Eleven Weeks & Counting

On Sunday afternoon, we got to thinking about all the preparations for furlough. That spawned the thought of counting how many more Sundays we have left to enjoy the fellowship of our church. We started counting and found that just 11 Sundays remain. The following Sunday will be our first meeting of furlough, over 1,400 miles from here!

Already the Lord has begun to answer our prayers concerning support. One of our dear friends and long-time supporters had to discontinue support due to unemployment. Yet just prior to this we learned that another close friend has committed to almost the identical amount which would have been lost. Earlier this week GFA informed us that a family in North Carolina wants to begin supporting us for $500 per month!

Yet another church had asked about any special needs. We gave a list of concerns for the work here as we approach furlough. The pastor said, "We will surely pray for these needs, but I was actually asking if you have any special financial needs." After picking myself up off the floor, I mentioned that our van's air conditioner has been dead for about one year. We plan to ship our van and use it on furlough, but the air must be fixed before then. The pastor then shocked me once again by saying that they will take on this project even though the estimates are at $1,800! Needless to say the price tag has made us wait this long for the repairs, but the Lord is so kind to reward our patience and faith in His loving provision.

Yesterday (March 7) we had a church meeting to vote on who would help to fill in for our absence. The vote was unanimous to accept the help of Marcos a local man to fill most of the pastoral tasks. Since he cannot help in the mid-week service, the church approved Alexis a
pastor in another town and former member of our church to come every Thursday. This takes care of most of my concerns.

We also instituted some policies to help in the handling and disbursement of funds and some related matters to keep everything above board before all. I was especially blessed to see some people volunteer for new tasks without having to be cajoled. Again, God is good. Now comes the task of training people for some of the record keeping tasks. It is fun to teach new tasks to those who have nearly no computer experience. Training will commence immediately, and the tasks will be handed over with adequate supervision so that in three months there should be few problems. Pray with us that no essential details will be omitted.