Year End 2017

Looking back on 2017


As we reflect on the past year, we are again amazed at how God has led and provided. We are so blessed to know that there are people faithfully praying for us as we travel,write and translate materials,sing and speak in various countries. This work would be utterly impossible without the support, both prayer and financial of the many faithful brothers and sisters who stand behind us. We are so thankful for each and every one of you and for all you do in partnering with us to reach our Low German Mennonite people for the Lord.

If we had to choose one word to describe this past year for us, it would be the word ‘change!’ Much has changed in our family life, and that in turn affects change in the work we do. It is such a blessing to serve a God who never changes! He is the same through all the ages,and is our constant source of joy and strength. He works all the changes into our lives in His time and in His way, and the result is that His work is carried on, and His Kingdom continues to be built.With the boys getting married and leaving home, we needed to come up with a way to continue singing, and God has provided that. When we are close to home, the boys who live close by help us as they are able, and when we do longer tours, Andrew and Deanna travel with us. This means our group is not always the same, it changes with almost every booking, but the response from our listeners has been positive. And we remain committed to doing our very best at every event.

One of the changes was the addition of two wonderful daughters-in-law. We are so thankful for them. Each of them contributes to the work in her own unique way. Deanna is so gifted musically, and it is so good to have her with us on the longer tours. Teya has the wonderful gift of writing stories. Many of the stories we send out every week, have first been written by Teya, and then translated into Plautdietsch by Nettie. They are being used in many schools to teach not only reading and comprehension skills, but also biblical principles to live by. It is just so amazing to see how God has brought these young women into our lives, and how they have jumped on board and joined us in this work. All glory be to God!

Our studio is finally far enough along that we can do some recording and editing at home. Our first home recorded project was a Low German Christmas song titled “Waut Besondret” and we posted it on YouTube just before Christmas. We are still experimenting with different set ups and learning the computer programs, but we are pleased with the progress, and are looking forward to learning and producing much more in the future.

Looking forward to 2018
Our calendar is rapidly filling up for 2018, and we are busy preparing for more travels. We are increasingly being invited to do events where Diedrich and sometimes Andrew are asked to do quite a bit of speaking/teaching, and at times Nettie is asked to speak at women’s events.We have also been asked to do some children’s events, and are working on adding that to our repertoire.It is good to know the people are hungry for God’s Word and we really enjoy this added dimension to the ministry. There are several projects in the works which we hope will be completed in 2018. We plan to produce a Christmas CD in both English and Plautdietsch, print several more volumes of the children’s devotional books, and produce the notated version of the songbook. These are ambitious goals, but with God everything is possible.

Again, thank you, all for your prayers and support. You are a vital part of this ministry, and we pray God’s richest blessings for you and your loved ones all throughout 2018! May His will be done.

Andrew and Deanna…
It has been an exciting three months! Deanna and I started working with D’Friesens in October of 2017. We also helped with two mission trips during the year, one in March-April to Paraguay and Bolivia, and another one in September to Mexico.After we arrived back in Canada at the end of September we started getting our feet wet with some translation work and I started working on writing devotionals, both in English and Plautdietsch. We also started translating some songs and arranging them to suit Deanna and myself, since we live apart from my parents and won’t always be able to do concerts together with them. I have also started work on a home studio so that we can record our own music, and also to create short per-recorded programs, where a devotional gets read aloud and some music gets shared. Deanna has worked to create prayer cards and brochures for us. Currently I am working to get a stockpile of Plautdietsch devotionals ready so that some time in the new year we can begin sending them out wherever there is need. These devotionals and programs are geared towards youth/young adults, but hopefully there is something applicable for everyone.

Since we only started doing this work recently, we are also still working at raising support so that we can continue to do this full-time, so we are in the process of planning our own fundraiser here in La Crete for the middle of January.

But that is just one of the things that we are planning for the next three months! In February we have planned to travel together with my parents to Belize to do a music ministry trip, visiting the different colonies and also spending some time with a brand new church in Little Belize. My goal is to have at least one program recorded and ready to be played, so that if there is interest in other countries then we can send them out once we are back in Canada. In the meantime we will continue to practice a lot of music!Our goal is that the music we play and the devotionals we share will be an encouragement to believers, as well as a way by which more people can hear the Gospel and be saved.

Praise:
* That so many are searching for new life.
* For God’s faithful provision.
* For the new decisions made for Christ in the past year.
* For Andrew and Deanna’s decision to enter into the ministry full-time.

Pray:
* For continued protection in travel.
* For energy and enthusiasm as we meet with so many people.
* For many more people to be saved.
* For Andrew and Deanna as they continue to gather financial support.

For more information, or to donate online…-go to multinationmissions.org
or
Email: [email protected]

* Donations that are tagged D’Friesens or Andrew & Deanna go directly into their ministry accounts.
* Donations that are tagged D’Friesens Projects go into their joint project account.