We had a wonderful trip traveling through the states. On Thursday, we stopped at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and then continued on to Salina, KS. There we met some wonderful people from Abilene BIC and Zion BIC who took us in, fed the mission group, and took us to their homes where we showered. We then left that night and arrived at Colorado Springs on Friday at around 7:00am. After breakfast, we stopped at 'The Garden of the Gods' and WOW! What an eye-opener of God's Design of the mountains and sculptor of his hands. It is indeed a beautiful sight! We then stopped and toured Focus on the Family. That was an interesting experience. We stayed that night at YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and left the next morning, We arrived at the BIC Navajo Mission Saturday morning.

Must tell you--teaming up with E-Town BIC just for the bus trip alone was a pleasing time in fellowship and getting to know each other, but the challenges we faced the next two days were unexpected for both churches.

Saturday night, we had a group meeting planning our days and what we were going to do. The next day (Sunday morning), Dorine and I took one of the mission's vehicles to town (which, by the way, is a good 50-60 minutes drive and then to Sam's Club or Wal-Mart is another 15-20 mins.). On the way, the brakes gave out--so we continued. Ha-Ha! That was just the beginning! When we got back, we heard how another couple had taken the other mission vehicle and it had broken down along the highway about 7 miles away from the mission. It had the rear axel lock up at 70 mph and caught the grease on fire (the fire went out after the grease was gone)! Thank God no one was hurt! So then the mechanic crew started a day early (Sunday). The mission has a school bus, a Chevy Suburban, and a Dodge van, which we had planned to use for transporting the VBS children this week. With two of them out of commission, we were still counting on the school bus for transportation. Then, on Monday, on the way to get supplies with the bus, I got a call that the school bus had blown a left front tire while driving. Again, we thank GOD that no one was hurt!

We then had one of the VBS leaders fall during the play time with the children. He hurt himself with scratches and open cuts on his arms and legs. While the roofing guys were up on the roof today installing metal roofing, they had to stop due to the heat. It was so intense that the metal was too hot to handle. They decided to wait until after dinner to start again, but after dinner we got high gusts of winds and had to weigh down the precut roofing so it wouldn't blow away. That put them a half day behind schedule. Then some other minor things came up--like another blown tire on a trailer transporting the axel assembly on the way back on the highway. To top it off, I was told tonight that Duane's wife Diane, who has been in the hospital for a couple weeks, has not woken up this afternoon. We are not sure the full status of her condition yet.

So, dear Brothers and Sisters, we had expected some spiritual warfare, but not quite like this! So early tomorrow morning, we are going to have a deep prayer time for our mission, for healing, not to get discouraged or frustrated, and a lot of other things. We only ask that you pray for us and that God will intervene in the enemy's plans.

The scripture verse that came to me during reading time tonight was Deut 33:27--The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, "Destroy him!"

We are in good spirits and plan to finish this mission that we were sent here to do and, with God's help and lots of prayers, we know it will get done.

I must tell you that I wouldn't want any other mission team to work with than the ones we have now. The E-town BIC people are wonderful to work with.

Agape,
George