Joel & Cindy Anthis
19722 Cardiff Park Lane
Houston, TX 77094
281.579.0770
Anthis@mindspring.com
O You Who hear prayer, to You all men will come.
Psalm 65:2.
Dear family and friends,
Greetings from Katy, Texas. The Anthis family has had an eventful two months. Thanks to all of you who prayed for us on our recent trip to Jos, Nigeria. Our Lord certainly does hear our prayers and answers them. We were blessed to witness the hand of God and to discern His will for our family during our time in Jos and upon our return to the U.S.
We are confident that the Lord is leading us out of the comfort and security of suburban private practice, away from our family and friends that we love dearly, in order to extend the healing ministry of Jesus Christ to the people of northern Nigeria, the vast majority of whom do not know Him. It was through your prayers that we have heard the Lord’s call to commit ourselves in this way to His service. And it is your continued prayer that we need more than anything else at this time. At a recent dinner for another missionary couple, it was said that “these missionaries don’t need your pity, or to be put on a pedestal, but they desperately need your prayers.” The motto of SIM, the mission agency under whom we plan to serve, is “By Prayer.” Prayer isn’t just an accessory to mission work; it is the work of missions.
The picture above shows us both standing in front of Evangel Mission Hospital in Jos, where we plan on working. During our recent trip to Jos, one of our goals was to see hearing impaired patients and restore their hearing with solar powered hearing aids. Imagine our disappointment when we arrived in Nigeria and found that the luggage with all the hearing aids had been lost between Amsterdam and Nigeria. Because there are only two flights in and out of northern Nigeria each week, we were concerned that the hearing aids would not arrive until after we departed. We prayed that the bag had not been stolen and that it would arrive before we left. As there was no way to communicate with the patients about the plight of the hearing aids, they arrived as scheduled on Wednesday morning. We saw each patient, tested their hearing, examined them and then told them about their lost hearing aids. We asked them to pray that the hearing aids would arrive before we had to leave Nigeria.
God answered our prayers. The hearing aids arrived safely and were delivered to Jos two days before our departure. What a privilege it was to share God’s miraculous provision with these new patients, some of them now hearing clearly for the first time in many years. As we watched the wonder and gratitude on their faces, we were able to rejoice and thank the Giver of every good and perfect gift. (James 1:17)
Another answered prayer came in the form of something we take for granted here in the States – electricity. Joel was invited by the chairman of surgery at Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) to present a guest lecture. We arrived for the lecture with computer, power-point projector, and video-player. Joel had planned a multi-media presentation about sinusitis. It occurred to us on our drive to JUTH, however that all of this technology required electricity. Since the electricity had been off more than it was on during our stay in Jos, this was serious concern for prayer! We entered the lecture hall to find more than 100 people in attendance, including faculty from the department of surgery, residents, interns and medical students. Praise God, the electricity stayed on and the lecture was very well received. We hope this was the beginning of a meaningful relationship between Joel and this government medical school that will lead to victories for the Gospel.
After returning from Nigeria, God continued to provide answers to prayer. The next week, we traveled to SIM headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. As part of the extensive SIM interview process we underwent a psychological evaluation, took a bible knowledge test, and filled out numerous forms and essays. We passed this hurdle and God confirmed to us that Jos is the place for us to minister.
Returning to Houston, God continued to answer our prayers. Although we
will not be leaving for Jos until August of 2003, Joel felt he needed to give
his medical practice group in Houston as much time as possible to find his replacement.
After much prayer, Joel told the CEO of his practice about our plans to
relocate to Nigeria as medical missionaries. We had no idea
how he would respond. God truly answered our prayers as he was not only
interested but supportive.
We have seen the faithful hand of God in every step of this process. We realize that we are only at the beginning of what will be a long year of preparation, raising prayer and financial support, and learning to lean daily on our Faithful God. SIM has asked that we find a minimum of 30 people committed to pray for us daily, and others who will pray for us at least once a week(on a particular day). We need that prayer support as soon as possible.
In our own strength we cannot do all that is necessary in order to leave for the mission field in August of 2003. First of all, we must travel to SIM headquarters in November to obtain final acceptance as SIM missionaries. We both have seminary courses to take and many other books to read as self-study for our Bible requirements. We must complete an exhaustive doctrinal statement for SIM. We will need financial support for monthly needs, and one time out-going expenses. Joel needs to acquire a vast amount of ENT medical equipment (pray for donations of equipment). At times we feel overwhelmed trying to keep up with every day life with three kids, school, jobs, church activities and all that we must do to prepare ourselves. We will not make it to Jos without the faithful prayer of Christians committed to the vision of reaching the least and the lost of Nigeria. Simply getting from Katy to Jos, Nigeria will be a “God-sized thing.” And so the most important thing we need is your prayers. Will you pray about becoming one of our daily or weekly prayer supporters?
Please contact us if you are willing to commit to pray regularly for us and we will keep you updated with our ongoing prayer requests. Please also let us know your e-mail address, as we would like to send out further newsletters by e-mail as often as possible.
Thanks for standing with us as we seek to serve our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In His Service,
Joel and Cindy Anthis
Austin, Allison and Abigail