Back Home in France!

What a joy to be back home in France after six months in the states...and the joy was more than doubled to be met at the airport by family!!! Here we are meeting our newest grandson Zacherie. We were, of course, just as thrilled to see Micaiah and Miriam and their parents!

Bob boarding plane from DR to Haiti!

Please Pray for Haiti and our son Bob!

Our oldest son Bob is on a plane right now that is headed for the Dominican Republic and then Haiti. He was asked to go along with a team of eight doctors, some of whom are Haitian. His role is to to be the chaplain. It was a door of opportunity that opened quickly for him. After Bob's church collected over 1/4 million dollars worth of supplies for this group, the head doctor said, "All we need is a chaplain who speaks French." When Bob replied that he spoke French the man was elated. He said "You're our man!" You can keep up with the news here, but we as parents would appreciate your prayers as they go into a very volatile and potentially dangerous situation. He will be there for two weeks (and during that time we fly back to France!).

A New Grandson!

We are happy to announce the birth of Zacharie Christian Bixby on December 16th in Pessac, France. We were disappointed not to be there for his birth, but are grateful for the beautiful baby boy that the Lord gave to Timothy and Ruth. Please continue to pray for them as Tim fills in for his Dad as well as looks for a house, a car, does paperwork and takes care of his precious family.

Furlough Travels!

We have now been in the states for 3 months and have traveled over 13,000 miles. Right now we are in New York state. One thing that we have especially enjoyed is the beautiful scenery. We didn't expect, however, to see "fall" one day and "winter" the next!
On this trip so far we have had meetings in Covington, PA, Elmira, NY and Sunday we will be in Horseheads, NY. Then it is off for Michigan. Thanks for praying for us.

Distribution in France

Distribution of invitations to our church has begun! During the next week, students will slide the pamphlets under the doors of thousands of rooms. Please pray that there will be many who respond and come to the church because of this effort. It is an exciting time and we miss being there!

Bixby Bulletin-- Aug/Sept. 2009

August/September 2009

Dear Friends,

As I write this, we are in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, wishing we were about two weeks later to enjoy the even richer colors of autumn. The trees are changing and the leaves are falling, but not like it will be in a few short weeks. God’s creative ways are “infinitely interesting.” We are in our sending church in Stephenson, and will be leaving in a couple of hours for another supporting church way up on the banks of Lake Superior. Following that we will be heading for Minneapolis, then down to Charleston, IL. Then out to Arkansas and Mississippi, and finally back to Greenville for a week.

In just over six short weeks we have put over 9000 miles on our car. A good bit of that has been getting around to see our children scattered around the country. Tsiry, the teenage boy who came to the states with us, returned to France as planned after spending one month traveling with us. Little did I know that less than ten days after his return, I would be following him. Our dear Rene Rottier, age 86, went to be with the Lord. We were shocked to learn of his sudden death of a heart attack. Rene and Marcelle have been with us since day one of our Bordeaux ministry, and have faithfully stood by us and with us over these long years. I knew that my place was there beside his widow and son as we are the only “family” they have. We will miss him dearly. I was there eight days before returning to Boston where I had left Bonnie with Johanna and Brian during my absence. We returned the following day to Greenville and then headed out for meetings in the north mid-west.

One bonus from my quick trip to France was to spend some precious time with Tim and Ruth and bonding time with my two grandchildren. They are adapting so well in the ministry in France. We are so thrilled to have them on the field. Micaiah and Miriam started school last week. There was some apprehension on all of our parts as to how they would do going into a strange school where a foreign language they didn’t understand was spoken in a strange culture that they weren’t used to. Up to this time they’d only known home schooling. They are doing well – very well, in fact. They love it. Their teachers seem excited to have them. Ruth began the semester of French learning on Monday of this week. They are doing a wonderful job of “filling our shoes.”

Continue to pray for us as we travel. It has not been wearisome, although these aging joints need more stopping and stretching than before. That didn’t stop us from traveling non-stop 1010 miles last week (from Boston to Greenville) upon my return from the funeral in France. Who says we’re old?

We are looking forward to seeing many of you over the next 4 months before our return to France on February 2^nd. We long to be a source of blessing and encouragement to whomever we meet along the way. We have been refreshed and encouraged already by those of you whom we’ve seen up to now.

Once again, thank you for your faithful love, prayers and support.

In Christ,

Bob and Bonnie Bixby