Ministry Update

This evening, I closed one of the greatest meetings of my ministry up to this point. Its greatness was not so much seen in the number of decisions, but in one great decision close to my heart for which we had been praying for years. The meeting was in Plymouth, Indiana, the seat of the county in which both of my parents grew up. Many of the extended family members are still in the area, and to make matters even more significant, the meeting was in the church in which my parents were married.

On Sunday morning, my maternal Grandmother showed up to surprise me. It was amazing to see her there, not only because she had given me no prior warning, but also because neither she nor my Grandpa are saved. To her great delight, she was greeted by Josiah and Abigail who both insisted on sitting with her during the service. I preached the burden of my heart that morning on the subject of pride from the Old Testament story of Uzziah. One of the points that I made was that pride sometimes keeps people from getting saved. At the invitation, my Grandma knew that she was in need of something, but did not go forward. I was grateful to see her in the morning service, but suspected that she had just come out of duty to me as her grandson. She was not in the evening service that night, and I thought that I would not have time to see her again until I had opportunity to visit in their home later in the week. To my surprise, she was back on Monday night, having driven into the service herself. Although she is a fine driver, she is restricted to driving only in the daylight hours because of her age. With Monday’s service starting at 7:00 and ending around 8:15, she was cutting things very close.

Ever since I can remember, we have prayed for her salvation, as well as my Grandpa’s. The one great hurdle was getting either one to admit a need—they were moral people all their lives and he saw no need for a Savior while she believed that she had always been saved. A few years back, as I was praying for them both, the Lord seemed to impress on my heart that Grandma would get saved first, then Grandpa would follow. I mistakenly thought at the time that the Lord was leading me to try to get her alone and talk to her, but all efforts in that direction proved futile.

Grandpa’s bout with Parkinson’s disease has left him more and more bound to his home, and he was unable to come to a single service because of his condition. That left Grandma to come alone whenever she could.

Monday night found Grandma once again hedged by Josiah on one side and Abigail on the other. I preached that night from Psalm 139, giving a kind of character study of God from that psalm. In the end, the invitation was to total surrender to the God revealed in the verses of David’s song. When the invitation time came, Josiah took Grandma’s hand and rubbed it a bit. He then left his seat, as is his custom and went forward to pray for his great grandparents. His great grandma was right behind him. That night at the altar, she admitted her sinfulness in prayer to God and confessed her need to Him. Because of the lateness of the hour, I did not have as much time to deal with her as I would have liked, but knew that my Mom would call her after she got home. Sure enough, Grandma had no sooner walked in the door, when Mom called and further explained the Gospel to Grandma. At the age of 81, she trusted Christ as Savior!

By Tuesday, someone in the church had volunteered to pick her up each night and she did not miss another service of the meeting. Now, the process of discipleship has begun just as we have to leave town. I would ask all of you to pray for Mary Silveus and her husband Eldon, that Mary would grow in the Lord and be baptized and Eldon would trust Christ as Savior. What a blessing it has been to see God do a great work in my Grandma’s life so far. The good work has begun, and God will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Our trip to CA continued to be eventful, even after all the trailer repairs were complete. I was able to get the power converter replaced without any problem and we headed out of Fort Worth on Thursday of last week. Our goal was spend the night in the parking lot of the Hillcrest Baptist Church of El Paso. We started the drive with a light rain falling, which, though it made packing up a little bit more difficult did not concern us in the least. After we left the relative safety of civilization in the Fort Worth area, the storm that had been a mere sprinkle became a huge thunderstorm. Thunder and lightning were our companions for the next 180 miles, as was torrential rains. So much rain fell that hydroplaning became a concern, particularly after we saw an 18-wheeler that had careened off into the ditch because his wheels lost their traction on the wet roads. Shortly after passing this wreck, I myself lost traction and began to swerve all over the road. The problem was not ice; it was simply a lot of water. After those antics, I slowed down considerably until the rain stopped a couple of hours later.

