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There are many things for which I am grateful: spending time with Nehemiah and friends at OC (photo below), a couple of days in a cabin in the woods, a second car for Albuquerque, a wonderful place to stay in the Albuquerque foothills with a gorgeous view of the Sandia mountains, seeing Andy Mineo in concert with my son, the ability to catch up with many friends, the chance to make some new friends and a great birthday celebration with my wife.

I am also grateful for the opportunity that the Lord has opened up for Donna and I to develop a new relationship with Center City Church in Albuquerque. We will be speaking there about what we do in Africa for about 10 minutes tomorrow (Oct 11, 2015). If any of you are in Albuquerque and would like to come hear us share, the service starts at 10AM. Center City Church is at: 5202 2nd St. NW, ABQ 87107. (Shares a building with a TV repair shop and garage). See map.

While I am truly grateful for what God has done, there are some difficulties that Donna and I are working through with some relationships.  Sadly, distance and time away sometimes takes its toll.  We would covet your prayers and wisdom concerning these.

Paul

If we could sum up our time in the states thus far in one word it would be thankful. All your prayers over the past few weeks are greatly appreciated. Praise God with us that the girls made it back to Kenya without incident and have settled back into life at boarding school. Rejoice with us that Nehemiah is loving university and has plugged in with the Third Culture Kid program at Oklahoma Christian University (OC). Give thanks with us that Donna and I have been able to share with churches and individuals what God has done and what we hope to see Him do.

In the next couple of weeks Donna and I are trying to meet up with a number of people in the North Texas area, spend some time with her parents and get a trip to OC in before we head off to New Mexico for the month of October. Please pray for the scheduling of meetings and the meetings themselves.

Your continued prayers for our transition to International Christian Ministries would also be appreciated. Pray that God would continue to grow our prayer team and our giving team.

Since our last prayer blog, we have seen six countries, two Canadian providences and five US States; granted for some of these places we only saw the soil/tarmac from an airport window. Donna and the kids were detained twice by Home Land Security and subsequently missed two flights (they were detained because their travel itinerary included a two hour layover in Turkey). Four bags spent eight days wandering through Airport Neverever Land. We have arrived at the wrong airport for a flight, demonstrating that it is not only the airlines who make mistakes. We have attended two conferences, hosted one graduation party and one reception for the Cox kids. We have experienced reverse culture shock. (Since when did churches have the stage lighting match the background color of the video screen during worship?) We have had sweet reunions and fellowship with friends and family members, made a few new friends, been encouraged by many and discouraged by finding some doors locked to places we thought were home.

In a week and half we will take Nehemiah to Oklahoma Christian University for him to start his college life. The next day we will put Micah Joy and Miriam on a plane to return to Kenya to continue high school at Rift Valley Academy while we remain in the States to share the vision of our work with Africa Theological Seminary and what the Lord has done the last three years with TWR. Then the following day, we half jokingly and half seriously say, we will cry.

Praise God with us that for all the miles and snafus we are well and God provided a few helpful people in the midst of Airport Neverever Land bureaucracy who were able to help us get on our way (special thanks to Edna in Houston who searched, found and forwarded our bags to us). Pray for Nehemiah as he starts university, pray for Micah Joy and Miriam as they travel and pray for Donna and I as we launch our kids different directions and then focus on sharing what God has done and the new vision of what He will be doing at Africa Theological Seminary.

Below Nehemiah and friends at graduation:

Below Nehemiah just after receiving his diploma:

Many thanks to those who prayed for Miriam’s passport. Praise be to God that Miriam received today an emergency passport and re-entry pass. We are thankful for the help we received from the US Embassy in Nairobi and Kenya Immigration. Soon (like really soon) we will be on our way back to the States.

Keep praying about us being in the background (see my last prayer blog for details) and glitches. Both seem to be on the rise.

We live in Africa and are used to things not going to plan, but sometimes life is glitch rich. Miriam applied for a new passport the first part of May and has yet to receive her new passport. Her current passport expires this week. In addition to needing a valid passport to travel, Miriam also needs her passport to get a new re-entry pass for Kenya so she can get in and out of Kenya. The US State Department is having problems with the passport system. We can get an emergency passport but we cannot get her entry pass put into it. Please pray that her passport comes in today or tomorrow or that Kenya Immigration will put the re-entry pass in her old passport!

We are returning to Kenya at the end of December, when we booked our tickets to come to the States we also booked our tickets to return. The airlines has canceled one of our return flights. After spending almost two hours on hold, the agent asked if it was OK to fly from Dallas to Newark have a three hour layover then fly from New York to Zurich and then on to Kenya. I did not catch the difference between Newark and New York and never in my wildest imagination would I be offered a three hour layover where I had to get baggage, get a taxi and recheck in for an international flight. So I said, OK that sounds great. Then I few minutes later I received an email with the itinerary and immediately called back and said this will not work. This has turned into quite an ordeal and countless hours on the phone with the end result being the airline is unwilling to change our tickets.

On top of these two issues, Donna has been sick, I have had computer issues plus all the normal getting ready for furlough stuff. Please pray that Donna and I are gracious and kind in our dealings with people and that there are no more glitches.

