A number of my Elements of Greek students are really struggling with the material and the pace of the class. Pray that God would strengthen them and help them with their endeavors to more accurately teach and preach God’s Word.
Donna and I have to remind ourselves that things just take longer here in Africa. So when we were told, at the beginning of January, that our rental house would be ready in three weeks, we took that to mean it will probably be five or six weeks. Well, we are now on week eight and we are not sure how much longer it will take. Suitcase living is getting a bit old!
Some of the delays have been the typical finishing a house things (waiting on the electric company to connect power, trouble getting a contractor to finish, etc…). Other delays, … well … lets just credit them to living in a fallen world. Pray for Donna and I to have rightful attitudes, perspectives and words. Pray that our house would be ready soon.
The other thing that has taken longer than we planned is shipping my motorcycle to Kenya. While I was in the States I bought a motorcycle and crated it up to be shipped to Kenya (motorcycles are crazy expensive in Kenya). Another thing that has taken much longer than planned is finding a shipper to move it from Callisburg, Texas to Nairobi, Kenya. Hopefully we are close to getting it shipped. Ask God to help complete the final details of the shipping.
Lastly, one of our desires is to be able to more easily visit our students where they minister. Some of these places can be difficult to access due to poor roads, especially in the rainy season. So we are in the process of a vehicle upgrade-downgrade. The plan is to sell our vehicle, add in an additional $6,000 and then upgrade to a more robust four-wheel drive (with winch). To put this endeavor within our means, we are downgrading the interior creature comforts. This downgrade also makes the vehicle more practical in that you can load up a bunch of people with mud on their boots without worrying about the interior and simply wash the mud out with a hose.
Praise God with us for the means for this upgrade-downgrade. Pray for all the logistics of this deal. We believe we have a buyer for our current vehicle and we have found a great used four-wheel drive that is in good condition and within our means. If any of you are interested in helping with this endeavor financially, funds can be given to our Ministry Expense account. Details of giving to this account (and giving to our other accounts) can be found at http://cox-net.com/get_involved.htm.
We are often reminded by what a great team of encouragers we have; prayer, notes financial, etc… We are blessed! Thank You!
Grace & Peace — Paul