Finally, the rain stopped and we had a few miles of driving without any precipitation. It was only the calm before the next storm. The next storm began shortly after we got off I-20 onto I-10 east of El Paso. All day long I had been watching my truck thermometer so that I would have a better idea of road conditions. It had lingered in the high 30’s all day long, but now it began to plunge rapidly. Soon, it reached and passed the 32 mark, ever going down. Then it started to snow hard. We were in some of the most sparsely populated counties in the entire United States and the likelihood of snow plows and salt trucks seemed remote in such a place. Who expects it to snow in south Texas anyway? Yet there it was covering the roads and slowing our progress greatly. The number of prayers that went up for our safety caused the God of heaven to protect us every possible mishap and we arrived in El Paso late on Thursday night.

From there it was on to the valley of the sun, where we stopped for the night at the Cornerstone Baptist Church of Phoenix AZ and had supper with our good friends, Pastor Ben Schwanke and his wife Stacy. Then on Saturday, we completed our drive to CA, arriving shortly before 5 in the afternoon at the Fundamental Baptist Church of Escondido.

Sunday, an 83-year-old Roman Catholic woman walked the aisle for salvation. After dealing with her, the counselor led her to trust Christ as Savior! The process of unlearning 83 years of Catholicism will be a long one, but I believe this woman understood the Gospel and was saved. Thank the Lord for the Gospel and its power.

I was able to take the trailer back to north MS with no problems, at least so it seemed. I arrived without incident on Friday night, but was nagged by some things that I noticed about the trailer. To begin with, the trailer seemed to be leaning to the passenger side—listing to starboard, as sailors would say—even though it was on relatively even pavement. A man in a trailer repair shop in Anderson, SC, had looked over my suspension and pronounced it good to go, but after my trip to north MS, I was beginning to doubt his word. Secondly, when I arrived at the church, there was the unmistakable smell of burning rubber wafting about the parked trailer, and particularly on the passenger side. (What is it about that side?) Further inquiry revealed that the first two tires had touched each other countless times during the trip as well as rubbing on the top of wheel well, combining for a burnt rubber sensation to rival Daytona or the drag strip. Though it was dark, I decided to look into the trailer yet that night and try to ascertain what was causing the problems I had discovered. The pastor and another man in the church immediately volunteered to help me and we three worked until midnight assessing problems and getting a part list together for me to find on Saturday. The problem as we saw it was an equalizer, a triangular part that couples the rear of the middle leaf spring to the front of the rear leaf spring. On the passenger side, this piece had almost been cut in two by the constant bumps and jarring of the road, the cut costing the trailer about two inches of height compared to the other side. The opposite equalizer on the driver side, though it was not nearly as bad as the passenger side, was nevertheless damaged and also needed to be replaced. By midnight the old part was off on the passenger side, the trailer was suspended safely on blocks, and the tools were in place to put the new parts in on Saturday.

Saturday morning was filled with futile efforts to locate the parts that I needed. Not only did I call businesses all over the Memphis area, I also visited many of them in person, hoping that though they did not have a part from the original manufacturer, they might have one from another company that would meet my need. After three hours of this work, I was still without the parts that I needed to get the trailer fixed. In the providence of God, the owner of one of the trailer repair places that I had called was in his shop on Saturday, even though he normally does not keep Saturday hours. He was in the office and heard me leave a message on his machine about the parts that I needed. He returned my call and assured me that he had the exact parts I needed. A quick run to his establishment prepared me to put the trailer back together. We still had to make one more run to get some bolts that we needed to put the parts on. The pastor and I made this run while the other layman stayed and completed some other tasks that he needed to perform at the church. When we returned, he informed us of another discovery: one of the welds that held the front leaf spring on had come completely off. Can you guess what side it was on? At this point, I decided to take the trailer in and have someone who was set up with all the tools on hand do the work. So our plans were altered yet again.

We stayed the night in the trailer Saturday night and got ready to go to the Sunday service. Sunday night, the pastor asked me to preach once again to his people, and the Lord gave us another good service there.

