Most of you know that we are full time missionaries and mainly serve in a small town in Tennessee. What many of you don't know is what we do from day to day. Well, really, what we do day to day can change depending on the season. Our summers are much different than what we do during the school year. I will be writing about our summers soon, but first I wanted to share a newsletter with you all that was written late last spring. It's rather long, but I think that after you read it you will understand what I mean by our lives being crazy at times. Enjoy reading and please feel free to leave a comment.
Hello
Precious Prayer and Financial Supporters,
While
visiting with our pastor and Good News Mission committee member, Tim
Buford, I was telling him about a recent day here at the mission. He
sat there with an amazed look on his face and told me that I needed
to write that down and send it to our prayer and financial
supporters. He reminded me that so many people don't realize what
goes on from day to day at the mission and that they needed to hear
stories like this. So, here is a day in the life of Good News
Mission.
The
day began with me heading over to the mission building to
make
coffee. I usually make the coffee over their because we have
frequent
visitors and a cup of coffee is often a welcome drink while
we
sit and talk. For those who may have never visited, our mission
building
is attached to our home, but we have to walk outside to
enter
it. Somewhat inconvenient but we are very happy for a
wonderful
building like that to use.
As
I entered the building I found that Joanne was already there with
the
dishes washed and the kitchen area cleaned. Joanne and her
husband,
Mike, have had a difficult time lately. They have attended
the
mission for a few years and used to live here in the projects but
were
asked to leave. Since then they, until recently, have been
basically
homeless and jobless. Their four children are living in foster care
until they can get on their feet, find suitable jobs, and find a
suitable
home for the family to live. A precious volunteer, Judy
Moeller,
has been helping us to guide them in finding jobs and a
better
place to live so that their family can once again be together.
They
had been using the mission as a home base and doing odd
jobs
around the mission to make a little extra money in the
meantime.
Since then, Joanne has found a job in a local factory. Mike does odd
jobs for friends and relatives but is still looking for a permanent
job. Unfortunately they only had enough money to turn the electricity
on so for the time being they are using our restroom and shower. They
are both hard workers but have made some unwise choices. Pray
that they can
find
a larger place for their family, better jobs or extra jobs, and
be
able to meet all of the requirements for their family to be
reunited.
It's
a delicate balance between helping/encouraging and enabling.
We
try to guide, advise and help the people that attend the mission
while
they do the work. Pray
that God will continue to give us and
our
volunteers wisdom in how to help and advise the folks that
we
work with.
Miss
Glenda happened to see Mike and Joanne's truck so decided
to
come up for a visit. Miss Glenda is the "Grandma" of the
projects.
Until
this past summer she would frequently get up at three in the
morning
to sweep the sidewalks of the projects and collect cans to
make
a little extra money. She tells a story of how a car pulled up
behind
her one early morning while she was sweeping. It was the
city
police. When asked what she was doing, she matter of factly
answered
"I'm cleaning the sidewalks". When asked why she was
doing
it at three in the morning she just shrugged her shoulders and
said
"I reckon it's as good of time as any" and went back to
sweeping.
The policemen politely told her to be careful and left her
to
her job.
Last
summer, however, Miss Glenda fell and broke her shoulder and
then,
later, broke a vertebrae in her back. It's been a hard row to hoe,
but,
after many months of bed rest she is back on her feet and once
again
walking all over the place. She can't do as much as she would
like
but she visits and encourages her neighbors and is still the
"Grandma"
of the neighborhood.
Miss
Glenda and I visited for a while and then, before she left, I filled
a
bag with groceries from our food closet. Pray
for Miss Glenda's
continued
healing and pray for her food situation. Since she is
back
on her feet her insurance decided that she is able to care
for
herself and therefore doesn't need a home health nurse nor
needs
to be on Meals on Wheels anymore.
Soon
after Miss Glenda left I saw a face peering in through the
mission
window and then heard a knock on the door. There stood a
young
man in his twenties. He said that he was curious. He had
passed
by our building several times and wondered what it was. I
explained
that we had weekly Bible studies, a clothes closet, and a
food
closet. When I mentioned a food closet his ears perked up.
"Food?
Could I have a little food? I'm homeless and live the woods
outside
of town." Back into the food closet I went. He said he had a
can
opener, so I began looking for canned food that didn't need to be
cooked.
I had put about five or six cans into the bag when he asked
me
to stop. He explained that he still had a long ways to walk and
didn't
want to be weighed down too much. Then he left and was
gone.
Pray
for that homeless boy. Pray that perhaps he will stop
by
again so that we can minister to him more.
A
few minutes later a heard the laughter of children outside. I looked
out
the window and their were a group of children from the "Double
Deckers"
going to visit a friend of their's who had recently moved to a
house
two doors down from us. The "Double Deckers" are a group of
low
income apartments about two blocks away from us. Until a few
years
ago the people who lived their were very closed minded about
our
ministry at Good News Mission. Whenever we would go to visit
or
pass out flyers they would run into their homes and close and lock
their
doors. Sarah and I continued to pray that the doors to their
hearts
and the doors to their homes would open and about three
years
ago God did just that. God opened the hearts of the parents to
allow
about 20 of them to come to the day camps that we have
during
the summer and from then on we have slowly began to
develop
a relationship with the families. Recently, however, a few of
the
families have been evicted but thankfully are moving to areas
close
by. Pray
that we can continue ministering to the families
that
had to move. Pray that the new families that move in will be
open
to our ministry.
A
little later Lauri and her daughter Patricia stopped by for a visit.
