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.

New Chemo Regimen Begins

Bonnie asked for a picture to be taken of our blooming azalea bushes in front of our home, which I was glad to do. I also included the hanging, flowering baskets and the birdfeeders. All of the birds, though, were camera shy. The Rushmore bird café offers sunflower seeds and humming bird nectar. Aside from the hummingbirds, a gallery of birds visit our avian diner, including beautiful, brilliant red cardinals, some gold finches, other finches, wrens and an unidentified bird – plus an ingenuous woodpecker. Too large for even the larger of the two birdfeeders, it hangs upside down and cranes its neck up to feed on the sunflower seeds.

Wednesday, April 15 is doubtless an infamous day to many Americans – the deadline for filing annual federal income taxes. For Bonnie, though, it was also the day on which her new regimen of chemotherapy began. We left Winona, MS for Jackson, MS around 9 a.m. to make the hour and a half journey to Jackson Oncology at Baptist Health Systems (hospital). The infusion of chemo drugs and other medicines took about five hours. Upon completion of that, an additional chemo drug was introduced in conjunction with an accompanying pump in a satchel for Bonnie to wear or hang on the bedpost at night for the next three days at home. Happily, none of the side effects about which we were warned occurred during the session on Wednesday. Weary and tired, Bonnie and I returned to Winona.

Thursday we worked at the office for a few hours, and I packed the van for a display at the mission Sunday to be hosted by the Siwell Road Church of Christ on the south side of Jackson, MS. About 10 p.m. Bonnie began to have severe back pain. All night long and through Friday afternoon and early evening, Bonnie had nausea, vomiting and excruciating pain. Neither of us slept well through all of that, and we were both exhausted during the day Friday.

After lunch, we drove to Jackson in torrential rains for Bonnie’s appointment to have the chemo pump removed. To address the nausea, a new, additional medication was prescribed, and Bonnie was advised to take the pain medicine more regularly and to take two pills at a time.

Friday and Saturday nights we lodged with one of the elders and his wife of our sponsoring congregation – the Siwell congregation. Saturday, I put up two banquet tables of display material for World Evangelism. That evening back at the home of our host and hostess, brother and sister Leggett, I was able to prepare computer files to be sent off to the printing company for the next issue of The Voice of Truth International.

Sunday, Bonnie and I worshipped with the Siwell church. A fellowship meal was sandwiched between morning worship and a 1 p.m. assembly. Four missionaries, including myself, had opportunity to update all present regarding our labors for the Lord. Afterward, Bonnie and I returned home to Winona. At the house and having Internet available once more, I sent the files for volume 84 of The Voice of Truth International to the printing company in South Carolina.

Later in the evening, Bonnie again began experiencing serious pain and nausea. Whenever she can sleep through it all, she seems to have some release from the intensity and discomfort of both. Bonnie is very tired, but she is a fighter, and as long as she can, she heartily applies herself to the work of Jesus Christ.

As I close, we are under a tornado watch. Presently, we have a nasty thunderstorm going through again. The lights are flickering. Pain, suffering, storms and such like are temporary speed bumps on the road to eternity. In the meantime, with help and encouragement of many brethren and friends, we press on.

Weekly our dining room fills with get well cards. Daily we received phone calls, visits, emails, texts and Facebook correspondence. The other evening, we received a phone call from a dear brother in India. Wednesday, we came to find out, a congregation in Guyana, South America was fasting and praying for Bonnie while she was undergoing five hours of treatment. In America, we have added an “e” to “fasting” and enjoy “feasting.” Elsewhere in the world, brethren still fast and pray. In Bonnie’s words, we are “humbled” by such encouragement by brethren toward us. Our church family worldwide buoys our spirits at a very difficult time in our lives. Thank you one and all.

Passing through Your Neighborhood?

Bonnie and I may have just passed through or near your neighborhood. Wednesday, September 17, we traveled from western Pennsylvania south past Pittsburgh and took a right turn at Washington, Pennsylvania. Turning westward from I-79 onto I-70, we paused in the Wheeling, West Virginia area for lunch and to spend a couple of hours with brother Emanuel and sister Judy Daugherty. Continuing westward into Ohio along I-70, Bonnie and I turned south once more onto I-77. Several miles south of the Ohio River (the third time today that we crossed it) in West Virginia, eventually we turned onto two-lane roads through the countryside to the meetinghouse of the Sandyville Church of Christ. That evening, I acquainted the congregation with our 2014 Guyana mission trip with a PowerPoint presentation, and I apprised the brethren of our soon departure for nine weeks to four Asian countries.