Monday morning, I took the trailer into Memphis to the shop and left it in the care of the Surwic Trailer Hitch Company. The owner, Danny Surwic, assured me that he would complete the job on Monday, if he had to stay until 7:00 at night to get it done. A few minutes before 5, the work was completed and they called me to ask that I would come pick it up. The workman did an excellent job on the suspension, repairing anything that showed any signs of weakening due to age. The result is a trailer is very road ready in the axles and suspension.

This morning, we left the Memphis area headed for Texas. We arrived at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Fort Worth, TX, a little before 8:00 this evening local time. After installing the proper receptacle for our trailer (they had the wrong one), we plugged in only to notice a burning smell in the trailer. It smelled as if it were some sort of electrical problem. After power was on, I finally pinpointed our problem. The inverter that converts 120v AC to 12v DC has burned out and will have to be replaced. That means that most of our lights now run off the battery instead of the normal power supply, causing them to grow dimmer the longer we run them. The good news is that this part will be relatively easy to replace; the bad news is that it is expensive. At least we are in a big city right now on a normal workday. The part should be easy to find and install tomorrow, but then, I have said that before.

We can still make it to CA in the time that we have. Thank you for your prayers and please continue to pray for us. The temptation to abandon the trailer along the side of the interstate is growing in strength, and though we have not yet yielded, we must fight it harder than we have ever had to before.

After a great meeting in Southaven, MS, I left the family in the prophet’s chamber of the Clearview Baptist Church and headed out alone to get the trailer in SC. Traffic was perfect; or the trip was timed perfectly so that even Atlanta was a breeze to travel through, and I arrived in Anderson, SC about 3:30 this afternoon. Since my dad had picked up the parts to fix my trailer, I asked him to meet me at the gas station at which I had left my trailer on Saturday of last week. He arrived there shortly before I did and immediately called me to tell me that my trailer was not there. By the time I arrived, he had done some investigation and discovered that the owner of the gas station had towed my trailer off the premises at my expense. (I should have anticipated this development. The station employees told us that the owner was a jerk.) Thankfully, the towing company that towed the trailer was just right across the overpass from the gas station, and we could get to work on repairing the parts almost immediately.

This morning, when I left north Mississippi, the temperature was a balmy 63 degrees. Though thunderstorms had moved through in the early morning hours, I anticipated a nice day to work. By the time I hit Atlanta, a strong front had moved in, dropping the temperature over twenty degrees and bringing high winds and rain. The result was that the dirt lot that housed my banished trailer was a soupy mess of Carolina mud. When we got the hub off the axle and began putting the new studs in it, I noticed that the newly purchased studs were not quite the same as the ones that had come off the trailer originally. Specifically, their threads were not as deep as the original studs, causing me to wonder if the wheel would tighten down properly or not. Before putting all the studs in, we tried the tire on to see if the lugs would tighten and, thank the Lord, they did. So, for better or for worse, I made the decision to go with the parts that the manufacturer said should go on the trailer, even though they differed slightly from the originals. Once I finally got everything put back together, I left Anderson, tired, wet, cold, and $300 poorer. Far better to pay that much to get our old trailer than to pay $80,000 for a new one, I figure. Besides, if we totally got rid of the old trailer, I would have replace all of my wife’s shoes and clothes. Who knows how much extra that would run?

The plan is for me to take the trailer back to north Mississippi tomorrow, pick up my family, and continue on from there toward California. Everything seems to be going on schedule for those plans except one thing: they are calling for snow here tonight…

Please forgive me for not updating you sooner. The trailer is no longer on the side of the highway (sorry to all you curious South Carolinians who wanted to drive by and see it), and we are in Southaven, MS in our scheduled meeting.

