish raising our funds as quickly as possible; we know that God is with us as we continue to be obedient to His call.

Back to MIssouri - January 14, 2008

Friends,

We have relocated to Missouri after spending the past four months living in Michigan with friends and family. We want to say "thank you" to our friends, Joe and Janis Mason; most of our time in Michigan was spent living with them. Also, to Wayne and Connie in Muskegon and Gary and Lori in Blissfield; thanks for opening up your homes to us.
We will be staying for the rest of our time stateside in a furnished apartment on the south side of Springfield, MO. Our cell phone numbers have not changed and our new address will be:
c/o Shirley Moore - 798 Peiter Rd - Marionville MO 65705. This is my sister's address and she will be handling all of our business for us while we are gone so this will be our stateside address even when we go back to Mwanza, Tanzania. We are only going to be in the apartment for 2-3 months so we won't even give that address out.
We have figured up our monthly pledge support and we are currently at 65%; please continue to pray for the remainder of our funds to come in quickly.
Blessings to all of you,
Tim and Joyce

Month in Review

Friends,
The month of December has flown by and we find ourselves in January of 2008. We have traveled literally several thousand miles in the past month since we last updated our journal. We have been to North Carolina twice, Florida, Iowa, and back and forth between Missouri and Michigan several times. We often don't have a strong enough signal to update our journal but we appreciate all of you who check our website and keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
We have been blessed by many of you during the Christmas season and we thank you for your gifts to us. We have had services throughout the states mentioned above and we are slowly building our monthly pledge support. We hope to have everything raised by the end of March; please continue to pray.
We were able to spend the weekend before Christmas with our oldest daughter, Jenn, in Iowa; Sarah was able to accompany us for that trip and the four of us had a wonderful time together.
We were also able to be with both sides of our family for the week of Christmas for what should be our last Christmas in the states for a few years. It was good to be with loved ones and celebrate Christmas with them all one more time.
Urgent Prayer Request:
Please pray for the country of Kenya; it has been in great turmoil since the elections a few weeks ago. The two candidates were from different tribes; Kibaki is Kikuyu while Odinga is Luo; Kibaki won the election by a very slim margin and there seems to be evidence of ballot rigging. Several hundred people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled the country as ethnic-based rioting continues to occur across the country. Hundreds of businesses, homes and churches have been distroyed; food and fuel are in short supply and when available are at extremely inflated costs.
We have dozens of A/G missionaries in Kenya; they are all staying in Kenya for now and attempting to help the national church assist the victims of the riots with food and shelter.

I will try to update again in just a few days!
Blessings!
Tim and Joyce

Dear Friends,

I'm sorry it's been awhile since we've updated; we have been in Missouri, North Carolina and Michigan in the two weeks since Thanksgiving and have not had access to internet connection for a large part of that time.
We want to thank all of you for praying for us as we travel; we avoided two accidents on the highways in the past month. The last one was on Monday; I'm not sure how we kept from hitting one of several cars that were in our way except for the fact that we know our friends and partners are praying for us. Thank you for your faithfulness!
I want to share a praise report that reminds us all that God is concerned about the small things. Our daughters each had a need over the weekend that amounted to $140 being put on our credit card. On Sunday, we were in a small church in rural North Carolina; there were about 25 people in attendance that morning. The pastor and his wife, a retired couple, are acting as interim pastors until the church can find a permanent pastor. We went out to eat with this dear couple and had a wonderful time of fellowship with them. As we were leaving, the pastor's wife slipped some money into my hand; I tried to return it to her knowing that they were on a fixed income but she insisted that the Lord had told her to give the money to me personally as a gift to spend however I wanted.
As we drove away, I began unrolling the bills in my hand and realized that she had given me $140! The exact amount that we had just placed on our credit card; she had no way of knowing about it. However, the Lord did and He provided for our need.
He says that He shall supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory!
Thanks to all of you for your faithful prayers; please remember the following prayer requests:
*We are still waiting for a place to live here in Michigan; pray that the apartment we have been waiting for since October 1 will be ready soon. We continue to be thankful for the friends and family who allow us to stay with them.
* We are desperately in need of monthly support; we are at about 62% of our needed monthly pledges. Time has become a critical issue; we are believing God for a financial miracle.

