Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a wonderful time in Houston. The week of March 5-10 I was able to preach four times, despite not having a regular revival meeting. Wednesday night with Pastor Mark Thrift was a tremendous service, but Friday night was even better. Friday was a youth rally with about 130 teenagers present from as much as an hour’s drive away. After a time of Bible quizzing, I preached and 5 trusted Christ as Savior. It was a wonderful end to our time in Houston.

From Houston, we went to Heber Springs, AR to be with Pastor Mark Bishop. (For the Emmanuel people, Mark’s wife is the Tesseneer’s younger daughter.) God gave us not only wonderful services there, but also a friendship with Bro. Mark and his family. After getting a late start on Monday morning, we drove straight through, arriving in NC at 3:00 Tuesday morning.

Family Update

I am glad to be home – and in one piece at that! Life in a travel trailer is such an adventure! Paul has already mentioned that we were in AR on Sunday. It was there that we “treed the trailer.” We were to stay at a Christian campground not far from the church, and we were escorted there by the pastor’s wife after dinner Saturday evening. The RV hookups they had there were more than enough for what we needed, as far as power and water, but space was another problem. The hookup was in a patch of woods next to a large gymnasium, and situated in such a way that we needed to do a u-turn to get into it. Paul pulled up to it on one side, but decided he couldn’t make the turn that way, and backed out again to give it a try on the other side. While he weaseled in between the trees, I was doing my part and waving my arms this way and that to direct him. He wasn’t able to swing wide enough with the trailer because of the multitude of trees, so we soon realized that no matter how we worked it, we could not fit into the spot. No problem – we can just back out. NOT! When he backed up, in order to avoid hitting the building and the trees right next to the truck, the angle was wrong, and we got closer and closer to the trees next to the trailer. We went back and forth trying to get farther away from the trees, but we were still all over them. Finally, when we were safely away from the trunks of the nearest trees (I say safely, but this means about twelve inches), I just waved my arms for him to keep backing up. The horrible SCREECH of the tree branches against the side of the trailer combined with the sound of snapping branches was enough to send the pastor’s wife over the edge. She sent a text message to her husband, who was out on a visit, that said something like this: “Come now! Nightmare!” I must say that she expressed my sentiments very aptly. It took us about an hour to get out of that spot, and I am sure that I have a few more white hairs because of the experience. The pastor arrived shortly after we extricated ourselves from the trees, and he led us to a makeshift parking place far from the trees, which was just fine with all of us! The ground was very unlevel there, so we stacked up two 2×8’s and then our leveling blocks on top of those. We were teetering upon a tower-of-Pisa-like structure that would have struck fear into the heart of any architect or insurance adjuster. Paul chocked it really well to prevent us from rolling down the hill, an event which would have capped a wonderful evening, and we fell gratefully into bed, being careful not to shift our weight too suddenly, lest we topple the trailer.

We did have a great day of services, and enjoyed getting to know the Bishops better. That evening, a fierce storm blew up, and we lay in our beds wondering how fast the trailer could travel without the truck, and if, by leaning from side to side, we could steer it in the event that the predicted tornado did materialize. As the rain and hail beat down upon the trailer, we were glad to be parked on top of the hill – since our pontoon floats had not yet been installed. Thankfully, since our awning had already been blown off (see previous updates), we didn’t have to worry about losing it. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Monday morning, we headed out as fast as we could for NC. Unusually, Paul drove through the night, getting us back at 3 AM Tuesday morning. I guess he didn’t want to risk anything else happening. We drove through the mountains in torrential darkness and pouring rain. The visibility was terrible, especially for me, since even when I wasn’t sleeping, I had my eyes closed. We were in a traffic jam caused by an accident involving two tractor trailers and two cars, and when that finally cleared up, we flew down the road once again. Another time, we came around the corner, and a car had hydroplaned on the road, and come to rest facing oncoming traffic. After that, my eyes were stuck open from fright. We are so thankful that the Lord gave us safety during that long night.

When we arrived back at our home church, we found the bus parked where we usually park the trailer, and all the locks on the building changed. We wondered if it was a subtle hint of some kind. We are so glad to be back in town,even for just a few days. I had my checkup this morning, and for those of you still wondering, our next little girl is due June 17. Everything seems to be fine, and we are grateful for that. When the doctor spoke to me at my appointment, he saw that I had been traveling a lot since I last was there. He asked me if I was a truck driver. I almost fell off the table laughing. He now thinks I have escaped from an insane asylum. Just kidding. Please continue to pray that things will go smoothly during this pregnancy.

Sarah