Once more overnight, Bonnie and I were the guests of brother John and sister Sue Balis; he serves as one of two elders. They are great encouragers of our efforts on behalf of the cause of Christ. The following morning, sister Sue cooked up bacon, eggs and toast prior to the resumption of our journey and our return to Winona, Mississippi.

Throughout the day, we traveled through West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee until we arrived at our daughter Rebecca’s home in Collierville, Tennessee. A week and a half earlier, we traveled from Mississippi through the same states, though by different routes. We made a big, big circle, passing through countless neighborhoods. Drop me an email or give me a call, and Bonnie and I will make your congregation a destination – instead of merely passing through or near to your neighborhood. Have Gospel, will travel! Email: rushmore@gospelgazette.com Finally, Friday around noon, we arrived back at our Winona home.

On the Mend

Here it is Saturday evening, July 19, 2014. Bonnie, Rebecca and I sit in the living room of Bonnie and my Winona, MS home. We three went nearly two hours to Jackson, MS on this past Wednesday for pre-op preparation for Bonnie’s surgery on Thursday; we spent the night less than two miles from Baptist Health Systems in a hotel paid for with points from previous stays along our routes of travel for our appointments with congregations. Early Thursday morning, Bonnie underwent surgery once more; she’s getting pretty experienced at that sort of thing.

It was scheduled as outpatient surgery with an overnight stay in the offing nevertheless, depending upon the scope of surgery and how well Bonnie responded to surgery. We had plan “A” and plan “B.” Plan “A” was laparoscopic, whereas plan “B” was to reopen the previous surgery site if necessary. Despite the doctor having to proceed to plan “B,” Bonnie responded well and after surgery was almost given the bum’s rush out of the hospital – while she was still drowsy and barely able to stand; in all, within six hours we arrived, she had surgery and we were on our way back to Winona.

For the balance of Friday, Bonnie remained sleepy and what little talk she attempted had all the words in the wrong order – and sometimes just the wrong words. Otherwise, Bonnie rested in the reclining loveseat, with me beside her. I worked on and completed the July issue of Gospel Gazette Online; I like the office chair at the house – reclining loveseat – better than my chair at my office down the street.

Each day, Bonnie is improving more. She exchanged the chronic daily pain of a pinched intestine in the umbilical hernia for the temporary daily pain from the incisions – three of them. The doctor had to make two incisions in a failed attempt to do laparoscopic surgery before making a larger, third incision. We will venture out tomorrow to visit the Old Union Church of Christ for worship; we haven’t been there for so long, as we have been traveling elsewhere, that someone mused that perhaps the preacher had made us mad. Not so, of course.

We have been the beneficiaries of the kindness of brethren, through text messages, phone calls and visits accompanied with prepared meals in hand. Though neither Bonnie nor I expected or even thought of someone bringing us food, we are thankful and have dined on those kindnesses.

Rebecca returns home Tuesday in preparation for her mission trip to Guyana, South America later in the week. She has been a great help and encouragement to us, particularly in this difficult time for Bonnie and me. In her weakened and physically compromised condition, more of Bonnie’s domestic duties are now my opportunities; we have always shared each other’s responsibilities, but now I just get to share more. Soon, Bonnie will be able to resume some of those activities, but some activities at the house and at the warehouse/office she will need to relinquish permanently.

Bonnie and I will try to conclude plans for our fall trip to Asia – Myanmar and India, perhaps Singapore, too. One of the decisions we will need to make, depending on how well and how quickly Bonnie mends, is if she is going to accompany me this fall and share in the workload. I am already close to being unable to manage my own carryon bag and computer up and down airplane steps on the tarmac, and Bonnie will not be able to carry either her carryon bag or her computer. We are getting older, and we may be held together with Duck Tape, Super Glue and baling wire, but we press on. We covet your prayers.

World Evangelism Annual Team Meeting

Several World Evangelism Team Members converged on Winona, Mississippi for our annual occasion of fellowship and comparing notes on the various worldwide missions to which we devote ourselves. Some arrived as early as Saturday, July 5 for field reports and fellowship over food, of course, on Monday through Wednesday morning. Saturday was also our daughter Rebecca’s birthday; she has been visiting us between finishing teaching summer school and her impending mission trip to Guyana, South America.

Daily, Betty Choate, Jerry and Paula Bates, and Louis and Bonnie Rushmore interact in Winona. Numerous other Christians with whom we are loosely associated live in various places stateside and overseas. Each of us work under our respective elderships, and we voluntarily cooperate to provide mass evangelism and follow-up around the world. Several countries on six of the seven continents are among those in which team members labor for the Lord.

