Cox, kids 2-2166
Cox, Trent 2-2168
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A&M, Houston, Here we come!
Has it really been two weeks since we returned to TX following our Colorado-California road trip?? Wow. The days have really flown and now it’s time to hit the road again. Tomorrow we head to our beloved Bryan/College Station, home of Texas A&M University and the Fighting Texas Aggies. Whoop! (apologies to all you non-texans) We will be seeing old faculty friends at the vet school as well as meeting with current veterinary students and sharing with the Christian Veterinary Fellowship there on the 18th. After our time there, we will head to Houston to see more friends and supporters. If you live in the area and would like to get together, do give us a shout.
Back in Texas…
Well, we survived the terribly desolate, starbucks-mcdonalds-anything really-deprived drive along Interstate-10 from Los Angeles to Texas. Phew. It’s got to be the most barren stretch of highway in the whole US. Miles and miles of nothing. No cell service. No bathrooms. And no caffeine. At least there weren’t people or animals on the road! And yet, every once in a while it struck us as beautiful, in a desolate, desert sort of way. I mean if you like cactus, and all kinds of rock and sand, and want to be by yourself, Arizona is definitely the place to be. New Mexico too, you can have your pick!
My mom had fallen ill Sunday with what she thought was a 24 hr flu. But, by the time my brother visited on Wednesday, she was only worse and her newly placed defibrillator had gone off twice (ouch), alerting her to the fact all was not right. Her sister came to take her to the hospital, but upon seeing her decided to call the ambulance instead. We were about 6 hours out, following the drama via cell phone updates from my brother. So much for getting off the road and relaxing! Before I go any further, I should say, that my mom is stable and doing well, just very tired. They are treating her for a kidney infection and trying to get her heart to cooperate with her meds and get her tummy settled so that her appetite returns and she can keep her food down. They expect to keep her for a few days, so we would appreciate your prayers for her speedy recovery. She told me today, “I just want to be well.” She’s so anxious to be with her grandkids and had been so looking forward to our return. Please pray she’ll get the rest she needs and be able to come home soon.
After visiting mom, the next order of business was a visit to Mr. Mike Paulson, CPA, to file our taxes. My Aunt and Uncle babysat the kids, treating them to happy meals and a trip to the park, while we took care of business. My kids are well on their way to making up for all the hamburgers they did without living in Alduba 
We will stay here in Flower Mound for the next 2 weeks before heading down to Bryan/College Station and then Houston. Looking forward to being off the road for a bit.
The San Diego Safari Park…
So after a tearful goodbye, we left “Miss Marion” in Redwood City last Thursday and headed South. Our first stop was Los Osos where we visited friends before heading further south to LA where we were able to share with a wonderful group of ladies in Whittier. Yesterday we arrived in San Diego (Escondido) and were blessed to have the day off today, so we decided to take the kids to the San Diego Zoo. We were further blessed by our hostess here who had passes for the nearby San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Fully aware of the irony of coming from Africa and then going to the Safari Park, we gladly accepted the free tickets and loaded in the van. It was great fun and the kids loved it.
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Tomorrow we head North to Arcadia to spend a few days with friends and then point our mini-van toward Texas, making a few stops along the way in Phoenix and Alamogordo. It’s been a lot of fun reconnecting with friends and supporters out here on the west coast. We’re looking forward to doing the same in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas in April and May.
Garsho and Jack
Tabby and I have shared the following story with some of our supporters and now we’d like to share it with the rest of you as well. The picture above is Garsho and Lily.
Garsho was hired as a guard on our SIM compound in Alduba about three years ago. Garsho is unique in that he is the only non-believer working on the compound. We hired Garsho because of an outcry from the non-believing community about our only employing believers. In hind sight, it was one of the wisest decision we never made. Jack and Lily have embraced Garsho like family and likewise his love for them is unmistakable.