We'll keep in touch! Blessings to all of you!
Tim and Joyce

Devil's Night - NOT!!!!

Friends,
I want to share a wonderful thing that happened on Halloween night; often called the Devil's night. We were asked by Christian Life Center in Spring Lake MI to participate in their annual Harvest Festival. They have a fun evening of carnival type games and free food for their community with a presentation of the gospel at the end of the night's activities; over 200 hundred people attended this year's event. Large bags of candy are handed out after the special service so everyone stays for it.
Tim and I did a fun skit with Tim appearing as a nerdy and crazy guy named, Willie, who was trying to figure out how to get to heaven. There was much laughter at Willie's antics as he checked into taking a train or plane to get to heaven.
We presented the salvation message at the end of the skit and shared with everyone that Jesus is the only way to heaven; we had 28 children come forward for salvation from their sins that night.
In addition, there were several families that came to the event for the first time and filled out cards requesting a visit or call from a representative from the church. We must use every opportunity to reach the lost people of our communities; we were glad to be part of this community outreach.

Update - November 6, 2007

Dear Friends,

Thank you for continuing to check our website; I try to update it every week or 10 days.

We are still not in our apartment which means we are still living the gypsy lifestyle. We stay with family and friends around the country while our belongings stay stored in a container in Blissfield MI. We are thankful for the hospitality of family and friends.

We traveled to Missouri on the 3rd of this month; last Saturday. We had services in Springfield, Mo Sunday morning and in Bourbon, Mo Sunday night the 4th. This Wednesday evening we have services in Carthage MO and at Grace A/G in Springfield on Thursday evening. We will travel back to Michigan on Friday; we have a Missions banquet on Saturday evening and services in Marysville on Sunday evening.

As you can see, we stay busy traveling and holding services. We share our burden for missions and our missions calling with congregations in Michigan and Missouri. Later this month we will be in North Carolina for a few weeks. We go wherever to Lord opens a door for us to minister.

Usually, we spend Tuesday through Thursday on the phones contacting churches in various districts. Please remember that if you want to contact us via email, use tim.jarvis@agmd.org

Please pray with us for the following needs:
1. We are in urgent need of monthly support; please pray that churches/individuals will be moved by the Holy Spirit to partner with us to reach the lost souls of Tanzania. We are at a critical time in our itineration process.
2. Pray for us to have traveling mercies as we travel through different states; especially as the winter weather approaches.

We want to thank all of you for your prayers on our behalf; we continue to believe God for a miracle in our finances. We feel an urgency to return to Tanzania as soon as possible.

Blessings,
Tim and Joyce Jarvis

October 27, 2007 - Update

Dear Friends,

We finished the round robin mission convention in the Northern Section of Michigan; we met many new friends and made contact with six different churches. We had a wonderful time and appreciate the gracious hospitality of our friends in the northern section of the Michigan District.

Sarah, our youngest daugther, came to visit us in MI during her Fall break from school and we had a wonderful few days with her and her friend, Vaughndena. We showed them some of the sites of MI and then traveled back to MO with them on the 23rd of this month. We loaded all of Jenn's, our oldest daughters, belongings in a moving truck and traveled to Waterloo IA on Wednesday. She needed all of her things with her in Waterloo to furnish her apartment. It was so good to see Jenn and spend a day with her helping her settle in to her new home. We were able to see her do a live shot from a local store on the 6:00 News on Thursday evening. She has had a hectic first week on her new job with KWWL News in Waterloo; but we are excited for her.

We traveled back to Lansing, MI on Friday (yesterday) and are preparing today to head back across MI for services tomorrow (Sunday).

Prayer Requests:
Please be in prayer about our finances; we urgently need about $2,000 in monthly pledges to come in by the end of November. Thankfully, God knows where the funds are; please pray that the Holy Spirit will direct churches/pastors/mission's boards to partner with us.

Also, please pray the our apartment will be open soon so that we can move in and give up the gypsy life style for awhile.

We also need our home in Springfield, MO to be rented soon.

Praise reports:
God has kept us safe as we have traveled hundreds and even thousands of miles already this month in five different states.
Jennifer has a new job and is settled into her new home.
Sarah is doing well in school and is adjusting well to us living in Michigan.

Blessings to each of you!
Tim and Joyce