In a sense, unless one has been there and done that, he or she cannot fully identify with the lives we live as missionaries. Hence, we are a great uplift to each other; we provide some small recharge before resuming our respective and ongoing efforts for the cause of Christ. Yet, we could not do what we do without the moral support and financial participation of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank you!

One final observation: Looking around at ourselves, we are graying (and some of us are balding), which means that more younger brethren need to begin working with us, to whom we can pass the baton of missions sometime in the future. Our daughter, who has reached a significant milestone birthday, was about 20 years younger than the youngest of the rest of us! We covet the well wishes and prayers throughout the churches of Christ.

India Missions Conference

Heritage Christian University and the World Evangelism team cohosted the 2014 India Missions Conference. The get-together of India missionaries took place on the HCU campus in Florence, Alabama Tuesday through Thursday, April 22—24. Again this year, brother Wayne Kilpatrick led a Restoration History tour on Friday for some of the conference attendees who lingered for that purpose.

The overall program consisted of discourses, field reports, panel discussions, Christian fellowship, and of course, eating together—lunch and supper. Approximately 71 participants enjoyed the fare. Interaction was frank, cordial, instructive and encouraging, irrespective of differing methodologies and areas of emphasis. Wednesday and Thursday, sessions began at 8 a.m. and concluded at 8 p.m. Tuesday night, we only had the night sessions after supper together.

World Evangelism distributed free samples of our full-color, shirt-pocket tracts, outreach books, the Global Harvest and The Voice of Truth International magazines. We also distributed a dozen cases of 35 to congregations and HCU.

Bonnie and I arrived back in Winona, MS about 4 p.m. on Friday. Before parting from Florence, AL, though, Bonnie and I (with sister Betty Choate who was hitching a ride with us back home) tracked down and visited brother Edmond and sister Maurine Cagle; Edmond is in a nursing/rehab center. Together, they have made a significant impact on congregations of the Lord’s church in Linden, Guyana, South America—where Bonnie and I now also work with their protégé brother Nigel Milo.

Following are some pictures of several of the speakers and others who attended the 2014 India Missions Conference. Next year, the Pulaski Street Church of Christ in Lawrenceburg, TN will cohost the 2015 India Missions Conference with Heritage Christian University once more at the HCU campus in Florence, AL. The Central Church of Christ in Vincennes, IN will host the 2016 India Missions Conference in its meetinghouse in Indiana.

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Winding Down the Days

Louis teaching at Mississippi
School of Biblical Studies

Bonnie and I are winding down the days before our next trip out of the country; we depart the USA on February 1 for Guyana, South America—where we will be for the entire month of February. We have a rigorous schedule that will place our seminars within reach of every Christian in the country.

Saturday, January 18, we made our way to a new venue for us—the Oil Trough, AR Church of Christ. A few weeks ago, Bonnie and I passed through the small community of Oil Trough on the way back from a Sunday appointment, but we had never visited brethren there. It was our good pleasure to be welcomed into the home of brother Garland and sister Shirley Ann Hankins. Shortly thereafter, we were joined by brother Terry and sister Shirley Ann Brady, in whose home Bonnie and I would lodge Saturday night. It is always so good to make personal friends of Christian brethren hitherto before we had not met, and such was the case especially regarding these two couples.

Sunday for Bible class, I made my PowerPoint presentation about 2013 Mission Trips. During worship, I preached “Why Do the Churches of Christ Not Use Instrumental Music in Worship?” Saturday night and Sunday, Bonnie and I were fed better than we deserve! Further, we thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship, encouragement and financial participation with which the congregation lifted us up.

Monday being a holiday, Bonnie and I worked from the house in the comfort of our dual reclining, overstuffed loveseat. That’s the kind of office furniture I really like! Dual laptop computers a blazing away resting upon identical lapboards, we prodded ahead on a number of things. Monday and Tuesday, Bonnie and I collaborated, with the help of Jerry Bates’ assembling a file to upload, to publicize over a hundred tracts added to the online book store.

Wednesday was a busy day! We drove from Winona to Jackson, MS in the morning for two doctors’ appointments for Bonnie; she passed in flying colors checkups at both the Women’s Hospital and Jackson Oncology Associates. She has the green light to leave in just over a week for the tropical excursion to the jungles and remote areas of Guyana—though the oncologist cringed when we explained our itinerary. That evening, I continued teaching the Book of Job to the adult auditorium class of the Siwell Rd. Church of Christ in Jackson. We stayed over again in the home, enjoying the kind hospitality of one of the elders and his wife, the Leggetts.

