Our first day as Texans

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We didn’t sleep much last night. We left our pillows at home for people to use who are staying in our house while we’re gone. They are king sized for our bed and we’re sleeping in a queen size here so we figured they wouldn’t fit. So last night James and I used travel pillows. Hah! The kids use them and don’t complain but they just don’t support an adult head and neck. Then, when we took our emergency trip to Walmart last night we forgot pillows. Thank God for coffee!

The water supply has, apparently been an issue down here. This morning I got in the shower and started getting clean. I had just put the conditioner in when there was suddenly no water! No big deal. I could wash myself without water. However rinsing was going to be a slight issue very soon! So I finished up all I could without water and tried the water again. By then a slight trickle was coming out. It was enough to rinse the soap off. By the time that was done, enough was coming out (cold water, mind you! Thankfully it is summer and hot!) to rinse the conditioner out of my hair. Ah, some more GMT!

This afternoon, after class, we tackled the pile of containers in the livingroom. We’ve pretty much got everything put away and cleaned like we need it to be. James rearranged the furniture in the livingroom so we could fit some of the things we brought. I also was able to wash some things that needed it in the bathroom and make it feel like we live here. We encountered some mouse droppings as we cleaned up so we could be in for some surprises come winter!

Down to Texas

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We’re in Texas at language school. Saturday we picked up the truck and began loading it. Yes, truck. Sigh. Who knew we could have that much stuff to take with us. It was actually the smallest truck that U-Haul rents out so it wasn’t that bad. Sunday night was James’ ordination service (I’m married to an ordained minister!) and Monday we got up bright and early to take off for Texas. But we had to finish loading first. So, after much ado, running errands and all the fuss and bother of it, including my brothers coming over and helping us get the last of the things in, we finally set out.

It was raining. It hasn’t rained in weeks in St. Louis and it rained off and on all day when we were finishing packing and leaving. Not to mention the fact that we got stuck in traffic on our way out of town. Gaelin was exhausted and needed a nap but refused to sleep. James was driving the truck and I was following with the van. No sooner were we out on the road than I glanced back and noticed that Gaelin had climbed out of his carseat! Ethan was sitting in the back and he helped me by getting Gaelin back in his chair and buckling him in. 5 min. later he was out again. So Ethan got him in again. After 45 min. of this, Ethan was in tears and so was I. We finally stopped for a potty break and James dealt with Gaelin appropriately. Then, on the next stretch of driving he finally fell asleep. Later in the evening, after we stopped for gas and to eat he started doing it again. So I started pulling over and dealing with him every time. It took longer but I think he got the hint because it improved dramatically after that!

When we got here, everyone was already here. A lot of the other missionary men helped James unload the truck. In only a few minutes we had everything unloaded and stacked in the livingroom of the house in which we’re living. Then began the awesome and overwhelming job of finding the things we needed to sleep that night – primarily bedding for the beds. We’d used a lot of the bedding as packing buffer for breakable things, or as fill for containers that weren’t quite full. So it was spread through many of the boxes. Mrs. Cobb was so gracious and fixed supper for us! It was a blessing to have “real” food!

Class began Wednesday morning bright and early, so we also had to find clothes. We had most everything we needed for that but breakfast was quite the challenge. We took an emergency trip to town to Walmart to get the things we needed and then turned the truck back in at the same time. Then it was home and to bed.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 08-19-2007

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Well, folks, this is it, the eve before the big trip to Texas. We've spent the past few weeks getting ready, and are pretty much packed up and ready to go. The U-Haul truck is loaded up and sitting out in the driveway, and all that remains is a few odds and ends to wrap up in the morning and then we'll be on our way! In case you've recently joined the MISSION: Uganda Email Update family, we are fixin' to head down to Texas for ten months of language school at Baptist Bible Translators Institute. Anna and I will both be trained in advanced linguistics, Bible translation, missions, and so forth, so when we head to the field in early 2009, we'll be able to learn the various Bantu dialects we need to know quickly and effectively. It's going to be a good and a profitable time. I have already scheduled several meetings in Texas and Louisiana, so we will be able to stay busy with deputation to get the remainder of our support raised while going to school during the week.

