Ministry Update

The new year takes us out of our house and into the trailer once again for our annual pilgrimage away from the cold and into the Southwest. In the next few weeks, we will be in different spots along the southern part of our nation ending our westward migration in San Diego, California.

The thrill of the road and, more importantly, the thrill of seeing lives changed is very high for us right now as our peripatetic lifestyle arouses from its Christmas hibernation. The Lord has given us many opportunities to serve Him this year in many different places. As Archippus was told so many years ago, we want to take heed to our ministry, that we fulfill it.

Family Update

Sarah will be able to fill in the details of preparing to depart our house and get the trailer ready for travel once again, but first of all, a man’s perspective. The move from North Carolina to Indiana was culture shock in many ways, but one of the lessons that we had to learn was the lesson of the cold weather and its affect on the trailer. From time to time, we had been in the trailer during cold weather, and because the trailer was our only home, we have never winterized it. Then, in the summer of this year, we moved into our house and were in it when the cold began to exert its icy grip on Indiana.

No problem, right? We will just leave the heat on in the trailer and there will be no need to spend the money and effort to winterize everything. This cold, however, was a different kind of cold. We are not in Kansas anymore, Toto. It is one thing to have an overnight low of 17 degrees, but it is another matter entirely to have a week in which the high temperatures are in the teens. Heat or no heat, that kind of cold is bound to do things to the water system, especially is no one is living in the unit at the time.

So, as we were preparing to leave, I discovered that the water system on the trailer was frozen. There are two ways to put fresh water into the trailer and both inputs were blocked by solid ice. Nor was there any hope of getting the problem even diagnosed, much less solved, until we could get to a warmer climate. The words of that wonderful song come to mind, “I wish I was in the land of cotton…” Never truer than in January. So, to Mississippi we went.

It was a balmy 52 degrees the day we arrived, although it had cooled to about 45 by the time we arrived that evening. The problem was that when I tried to hook up water so that we could have the comforts of home, there were leaks. Turns out, the water pump had some issues so that the water from the hose built up so much pressure in the pump that water was spraying all over the bay of our trailer, threatening to douse my books and other equipment that was in storage there. After hours of work, we still did not have water and all retired to bed for the night.

The next morning we had running water! That is, whenever I ran to get it in a 2-liter bottle from the church. But by 2:00 that afternoon, I have worked around enough to repair the pump leak and to give us water again in the trailer. I have no idea how things might be different in UT in a few weeks, but for now, we have running water as long as the weather holds above freezing.

California, here I come!