Musa & Tabitha Asake

Musa and Tabitha Asake live in Jos, Nigeria, Africa, with their daughters Anang and Linda. Their sons, Aminchi and Abasa, attend universities in the United States. Musa and Tabitha are committed to raising up laborers for the Harvest in Nigeria. After attending Dallas Theological Seminary in the U.S. to gain a greater understanding of the Word of God and to learn how to lead others to do the same, Musa was elected General Secretary of the ECWA (Evangelical Church of Western Africa). This is a very challenging office as he is now the chief administrator of an entire denomination that has about four million members. Among his responsibilities outside the ECWA are training pastors and teaching at the seminary part-time. Pray for Musa's strength and wisdom in these opportunities.

Spring 2008 Update:

Dear friends and Supporters,

I have not been able to write an update since the one I sent out last year October of 2007 and I apologize for that delay. Tabitha and I give all praises to the Almighty God for sustenance and protection throughout the year 2007 and up to this point in the New Year. I want to thank all of you for always being there for us.

Family:

In my last update I told you that Aminchi and Camille were expecting a baby, I, am sad to report to you that they lost that baby to a miscarriage which was a second one. I will appreciate prayers for them for peace and complete trust and dependence on God. Abasa and Carrie had their second child. Praise God for the safe arrival of Micah Nathaniel, who was born in January of 2008. Linda and Eric also had their second child, Abigail Marie who was born in October of 2007. Hard to believe but we now have four grandchildren. The arrival of Abigail to Linda and Eric came with lots of medical challenges. Instead of me trying to explain to you what happened let me share with you from Linda's own words in a letter she wrote to her family when Abigail was born.

"Dear Family: I have finally found some time to sit down and write to you all about Abby and all that is going on with us. Well, Abby was born on October 14, 2007. Shortly after her birth, the in-house Pediatrician at Baylor came into our room, kicked out all of our visitors and sat down to tell us the news on Abby. She said that she had enlarged adrenal glands, which could cause serious medical issues. We have been seeing specialists at the Cook Children's hospital in Fort worth since. Her first chromosome test came back and she is indeed missing an X chromosome. She has been diagnosed with Turner Syndrome. If you get a chance, look it up online and read just a little about it. But here are the basics: She will be short (she may max out at 4 feet 10 inches, but no taller) she will not be able to have children (she has no ovaries). Her heart and kidneys will be looked at every month or so by a specialist because Turner girls tend to have problems with their heart and lungs she could have some learning disabilities later in life. She will always measure below the 5th percentile in her size Now these are all generalizations, a lot of girls with this syndrome vary in their symptoms, it is kind of like a case by case thing. As my daddy said, the doctors have spoken, but the ULTIMATE doctor has not, and that is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who is bigger than all of this. We trust Him and leave Abby in His hands. The Lord is teaching Eric and I total dependence on Him. You know, Turner Syndrome is kind of a random disorder, there is no known cause, it is just a genetic mutation that happens in 1 out of 2000 births (of girls). That is SO comforting to me because it means that God SPECIFICALLY CHOSE ABBY to have this syndrome. He fearfully and wonderfully made her; it was NOT a surprise to Him. He saw Eric and I fit to be her parents and that is humbling. I am proud to be her mother. I am honored that God deemed me worthy of taking care of her and raising her."

Did you hear that? The question is, are we worried? You bet we are, but we are reminded of the question that our Lord Jesus Christ asked His disciples in Matthew 6:27 where He says, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" the answer of course is "none." Another encouraging verse is Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. There is nothing the Asake's can achieve by worrying and taking thought about tomorrow, practically nothing. Even worse, if we do then we lose God's peace and presence. We will live lives full of anxiety and have hearts full of trouble. Our lives will be like the ocean being moved to and fro, full of debris and dirt. Peace and tranquility will be strangers to our lives. Knowing this fact, Tabitha and I have surrendered everything to God and asked Him to do as He pleases with us and our children. We need your prayers.

Ministry:

We give God the glory for positive response that we continue to receive regarding our ministry among our people. The Great Commission is to every believer to "go" that is why we have dedicated this year for church planting and we intend to go out to the unreached areas. We are about finishing a study on "Participating in the Mission Program of the Church" please pray for us as our members are getting excited over this new venture. I have been invited to join a team of church planters under GO2churchplanting. I will need your prayers as I seek to implement that in Nigeria and some parts of West Africa. The elders of our church have set aside a weekend in May to fast, pray and set out plans and the direction that the Church will go this year. Pray for us that the Lord will direct our path as we seek to serve Him in this part of the world.

PRAYER REQUEST

1. Pray that every member of our church will understand and play his or her role as we embark on church planting this year

2. Pray for Linda and Eric as they raise Abigail with her medical challenges that God will undertake for them.

3. Pray for Tabitha as she cares for Anang everyday

4. Pray for the political situation in our country it seems the Muslims are back to burning and killing of Christians again.

5. Pray for the members of ECWA church Giginyu in Kano, their church building was burnt down by Muslim fanatics two days ago.

6. Pray for the Governor of Kano state who is a Muslim and now out to fulfill his campaign promises by pulling down church buildings. Pray that his curses for the church will be turn into blessings

7. Pray for the leadership of the church that God will give us insight and wisdom to strategize in order to accomplish Gods purpose for the His work.

8. Pray that God will open more doors for ministries for us in the year 2008.

PRAISES

Praise God for Protection and care over Musa's many travels here in the country.

For and open door that Musa has to participate in church planting alongside four Square Gospel in Benin a neighboring country. I was there in November and will be going back again this coming April.

For almost 18 years now Anang has been bedridden without bed sores.

For keeping Tabitha healthy as she cares for Anang on a daily basis.

For a fruitful ministry among our people.

For what God is doing in the lives of our children. The complete trust in God that Eric and Linda has is very encouraging and we thank God for them.

For our four grand children.

For families in Grand Prairie Bible Church who are always there for Linda and Erick in this time of trials.

For our friends and supporters who have continued to partner with us over the years in this ministry through prayers and financial support. May God reward you abundantly.

In His Service,