Another wise decision was to begin using Ben Skagg’s Chronological Presentation of the Gospel (http://chronologicalproject.tumblr.com/) in our outreach to the Nyangatom people. The CPG material is adapted from the New Tribes Mission’s Firm Foundations Bible study which “is a unique and effective Bible study series that centers on God’s progressive revelation of His character and plan of redemption from Creation to Christ”. To familiarize myself with the material I decided to start teaching it to Jack in the evenings. The books were great right from the start. With no more than 20 minutes I could finish each lesson right before Jack’s bedtime. With each new revelation of God’s character and plan, Jack would interrupt me and process each additional bit of information to fit his little mind. I could hardly get through a lesson. Somewhere near lesson 15 of our 68 lessons, Jack started weeping crocodile tears on the couch as he sat next to me. “Oh Daddy, what are we going to do. I don’t want to go to the lake of eternal fire” sobbed my little boy as he contemplated the horrors of what that might mean. “But Jack we don’t have to go to the lake of eternal fire, God has provided another destination” And as I slowly recounted the redeeming result of Jesus’ taking on himself the wrath of God so that we might live eternally with Him, Jack’s tears turned to joy. “Does Mom know about God’s way” he asked with the greatest concern. “Yes she knows God’s way” I assured him. For the next few minutes he went through every name he could think of asking me to confirm where each stood in relation to God’s way. Fortunately I was able to assure him that all he named had knowledge of God’s way. But finally, we came to Garsho. After hearing that Garsho did not follow God’s way, Jack was heart broken. “Dad we need to tell him about God’s way” Jack informed me. So I started telling Jack the sad truth, that there are many people that have heard about God’s way, yet they choose to follow their own way instead. To his credit, Jack’s love for Garsho would not allow him to accept this piece of information, so Jack decided to take matters into his own hands.
Sometime latter, Tabby strolled out of the back door of our house and found Garsho and Jack sitting together in the gojo bet (grass roof hut where we eat lunch). As Tabby got closer she realized that Jack was telling Garsho about God’s way in perfect Banna. In his own way, Jack warned Garsho that a place of everlasting fire and horror awaited mankind, but that God had provided a path to life through His son Jesus. It was the most beautiful thing as Tabby recounted the story through tears. Garsho hugged Jack and acknowledged that he knew about Jesus and that he needed to follow Jesus. I wish that I could report that Garsho embraced the truth that day, but unfortunately, like many Bunna men and women, Garsho remains unable to pay the cost. Unlike in America, a Bunna man that embraces Jesus, realizes that he must leave everything else behind. Forsaking everything else to follow Jesus, even family, is a practical reality to the Bunna. The non-believing community and culture doesn’t allow room for living with one foot in two worlds. Both demand absolute and exclusive devotion. I wonder how in America we get around this idea of complete devotion to Jesus?
Trent
A dollar is not a dollar
On the road meeting with supporters, I keep having this recurring image/dream of a Daddy Warbucks type who strolls up and introduces himself at the end of one of our presentations and reveals that God has just spoken to him through our words and now he would like to cover all of our expenses for the next 10 years. All of the sudden, he whips out a really large cardboard check, one like you see on television (when the donor really wants everyone to know who they are and how much they’re giving). Written in the exaggerated box on the right hand side of the check is a number with endless zeros. All of this is followed by a firm pat on the back and an assuring word from my smiling Albert Finney look-alike,”Your financial worries are over, my boy, so just get out there and focus on your job.”….. And then I wake up.
With few exceptions, deputation and the search for supporters, is probably the least esteemed aspect of the life of any missionary. That’s not to say that other missionaries are having visions like mine, but I’m guessing that most missionaries would be willing to accept funding from the man in my dreams. Our personal experience however, has not involved a Warbucks type. Instead what God has used to fund our work thus far has largely been individuals writing small checks. Some of these folks have shared with us recently that they are struggling to make house payments. And yet they continue to give to our ministry. I can’t imagine someone releasing the last dollar from their hand with no assurance when they will find another with which to make their mortgage payment. I am blown away by this kind of faith. It reminds me of a well known passage from the Gospel of Mark that actually affirms this type of giving. Of the poor lady that placed two small copper coins in the offering at the synagogue, Jesus said that she gave more than all the others who had actually added more to the treasury. The reality is that Jesus assigns more value to money given out of poverty than that given from riches. I think Jesus likes to see us give from a position of financial need as an act of faith. He wants us to be willing to personally sacrifice to see the kingdom of God advanced; God’s priorities over our own. Think about what such an act declares to the heavenly hosts. The powers, authorities and principalities must literally shake in their sandals.
Trent
Practicing, not just preaching.
