April/May '04

[Sabrina's sister, Ashley, w/ Joseph] These last two months allowed us to spend most of the time in our two home states of Mississippi and Louisiana. Due to a rescheduling, I had the great privilege of attending all day and speaking during the Sunday school hour at our home church on Mother’s Day. It is always a joy to preach for my pastor, one of my heroes. It seems that holidays have been the only times that we have happened to be without a meeting.

On Easter Sunday afternoon—of all occasions—Sabrina and I also experienced the momentous occurrence of our first car collision since we’ve been married. Unbearable embarrassment on my part is hindering me from telling you whose fault it was! Thankfully, no one was hurt, and we didn’t miss our meeting. Afterwards, within about a six week span, our van had two breakdowns not related to the accident. During the car trouble, two churches stepped in and helped greatly (special thanks to Philadelphia Baptist in Opelika, Alabama, and Grace Baptist in Sulphur, Louisiana). The similar problems were solved and paid for, and the van has done fine since. It has become a more serious thing for me to ask God for traveling mercies upon us and other missionaries.

At the end of May, Sabrina and I had the excitement of being a part of the Summer Missionary Institute for Training and Evangelism (S.M.I.T.E.). A few dozen teens and workers from our home church attended the week, during which the teenagers were trained in the mornings on how to do Bible clubs, and they then split into teams and conducted the clubs in the afternoons. The team with which I worked as a counselor saw at least a dozen kids get saved.

God has already allowed us to practically fill our schedule through the end of 2004 with church meetings. Please continue to pray for our goal to have our support raised by the end of January. Your faithful prayers have helped to make deputation successful in many ways for us.

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