Thursday morning, Bonnie and I made our way to the meetinghouse for the church and commandeered an office for the day. Bonnie worked on lessons for the classes she will teach in Guyana, and I worked on the online book store, my lesson for the Mississippi School of Biblical Studies that night and on a lesson for one of my classes in Guyana. From 6:25 p.m. to 7:25 p.m., I taught, “The Mechanics of Preaching: Organization & Word Choices.” We managed to arrive back in Winona, MS by 9:15 p.m. (Bonnie did get excited on I-55 in the construction zone at Madison, MS when a tractor trailer ran us off the road; I have a hard time finding the horn on my car, but apparently once I did find it the driver heard it and returned to the passing lane where he was so that we could resume our travel likewise in the slow lane.)

Saturday, our daughter and a group of Christians from the Collierville, TN Church of Christ will conduct a workday at the World Evangelism Building; they come annually and help us with cleaning, trimming the shrubbery, maintenance, packaging books for overseas shipment, preparation of mailings, etc. That congregation sends families, so the youngest attendees will be about 4-years-old and the oldest will be—we don’t talk about that! Besides everything that gets done that we cannot accomplish easily by ourselves (Betty Choate, the Bates and us) while attending to other matters, helping brethren are a great encouragement to us. They also get to see some of the behind the scenes aspects of what goes into mission work. It’s a win-win situation for them and us, too.

Yes, we’re winding down the days! One day and one week to go before we depart the USA for Guyana, South America for an entire month. We solicit your prayers.

Weekend in Florida

Saturday morning, November 9 Bonnie and I left Winona, MS and headed for DeFuniak Springs, FL to worship with the Liberty Church of Christ. About eight hours later, we arrived at the Best Western hotel in that city. We had crossed through parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, and we were both exhausted. We shared a chopped steak and baked potato in the hotel restaurant, and then, retired to our room to rest in preparation for the Lord’s Day. Immediately after finishing review of our respective lessons for the next day, Bonnie became seriously sick, but by morning she was well again and rested.

Sunday morning, Bonnie taught the ladies during Bible class, and I taught the men. She taught her chapter from her book Living Principles about “Mrs. Peter”; near the conclusion of the class, Bonnie also answered sundry religious questions. I taught my lesson “Why Do the Churches of Christ Not Use Instrumental Music in Worship?” During worship, I preached my sermon “The Purpose of Preaching.”

Brother Harold and sisters Rita and Ashley Bigham treated us to a buffet lunch. We spent awhile after we had surrendered our eating utensils enjoying one another’s company and talking. Afterward, Bonnie and I resorted to the hotel for some afternoon rest before evening worship. At 5 p.m., I presented two years’ worth of PowerPoint lesson to catch up the congregation on our foreign mission work to Asia and South America.

The small congregation is one of our supporters, and nearly every member personally encouraged us on this visit. The Liberty Church of Christ holds up our hands in foreign mission work. We are dear to each other in the service of the Lord and for His cause.

Monday, we spent the day making our way back to Winona, MS—through parts of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. I think Bonnie held up better on the return jaunt than I did. We opted for an alternate route back that avoided metropolitan areas and that was very scenic. An hour from home, we stopped to buy groceries in Starkville, MS. Finally, we pulled into our driveway at 7 p.m.

(One of the reasons we opted for the route we pursued going back home was to try to find one of Bonnie’s missing earrings. Upon my return home from Myanmar a few weeks ago, I gave Bonnie a pair of pearl-shaped jade earrings for pierced ears. Sunday night, she discovered that one of them was missing from her ear. That night and the next morning, we searched the motel room. In the morning, we searched the car. Before leaving DeFuniak Springs, we checked with the hotel staff, personnel at the restaurant where we had had lunch on Sunday and at Arby’s where we had eaten supper. Lastly upon leaving town, we stopped back by the grassy parking lot of the Liberty Church of Christ to look there. Neither one of us expected to find a little earring lost in a big world, but Bonnie did find it outside the meetinghouse.)

Tuesday found us refreshed from the previous night’s rest. I did my exercises, and Bonnie resumed exercising some on the exercise bicycle. We had breakfast, after which we readied ourselves for the day and went to the office. There is much work to be done on every side and in every place to keep us busy for Jesus Christ. We are thankful that friends and brethren are willing to keep on Sending the Light of the Gospel, whereby Bonnie and I are permitted to keep on Taking the Light of the Gospel abroad.