I could play the background…
and You can take the lead…

You pulled my card, I’m bluffing
You know what’s in my hand.
Me, I just roll to trust You, You cause the dice to land.
I’m in control of nothing. Follow You at any cost.
Some call it sovereign will, all I know is You the boss.
And man I’m so at ease. I’m so content.
I play the background like it’s an instrument.

Lecrae

This last week I have spent some time pondering Lecrae’s song Background and if I am really willing to play the background or do I try to be in the lead. It has been said that servanthood is measured by our response when others treat us like a servant. Now I have been around the Christian block enough times to know that when treated like a servant I should be gracious; and sometimes I muster enough poise to be. But even when I am poised, the screams from my heart for center stage must sound like the tantrum of a two-year old to God. What would it be like to serve and be treated like a servant and find joy. Pray that God moves me closer to this.

Paul

Being in the broadcast industry, downtime is a word with very negative connotations. Along with this, there is the ever annoying “I am away” autoresponse that we all receive at the most inconvenient times. However, for us humans, downtime and away time is a needed necessity. Starting on Friday afternoon and running through Sunday morning, Donna and I took some downtime and away time. We went to a nearby lodge, without computers or Internet to sleep, reflect, rest, read and pray. It was great to have some downtime and away time. Praise God with us for this time.

My significant struggle this month has been this nagging feeling that I am neither leaving TWR well nor starting at ICM well. Switching organizations is never an easy task. This task is complicated for those of us who raise support. It is not just us who switch. Lord willing, it is also supporters who switch. Pray that I would continue to trust God with this issue.

Last weekend was mid-term break at RVA and we had our three teenagers plus six friends for a long weekend. It was a busy, but great time. Below is a photo of the whole gang.

Lastly, in a few days I will go to South Sudan to do a technical evaluation of a FM station. My nephew and his family are involved with this station and other projects. Pray that I can be a real encouragement to the team who is working in South Sudan, help them with the technical aspects of the FM station and not be too much of a drain on the limited resources of housing, food and water.

Paul

As I have pondered over the last month, one of the recurring themes in my prayer and thought life has been how do I trust God with this. I mean really trust God; not just lip service that says “I trust God” then continues in the stress of life’s circumstances and everything that needs to be done. What does real dependence and faith in a God who loves me and wants the best for me look like in the middle of everything that is going on in my life? For a missionary switching organizations, getting ready to send his first born to university, having dealt with a post surgery infection, dealing with sick pets, having a car battery die, along with the normal living as a missionary overseas things; there was a lot of stuff in May with which to trust God. (Yes I know I switched to third person and you counseling types can interpret it as you wish.)

I could tell you how much I trusted God and about a fountain of joy overflowing from my heart in the midst of everything last month, but that would be a lie. I often found myself redoubling my efforts to get more “stuff” done, believing that more hours worked and more things checked off the to-do list would bring peace. It didn’t.

God was gracious and dropped me gentle reminders from time to time. Reminders that aided me to stop. Stop and simply pray: “You know God, I could really use some help here.” Help in believing that You really have this under control. Help in believing that You really are faithful. Help in really trusting You with all this stuff.

Praise God with me that He is faithful. Pray that I would not be stubborn and ask for His help more often.

Paul

This weekend Nehemiah, a couple of his friends and I went to see the new Avengers movie. It was a great guy bonding time watching and discussing an action film. Then Nehemiah and his friends spent the rest of the weekend with Donna and I. It was really good to have this time with Nehemiah and his friends, especially in light of Nehemiah leaving soon for university.

Drunk Cat Disease. Well there really is no such thing as Drunk Cat Disease, but that is what we are calling it. Late last week our cat, Asa, could not walk in a straight line, staggered while walking and would fall over while standing. For lack of a better description, Asa looked like he was drunk. The Vet said it could be a number of things from a simple fluid imbalance to a tumor. Given that there are no other symptoms, we are hoping for simple. Asa was given to Miriam when he was a small kitten by some Peace Corps friends when she was in Benin after her friends left Benin to return to their home countries and Nehemiah and Micah Joy both had left for RVA. Needless to say, Asa is a special cat to Miriam and the rest of the family is also pretty attached.

Praise God for the good “boy weekend” and pray for grace with the situation with Asa.

Paul

Praise be to God that Micah Joy is out of the hospital and heading home. She is feeling well and glad to be out of the hospital. (The food at the RVA cafeteria does not seem as bad after the puréed hospital food.) She will spend some time with us in Naivasha recovering before heading back to school. Thanks for all your prayers and continue to pray for her recovery and return to school.

Nehemiah continues to recover nicely and will get his stitches out on Thursday.

Donna and I had hoped for a relaxing and restful weekend, but the Lord had other plans for us. Pray that we will find rest in Him.

Paul

Below is a picture of Micah Joy having tea just before she left the hospital.

Saturday (2 May) afternoon we met with the maxillofacial surgeon and reviewed a CT scan. The scan showed a pocket of infection where an incision had been made during Micah Joy’s previous surgery. Late Saturday afternoon the surgeon did a minor surgery to clean out the infection. Given how advanced the infection was, the doctor wants Micah Joy to get another 24 hours of antibiotic via IV before leaving the hospital. We are meeting with the doctor later today. Lord willing, Micah Joy can leave the hospital Monday morning. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for Micah Joy’s complete healing.