Greetin's! Things are progressing well down here in Bowie, TX. We finished up our study of Phonemics last week. Both Anna and I did very well, and are maintaining our A+ average. We have completed Phonetics, which deals with all the sounds a human mouth can make, and Phonemics, which deals with specific sounds of a specific language, and have moved into Morphology and Syntax this week. Morphology is the study of words, and Syntax is the study of sentences. We are learning how to identify words in a language, and then analyze how they are modified by other segments of sound (called morphemes), which are used in a variety of ways to communicate complexity of meaning. For example, in English, you might have the word 'run'. 'Run' is a verb. If you add the morpheme '-ing' to the end, you get 'running', which expresses continuous action. If you add the morpheme '-er', you get 'runner', and the verb becomes a noun. Observing and quantifying the rules of language like these will allow us to quickly gain fluency in the dialects we will need to learn when we get to Uganda. So, once we recognize the system by which the language organizes itself, we will be able to take what to the untrained ear sounds like a meaningless jumble of alien sounds, string these together to form words, weave these together to form sentences, and from these, an entire tapestry of communication.

We had a meeting Sunday before last here in town in Bible Baptist Church with Pastor Jerry Jones. It's a great church, and we had a wonderful time ministering to these dear people and sharing our burden for Uganda, Africa. The kids got to be in their Awana program, which they really liked. God has really worked with meetings, and I have been able to schedule many meetings in the general area while in Texas.

This past weekend, we went to a Preacher's Kid conference being held by Pastor Garry Way at Fair Avenue Baptist Church in Gainesville, TX (about an hour away). Both Anna and I are 'PK's', and are raising five more, so I thought it would be a good thing in which to involve ourselves. It was a tremendous two-day conference. We had some great preaching, and it really drove home how critical it is that people in ministry guard their families, and not make the mistake that some have of sacrificing their family for the ministry. It reinforced what the Holy Spirit had been impressing upon me for some time, that my family is my ministry. I want my kids to grow up loving God, and loving church, and not wind up hating both because of me. It was a brilliant time of spiritual refreshing, and I'm very glad we were able to attend.

Thanks for praying about meetings. The calendar is nearly full for next year. October is squared away. As of now, we are planning to drive to Alaska (yes, drive) right after our church's missions conference at the end of September, and won't be back literally until days before Thanksgiving. God has just put this trip together and it's amazing to behold. I will be in both our supporting churches' missions conferences (they haven't met the family yet), and several other missions conferences and meetings besides, everywhere from Fairbanks to Ketchikan. It is by far the most ambitious trip we will have taken in all of our deputation, and will, LORD willing, be the last. Pray that we will get still more support from this trip. Pray that churches will continue supporting us from here on out, and that churches where we've been in the past will do likewise. Pray that we will have nearly all our support by the time we go to Alaska a year from now. I would like 2008 to be the final year of deputation for us, and am confident that God can do it.

Hello again! It’s been a while since the last update, because last week was one of those marathon weeks that tends to crop up in October when you’re a missionary on deputation, so I shall endeavor to bring you up to speed.

On the home front, my son, Ethan learned the hard away the importance of braking when going downhill on a gravel road the Saturday before last.

Anna had taken the guys out for a bike ride. I’m sitting in the living room when all of a sudden she comes dashing in with that look on her face that said it was serious and said, “You have to come with me.” She raced back to the car and hopped in the driver’s side before I could stop her, so I took shotgun. We then proceeded to fly down the road as fast as gravel will allow, while she attempts to tell me what happened while in hysterics. It was a mess. It seems they got going down this hill, and Ethan panicked, forgot to brake, and crashed. She had left him by the side of the road with John, and came back with James to get me. When we got back, he was sitting there in a heap with blood all down his face and neck and looking for all the world like a guest star on “When Bears Attack!” We got everybody and the two bikes loaded in the van, and got back home. I drove this time. I got him stripped out of his clothes, in the tub, and got all the blood washed off so I could see how bad it was. He had one deep gash on his skull, and another one on his chin. The one on his skull matched the one on the other side of his head that I had patched after John accidentally dropped a pole on his head the week prior. So, I finished cleaning him, shaved another bald spot on his head, sterilized the sites with Betadyne, and glued the two wounds shut with DermaBond (surgical super glue – good stuff). These pictures were taken shortly after I got the boy patched up and dressed. Fortunately, we’re not needing to get family pictures taken anytime soon, which is when these things normally happen.

On Monday, I went out to Trinity Baptist Church in Arlington, TX for their Great Southwest Bible Conference. It was a great conference. The preaching was stellar, and I got to make some good contacts that will probably get us in some more meetings next year. My only regret was that I couldn’t attend the whole thing through Thursday. I really appreciated the spirit of the 50 or so pastors that were in attendance. They were clearly burdened for Texas, and God came to the conference that week. Pray that I’ll get meetings in some more great churches as a result.

On Wednesday, I left after the first sermon and zipped back to Bowie to pick up the family so we could get out to Keithville, LA for a Missions Conference in Barron Road Baptist Church with Pastor Roger Morton. It was a great meeting. I got to preach, and the LORD met with us. Pastor Morton was gracious enough to let me be free to go to another meeting after this, so we drove back to Bowie that night. We pulled into town about 2:30 AM, and I needed to be up by 6:30 AM so I could leave to catch a flight out of Dallas International on Thursday morning.

My flight took me to Salt Lake City, UT for a Missions Conference in Faith Baptist Church with Pastor Chuck Beickel. It’s a thriving, Independent Baptist Church right in the heart of Mormon country. Pretty cool, eh? It was a tremendous meeting. The spirit of the church was powerful. They love the LORD, their Pastor, their community,and each other, and it was beautiful to behold. On Saturday morning, I got to go knock on some Mormon’s doors, which was brilliant poetic justice I thought. Nobody got saved, but we spoke with a lot of people, and handed out a lot of Gospel tracts. On Sunday night, they voted to make each of the missionaries a part of their mission family. Plus, they gave us a huge love offering, that covers our Faith Promise for the entire year, plus plenty left over to go in the bank to help pay our way to Africa when the time comes.

God’s just got us into some tremendous church’s since we came to Texas, and we’ve been greatly blessed. God has confirmed over and over His clear desire for us to come to BBTI down here. The ramifications of this decision are only beginning to make themselves known, with far-reaching fruit yet to be borne for the Kingdom of God in the years to come.

I’ve got another meeting on Sunday near Indianapolis in Noblesville Baptist Temple with Pastor Gene Parker. I’ll be flying out on Sunday, and coming back on Monday. Bro. James Ray, the General Director of BIMI will be speaking there, and I get to present our work in the church. Pray that God will give me safe travels, and that the meeting will go well.

Deputation’s going great! Keep praying!