Entries by James

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 07-21-2005

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Just a quick note before we pull out of Dillon, MT (and while have access to the hotel broadband). Our meeting last night went great. Pastor Rick Hammond has a great little church going here, in Stone Creek Bible Baptist Church. He has a real heart for God, and for his community. Pray that the church will grow, and that he and his wife will not be weary in well doing (I don't think they are, just that it would be a good idea to pray as such), and that God will continue to encourage them.

On the way to Billings the night prior, we had an encounter with a deceased deer, just over a rise, in the dark, and right smack in the middle of the lane. All I had time for was to try to center us in order to minimize the damage. As it turned out, he, well, "a'sploded", and sprayed the underside of our van with blood, hair, and deer guts. Nasty. So, we got to smell the lovely smell of cooking deer guts 'til this morning, when Pastor Hammond came over to the hotel and helped me clean all that mess out of there. Talk about a servant's heart! We swung by a car wash out of town to clean up the remainders, so we should be alright.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 07-18-2005

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Greetings, all! We're still in South Dakota at the moment, in Rapid City. On Saturday, we drove to Hovine, SD for a meeting. It was 106 degrees. Hot, hot, hot. Thank God for air-conditioning. Our meeting in Glory Bound Baptist Church (Pastor James Ruckman) went very well. Hovine is a small town in the middle of what some folks might consider to be "nowhere", but it is the epicenter of a thriving local, NT Baptist Church. Pastor Ruckman is doing a great job here, and his people are just the greatest bunch of folks. Before he came here to plant a church, the only "church" in town was the Catholic "church". Needless to say, they were not happy when they heard a Baptist was coming to town to challenge their unscriptural supremacy, and fought it tooth and nail. Didn't work. Way back when I scheduled this meeting with Bro. Ruckman, he guaranteed us support if we could come to his church. That's something that rarely happens, and is a definite blessing and encouragement to us, seeing as how we've been hovering at 10% for six months. It was a real pleasure to be here. We stayed in Gettysburg, SD, which has a sign as you enter town that reads, "Gettysburg, Where the Battle Wasn't". We took a picture, which I'll get up on the site as soon as we get home and I get a chance.

Update on the Van Saga

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As you probably know, we've been trying to get a new van since our larger van died an ignoble death back in January. We have been saving up to buy a new one, in this case, a 2000 Plymouth Grand Voyager with 53,000 miles. It's in excellent condition, and it has loads of cargo space, air-conditioning, and plenty of passenger room. It meets our needs perfectly. The total cost for the vehicle is $8250. We have raised $5670, leaving $2580. We are leaving for South Dakota next Tuesday, July 12, and absolutely had to have the new van by then. Well, here's the good news – we're going to pick up the van on Saturday. We'll have it to make our drive to Stockton, MO on Sunday, and will be heading to South Dakota in spacious air-conditioned comfort on Tuesday. Mission Auto Connection is working with us to get us the van for our trip, and is giving us time to raise the rest of the funds. We have to have $1300 in our bank account by July 31, and the remaining $1280 by August 14. If any of you would like to help us by contributing to this need, please make your check out to our home church, Grace Baptist Church, send it to 11642 Riverview Dr., St. Louis, MO 63138, and make sure you indicate that it's for James and Anna Huckabee, and that it's for the van. We thank all of you who have already contributed towards the van. We wouldn't even be able to attempt this, if it weren't for you. Whether you can help us with this financially or not, please pray that God will move folks to help us, that He will raise up someone to buy our existing van, and that we will be able to get the money in our account to pay Mission Auto Connection in time. Also, pray that God will keep us safe, and that the new vehicle will last us well for the rest of deputation. If any of you have any questions, you can reach me by cellphone at (314) 330-4597, or you can call my pastor, Ken Spilger, at (314) 438-0945. God bless all of you, and thank you for your prayers, and kind support.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 07-05-2005

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Greetings, all! I trust everyone had a good Independence Day yesterday. I got us some firecrackers and set 'em off after dinner. The kids really enjoyed them (well, not so much the "loud ones", but the colorful jumping jacks and the bottle rockets they really liked).

We were in two churches on Sunday. In the morning, we were in Victory Baptist Church in Columbia, MO (Pastor Gary Crumly). In the evening, we were in Victory Baptist Church in St. Louis, MO (Pastor Mike Andrews). Both services went very well. God blessed in the services, and we were able to minister to the people.

Good news! I found out that another $1220 came in for the van from our home church, which leaves now only $2500 to reach the $8200 we need to purchase the new van. Pray that the remainder will come in this week, cause we'll need it before July 12, to go to Montana. Sitting in an oven-hot wind-tunnel for eight hours at a stretch for days at a time to get to Montana will be undoable for Anna, and no good for the rest of us, either.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 06-15-2005

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Greetings! We have returned. Last week was candidate school at BIMI in Chattanooga, TN. It was a good week, but, as Dr. Sisk is fond of saying, "It's like heaven, because there is no night." Sleep deprivation aside, tho', things went very well. We had some great preaching by Randy King, Pastor of Wyldewood Baptist Church in Oshkosh, WI. We finished up our official training with BIMI, and got our certificates for attendance. I was able to get some good leads on some missions conferences in 2006 which I'm following up on. In addition, I did schedule a missions conference in April with Lakewood Baptist Church (Dr. David Bragg), which is great, cause we know some folks there from BIMI, and it's a great church. I got some great training on discipling, church planting, and starting Bible institutes, which gave me a bunch of ideas for when, at long last, we finally do get to the field. I got to spend some time with my director, Ron Bragg, and get some good direction to help me while on deputation, and so forth. All told, it was a very profitable week.