On Saturday, my dad and I took the two remaining lug studs and installed them opposite each other on the hub so that we could temporarily attach the wheel. Then I drove down the shoulder of the interstate never going more than 10 mph to the next exit. Once we were off the road, I turned carefully into a gas station parking lot. The spot where we were initially was not a good one, so I eased the trailer into yet another turn so as to round the building to to more spacious part of the lot. In this slow, gradual turn, one of the two remaining lugs broke. I pulled the trailer out of the way despite this loss of the stud, and simply left it there. Then, Dad and I went back to Taylors where I picked up my wife and family and returned to where the trailer sat. Sarah and I packed up all the things that we would need for this meeting and we took off down the road in the rain. After a favorable time change at the GA/AL state line, we arrived in Southaven, MS shortly before midnight local time. The rain that started falling while we packed our things never let up the entire time we were driving, causing some of the items that I normally sell on my table to get wet.

The meeting started off very well yesterday with excellent crowds and tremendous response in all three services. Several people from another area church have told us they will be out during the week as well. We look forward to seeing what the Lord is going to do.

The meeting closes Wednesday night, and we will go back to the trailer on Thursday, fix it, and then turn around and immediately head west again. Thank you for all of your prayers in our behalf.

Ministry Update
The Lord has graciously allowed us to be in meetings during a time of year when things are usually a little slower for us. We had a wonderful meeting at Maranatha Baptist Church of Yorktown the first full week of January. The pastor wanted not so much a revival meeting as he wanted me to preach a conference on holiness, roughly following the contents of my book. The Lord used the meeting in the lives of many people and we are so grateful to see that.

We started the month in the Tidewater area of Virginia and before the end of the month, our meetings will take us to San Diego County, California, a great place to be in the winter, to be sure. Then in March, we will once again be in eastern North Carolina for meetings. Don’t feel sorry for me in the travel. I look forward to it about as much as a little child looks forward to Christmas. The family does not always share my zeal for hours in the cramped quarters of the truck, however, and doubtless would appreciate your prayers.

Family Update
Due to the many drains and demands upon my time, I have taken an unintentional hiatus from writing our updates for several months. School and travel have kept me quite busy in addition to the normal duties of a wife, homemaker, and mother of four very active children.

In November, Daniel celebrated his first birthday in great style. We actually had two parties in two different states, and all of his grandparents and some of his great-grandparents were in attendance, along with other family members. He was a bit uncertain about the candle, but quickly caught on to the cake idea! It was really nice to be able to spend time with our extended family on this special occasion.

Christmas came with a whirl of activity – parties and church programs, rehearsals and the like. One of my favorite things is to watch our children participate in the children’s programs each year. Something funny always happens, and this year, Esther was the one who made us laugh. Although she is only three, she has an uncanny ability to think and act older than her years. Her job in the program was to hold a sign that said, “Merry Christmas.” She turned it over at the correct time, but it was upside down. She cannot read, but she kept looking at the sign as if she knew something was wrong. Finally, a helper turned it around, and only then did she smile and hold the sign proudly. It was one of those “mother” moments!
We had a wonderful Christmas with our family as well as extended family. It was a blessing to us to see Josiah become a giver this year. We do not encourage greedy materialism at Christmas, although we do give gifts to one another. Josiah came to us and said he wanted to spend his money to buy gifts for all of us this Christmas. He carefully and thoughtfully planned his budget and picked out the “perfect” gift for each person. His generosity has shown itself on several occasions this past year, and we are thrilled to see him giving with a cheerful, willing heart not just to his family, but to missions as well.

Abigail is well entrenched in the trials of kindergarten. She is somewhat of a perfectionist, and gets quite frustrated when her shaky letters and wobbly numbers don’t look like the ones printed on the pages. However, she is quickly learning to read, and can be found sounding out words she sees around the house. So far, the most impressive one is “pomegranate.” She is so excited about reading, and her eyes just sparkle when she learns something new. This year she has also stopped sucking her thumb and biting her nails, major milestones for her. I am so proud of her for working hard to conquer these difficult habits!

