I am writing today’s update from the diesel repair shop. Yes, after putting 24,000 miles on old Libby (our motorhome), she has experienced her first real issue. While making our way from Montana to Utah yesterday, the engine thermostat locked up, causing Libby to overheat. We were able to find a place to spend the night, and after trying (unsuccessfully) to make our way to the repair shop this morning, we had to have Libby towed. As I type, the men are working hard to determine the issues and the best way to resolve them. Needless to say, I have spent much of the past 24 hours in prayer. The good news is, we have a vehicle we tow behind us, so we’re not stranded. The bad news is we are supposed to be at a missions conference at 7:00 tonight, and we still have nearly five hours of driving. In times like these, it’s easy to throw up our hands in defeat, but we are determined to trust God. Somehow, someway, we know He will make this trial a blessing.

The past couple of weeks have been exciting and action-packed. On Wednesday, the 6th, we were in a precious church in Salem, OR. Not only did they treat us wonderfully and give us a very generous love offering, but they have since contacted us and told us they would be taking us on for support. Hallelujah! At that same church, Jason attended the Thursday morning men’s prayer breakfast and then head out to the streets with some of the men to hand out tracts and witness to those at busy intersections. I was going to attend the ladies’ luncheon on Friday but woke up that morning with a terrible sinus headache and spent the day in bed.

On Thursday evening (the 7th), we had the opportunity to attend another church in Salem. The people were very kind and interested in our work, and the pastor invited us to come back again to present our work more thoroughly.

On Sunday (the 10th), we had two meetings in Washington. The first was in a beautiful facility, complete with a “Bible room” which displays Bibles from throughout the ages and information about said Bibles. There, we were given a tour of the facilities and invited to fill out an application for the possibility of support. The second was a growing church plant that currently holds services in the town dance hall. The building offers plenty of room to set up chairs and even comes with a piano. The people who own the building have given the church a generous rental agreement, which is a blessing in areas where the cost of living is high. We had a great time of fellowship and worship with both these churches, and both took great care of us.

Wednesday (the 13th) took us to Puyallup (pronounced pew-all-up), WA, where we shared our burden with another precious church. Jason was also able to preach again. Because of the difficulty of the town’s name, the church has a missionary bonus called “The Phrase That Pays.” Any missionary (or guest speaker, I assume) who at least tries to pronounce the town name, Puyallup, is given extra money in their love offering. We didn’t know this, of course, until after the meeting, but Jason did mention the town near the end of his sermon, so we received the phrase-that-pays reward.

On Thursday (the 14th), we had the privilege to drive across to Montana to meet up with some dear friends we haven’t seen in many years. We parked at their house Thursday and Friday night and left out after breakfast Saturday morning. During our stay, we enjoyed several meals together, played some board games, took a hike through the snowy mountains, enjoyed some fresh snowfall, and got a tour of their church and adorable town. While the other adults chit-chatted on Friday afternoon, I played several games of “Go Fish” and “Crazy Eights” with our friends’ youngest son, Gideon. It was a close competition, but in the end, he beat me fair and square. Overall, it was a refreshing time of rest and reuniting with old friends, and we hated to see it end, but we had many more miles to travel.

On Saturday (the 16th), we left out around 10:30 and arrived at our next stop in Three Forks, MT, around 2:30. We spent the entire afternoon fellowshipping with the pastor and his wife, having dinner, and then practicing music for the following day since it was requested that I play the piano for the morning service. It was late when we went to bed, but it was a wonderful afternoon and evening.

Sunday morning (the 17th) involved Jason presenting our ministry and preaching a message and me playing the piano for the congregational music and also singing a special. It was another sweet service with a great group of people. This particular church began in a small garage, but over time, they have been able to build on to expand the facilities. At this time, they’re undergoing another expansion project and building a new auditorium. It was such a joy to see how God is blessing in this ministry! After the morning service, we had dinner on the grounds with a few others and then headed “home” for a bit of rest before the evening service.

The evening service took place at a small church in Butte, MT. Due to the snowy conditions, there was only a small crowd in attendance, but it was a precious service. We had a lot of time to talk with the pastor and his wife and to share our burden for Wales with the church. Jason also had another opportunity to preach. Once again, the church took great care of us and provided for our needs.

On Monday (the 18th), Jason had the chance to work with some of the men to build the new church auditorium. They worked most of the day and made excellent progress. It was exciting to see how things came together, and Jason was so encouraged to have the opportunity to be a part of it. While he stayed busy with that, I caught up with correspondence, ministry updates, writing devotions, and the like.

Tuesday (the 19th) turned out to be an interesting day. Before heading out, Jason called a church in Las Vegas to find out if we could worship with them on Wednesday night and take advantage of the RV hookups they have. The pastor informed us they were starting their missions conference that night and that we were more than welcome to use their RV hookups and join them for the conference. This blew us away! What a blessing!

For nine hours, we worked our way through some beautiful scenery from Montana to Utah. We intended to get to St. George, UT that evening and have a chance to drive through Zion National Park on Wednesday (today) before making our way to our final destination in Las Vegas, NV. Well, I’ve already told you how that turned out. About two-and-a-half hours before reaching St. George, our motorhome went wonky, which brings us to where I began this post.

At this point, the men are pretty sure they’ve diagnosed the problems (yes, there were more than one). Jason and I hopped in the Xterra and made a rather long trip into the next town to pick up some of the needed parts. The men are working hard to finish the needed repairs, and we’ve already informed the pastor of the church in Las Vegas that we won’t be at the meeting tonight since it’s already after 3:30, and we still have a long way to drive once all the repairs are finished. He was very understanding and told us to get there whenever we could and make ourselves at home once we arrived. Another huge blessing!

As you can see, the past few weeks have been filled with ups and downs. We’ve seen the beauty of icy lakes, snow-covered mountains, and frosted trees, but we’ve also seen the sadness of people living in squalor in tents on the sides of the freeway. We’ve witnessed churches going and growing strong in the face of adversity while also seeing small towns filled with bars and casinos and not a single church. We’ve seen God rake in the blessings, and we’ve seen Satan fight to keep us down and discouraged. Yes, there have been plenty of ups and downs, but through it all, my friends, God has been good.

As always, thank you for your many prayers! Until next time. . .

Thursday Update:

I waited another day before sending out this email in hopes I could tell you our RV issues were fixed and we were on our way to our missions conference, but that doesn’t seem to be God’s plan at this time. The men wrapped up their repairs around 2:00 this afternoon and sent us out on a test drive. In less than a mile, we began to overheat again. Currently, we’re back at the repair shop, awaiting the diesel mechanic, who is out on a call right now. It looks like we’ll probably be spending the night here again and finishing (hopefully) the repairs tomorrow. At that point, we don’t know if we’ll try to make it to the last night of the missions conference in Las Vegas or go ahead and make our way to our next meeting in Phoenix, AZ. It’s all up in the air right now. The Lord is definitely allowing us to go through a valley right now, and while we don’t understand it, we’re doing our best to keep trusting and shining the light of His love to everyone we meet. As I was reminded through a song a few minutes ago, “He’s Still on the Throne!”