MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 05-14-2007

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Hello, again! The drive home from Fredericksburg, VA went great. Our van DID hold up, so thanks for praying. It went in to the mechanic today, where it will stay for the next few days while they pull the engine and replace the crankshaft. God has supplied the money for the fix, which is a great help. This week, we're enjoying being home, and getting things done around here. We are heading down to Florida on Friday for some meetings down there, and another in SC on the way back. Pray that the van will be done by Thursday, or sooner, so we can leave on time.

When God Moves

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Today I picked up a hitch hiker. It was the first time I’ve ever done anything like that before. I had to make a trip to Sam’s to return some meat we got there that was bad. As I drove up to the entrance ramp a lady was sitting by the ramp with her thumb out. The rule for me (given me by my husband and my father before him) was to NOT pick up any hitch hikers. So my first instinct was to drive on past. But the Holy Spirit very distinctly impressed me that I needed to stop and pick her up. I started to go ahead and drive by, but the burden to pick her up was so great that I pulled over and did so. It was one of those times where you know He isn’t speaking to you audibly but it feels like He is just to make sure you hear Him.

As I stopped I prayed and asked God for boldness to witness to her. My plan was, since I had a captive audience to witness to her the whole time she was in my car.

I got out and helped her load her things and then we started off. She only wanted me to take her as far as I was already going, but as I drove God impressed me to go further. I asked her where she needed to go and she told me that if she could get to I-70 it would be a big help. So I took her there. We talked the whole time. God gave me great liberty. She brought up spiritual things and I was able to boldly speak truth and give her the gospel not once but twice! She tried to explain her beliefs but I could tell she is very confused.

As she got out I gave her some money for food down the road since she had just eaten. I also gave her some sunscreen that “just happened” to be in the car. She is a very fair skinned red head and already had a terrible sunburn. Then I gave her a tract and told her that it explained what I’d already told her.

So, if you think about it, pray for Priscilla. Pray that God will continue to put people in her path that will show her God’s love and the truth and that she will get saved. She really wants to understand the truth but Satan is doing all he can to blind her mind. We prayed together several times and she asked God to show her the truth. I prayed for her that God would honor that prayer. I believe God put me in her path because she has prayed for that very thing in the past.

Sometimes it is so humbling to get a little tiny glimpse of God’s great big picture. It’s even more humbling to be part of it. When God moves in a life, nothing can stand in His way!

MISSION: Uganda Email Update 05-06-2007

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Hello again! Here's the story so far, since our last update: Our meeting in Albermarle Baptist Church with Pastor Marc DeLoach went well. We had some great preaching from Pastor Jim Sumpter (Landmark Baptist Church, Richmond, VA). The services went well and God blessed, so thank you for praying for us. It was a busy week. We had plenty to do to keep us occupied. On Thursday, we visited Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's famous home. It was quite cool. The man basically had a little town on top of the hill, with a wide view of the entire surrounding area. He had a great gift for invention, and his home is full of nifty devices he created for various purposes. His library, what they had of it, was impressive, as was the collection of paintings in his gallery. It was a really neat opportunity, and Anna and I enjoyed it tremendously.

On Wednesday, we had a meeting in Great Hope Baptist Church of Chesapeake, VA with Pastor John Godfrey. I presented our burden and preached, and the LORD blessed. We met with their missions committee afterwards, and they are going to support us! I got a call from Pastor Steve Corbett of Bethel Baptist Church in LaPlata, MD as we were driving back to Williamsburg, VA where we stayed last week, and they have voted to support us also!

Then, this morning we had a meeting in Community Baptist Church of Dendron, VA with Pastor Gary Ross. It went well, and they, too, are supporting us. That makes five churches in a row (except for Albermarle), that are definitely supporting us right now, and Albermarle will soon once they've taken on the missionaries who were there before us. Isn't that exciting? God has answered my prayers, and is rapidly raising up our support as we approach the end of deputation, just in the nick of time.