Esther is more and more the vivacious, helpful, little sweetheart. Her energy knows no bounds, and she is always doing some kind of imaginative play. She loves her dolls, and many times the babies can be found in various places “sleeping,” so we have to be very quiet! I do hope my children outgrow their penchant for weird names before they start having children of their own. Josiah used to have pretend children that he named Shadrach and Meshach, which, though unusual, are not too terrible, but the girls have followed his example in such a way that now we have dolls named Mrs. No Head, Grandma Cock, Flamingo Baby, and Italy. It really is scary!

Daniel is up and running – well, at least walking very quickly. He perambulates about the trailer finding all kinds of trouble. He loves to eat crayons, play with scissors (left out by his thoughtful older siblings), tear pages out of books, eat baby wipes, and wave pencils in the air as he walks around the house! He is a real cutie, and loves to play “rough” with us – growling and chasing, tickling and giggling. He also plays “where’s Daniel?” which is our version of peekaboo. He covers his ears and says “doo” without looking at you, and then he will make eye contact and shriek with laughter, as if you couldn’t see him at first. It makes us all laugh to hear him chortle so happily. It is hard to believe that just a few short years ago, it was Josiah that I held in my arms, and now, my firstborn is eight years old!

Josiah spent New Year’s Day in the hospital with a severe asthma flare-up. It all started with a cold and twenty-four hours later, he was in the ER. He ended up being hospitalized for three days in Virginia. He Lord was so good to us, and the church where we were ministering that week was so gracious and helpful. I know that many people were praying for him that weekend, and our family thanks each one of you that spent time interceding for Josiah. He went for a follow-up visit to his own pediatrician when we came back to North Carolina, and she declared his lungs totally clear. Some of you may have heard the saying, “Swallow a frog first thing every morning, and no matter what happens that day, it will never be worse than swallowing the frog!” I do hope that this was our “frog-swallowing!” We are so thankful that Josiah has had such good health for the last few years. His last hospitalization was over three years ago, and while his asthma still flares from time to time, we know that it has been the good hand of God upon him that has given us such relief from a really serious episode. Please continue to pray for health and safety as we travel.

We look forward to what the Lord is going to do this year. We anticipate a tremendous year of ministry and blessing that only He can provide. I will try to be a little more frequent in my updates, so that you will better know how to pray for us. Thank you for your prayers and your part in our ministry. Your words of encouragement mean so much to us. We thank the Lord for such faithful friends.

Ministry Update

The last month has held some interesting events for the Crow family in our ministry. November found us making a trip to northern IN for two Baptist history conferences at two different churches. We were able to stay in my parents’ farmhouse while there, so we left the trailer in NC and just traveled in the truck. After two great conferences, we headed back down I-75 on our way back home. We had to take a circuitous route as it was because I-40 was closed at the time. Driving through the mountains on glorified cow trails makes a traveler grateful for the Interstate system.

The family was asleep as I drove south on I-75, when I noticed that the defrost was not blowing hot air and the engine temperature was rising higher than I had ever seen it before. Not even pulling the trailer did the engine get as hot as it was at that point, and we were empty. Clearly, there was a problem somewhere. Because of the detour, we had to get off I-75 in Corbin, KY, and continue on through the mountains from that point. We stopped at a service station and I popped the hood to find that the upper radiator hose had blown. Antifreeze covered the inside of the engine compartment and had even started to stain the front passenger quarter panel. Obviously, this hole in the hose was the reason for our lack of defrost and the high temperatures. Furthermore, driving in the mountains meant that the problem would have to be repaired rather than put off til a more convenient time. Had we had the trailer with us, there would have been no difficulty at all: foreseeing the possibility of this hose leaking, I had purchased a new one so as not to be stranded out west miles from help. Unfortunately, the trailer containing the part I needed as well as the tools to fix it were still several hours of driving away from where we were at the time.

I was able to borrow a tool to get part of the old hose off, at which time I discovered that no one in town had a replacement part for me. Neither the auto parts stores nor the dealer carried this hose. Improvisation would have to carry the day. Armed with no more tools than a baby wipe and electrical tape, I was able to repair the hose and drive all the way back to NC without incident. Not one time did the truck overheat! Praise the Lord.

