Classes Begin

Today we held our customary EABST family get-together at the beginning of the semester. I was so excited to meet a student who started with us last semester while I was in the States. He attended the luncheon with his wife and four children. He shared with me about how our Interpreting class, an introduction to hermeneutics, is affecting his life. His new skills in grasping the main idea and the big picture of the passages he studies is opening new vistas of understanding of the Scriptures. He and his wife shared how they are both benefiting in that he is sharing what he is learning with her. In turn, they are helping their children grow in their skill in reading the Scripture well. She is sharing with her ladies' Bible study at church, and he is teaching the youth group passage-by-passage using his new skills. It's thrilling to be part of what the Lord is doing for his people here in Nairobi!
This semester, I am teaching three classes. Interpreting 2 follows up on the class the student was discussing. This is where I get to introduce students to the original languages. They're already hard at work learning the Greek alphabet. I am also teaching Theology 1 where we piece together what God's Word says about itself, about God, and about Christ's person and work. Finally I'm teaching a class on the Latter Prophets, which includes Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve Minor Prophets. We'll be busy this semester! Keep us in prayer as we seek to teach God's Word and equip God's servants for his harvest fields.
Also pray that the Lord would continue to use our ministry to Emmanuel Baptist Church. Tomorrow we're starting a new series in the adult Bible study time on congregational counseling. Each one of us as church members is called to serve the body, to be "full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another" (Rom 15:14). May God grant grace that we may match that description for his glory.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2020 from the Pittsleys!

Resettling

We did catch a little bit of snow in MI.

 After leaving Bakersfield a few weeks back, we spent a little time off together as a family in SoCal before taking very different paths back to Michigan where we would be catching our flight back to Nairobi. Jenny and the boys went immediately from LAX to Detroit where they stayed with our sending church, Inter-City Baptist of Allen Park, MI.

I took a more circuitous route, stopping along the way at the ETS conference in San Diego. From there I drove our van to El Paso where I said goodbye to my parents and then up to Albuquerque where we had originally rented our vehicle. The final tally ran up to something like 14,500 miles (23,300 km) of travel in that vehicle; God kept us safe the whole way.

Some tired boys got some
heiße Schokolade (hot chocolate) in Frankfurt.

A couple of cross-country flights reunited me with Jenny and the boys, and that week we enjoyed Thanksgiving with Jen’s parents and brother. Our last Sunday in country we split our time between the first church to support us, Inter-City Baptist, and a church we’d never visited before, Resurrection Church, Lincoln Park.

Later that week, we flew to Nairobi via Frankfurt. The Lord was kind to grant an exceptionally uneventful pair of flights.

I believe the family is resettling into our regular routine again and beginning to emerge from jet lag. As we begin our third term, please pray for us that the Lord would grant us grace not to serve as though we were sufficient in ourselves, but only "with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever" (1 Peter 4:11).

Waypoints 2 and 3: Syracuse and El Paso

It's been some time since I've posted an update. Time has gotten away from me in our travels across the United States.

After our time in Michigan, we spent several weeks in Syracuse, NY, where Jenny grew up and where her parents still live. We are very grateful for the helpful initiative of New Testament Baptist and Faith Baptist Church of Baldwinsville in finding us a place to stay while we were there. It was nice to have a place to call our own while we were there—even if we spent a good deal of time most days with Jen's parents. Our meetings in Syracuse were profitable, and it was good to reconnect with our supporting churches there. We'll deeply miss our friends there over the next couple of years.

October had us traveling the I-25 corridor. After a weekend in El Paso, Jenny and I left the kids with my parents and met with our partner churches in Colorado Springs and Denver areas. What a great time we had renewing friendships with these dear brothers and sisters in Christ! A special treat was that we had the opportunity to hear my pastor from our church in Nairobi preach at Highlands Baptist Church. By the end we were eager to get back to see our boys but also sad that our time with these three churches had been so short.

After returning to my parents' place we spent time with our partner churches in western Texas and New Mexico. One highlight from this time was the opportunity to help Grace Bible Fellowship launch a class on preaching for some of the men in the church. I was grateful for the chance to get back to one of a favorite part of my job.

I'm writing from our last waypoint, Bakersfield, CA. We'll be here in California for most of the next two weeks and then back to Michigan where we fly home to Kenya.

Please pray for safety on the roads and in flights.

Pray for our last two Sunday meetings. We want to be used of the Lord to mobilize believers for his glory among the nations.

We treasure your continued partnership with us in the gospel of the Lord Jesus.