Printed Literature, Gospel Gazette & Maywood

Monday, April 30, Martha and I drove to Nashville, Tennessee. There we unloaded many thousands of Christian books, Gospel magazines, biblically relevant tracts and such like. We place the literature into five shipping barrels. The agent for Caribbean Shipping Service will haul them to Miami, whereupon they will be placed on an ocean freighter. About a month after leaving port, the drums will arrive in Georgetown, Guyana, South America. Brother Nigel Milo and the Amelia’s Ward Church of Christ in Liden, Guyana will retrieve the materials and distribute them to churches of Christ throughout the tropical nation.

Tuesday, May 1, Martha and I finished driving to Maywood Christian Camp outside of Hamilton, Alabama. For two days, others and we helped make ready for the beginning of our annual missionary retreat. As important as cleaning, etc. is the fellowship we experience with those especially devoted to carrying the Gospel abroad.

Wednesday evening, Martha and I made an unannounced visit with the Bear Creek Church of Christ in Bear Creek, Alabama. These good brethren support the original World Evangelism work as well as the labors for Christ in which we engage.

For several days, I have been putting together the May edition of Gospel Gazette Online. Rebecca Rushmore, my daughter, proofs it for me, finding several mistakes that I miss. Finally, late Wednesday night, Gospel Gazette Online was officially published for the world to see and to use. It is available without charge to the user for anyone and everyone around the world who has access to the Internet. Now in the 20^th year of continuous online publication, thousands of pages are preserved in the Archive besides the content of each new monthly issue of the journal.

We keep busy, and we like it that way. Martha and I want little else than to be useful tools in the hands of our Almighty God.

Our Visit to the Helen Keller Museum

Louis and I spent three days in Florence, Alabama at the India Mission Workshop. There were approximately 60 present at different sessions of the program. This was a very enjoyable and informative for all. At the end of day three, we packed up and went back to our motel to change and then to go to Red Lobster for supper. Then, it was back to the motel to clean up and get ready for bed. It was much needed sleep, as we both hurt and were very tired.

When we initially arrived at the motel days earlier and while waiting on Louis to park the van, I picked up a brochure on the birthplace of Helen Keller. It is in Tuscumbia, Alabama. I thought this would be an interesting and a different activity for us to do before leaving for Winona. On one occasion, I tried to ask Louis, “How far out of the way was it to go to Tuscumbia when we go home?” I had a rough time saying “Tuscumbia” for some reason; I kept getting tongue-tied.

Up early, we began packing and getting everything ready for our 11:00 a.m. checkout. We got off our route in Tuscumbia to visit the birthplace and home of Helen Keller. This was such a pleasurable and interesting time. I was amazed at all this one lady accomplished in her lifetime.

The museum is on ten acres of land, though once the estate consisted originally of 640 acres. The house and other buildings on the property were so neat and beautiful. They had walkways all around the property. One could get more information before heading into the main house or after depending whether a visitor went in the front door or backdoor of the house. We walked around the outside first, then entered in the backdoor of the museum.

We were led on a short tour and told of the upstairs. We decided to go upstairs to see the bedrooms and the sewing room. The steps were very steep, as in most old houses.

Some interesting facts include: Helen Keller lost her hearing and sight at the very young age of 19 months. She had a very serious illness that caused these loses. Of course, having such handicaps, she was a very spoiled little girl.

At the age of 6, Miss Keller’s parents contacted Alexander Graham Bell, and he suggested they contact the Perkins Institute for the deaf and blind. The Institute staff suggested that they hire a young woman named Anne Sullivan to help care for Helen and to teach her what she could. Anne Sullivan is known as a “miracle worker” that helped Helen Keller to rise out of total darkness to be such an inspiration that she is to many Americans and throughout the whole world.

There was a small house right next to the main house. Anne asked Helen’s parents to let her take Helen to live next door and to work with her by herself. Helen’s parents agreed, and since the house was only a few yards away from the main house, Helen was placed in the car and driven for hours to make her think that they had gone a long way off. Her parents were amazed at how mush she learned in such a short time with Anne Sullivan.

It was amazing how much this one blind and deaf lady did in her lifetime. By the age of ten, she had learned braille, also the manual alphabet and learned to use a typewriter. When Helen was 16, she could speak well enough to go to a preparatory school and then on to Radcliff College, from which she graduated cum laude in 1906. Helen got the Lions Club (which is an international organization) involved in helping with the blind. She authored twelve books; she became a public speaker; she had spoken in over 25 countries and on five continents, and Helen was an advocate for equality. Miss Keller also met with many presidents. What a full life Helen Keller led. She did not let her handicap hold her back. Just think what we could do if we used our abilities like Helen used her abilities!

I really enjoyed the Helen Keller Museum. I recommend it to anyone who is the area of Tuscumbia, Alabama to visit this national, historic site. It is a wonderful place for learning our national history. Louis and I enjoyed ourselves. We headed to our Winona home with much anticipation of our own bed and rest.

We thank all for the prayers, encouragement and financial support. It is because of you that we can go into foreign countries and spread the Word of God. Glory be to God.

Dear Ones

Sunday morning, April 22, Martha and I headed off from Winona, Mississippi through rain showers. As we often do when we are not traveling for speaking appointments, we assembled with the Old Union Church of Christ deep in the woods of Carroll County—one county west from where we reside. The gravel-sprinkled mud roads were a little slippery; once traversing the same byways minus the gravel was like driving on very dirty ice—lots of sliding and little control.

Today, I presented my newest PowerPoint on missions—finished it late last night, or so I thought. I adjusted it at the meetinghouse and even later after returning home. The PowerPoint was a summary of 2017 fall trips and 2018 spring excursions abroad—Guyana, Myanmar, Singapore, India and Guyana again. That was the subject of the Bible class hour. During worship, I preached about “Bible Authority.”