We are home for a few weeks until after Christmas. Our time at home is spent working in our home church, enjoying the fellowship of different Christmas gettogethers and stocking up on deer meat for the next year.
The Sunday after Christmas we are out once again and will not return home for a few months. God is good to fill our schedule the way He has.

Thank you always for your prayers. As you pray, please pray that God would fill the open dates we have at this point. You can look at the first part of next year’s itinerary and see which dates need to be filled.

One final word. If you are a pastor and are reading this message, I probably lost your contact information due to a computer problem. I would be grateful if you could send me an e-mail (paul@paulcrow.org) containing your name, church name, church address, and telephone numbers. I am learning the adage that my pastor often repeats to us: To err is human; to really foul things up requires a computer.

Paul

The Lord has given us a busy schedule right now and we praise Him for what He is doing in our lives. He has also kept us safe through some difficult circumstances and we would like to share the story of some of His protection.

On Saturday, October 3, 2009, we loaded up the truck and trailer and left Wayland, MO headed for Horn Lake, MS in the greater Memphis area. The trip was uneventful, the only kind you like to have, until we got into the Memphis metropolitan area. We pulled into a Flying J in West Memphis, AR to dump our sewage tanks before continuing the short distance on to the church. Because the line of RV’s was long, we found ourselves waiting in line to get to where we could turn the rig and dump our tanks.

I got out of the truck and walked around to the passenger side of the rig, continuing down that side to where the trailer door is. As I walked, I noticed that one of the trailer tires was skewed badly, so much so that it rubbed on the fiberglass tire skirt that partially hides the tops of my tires. Closer inspection revealed that of the eight lug bolts and nuts that hold the tire on the trailer, all but two of them had broken off and were gone. How long we went with only two lugs no one really knows, but if they had been gone for long, the tire would have probably come flying off somewhere on the Interstate. (Maybe it could have found a comfortable place next to our awning, who knows.) In the end, the tire was still connected at the service station and we endeavored to get the trailer out of the main flow of fueling traffic.

As I pulled the rig slowly toward the nearest parking area, Sarah, who was outside keeping a close eye on the tire, had to halt me. Had I gone on, the tire would have broken completely off. The truck and trailer now completely blocked the entire parking, except that one vehicle could fit in front of the truck and another behind the trailer. Here we sat and I immediately went to work jacking up the trailer hoping against hope that I could find the lug bolts I needed and get the wheel installed in time to get to our next meeting.

After some work, I was able to get the tire and hub off and began the process of trying to extract the broken pieces of lug bolt that still lodged in the hub. Meanwhile, two men from the church in north MS met me at the Flying J and we three headed off to try to find the lugs we needed.

One of the most important aspects of the work of the evangelist is that the majority of his work is done outside of normal business hours. His longest consecutive hours occur on Saturday and Sunday, while his weekdays hours are often when others have closed up for the night. Though I have never taken official polls, I would venture to guess that most breakdowns for evangelists occur on Saturday when the most helpful businesses are closed. At least that was true in Memphis when my trailer broke down. We looked at store after store and each one of them informed us that they would not be able to give us the bolts we needed.

After a lot of time and energy spent, we finally decided to rig up something that would at least get us out of the Flying J parking lot and, we hoped, all the way to the church. Undersized bolts might be able to be tightened down to where they would hold, we reasoned, if we took the back roads and took it slow. Not liking the option, but knowing of no other, I purchased the temporary bolts and put them into the hub. Off we went, slowly headed south along roads other than the Interstate. When we finally eased into the church parking lot, all eight of the temporary lug nuts on the temporary bolts were so loose, you could spin them with your fingers. In any case, they got us there without injury to the truck or trailer, apart from a broken trailer skirt on the passenger side.