Laurie
has had a tough life but is doing her best to serve the Lord to
the
best of her ability. She is widowed and lives with her mentally
and
physically disabled daughter Patricia and with new husband. She and
Harley recently married because Lauri wanted to do what was right in
God's eyes. She also has two other daughters that we
know
and that live locally. Laurie used to live in the projects and still
often
attends the mission and visits Sarah for counseling and advice.
That
particular day was a distressing day for her. Her daughter's
fiance
had just been diagnosed with cancer. Three years ago her
other
daughter's husband died of cancer and that memory was fresh
in
her mind. We sat and talked for a while before Laurie left for home
to
get ready for church that evening. Unfortunately her day was about
to
get worse.
A
few minutes after Laurie left we got a phone call. It was Laurie, in
tears,
saying that one of her best friends had been flown by medical
helicopter
to Nashville because her heart had stopped. Once again
Sarah
counseled her over the phone. Once she was calmed down
she
hung up to go to church. About an hour later, though, I got a call
from
her daughter telling us that she was missing. She hadn't arrived
at
church and she wasn't at home. She asked if she was at the
mission.
Unfortunately she was not. I was about to drive to her home
to
make sure she was okay when she pulled up in the mission
parking
lot. She hadn't been missing at all! She just arrived late for
church
so the folks who usually greeted her hadn't seen her. The
incident
provided a little levity in Laurie's day. She came to talk more
about
her friend so we piled in the car, went to McDonald's and
talked
for an hour over a soft drink and fries. Pray
for Laurie's
future
son-in-law who has cancer. Pray for her friend who,
thankfully,
is now back home. Pray for Lauri and Harley as they strive to live
for the Lord.
You
might think that would be the end of our day but while we were
at
McDonalds we got a call from our oldest, John Allen, asking if
Danny
could come in. Danny is a 21 year old boy whom we met
about
two years ago. Interestingly enough, he as asperger's
syndrome
(on the autism spectrum) just like Joshua our middle
child.
Asperger's children often have difficulty understanding how to
act
in social situations and Danny is a classic asperger's child. He
often
doesn't understand why we do things and also doesn't always
understand
why his mother, sister, and brother-in-law do the things
they
do. Therefore, when telling us how things are going at home, he
doesn't
always explain things accurately. We often don't know if what
he
says is totally accurate or if he is just misunderstanding a
situation.
However, we have been able to piece together enough
from
friends and neighbors to know that things aren't always great in
his
household. Danny has become great friends with John Allen and
is
often at our home visiting and ends up staying for a meal. Pray
that
God would give us patience as we often are dealing with not
two
but three young people who are on the autism spectrum.
Pray
that there will be open doors to minister to Danny's family
as
well.
I
honestly can't remember how much homeschooling or work around the
house got done that day or, for that matter, any other day but,
although those days are becoming the norm, somehow it is all getting
done. Summer plans are also being made as well. Below you will find
our summer schedule so far as well as a few other prayer requests on
top of the ones listed above. As always, we covet your prayers for
our family and our ministry at Good News Mission. Thank you, again,
for being faithful friends and supporters.
In
His Service,
The
Tinkel's - Tim, Sarah, John Allen, Joshua, and Jacob
Additional
Prayer Requests and Praises
-
John Allen is once again planning on working at Cortland Bible Club
Camp (a BCM camp) in upstate New York for a few weeks this summer. It
has been a joy to see him grow and desire to serve the Lord in
mission work. Please pray for traveling finances.
-
We have been asked to come back and work at another BCM camp in
Canada - Mill Stream Bible Camp - this August. Pray also for
traveling finances as well as finances to travel and visit my sister
in New Jersey the week afterward and then on to BCM's North American
conference the week after that.
-
Please praise the Lord with us that the problems that Joshua was
having last summer all seem to have been taken care of with the
change back to his old medicine. He had to switch medicine because
there was a nationwide shortage of the medication that he had been
taking. Thankfully that seems to be resolved and he was able to
switch back. Pray that their will not be another shortage of the
medication that he is on because there doesn't appear to be any other
medication that works for him.
-
I have been taking our dog, Jojo, for daily walks around the
projects. It has opened many doors for me to stop and visit with some
of the folks that are new to the projects or don't come to the
mission regularly. Another local ministry who weekly picks up day old
bread and distributes it to low income families has contacted us
about distributing some of their extra bread to the folks in the
projects. Almost weekly we have been able to pass out bread to folks
in our neighborhood and to others that we know of that are needy.
Pray for these walks as well and pray that the bread deliveries can
continue. Pray with us as we are facing another busy but exciting
summer.
Here
is our schedule:
June
and July - The local school has contacted us once again to see if
we
would like to be part of their summer lunch program. This has been
a
very valuable tool into getting to know the families with children
who
live
in our area.
June
16-20 Day Camp 1 at Good News Mission
July
7-11 Day Camp 2 at Good News Mission
July
13-17 We will be directing a VBS in our church, The Bridge
Community
Church, where we will be transporting the kids from the
projects.
July
18 - Taking John Allen to Cortland Bible Club
Camp
in upstate New York
July
20 - August 8 - John Allen at Cortland Bible Club
Camp.
We plan on working there for a week as well but we are not sure
if
it will be the week we take him up or the week we pick him up.
August
10-16 Mill Stream Bible Camp in Canada - Tim serving as Bible
Teacher,
Sarah working in the kitchen, John Allen working in
maintenance,
Joshua going to camp and Jacob hanging out.
August
17-23 Playing tourist and visiting my sister in New Jersey
August
24-29 BCM's North American Missionary Conference in
Pennsylvania
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