Ministry Update

The summer is over and the busy season of our evangelistic schedule is about to begin. The Lord gave me (the family stayed at home) a wonderful service in Calvary Baptist Church in Hendersonville, NC last Sunday. Calvary is without a pastor and the people were very appreciative of my ministry. I was able to take along a friend to provide special music, and the people enjoyed his ministry as well.

Later this week, we will hit the road, not returning to NC until November. We will start in Yorktown, Virginia and head west from there.

My book has completed the second and final round of professional editing. After I review the editorial suggestions, we move into the layout phase. So many have expressed their interest in the book, and I am more eager than ever to see it in print. I will notify all of you by e-mail when the book is ready, as well as give you complete instructions on how to purchase the book, should you so desire.

Recently, I taught a five-week Sunday school series on Baptist history in my home church. This series is available on both CD and DVD, should any of you be interested. I have also prepared a set of notes to accompany the series because it covers a lot of material. Should any of you be interested in obtaining a copy of the series for yourself, you may feel free to contact me.

Family Update

For the past week and a half, we have been homeless. Well, sort of. Our trailer had a front jack that was broken and was in the shop getting fixed. That meant that we trespassed upon the privacy of the Steve Hefner family. Steve is a deacon in our home church and a dear friend of ours (he accompanied me to Hendersonville last Sunday), at least he used to be before our kids got hold of his house.

Because of the many doctor’s appointments that Sarah had, I found myself babysitting my children much of the time. One time, my daughter Esther decided that it would be neat to take all of the toilet paper off the roll in the bathroom and put it in the toilet. A regular house toilet is an anomaly, you see, because it, unlike the one in the trailer, has standing water in it. So my darling daughter emptied the roll into the standing water and then decided that it might not be the best idea to stay there. She then reached for the plunger and tried to plunge it down. Failing this, she decided to mix it with the plunger, splashing water all over the bathroom floor and mixing into the water the residue from past plunger jobs. By the time we discovered her, she had managed to irrigate not only the bathroom floor, but also the carpet for a few feet outside the bathroom. My babysitting career seems to be on shaky grounds. There is this nagging fear that we have not yet discovered all the things that my children did to the Hefner’s house while we were there.

When I took my trailer in to the RV dealer for repairs, I instructed them to keep the unit plugged in because there was food in the refrigerator that needed to be kept cold. The dealership observed my wishes all the time they were open. On Saturday, however, a customer came by and decided to unplug the unit, causing the frozen food to melt and leak all over the house. Although the customer paid for the food that was lost, he could not replace some of our deer meat. Nor did his payment clean up the mess that was all over the kitchen floor. Oh well. At least we are home again. Cozy trailer where we trip over each other, sticky floor from leaky freezer, lingering aroma of spoiled food, empty fridge—we really are happy to back home.

I (Sarah) am glad to be home as well. There is just no place like home, whether or not you live in Kansas! Josiah is well into the school year, having started, at his request, in July. So, we have just passed the six-week mark. What a blessing that is! This will enable us to take a little time off when the new baby arrives in just about nine weeks, without stretching the school year into next summer. He lost several teeth this summer, the last of which was his top right front tooth. The left one is also very loose, and I wonder what strange sounds will proceed from his mouth when it, too, is gone. As of right now, he already whistles like Gopher on Winnie the Pooh whenever he says certain consonants.

About four weeks ago, after much prayer, we started Josiah on a new kind of treatment using whole food supplements specially targeted to help specific areas of the body. It was only after two weeks had passed that we saw some dramatic improvements. We had a temporary setback when he was accidentally given a snack not intended for him during church two weeks ago, but I think he is almost totally recovered from that now. He has had a lot of breathing treatments over the last two weeks, and now that we are home, I think that the number needed will decrease significantly. Please pray that the Lord will continue to give us wisdom and continue to heal Josiah’s body.

This past week was filled with trials for me personally, most of which came in the form of doctor’s visits. I had to take the one-hour glucose test on Thursday, and ended up being there nearly three hours. They told me after my visit that I had low iron and would have to see the nutritionist. Then they told me that I had failed the one-hour test by two points and would have to take the fasting three-hour test the next day. I went home in a huff and went back the next day to be stabbed and drained of my remaining blood (no wonder I am anemic) for the test. I had one “abnormal” reading out of the four, so they labeled me “borderline” for gestational diabetes and told me that I would need to see yet another nutritionist for that special diet. “We made an appointment for you next Tuesday at 9:30. Is that okay?” the nurse asked. This was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. After two days of sitting in the office, having nothing to eat, drinking syrup for breakfast, and having the blood drained from my body one vial at a time, I could take no more. I told the nurse that if I couldn’t see the nutritionist right away, then I wouldn’t be coming back. Her eyes grew quite round, and I wondered if she thought I was going to get violent. I am sure my red face, bulging eyes, and grinding teeth were quite helpful in getting them to acquiesce to my demand, and, so, just a few minutes later I had completed all the necessary lectures and went home. I can almost laugh about it now, but it still irritates me. Perhaps when the bruises on my arm have disappeared I will be able to laugh at the look on her face. I only wish I could have seen my own.