The following Monday, we looked all over Memphis for half a day before finally finding the right lugs. They are now installed and ready for another 100,000 miles or so. Praise the Lord! While working on the lugs, I also discovered that my brake assembly was completely shot and had to be replaced. The Lord supplied that just in time, too: the part came on Friday afternoon and I got it all put back together just as we were leaving to eat with the church people in the fellowship hall before the service.

Last week, while in Ruston, LA, I determined to check the rest of my brake assemblies to see how they were doing. All that I checked seemed to be perfect, but in the process, I noticed that a bolt was missing from one of my leaf springs. Thank the Lord, that leaf spring did not break while we were going down the road. God is so good to us!

After preaching this coming Sunday in Citronelle, AL, we will head back home for the first time in several months. The Lord has given us a wonderful fall season and that season is not yet over, though it will be somewhat less dramatic because we will not have the trailer for many of the remaining meetings of the year.

At the end of the day, we still thank God for the trailer that He has given us, even if we do have problems from time to time. The benefit of being able to have the family together as we travel is priceless, and we would have it no other way.

Thank you so much for your prayers for us as we travel.

Paul

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a wonderful meeting in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, at the Berean Baptist Church where Tim Riley is the pastor. The church had just finished a building program and, according to Pastor Riley, really needed the meeting. There was not a service in which there were not first time visitors present, and several key people who had been struggling made some public decisions during the meeting. It was a blessing to be able to be used of God.

Some time ago our trailer’s propane system had sprung a leak. Because of this leak, we simply shut the supply of gas off and went without propane for several months. Summer is a good time to run that way, if you must. The greatest problem of running without propane is that you have no cooling when you are driving down the road, the refrigerator needing propane to cool. We were getting by, but praying that God would allow us to get the leak fixed.

On Sunday, a man in the church came to me and asked if there was anything that he could do for us during the week. He told me that his business was heating and air conditioning. I told him about the propane leak and made an appointment to get it fixed. In the providence of God, there was enough spare black iron pipe just lying around at the church (it had been a bar and grill before the church purchased the facility and renovated it for church use) to fix the problem. I had to purchase some fittings and clamps, but the total repair bill was just under $10. Praise the Lord, as winter comes, we have propane again.

Family Update

Things have been hectic the last few weeks – but then, that is usual. In fact, you should probably just assume that things are crazy around our house all the time, and if there is ever an exception, I will let you know. Some of that is a result of my husband scheduling back-to-back meetings in opposite corners of the USA. People ask me, “Where are you going next?” (By the way, I never know if they are just being polite, or if they really want to know where the circus will be next week so that they can stay away.) I launch into our itinerary with an auctioneer’s flair, “Well, let’s see… We are in western Nebraska this week, and next week we will be in eastern Minnesota, then the week after that, we will be about ten miles from here. Then we have a 500 mile drive for another meeting and then a 900 mile drive in the opposite direction, but the next week, we go right back…” When their eyes begin to glaze over, I pause, at which interval, they breathe a sigh (perhaps of relief that they are not in evangelism) and say “WOW! You sure do get around!” Yes, I have to agree, we do get around. I must also say that our schedule is much more area-targeted than it used to be. You may have heard of dying the death of one thousand screams. I told Paul that would be his fate if he ever pulled another “Mexico to Minnesota in three days” trip again.