This little congregation of about 30 souls is an unsurpassed encourager and supporter of my efforts for the cause of Christ. Further, since this is the church with which we worshipped often over the past 10+ years, I’ve taught and preached more of my recent lessons stateside at this location. Usually, the lessons prepared for overseas edification of brethren are some of the ones I use in the States.

Overseas and in the USA, I am blessed by association with some of the most personally uplifting children of God that one could imagine. Members of the Old Union Church of Christ are some of these dear ones.

An Edifying & Encouraging Week

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Tuesday through Thursday, Martha and I convened with brethren of like mind. We came together in a northern Alabama city. We spent morning, afternoon and evening with each other. Tiresome, sure, but the hours spent in one another’s company proved to be edifying and encouraging.

This was the most gratifying gathering of the sort that I had attended. In addition, the food was phenomenal! It was good for us to be there, and I believe that each of the attendees felt the same.

Sunday—Monday

Sunday morning, April 15, Martha and I drove from Winona, Mississippi to Greenwood, Mississippi. It was my privilege to assemble once more with the brethren of the West President Church of Christ, and it was my honor to present a message from God’s Word during worship. I preached about “Bible Authority”—a fundamental message to Christian faith and practice. Nothing else I do is more enjoyable for me than to teach, preach or write biblical lessons. I set out to glorify God and to edify all present, including myself.

After lunch on the grounds following worship, Martha and I pointed the car toward the southside of Jackson, Mississippi. That afternoon, we met with the elders and deacons of the Siwell Road Church of Christ; the elders oversee Martha and me as we endeavor to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. That evening, we worshipped with our dear brethren at that congregation.

We were treated to supper at an eatery in Clinton, Mississippi after the assembly dismissed. Hence, we lodged in Clinton as well because I needed urgent dental attention, speedily scheduled for early Monday morning in Byram, Mississippi. As it turned out, I needed a root canal plus medicine for an infection and for pain.

Somewhat drugged, I passed the responsibility for driving to Martha. First, she drove two hours to Winona so we could hookup with our coworkers who returned from several weeks abroad in Asia; also, we repacked our suitcase, added more items to the minivan and headed for Florence, Alabama—Martha again at the wheel. It was her job to drive most of Monday, and apparently it was my job to whine and complain!

Finally, we arrived in Florence at Heritage Christian University—the site for the next three days of the annual Indian Missions Conference. After setting up a table of books and such, we made our way to the Quality Inn. Coincidentally, about the same time, brother Ricky Gootam and his son Justin drove into the same parking lot. We will be attending the program together and speaking on the program.

It has been a long day, and the days ahead will be filled from morning to evening. The weeks ahead call for us haul literature to Nashville, Tennessee for shipment to Guyana, South America; attend a missionary retreat in Hamilton, Alabama; and take Martha to Ocala, Florida for the graduation from high school by one of her granddaughters. Of course, it’s time to work on both publications—Gospel Gazette Online and The Voice of Truth International. Life is full and well appropriated. God be praised; we hope to serve our Lord faithfully on earth and happily anticipate an eternal home in God’s house.

Here Cometh the Truck!

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It’s very difficult to schedule volunteers to help us unload incoming trucks of literature. We thought the tractor-trailer was coming Monday. Not so! We were informed that the truck would finally arrive on Wednesday. Surprise! On Tuesday, we were informed that it was an hour away—two hours earlier than we were informed earlier that morning.

The trailer has a liftgate so that the five pallets could be dropped on the concrete lot, and so we could take boxes of The Voice of Truth International #95 and Global Harvest into the warehouse at our leisure (since it wasn’t raining). Surprise! The liftgate needed some manual assistance by two men to get it to work at all. Then, we discovered that the pallets from India were non-standard so that the pallet jack could not bring them to the rear of the trailer. Therefore, the liftgate was irrelevant, and the driver was trapped on site until each individual box could be offloaded.

Fortunately, a ragtag workforce arrived. Members from two congregations came to help us. Among the team were senior citizens (namely, Betty Choate as well as Martha and me), the local preacher, mothers and grandmothers plus three youth. Everyone worked valiantly, and the youngsters did the work of grown men. Joined later by another grandpa, the youth and I completed an inventory of many thousands of tracts, so that where needed more tracts can be printed.

We are heartily thankful for help and encouragement regularly received in so many forms. We “old folk” in Winona are few and appreciative of every assistance as we and those who participate with us labor for the cause of Christ.

Collierville Workday

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Today, Saturday, April 7, 2018, we were blessed with volunteers from the Collierville, Tennessee Church of Christ coming our way. Those who didn’t take the “shortcut” arrived around 9 a.m. at the World Evangelism Building in Winona, Mississippi. The others arrived about an hour later.

We packaged, inventoried and loaded into a cargo trailer, thousands of dollars and many hundreds of pounds of literature. In about two weeks, Martha and I will haul it to a shipping agent in Nashville, Tennessee for shipment to Guyana, South America. The wholesale value of the books and tracts amounted to over $17,000. Once in Guyana, brother Nigel Milo and the Amelia’s Ward Church of Christ in Linden will see that the literature makes its way to nearly 100 congregations of the Lord’s church scatted throughout the nation.

Our dear brethren worked the warehouse, including restocking shelves, inventories and compacting boxes to make room for a tractor-trailer of The Voice of Truth International and Global Harvest coming next week. Even the little ones helped with shredding paper and moving broken-down boxes. It was an all hands on deck, from which activities we forced ourselves to pause long enough for pizza and salad for lunch. We had brownies for dessert.

We are fortunate to have the encouragement such as this and physical help. That and the financial participation with us in our efforts for the cause of Christ make what we do stateside and abroad possible. Thank you.