One goal of our furlough time is to encourage people to take an interest in global missions. So as you might imagine, the question of how to stimulate such an interest comes up quite often in our discussions. This past Sunday, while driving to speak at a Church in South San Francisco, Tabby and I once again returned to this familiar topic. But this time I was convicted that I was not practicing the very thing that I was aiming to preach. The most important means of engaging in global missions is by praying for fieldworkers. This is something that both Tabby and I affirm in almost every conversation having to do with our ministry. However, when I examine my own behavior I have found this activity conspicuously absent. As fieldworkers for Christian Veterinary Mission, we receive a packet of 50 plus prayer letters every other month. In 10 years on the field, I have rarely found myself consistently reading any missionary family’s prayer letter. Nor have I found myself praying for any family from the packet with consistency. Now that I have discovered this terrible oversight, I am now looking for a way to correct my hypocrisy and here’s what I’ve decided to do. Starting this week, I am going to pick a missionary family to pray for in the year ahead. I am also going to read every letter that comes from this family and learn what are their greatest prayer needs. This family will be like my own project. I can email them and ask how their prayer requests were answered so that I can rejoice with them when God answers my prayers. I am going to take ownership of their ministry goals and I am going to rightly claim a part in their work as God expands His kingdom through their ministry. After all, we are partners in the ministry.
Now let me end this posting by issuing a similar challenge to you. Pick a missionary family. Go to the back of your Church sanctuary and pull a prayer card off of the bulletin board or stop by the Church office and get a name from your missions pastor. It’s easy really. You can even go online and search for missionaries where you’ll find hundreds if not thousands of options. Next, commit to praying for one year for this specific missionary/or family. Most missionaries send out prayer letters quarterly or at the most monthly, so you’re not looking at a great investment of time. It should take no more than 10 minutes to read and pray for these folks. Just think, 10 minutes invested in prayer for global missions so that you can play a part in hastening the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Who could refuse such an opportunity!
Blessings,
Trent
Travel plans…
Hello there, friends. It’s been a long time since I’ve picked up the pen to write, or shall I say keyboard. Thankfully Trent has taken it upon himself to write some posts since we’ve been home, but I thought I’d take the chance today to give you a bit of a family update.
It’s been a busy 3 months since we arrived in the states with countless new sights, sounds, and tastes for the kiddos. The adjustments have been many, but Jack and Lily have taken it all in stride. And been hugely blessed along the way with many new friends.
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We’re currently in Redwood City visiting friends and supporters from our home church, Peninsula Covenant. It’s been so great to reconnect with folks face to face. We will be here through the middle of March and then make our way south to Los Osos, LA, San Diego, Arcadia and San Bernardino. The last week of March, we head back to TX via Phoenix and Alamogordo, NM.
April will find us traveling to all the major cities in Texas: Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and of course, Bryan/College Station May will take us to Oklahoma and Kansas and then May 30th – June 2nd we’ll be in New Orleans for the ACVIM Vet Meeting. Whew! I’m tired thinking of it! And excited at the same time. Be sure to give us a shout if you’d like to get together. Visiting with folks is definitely the highlight to all this travel and the singular reason we do it.
Here’s hoping we see as many of you as we can in the next few months,
Tabby
Pray for the Horn of Africa
Hey folks, I can only guess how busy your April will be with the Spring arriving and flowers blooming. How about joining us for a month of focused prayer for the Horn of Africa. The following website will give you some prayer ideas: www.prayforthehorn.com
When you pray for the Horn of Africa, you are praying for our area as well. May God give you the heart to commit to this and may He change our part of the world because of your earnest prayers.
Blessings,
Trent
Micky D’s and Red Box
If you think sitting in a car for 10 hours a day traveling across America is challenging, then try doing it with a 5 and a 2-year old. Children this young were just not made to sit strapped in a car seat for that many hours. Thankfully, here in the good ol’ US of A, there is McDonalds and Red Box. I have not always been a fan of the fare of the “home of the golden arches”, but when it comes to breaks there is not a more welcoming site on the road. Driving across Nevada, where there are mile after mile of wide open empty spaces, you can find a McD’s just about every 50 or so miles. And now there is the equally ubiquitous Red Box. So, after 30 minutes of fun and exercise in playland, the kiddos can pile back in car and enjoy the latest in family videos to help pass the next two hours of travel. Oh, and did I mention the bathrooms and $1 coffee. Now, I am the kinda guy that can tune out the passing traffic on any thoroughfare as I dampen the roadside shoulder, but my wife on-the-other-hand, tends to be more self-conscience about such things. So as the expert in bathroom affairs, she gives a hearty thumbs-up to the McDonald’s toilets. She regularly comments about how consistently sanitized are their potties, in fact she can hardly pass the place without needing a break. Finally, who needs Starbuck’s when you can find an equally delicious caffeine fix For a third of the price. So, as we depart the Micky D’s in Elko, NV, I leave you with a picture that says it all about my children’s attitude toward their new favorite restaurant. BTW, I would’nt be able to send this blog post if the aforementioned didn’t have a wifi at every eatery as well.
Blessings from the road, Trent and family
