Anthony & Shawna Myers Newsletter (Spring 2022)

This spring has been incredibly busy for us. After spending two weeks in and out of the hospital in January, I had other tests which finally narrowed down my issue to what they call Positional Vertigo. At the same time, I was having some intestinal problems which is why it was augmented. I have been feeling pretty good recently. Pray for Anthony as his iron levels are way down again and he will need two more iron infusions.

This Spring we had many retreats which we helped cook for. We had a number of returning volunteers also, for which we are thankful. We had a great number of volunteers come to help us put up the Big Tops and get ready for the annual Mud Run. 

ANNUAL MUD RUN MAY 7

We had our annual Mud Run again this year. We had over 460 people attend! The numbers were down a little for various reasons but we still had a good turnout! The money raised goes overseas to help orphans, widows and the less fortunate. It goes to our bases to be able to distribute as they see the need so we know it is going right to the front lines. Some do it as their yearly Mother’s Day tradition! It still amazes us that people actually pay to run in the mud, but they enjoy the family atmosphere and the unique obstacles also. 

BOOT CAMP

Once again it will be a closed Boot Camp! It is necessary to keep everyone protected as much as possible from getting COVID, which continues to hang around. We want the team members and leaders to be able to go overseas to serve the Lord, so we want to do what we can to be sure this happens. There will be no parents or visitors allowed into Boot Camp until the Commissioning service. I will be teaching the ladies’ cooking classes as well as ordering food for the Boot Camp. I have also been working on ordering the food that the teams will be taking overseas. Anthony continues to oversee the outside work, which has been quite a bit with the new building, getting new trailers, Big Tops going up, Mud Run preparation, etc.

We will be staying home this summer to help run the office while the teams are out. There is so much to do with keeping in contact with the teams and parents, running and cooking for the three Debriefs and keeping the grounds up. We will be putting team reports online and keeping up with the bases overseas also. Pray for wisdom as we make decisions this summer.

SOJOURNER BUILDING

Teen Missions’ Bible School has been renamed Sojourner School of Ministry here in the US and the old print shop building has been remodeled into dorms, lounges and other rooms for the students. It is complete and it should be open in the fall for use. 

SURGERY & SWITZERLAND! 

For the past few years, a growth has been getting bigger (now the size of a baseball), in my arm so on May 20 it will be removed. Anthony will be traveling to Switzerland the next day for five days to visit another ministry we are working with, so Jessie is coming down to stay with me for a week. Pray for quick healing as we are getting close to the summer!

FAMILY UPDATE

Brandon, Brooke and Sophia came for a few days to surprise Anthony for his birthday. We enjoyed our time at the zoo and the beach. Jess and John came for a week after that. Darin just completed his freshman year of college. It seems like not long ago, we dropped him off to start. He will be with us in Florida for the summer and then return in early August for football. He will be the quarterback for Geneva next year! Our church has set up a college scholarship for anyone who would like to help with Darin’s schooling. Please let us know if you are interested in more details. Jessie continues to work with Mercy Ships and John has a new job with a hospital in Dallas, which he can do remotely for now. We are looking forward to Brandon, Brooke and Sophia coming for Memorial Day weekend. We are excited to have grand baby #2 arrive in early December (Brandon & Brooke). We also had a visit from Shawna’s sister, Melanie, and her friend Joe. Haven’t seen them in at least five years so it was good to have them drop in. Anthony’s parents came for a week as well as his sister and brother-in-law dropped in for dinner. Two of Anthony’s uncles and aunts came by this Spring also as well as some other friends! It was so good to see all of them. Some hadn’t been here since our wedding!

PENNSYLVANIA & INDONESIA!

The last Debrief ends on August 5 and the next day we will be heading up to PA to move Darin to Geneva College for his Sophomore year. He checks in for football training around August 8. We will have a few days up there, then we need to return to Florida to pack for our trip to Indonesia! We are going over with some other staff to run an “Asian Summit” for 10 days with staff from our Philippines, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar and Australia bases. Anthony and I will stay in Indonesia for an extra week to visit each base. We should be back by the middle of September. We then plan to take some short trips up to PA this fall to see Darin play football. We are hoping the flight costs are as cheap as last year!

OVERSEAS WORK

The overseas work is growing incredibly. New bases, Bible schools and Sunday schools are opening continually. We are so thankful for what the Lord is doing overseas. Someone asked me recently about our US team numbers going down the past few years because of Covid, etc., but she said that it is not our choice as to how the Lord grows the ministry. At this time, He may be focusing on the overseas ministry to grow. Either way, we are blessed to be a part of this growing ministry. 

Here is an example of the reports we receive weekly (sometimes daily), from our bases. This is from the new Boot Camp in Kabuta, Zambia, where they had 108 team members and leaders. “We have successfully completed our projects with the teams finishing all the work that we gave them to build two Sunday school shelter foundations. The teams have also concluded their assigned responsibility of going into evangelism at least more than two times. The team members in both teams have tremendously gained a lot of experience in laying blocks and sharing the gospel one to one with different people. One of the outstanding experience that the team members who were at our Shimutiti Sunday school circuit center gained is learning that despite many people in the area go to church, they have never given their lives to Jesus. Whenever the team members approached any person and asked him or her if they go to church, they were all saying they do go to church, but if they ask them if they have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They usually responded that they have never heard that they should receive Jesus Christ as their Savior because they have never heard that there are even such things that a person needs to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior in order to become a Christian. They said that their churches do not even talk about such things, otherwise they would have received Him a long time ago. People in this area lack men of God to help them in the area of salvation. The reason they go to church is not to have a personal relationship with Jesus, but it’s because they want when they die, the choir members to come and sing at their funeral and someone to preach the Word of God. There is more work here to explain the plan of salvation to the people. Every church the teams went to, they were given the time to conduct the church service because people now believed that the team has more biblical knowledge than the ones who usually lead them. In boot camp we had 100 team members and 2 leaders who gave their lives to Jesus, bringing the total to 102. While the teams were in their first week of projects, they went out in evangelism and they led 271 people to the Lord Jesus. In this week the teams have  gone back in evangelism at least 2 times each and they have led 514 people to the Lord Jesus Christ, bringing us to the cumulative total of 887 people who have given their lives to Jesus Christ in this Boot camp.” Praise the Lord!

This is what your support and prayers are doing for the kingdom. We are blessed by your giving and prayers, because without them, we would not be able to be here. Thank you for your sacrifice.

Blessings,

Anthony & Shawna & Family