MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 07-05-2007

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Howdy, folks! I trust you all had a great Independence Day. We sure did.

Our trip to Colorado went great. We had great meetings with Pastor James Legg (1st Baptist Church of Silt, CO), Pastor Bruce Dunsdon (Eagle Baptist Church and Berns Baptist Church), and Pastor Justin Hall (Glenwood Springs Baptist Church). God blessed in the services, and I was able to preach and serve Him and the churches. We got to spend a week in the beautiful Vail valley of Colorado, which we all enjoyed tremendously. We took the opportunity while in Glenwood Springs to hike up to Hanging Lake. It's a 1.5 mile hike up a rocky trail. Was it a brutal hike with five kids? Oh yes. The view from the top was gorgeous. Beautiful falls, crystalline water in a scenic mountain setting, the works. It was worth the work to get up there to see it.

Last Sunday we got to have a meeting close to home. I ministered and preached in Calvary Baptist Church with Pastor Clyde Myers in Cottage Hills, IL. God blessed and it was a good meeting.

Tomorrow we head down to South Carolina for a meeting in Calvary Baptist Church with Pastor Vernon Pritchard. It's going to be another great church and we're looking forward to it.

Pray for us as we travel, and that God will bless in the services. Pray for us as well as we prepare in the next weeks for language school at Baptist Bible Translators in Bowie, TX. Pray that I'll be able to get plenty of meetings down that way in the months ahead, and that the remainder of our support will come in in time for us to head to Africa in 2008 when language school is complete next May.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 06-14-2007

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Howdy! Our meetings in Florida went very well. We were in Trinity Baptist Church in Bradenton, FL with Pastor Ron Jarvis, and Grace Bible Baptist Church in Leesburg, FL with Pastor George Mulford. We spent some time as a family in Florida that week, and the kids got to spend loads of time at Cocoa Beach, which they enjoyed. We got sick (food poisoning?) right around the time we were to head up to South Carolina, so we re-scheduled that meeting for July. Presently, we are preparing to leave for another week of meetings in Colorado. Tomorrow we head to Silt, CO for a meeting with Pastor James Legg in First Baptist Church of Silt. We have a Wednesday meeting in Eagle Baptist Church of Eagle, CO with Pastor Bruce Dunsdon. We finish up our Colorado trip the following Sunday with a meeting in Glenwood Springs Baptist Church in Glenwood Springs, CO with Pastor Justin Hall. The kids are really looking forward to seeing the mountains (their favorite thing, apart from the ocean), so we're going to take some time to do a bit of hiking and what not while we're out that way. Pray for the trip, for the meetings, and for our support to continue to materialize. We've had several new churches vote to support us in the past three months, so things are really picking up pace. Pray that this trend will continue through the summer months and onward.

This is our last major trip before language school at BBTI, beginning August 22. Our summer schedule is light, which is normal. I'm lining up meetings for the next ten months while we will be in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, so pray for me that I'll be able to get plenty of meetings scheduled, and that the last of our support will come in during the next several months so we can be ready to head to Africa on schedule in Fall, 2008.

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.