EVENTS
"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord" 1Corinthians 15:58.
MISSIONARY-FURLOUGH 2021-2022
Having grown up as an MK-missionary kid, the word "furlough" has always been in our family's English vocabulary. And throughout my adolescent years. I associated the word with traveling to America and living there for about a year, visiting grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. We ate more hotdogs and hamburgers than we ever did. And soon, we returned home to Brazil. But as an adult and now taking furloughs ourselves, I curiously researched the word for the first time. And suddenly, I became more grateful than ever before that I grew up taking "MISSIONARY-FURLOUGH'S!"
Furlough | Definition of Furlough by Merriam-Webster
1 US: a period of time when an employee is told not to come to work and is not paid
2 US: a period of time when a prisoner is allowed to leave prison
Donna and I are now on our second "Missionary-Furlough." And it's a little different this time for us. Whereas on our first furlough, we always left our house whenever we traveled. But now our house will follow us everywhere we go, as it happens, we live in a camper this time. And we certainly covet your prayers as we are discovering the "full-time" RV lifestyle!
A Tornado And a Limp Truck
In the first week of October, the Lord took us to West Virginia. God gave us a beautiful sunny morning as we departed from Greenville, SC, on that travel day. We were aware of the possibility of bad weather at some point ahead of us. But it was an easy three hundred and two-mile trip, and we needed to put as many of them in our back pocket as we could before lunch. So we climbed into the truck, petitioned the Lord for His safety (Pr. 21:31), and commenced our northbound journey.
Sure enough! Before we even got out of South Carolina, we suddenly drove right into the path of a tornado! The storm certainly changed our driving. But there were no trucks, houses, or cows flying through the sky around us, and our tires still had contact with the ground, so we pressed onward. However, we did learn later that a particular river that we had crossed in route had flooded and caused some damage to the area. Our hearts went out to all those affected by the flooding that morning. We praised the Lord for His hedge of protection. And we rejoiced in His goodness as we crossed over into West Virginia later that afternoon.
Then! With about four miles to our destination that day, our truck suddenly lost power! We were still on the turnpike and had no place in sight to stop with any possibility of help. So I moved our rig over onto the paved shoulder, and we crept ahead for the rest of our trip. With help from our two sons via text message that evening. I learned about an aspect of Diesel engines that didn't exist back in my truck driving days. The DEF-diesel exhaust fluid was low and put our truck into "limp mode!" DEF fluid is now part of our stock items in our carry-on storage!
We had a wonderful two and a half days at Crow Baptist Church. Pastor Rod is the son of Dr. Roger and Diane Baker, the European/Middle East Field Director with Macedonia World Baptist Missions. Crow Baptist is a mission-minded church. Thank you, Pastor Rod and Dr. Baker, and everyone at Crow Baptist. Our hearts were greatly encouraged by your warm and generous welcome and love for missionaries and worldwide missions.
