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!

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 04-20-2007

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Howdy once again! Much has happened since our last communique´. Our trip up to Maryland went great. The conference was tremendous. Dr. Pat Creed was the speaker. Nathan Kinoshita and his family were there (missionaries to Tokyo, Japan), as well as the Stanley family to England. Bro. Creed did a great job, and ministered to me greatly. On Saturday, Pastor Corbett and his family took us to D.C. It was windy and cold. We did get to the Natural History to let the kids see the dinosaur bones again. However, they had just opened a new exhibit, the Tiffany Diamond, up in the "Rock Section" of the museum, so the place was a madhouse. We thought after that that we'd head over to the American History museum close by, but it was closed for renovations. We thought of going to the Spy Museum, but it was too far away. Naturally by this time, our children were too bored, cold and crabby to enjoy anything, so we decided to head home. We figure we'll bring them back when we're on furlough and by then they should enjoy it a bit more.

My conference in South Carolina was canceled, so Bro. Corbett went above and beyond the call of duty and arranged some meetings in MD for me. His conference finished up on Sunday early enough for us to get to another church in the evening service, so he arranged a meeting for us in Corner Stone Baptist Church in Owings, MD with Pastor Ronald Titus. I showed the slides and gave our testimonies and answered questions in the six o'clock hour, normally training time for them, and preached in the seven o'clock hour. So, all told, I was in five services on Sunday (Sunday School, Junior Church, Morning Service, Afternoon Service, Training Hour, Evening Service). We were tired, but it was a good tired. Pastor Titus led the church to vote to support us on the spot, which was a tremendous blessing to us.

On Tuesday, I found out that my Sunday meeting in Madison, WV had been flooded out by the heavy rainfall they had received there. Pray for West Madison Baptist Church and Pastor John Browning as they handle the cleanup. Their prophet's chamber was ruined, and the Pastor lost his entire library. We were slated to be in Mountain Lake Independent Baptist Church in Oakland, MD (up in the panhandle) with Pastor Dennis Leatherman on Wednesday. I let him know what was happening, and he invited us to come out, attend church Wednesday night, and present our work on Sunday in the evening service. In the meantime, we can stay in their prophet's house until next Wednesday, when we'll be heading to our conference with Albermarle Baptist Church in Charlottesville, VA (they haven't canceled yet.). 

Yesterday, I gave a devotional in a luncheon they had for their seniors. I went with the Pastor and his deacon to Frostburg, MD, a college town where they have a state university, and between the three of us we handed out 554 tracts in an hour-and-a-half. We got back in time for soulwinning that evening, and I got to go give the gospel out to some folks. On Saturday, James and John and I are going with them up to Pittsburgh, PA to paper an area near to a church plant that's just been birthed up there. Pray we'll see souls saved, and new members added to the church.

It's been a refreshing and profitable week-and-a-half. We have seen God clearly direct our steps to help us get into churches and get support from places that we had not originally planned on visiting, but are glad we did. At the moment, we're up in the beautiful mountains that run along the border of Maryland and West Virginia. The folk here love the LORD and have ministered to us. We're very glad we got the chance to come over here. Next week, we'll be heading down to VA for our meeting with ABC, so pray for that conference.

These are busy days, but God is raising up the support and is on track to getting our deputation finished so we can go to language school in August.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 04-06-2007

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Hello folks! Our trip home from Florida went well. We had a conference in Tri-County Baptist Church in Washington, MO with Pastor Daryl Tharp on March 25. The meeting went great. I had the Sunday School hour, and showed our slides and talked about the field of Uganda and the call of God on our life. Pastor Mike Andrews from Victory Baptist Church over in St. Louis preached the morning service, and I preached the evening service. After I finished up preaching that night, I got to lead a young lady to the LORD. Her name is Mandy, so pray for her growth. Our boys and his boys are about the same age, so our guys had a great time playing with them. We had a great time of fellowship with the Tharps. He's got a great church going here, and well situated as people move out from the city to settle in country. It's a growing area in other words. Pray that they will be able to effectively minister to the area. Pray that God will increase their membership. Pray that the folks in their church will continue to grow and serve the LORD, and that God will continue to prepare men for leadership in the church. Pray for Bro. Tharp. St. Louis is a hard area to reach.

We've been very busy while home. Anna and I were able to get some projects done that were hanging over our heads. I retooled the website. Most of the changes that you will see are cosmetic, but under the hood, it has a bunch of new code, and should be much easier to work with. We were able to get some needed rest. It was good to break out the lawnmower and what not, and start doing yard work again, as Spring has finally come. It was good to get to be here for our church's Easter cantata, and to be here on Sunday for Easter services. However, after Easter: back to work! On Tuesday, we'll be heading up to LePlata, MD for a conference in Bethel Baptist Church with Pastor Steve Corbett. Pastor Pat Creed, Caribbean Director for BIMI will be the main speaker. It's going to be a great conference, and we're really looking forward to it. This begins a series of meetings that will keep us away from home 'til mid-May. Pray for us as we travel.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 03-21-2007

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Hello folks from sunny Florida! We've just wrapped up our conference in Gospel Baptist Church in Bonita Springs, FL. What a week! Bro. Hal Hightower preached the conference. He used to be the pastor at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lebanon, MO for fifteen years (Don Ball is pastor there now. We were in their missions conference last year), before God called him to be a full-time evangelist. The services were tremendous. We are ever more fired up about reaching souls with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God has just showered us with blessings here as well. Each night, the folks brought gifts for the different groups of missionaries. Monday was Tool Night for the guys. We were loaded, and I mean LOADED up with tools to take with us to the field. God moved some of the folks to get me a chainsaw. It's a 45.4 cc , 3.0 bhp Stihl chainsaw. I had been praying about a Stihl, about this size, and God supplied the exact one I was wanting. I'll be using it to clear trees and brush over in Uganda when we have building projects to do, which will be often. Tuesday night was for the ladies, and Anna got all manner of lotions, bath stuff, and what not. The biggest thing, though, was the 25 or so full bolts of cloth that were brought in, not counting the laundry hamper full of "fat quarters" of varied colors and patterns. She and the other missionary wife who sew divvied it up, and we are well set on cloth and such to take with us to Africa to make clothes and things. Wednesday night, tonight, was for the kids, and I tell you, it was Christmas in March. We have truly been heaped with blessings, pressed down, shaken together and running over (literally in this case!). We got a sizable love offering, which is going to help pay a few bills, as well as swell our savings account to help pay for passage when the time comes to go to Uganda. Frankly, I'm a little overwhelmed. We have just been welcomed and loved here, and made to feel like family. I'm so glad God supplied the opportunity to come. Hugh Fisher up in Narragansett Bay Baptist Church (one of our supporting churches, and very dear friends and family really) recommended this church way back when, and it went so well. We have been in conference after conference lately where God has just blessed, knit our hearts together with these churches, and where they have been moved to support us. It really feels like we're reaching an end, after going so long with what felt like little progress. God is doing it. He plainly intends to wrap things up by this summer, or shortly thereafter, so we can go to language school in the Fall. Keep praying!

Tomorrow, we'll be driving up to Chattanooga, TN to stay at BIMI, and finishing up the drive back to St. Louis on Friday. This weekend we have a meeting with Pastor Daryl Tharp in Washington, MO in Tri-County Baptist Church. Pray that the services will go well, and for me as I preach in both services on Sunday. Pray that I will be able to minister to this church and pastor, and be an encouragement to them.