Tonight, my church ordained me. It was a really special weekend. My Dad, a Baptist preacher in Bellflower, MO, was on the ordination council we held on Friday, along with several other Pastors from the St. Louis area, our deacons, and our BIMI Director, Dr. Ron Bragg (there were a few we failed to invite, or that couldn't come, so if you are one of those, you were not intentionally excluded. The past few weeks at the church have just been super busy). It was very humbling to be in that room, being questioned and wisely counselled by these men of God, who were engaging in the same practice of ordaining elders in the church as it has been practiced since the time of Christ. It was just a very encouraging and instructive and deeply honoring time, and I am personally grateful to each who were able to be on my council. These men, and the other Pastors from the area I've gotten to know over the years, have my highest regard and respect, and to get what amounts to their seal of approval for the Gospel ministry is the highest honor I have ever been given. Then, our church voted to ordain me tonight, and the men of the church laid hands on me and presented me to the LORD for the Gospel ministry, exactly as the Bible prescribes, as young men have been inducted into the ministry for generations. It was at once so grave, and awe inspiring, and proper. As I gave my testimony, and looked out over these people who I've come to love so much, I gazed upon our young men and thought "Some of these will be doing this themselves one day," and it just humbled me even further, considering the magnitude of this holy office to which I have been granted entrance, the cloud of witnesses, great men of God who have gone before, of whose fellowship I am now a part. "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry" 1Timothy 1:12 Pray for me. I want to be a profitable servant to my LORD, and glorify His name in my ministry, and represent my church well. I need all the grace and prayer I can get, and I count on you all to render it. I know you were praying, because God was with me and helped me in the council, and the services tonight. Thank you, and please keep praying.

Pray for us while we're in Texas, that we will learn everything well, and get full benefit from the training. Pray that I will continue getting meetings, getting in touch with the right Pastors, and getting into the churches that God has prepared to support us. I had our church family pray that we would be able to get a meeting in First Baptist Church of Hammond (Jack Hyle's former church) last Wednesday, and they called to give me a meeting the very next day. I would also like to get into Lancaster Baptist Church's missions conference coming up in October, 2008. Pray that God will convict the right people in that church also to help me get into that conference, be able to minister there, and ultimately get some support, both prayer andfinancial, from this stellar church, doing the LORD's work in Lancaster, CA. Pray that some of the Pastor's I've been trying to reach lately will call me back, and that God will help me to secure meetings in those churches as well. I can tell folks have been praying. Our schedule for next year has been coming together swiftly and easily, because God is putting things together for us.

Pray for us as we travel over the next two days, and get settled in to our new home (for the next ten months) during the next couple weeks.

Well, I reckon that's it.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 08-06-2007

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Greetings once again! Things are going well. We're enjoying being home and being in our home church. We're getting ready to head to Texas in a few weeks, and are getting a lot of projects done around home. I've been busily scheduling meetings for our time in Texas, and have already scheduled several so far. Continue praying that I will keep succeeding on that front. God has really blessed in that regard, and I'm very grateful for the opportunities to share our burden for Uganda with folks down in Texas. It's a great opportunity, because by moving to Texas to attend BBTI for ten months, we are shifting the epicenter of our deputation to the south, and will be able to get into churches far from our home in St. Louis, but without having to drive very far to get to them, kind of like we did the first year of deputation in Missouri. I have accumulated some good contacts in the past few years, and this has been a great help in getting meetings in the area.

Last Sunday, following the morning invitation, I got the privilege of leading a visitor to our church named Carl to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. It's always a thrill to get to be directly involved in God's great work of redemption. Pray for Carl as he grows in his new Christian life.

This Sunday, I'll be preaching in our home church. Pray that God will give me wisdom for what text and what message He would have me preach. Tomorrow, myself and several of the men have to dig up and replace the pipe running from our well and supplying the church with water, in St. Louis' brutal 100 degree, 80 plus percent humidity weather we've been having lately, so pray that we'll be able to get the ditch dug without suffering any heat casualties. Also, on a more personal note, I'm trying to raise money to get our Pastor a new computer. His is pushing twelve years old and is in desperate need of replacement. Pray that God will move folks to give to that end. We have $600 raised so far (Praise the LORD), and will need another $2000 or so, which altogether will get the computer and the desktop publishing and office productivity software he needs.  

Well, that's all for now.

God bless you all, and thank you so much for your faithful prayers.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 07-17-2007

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Hello again! Our trip out to South Carolina last week went well. We spent all day Sunday before last at Calvary Baptist Church in W Columbia, SC with Pastor Vernon Pritchard and his fine church. We got to minister to the folks and have some great fellowship with the Pastor and his family. It was great and we really enjoyed ourselves.

On Sunday afternoon, I went over to Maranatha Baptist Church (Pastor William Gillespie) in St. Louis to canvass the neighborhood with John and Romans. Their a church plant out of our home church. Bro. Gillespie is a Baptist church planter trying to establish sound, Biblical churches for the intercity black population of St. Louis. He's a great man of God, superb preacher, and a good friend. Pray for Maranatha, that God will help them to get into a permanent building. Pray that folks will get saved from the literature, and come join the church and be baptized. Pray that his support will increase (he is a Baptist missionary with Baptist Home Missions). If any of you out there are interested in having a Baptist church planter who is reaching the black community of St. Louis, MO in for a meeting in your church, let me know and I'll put you in touch with him. It will be well worth it. I guarantee it.

I preached in our home church on Sunday night, and will be doing so multiple times in the weeks prior to going down to Texas. Pray for me that God will continue to supply me with messages, and that I will succeed in challenging and encouraging our church family.