Greater Portland Baptist Church

Jesse and Tiffany Shanks: January 2006

It is hard to believe that one year has already passed since we first started deputation! In the past year, we have traveled over 42,000 miles, had many near-accidents, ran over a deer, potty trained a two year old in the van, visited many beautiful places, and seen God do amazing things in us and through us. We praise the Lord that He has allowed us to reach over 30% of our needed financial support so far! We want to thank all of you who have had a part in this past year of our ministry. Without the faithful prayer and giving of God's people, we know that it would not be possible to be where we are today.

We have already had a great start to this new year, as God has allowed us to schedule many new meetings for 2006. From January 8-10 we were able to attend the annual Preacher's Delight conference in Tacoma, Washington. This was a wonderful time of encouragement and fellowship, as well as a good opportunity to meet pastors and set up future meetings in churches all around the Northwest.

During the last week of January we attended a great missions conference in Bremerton, Washington. We were privileged to be surrounded by several great veteran missionaries, from whom we gained valuable advice and insight for our future ministry in Togo. Joshua also had a great time there playing with the three boys of the family we stayed with. One day they all dressed up like coyboys and rescued the house from an evil gang of bandits!

We have made a few more updates to our website. You can now watch our video presentation and listen to a couple of sermons. Also, if you want to stay updated with our current support level, where we are, prayer requests, and recent blessings, please check the "updates" page on a regular basis. We try to post a new update at least every week or two.

Prayer requests for this year:
-Please pray for people to come to know Christ through our ministry and then be discipled through the churches we visit.
-Please pray for our financial support to come in so we may get to Togo in God's perfect timing.
-Please pray for wisdom as we make a final decision about where to attend language school (either Quebec, Canada or Albertville, France).

In His Grace,
Jesse, Tiffany, and Joshua Shanks