Taking a "Break"

It's been good to be without meetings to run off to this week. I hate to admit it--we need meetings and we need love offerings and we need new prayer help and we need monthly financial support; but it's been good for us to be "still" for the last week.

We've booked quite a few meetings in the last week, all over the country and all over the schedule. I booked a meeting today for June, 2015. It's hard to imagine that far away...we'll be on our first furlough!

I've also been catching up with what I call "trip planning." Along with booking meetings, I always book prophets chambers and plan each day of each trip (where to stay, having a meal with pastors in the area for future meetings, etc). It can be rather confusing. For example, today I called to try to book meetings in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Most of these calls were follow-ups that have been mounting, but a few were still cold calls. Along with planning when I'm going to be there, adjusting to pastor's schedules when possible (sometimes, we just can't get the schedules to line up because of travel times or various conflicts). Then, once I get meetings figured out, I have to then plan the logistics of the trip, which sometimes includes booking meetings to help with expenses on the way. So, I did this today for our trip to Indiana/Illinois, and for our trip to Mexico in December. It takes hours and has got to be right and practical--very meticulous--but it is worth it.

We're getting ready for an extended road trip and only The Lord can work out the details--sometimes I confess to Him in prayer that I'm too dumb to know what I don't know. There are so many things I'm sure I don't think of, so we just pray God would fill in the blanks.

One thing that bothers me, and I confess as a weakness, is when I schedule a meeting and then go through the planning process just to have the meeting cancelled. This happened to us some time ago. We traveled 7 HOURS to a church, and the pastor called while we were on the way to cancel. I had already scheduled a stay in a prophets chamber in a different church to save the 1st church money, and was looking forward to meeting them. So, we drove all that way for absolutely nothing. 7 hours, no meetings (just visits) and no love offerings/support. This sounds almost not too bad, but the pastor rescheduled the meeting for a different date. All was well until I got a call, and it was him calling to cancel, again (shame on me!). I had planned the trip again, so we're going to drive 7 hours again for nothing. This time, I had told a pastor in the area that we would be in his area and be happy just to visit. "Don't worry, we're already going to be in the area, we're going to stay in a prophets chamber, don't even worry about a love offering." THAT, dear friend, is why many missionaries quit before they get to the field. It's sometimes very discouraging (or at least aggravating!) planning meetings and trips. Add to that just the stress of keeping it all straight on paper and in mind. One minute you're calling one time zone about a meeting in 6 months, and the next getting a call in Spanish for a meeting in a totally different time zone, for a meeting in 6 weeks. All while you're actually working a plan for getting a water line fixed in Mexico which is supposedly leaking like a fire hydrant.

So, with all that in the back of my head, we're preparing for a big trip coming up the first week of September. We'll be gone with no certain dwelling place for 9 weeks (about 20 churches). As a credit to God's goodness, we won't have to spend a dime on hotels because He's helped me to find prophets chambers along the way. Right after this trip, we'll be preparing to return to Mexico, which I already have planned as well, including places to stay. Hallelujah to God that all of the prophets chambers we'll be staying in belong to 100% fundamental baptist churches. After a two month stint at home in Mexico, it's on the road to Washington state. Yes, of course meetings on the way up, the way back, and a bunch there. From Washington state, we travel back down "south" to Texas/Oklahoma, then real "south" to Florida. That trip will be a whole lot of fun...thousands of miles, thousands of dollars, and hopefully thousands of $$ in new support! That particular trip will be 8 weeks long, and we'll present the work in about 25 churches.

All to get back to Mexico...that's what we keep telling ourselves. Not only will it be worth in all when we see Christ, it will be worth it all when we are in Mexico for our first full term as church planting missionaries.

So, this is how our "break" is going. One more week and then we "get busy." Tomorrow will be another day of follow-ups and only a few "cold calls" to fill in a couple blank areas (but in areas where we're already going to be). I'm still working Wisconsin. I have one meeting scheduled for June 2011, one for June 2015, one for August 2011 (if we're still on deputation...) and one open meeting for whenever we get in the area.

I honestly don't know how some folks drag their deputation out into 4-5 years. We've been on deputation full time from the start, for just 13 months. We're at 60% of our support and looking forward to miraculous things to happen in the next few months. We're praying for 20 more churches to take us on for support for $50 a month. That will give 100% of our monthly goal.

So, I'll quit ranting. I'll be more light-hearted in my next post, promise! :)