The death of one thousand screams could be riding in the car with four tired, bored, cranky, hungry kids for three days. Make that in Nebraska, on a two-lane road with no rest areas or restaurants for 200 miles, and no berm so that we can pull over and fix our own lunch. Every couple considering marriage should try this stunt at least once to ascertain if they are really “compatible.” I will even loan you our kids. Heh, heh, heh. They are highly trained at testing compatibility, creating the most realistic stressful conditions. For instance, they begin by lulling you into a false sense of tranquility by playing happily with their own toys until you pass the last exit to civilization. Then, as if by previous arrangement, a fight breaks out. Child B no longer wants her toy – she wants the toy that Child C has. Snatching it with an evil laugh, she foists her toy upon the now enraged Child C, who promptly throws it to the floor and bursts into loud, indiscernible complaints interspersed with tears, waking Child D, who had been sleeping for 20 minutes. Child A whirls around in his seat to see the fracas, meanwhile kicking the leg of Adult X, causing him to accelerate rather abruptly. Adult Y, who had also turned around, gasps audibly and erupts with threats about Cracker Jack revoking Adult X’s license. This causes Adult X’s blood pressure to rise and he offers Adult Y the option of driving. Adult Y snaps back that she would rather have the option of walking, but the ensuing melee quickly diverts her attention once again. While Child B and C are arguing, Child D decides that “Carpe diem” is his motto for the afternoon, and grabs a handful of Child B’s hair. After extricating Child B from the tight-fisted grasp of Child D, Adult Y extracts apologies and promises of kindness from all parties involved. Child D, however, having had a power nap, is now hungry two hours sooner than anticipated, and begins wailing loudly. At this point, the pastor usually calls, wondering if we have been abducted by aliens. After assuring him that we have only been waylaid by wild Indians, the conversation ends with him saying something like this: “Sounds like you’ve got your hands full!” If he only knew! Child A begins to whine about his hunger pangs forcing the issue to the table, as it were. Adult X tells the children, who are now chorusing together about their lack of sustenance, that there is plenty to eat if they like grass, trees, and buffalo chips. Adult Y announces in a threatening tone that they WILL stop at the VERY NEXT AVAILABLE PLACE, right, DEAR???? Adult X now drives doggedly, eyes darting back and forth for the slightest widening of the road, but to no avail. Finally, he pulls over close to a driveway. “Why are you stopping here?” queries Adult Y. “Do we know these people?” Adult X says no, he is just stopping so Adult Y can make lunch. Adult Y peevishly argues that she isn’t going to sit in the ditch in front of someone’s house and make lunch – just keep driving. Adult X drives, the cacophony behind him urging him ever onward, ever faster. The children grow quiet as their stomach juices eat their tongues, and some of them even fall into a trance. Then one of them breaks the silence by hallucinating out loud, “Look! McDoodles!” Sure enough, there it looms, the nemesis of all travelers with young children. Adult Y begins whining, “Oh, do we have to go there?” She well knows that, despite its innocent sounding Scottish name, this establishment is actually descended from the ancient patriarch Montezuma whose revenge is only somewhat abated by the passage of centuries. Adult X grimaces, but pulls into the parking lot anyway. The children erupt from the truck, screeching, “YAY! McDoodles!” Meanwhile, Adult Y searches her purse for a bottle of TUMS and swallows half a dozen, handing the rest of the bottle to Adult X. Thirty minutes and three gallons of grease later, the family is herded back into the truck. Adult Y blots the grease off of her tongue with an extra napkin and settles in for the rest of the drive. Two hours and fourteen potty breaks later, they arrive at the church, thoroughly exhausted.

School is going smoothly, and we are all learning new things. Abigail has taught me this year that all the vowels say “uh” and all the consonants say “um.” It is getting a little easier each day for her and she is really excited. Josiah has a lot more work this year than previously, which is a sore trial for an eight-year-old with a big imagination. He is learning division and punctuation as well as creative writing. His piano lessons are improving, and two weeks ago he played a duet with me for the offertory. It was really exciting for both of us! Esther is my little helper – always wanting to wash the dishes and go to the store with me. Daniel is beginning to realize the potential of movement. He can crawl faster than a speeding locomotive, and wreak destruction and havoc faster than his siblings can believe. He loves the vacuum cleaner, and I think his extreme interest in it can be attributed to the fact that it is the only thing that can eat Cheerios faster than he can.

Josiah has been struggling with his asthma a bit the last week or two and it may be due to the change in seasons. Please pray that we have wisdom as we treat his asthma, and that he would remain healthy. We have been blessed with some wonderful meetings, and the Lord continues to meet our needs and open new doors of ministry for us. We are so thankful for your prayers, and we appreciate the part you have in our ministry.