Nattier News February/March 2014

The past 4 weeks have been very productive in our preparations for Togo.  We were blessed with the opportunity to present at two churches.  Our sending church, University Baptist Church, was extremely supportive.  Some of you may not know this, but I (Bryce) am very fearful of public speaking.  We were able to do a question and answer format which was not nearly as stressful.  Among other things our pastoral staff also helped us get prayer cards designed.  You can see the front below. 

This past weekend we visited Woodland Baptist Church.  It had been almost 8 years since we had seen many of this amazing church family.  What a warm welcome, and outpouring of love we experienced.  It was so wonderful to catch up with many dear friends.

We have been amazed at the six new financial partners in just the past two weeks.  You can see from our thermometer, our monthly support is definitely growing.  Just as a reminder, our goal is to reach 50% before July, so we can attend the next required training.  The number we need to reach is 3750 committed per month.  This is well within reach.  At the time of writing this, we are almost to 20%.   We want to say thank you to each of you who have partnered with us thus far.

After this training in July, we are excited to visit Togo for 2 months.  During our trip, we have several things on the itinerary.  We will be visiting Mango, our future home.  On our first trip we were unable to make the 7 hour trip to the north.  This time we will be spending about a week there.  We will meet some of our future teammates.  We will also hope to gain a better understanding of the housing situation and things we should plan to bring with us when we return.  We are so excited to see the hospital site and the progress that has been made.  It should be nearing completion when we visit, so they can open the doors in January 2015.  Please continue to pray for the construction team, and the teammates who are already on the ground working.   This is the most recent picture we could find of the hospital building which was in phase 2 of construction. 

 

The remaining weeks will be spent in southern Togo working at the hospital.  Natasha and I are excited to put our skills to work.  My parents will be traveling with us, which will help free us up to work in the hospital.  They will also be doing ministry with the skills God has given them.  Please pray that they will be blessed and will have wisdom on how to spend their retirement years - maybe a large chunk in Togo:-)

Praise: Huge amount of support and encouragement we experienced recently.

Prayer: We are looking for more churches to share about the work in Togo.  Please pray for open doors to speak.  If your church would be willing to host us, please email me.
Pray that we could reach 50% by July.
Pray for the Hospital of Hope construction team and our team already in Mango.
Pray for our trip to Togo this summer

January News

Nattier News – January 2014

As many of you can relate, the last year has been a whirlwind for us.  Bryce returned from a deployment in March.  In May we enjoyed a family vacation to Disney World and learned we were expecting our 4^th child.  July brought us to candidate classes with ABWE (Association of Baptists for World Evangelism) and an official appointment to serve overseas.  August, September and October were filled with studying, soccer and weekend trips to visit family and share about ABWE and our call to foreign missions.  Andrew had an impressive bike crash in September resulting in the loss of several teeth and a jaw fractured in 3 places.  Miraculously he has healed well, although he has a lot less teeth. In November Bryce passed his oral boards (Praise the Lord).  December brought a trip to Charleston for a family wedding, lots of holiday festivities, and wonderful time spent with family.  Now here we are in January and we just welcomed Ahnilyse Caroline on 1/18/2014!  Whew 2013 was exhausting even in recap.  2014 is shaping up to be just as momentous. 

     

     

Bryce will separate from the military in July, and for this first time in 10 years we will have a choice on where we go.  We are seeking the Lord’s direction as to what comes next. 

Both of us have felt God’s call to use our skills to serve on foreign soil.  Until recently we did not know where the Lord would lead us.  We now know that he is directing us to Togo which is a small country in West Africa.    There is a hospital being built in the Northern part of the country in the city of Mango.  It is an amazing opportunity, because the local tribal/religious leaders have invited ABWE to take over the medical work for this region.  Wow!!!  This is nothing other than a miracle from God. 

In July we attended candidate classes in Harrisburg, PA with ABWE.  We met an amazing group of people in the home office who make it possible for missionaries to go.  We were very blessed to be appointed as missionaries.  We are also very excited to join the team God is bringing together in Mango, but we have a lot of work to do before we can actually begin long term ministry in Togo.  We are currently in “Prefield” which means we are building a prayer team, raising monetary support and completing a long list of tasks which will help prepare us for ministry in Togo.   The next training that we need is called Essential Mission Components, and it is offered in July 2014.  It’s a 1 week course on cross cultural church planting.  In order to attend the course, we must complete a number of reading tasks.  Additionally we need commitments for 50% of our required monthly support.  Despite our busy schedule and only a few opportunities to share about Togo, God has already provided 12%. 


If you would be interested in partnering with us in ministering to the spiritually and physically poor in Togo, we would love to tell you more about this amazing ministry that God is doing.   To join the prayer team, please email us at bnattier@gmail.com.  To help us reach the financial support needed, you can commit to be a monthly supporter at www.abwe.org/give.  On the left you will click on automatic support program to give electronically.  Alternatively you can click on “Commit to support a Missionary or project” to give by check.  Our account number is 0135751.  Additionally, you can check out our website which is a work in progress www.nattiers.blogspot.com, and you can register there to continue receiving our blog/prayer letters.

As we begin this amazing journey please pray for us!  Specifically:

Praise:  Thank God for a healthy baby Ahnilyse Caroline and Andrew’s miraculous recovery from his injury.

Prayer: We have a lot of preparation to do in the coming months to include: reading several books, completing seminary classes, raising the needed monetary support, and figuring out the location where we will move to while we are preparing for Togo.  Pray for us to have wisdom on how to allot our time between work, church, prefield, and family so we can accomplish the needed preparation.

Protection for our family physically and mentally as we begin the great transitions that will come with separating from the military, finding new short term jobs (for both Bryce and Natasha), and moving.

That we would fully rely on God’s provision for the remaining support and have peace that this will occur in his timing.  Is He leading you to partner in His ministry to heal the spiritual and physical suffering in Togo?

We will be traveling to Togo again in August – more to come in our next blog!