This evening, we were in Faith Bapitst Church here in Fredericksburg, VA, with Pastor Don Forrester. The service went great. I presented our burden and preached, and God met with us in the service. Overall, this has been a very good and profitable period in our deputation this past month. We are approaching the end, and I am confident that the LORD is going to get all or most of our support raised up by August 22 when we begin language school. Things are progressing well, and the end is finally in sight.

We head back to St. Louis on Monday (tomorrow), so pray for us as we drive. We have a bent crankshaft that's making a bunch of racket. Pray that the engine hangs together until we can get home and get that fixed (I have an appointment with our mechanic on May 14, so we have to tolerate the noise until then). We have had the engine checked by two different mechanics, and they didn't think the engine was in any imminent danger. The only threat is to my sanity from having to listen to the continual chirping emanating from the engine compartment. Pray that all goes well on the voyage home.

MISSION: Uganda Email Update 04-24-2007

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Hello! Our meeting in Mountain Lake Independent Baptist Church went very well. Our soulwinning effort yesterday in Pittsburgh, PA went great. I handled placing literature form Safe Harbor Baptist Church in doorways (it was large for little hands, and kind of slick), and James and John handed out tracts to anybody out on the street. They were very bold, and each handed out about 20 gospel tracts (the weather was perfect, and lots of folks were out and about). They make me very proud. It was a big encouragement to Pastor Lint and his folk, and I was happy for the opportunity to help their ministry. Theirs is the only fundamental, Independent Baptist church in their area of Pittsburgh. Pray for this new church plant as they continue to grow and see folks saved. Pray that the literature will bear fruit, with souls saved and added to the church.

On Sunday, I got to speak in the Youth Sunday School class, which was a blessing as always, and I showed our slides and spoke about Uganda in the evening service. Now here's the really great news: they have taken us on for support also! That's two in a row. Pastor Corbett in Bethel Baptist in LaPlata, MD set up both these meetings for me, and they have both resulted in support for us. Thanks Bro. Corbett! God has just been bringing in the support, and showing Himself strong on our behalf. We should be doing very well by the time we go to language school in August. Pray that we will have at least 80% of our support by then. We have so enjoyed our time here with Pastor Leatherman and Mountain Lake Independent Baptist Church. They have welcomed us and made us feel right at home, and I am very glad we get to be one of their missionary families.

Tomorrow we drive to Charlottesville, VA for a missions conference with Pastor Mark DeLoach in Albermarle Baptist Church. Pray for God's blessing in the meetings each day, and that they will have the funds to support us as well.

That's all for now!

Hail! The conquering hero!

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It is such a wonderful feeling to figure out a solution to a problem that has been bugging you! It probably seems like a little thing and kind of stupid but not having the ability to do laundry if I need to really bothers me. Tuesday this week I got all the laundry done. Wednesday morning Ethan woke up wet and he had gotten James wet as well. :sigh: No big deal, right? We were going to a prophet’s chamber and I just was hoping they would have laundry facilities. But they didn’t. For some reason that really bothered me. I hardly slept at all on Wednesday night and the thing that kept going through my mind was how we were going to get it done since James was going to be busy all day Thursday and Saturday and we didn’t know where to find a laundromat. Other things were wandering around in my head, too. I guess anything seems logical and worth worrying about at 3:30 AM. The same problem hardly feels like anything at 9 AM!

How ironic is it that I’m going to be a missionary in Africa and I’ve never even done laundry in a sink or bathtub? In fact, the idea never even occurred to me at 3:30 AM or at 9 AM. It wasn’t until early this afternoon that I even got the idea!

So now, as I type this, the first “load” is in the sink. All the filthy things that got wet will be as clean as I can get them by “washing” them in the sink and then hanging them out in the sun to dry. Thank God for our nice sunny, warm day – the first in over a week! Not only that, but I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself for even giving it a try. I’m thankful that God helped me get the idea in the first place! Not to mention the fact that this is some more GMT (good missionary training).

I need to go check on my children and my laundry. I’m ever so grateful for a God who gives creative ideas!