2013 Polishing the Pulpit

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Bonnie and I arrived in the early afternoon at Polishing the Pulpit (PTP) on Saturday, August 24. Sevierville, Tennessee – adjacent to Pigeon Forge and not far from Gatlinburg – is a beautiful part of the country for sure. Whereas in former years we were able to enjoy some of the Smokey Mountain surroundings for a day or so following PTP, this year we crammed the weeklong activities between two of Bonnie’s chemotherapies. We were fully engaged during PTP and had to rush back to Mississippi to afford Bonnie her chemo on Friday morning.

Bonnie and I tended children of all ages each day. Bonnie assisted with 4- and 5-year-olds from as early as 7:45 a.m. to lunchtime. We, but especially Bonnie, presented a hands-on missions presentation for an hour each of two days; dozens of children pawed our exhibit and tasted the chapatti that Betty Choate had made for the occasion. Perhaps the one item that elicited the most interest from these little ones was The Voice of Truth International produced in Braille. Each morning I roved from class to class teaching Bible Geography to children as young as 4-year-olds up to 11-year-olds.

In the afternoons, Bonnie taught our program of Buckets of Bible Time, where youngsters are called upon to arrange in sequential order three red buckets labeled with “Patriarchy,” “Judaism” and “Christianity.” Then, they are asked to place three dimensional objects (e.g., cars, airplane, dinosaurs) and laminated cards depicting Bible characters in the appropriate buckets. The catch is that some characters belong in more than one time period (e.g., Moses, the apostles) and Jesus Christ does not belong in Christianity. In addition, Bonnie responded to the invitation to help out with children in the evening, too.

Afternoons from 1:30 p.m. until 4:15 p.m. or after, it was my sheer pleasure to assist other preachers who taught 21 budding young men from the ages of 10 to 14 how to prepare and to deliver a devotional. All of them did very well and deserve commendation; some did exceedingly well. One or two could easily serve as an “opening act” (to borrow a phrase from entertainment) preceding a keynote address by a seasoned brother at PTP in the future. I graduated somewhat in 2013 at PTP and was privileged additionally to have an adult class one evening. My assignment concerned the use of printed material in the mission field.

Between working with children, we did attend a few lectures, set up and managed our two display tables, and conversed with numerous people. Some of these brethren we only see at programs such as this, while others are our supporters and encouragers. We sold a few books, gave every budding preacher boy one or more books and distributed some The Voice of Truth International in two languages.

I spied a little tyke who may not have been potty trained yet, but who was an expert already with modern technology. He was mesmerized with a game on a cell phone. His little thumbs were working, and he was sliding his finger across the screen to manipulate the pictures. I was dumbfounded! Is there any hope for me?

The first snafu upon arriving at the Wilderness Hotel and Convention Center was learning that our lodging reservation had been cancelled and that there was no room in the inn. That we would not arrive on Friday was apparently not conveyed by PTP personnel to the hotel, and so staff there cancelled our reservation and gave our room to someone else when we were a “no show” on Friday. We were counting on being in the hotel so Bonnie could resort to the room for rest as needed. The hotel relented and rented us one of the two emergency rooms it had put back in case something went wrong. It seemed that we walked the length of a football field to an elevator that took us two floors below the main floor. Fifteen rooms are nestled in this subbasement adjacent to the loading dock and driveway for vending and laundry. Some bugs knew where our room was located even if housekeeping occasionally did not remember.

Whining aside, the accommodations were very much appreciated, and the hotel room at the convention center afforded Bonnie rest at lunchtime and supper each day, besides restful sleep. We ate two meals daily in our room and ate out once every day, twice as guests of the generosity of other brethren.

Thursday morning, Bonnie tended to small children until the conclusion of the PTP program. I packed our clothes, food and mobile office, and then loaded the car with those things. Next, I sat in on the speeches of seven of our young preacher prodigies as they made public presentations to parents and friends. Finally, Bonnie and I packed our displays and books for our return trip to Winona, MS. About 1 p.m. we pointed the limping Town & Country toward Mississippi. About eight hours later, we pulled into our driveway, positioned for a morning departure on Friday to get Bonnie to her next chemo appointment.

Tired, yes. Gratified, yes. Bonnie and I earnestly desire to serve the Lord to our fullest always in this life and as long as life persists and permits. Triage of looming efforts include contacting and confirming speakers for the April 2014 India Missions Conference, rent a car at the Pittsburgh, PA airport for our northeastern appointments in two weeks, purchase airline tickets for my fall mission trip to Myanmar (Burma) in October, work on Gospel Gazette Online for September and October, work on the next issue of The Voice of Truth International and bring it to fruition before departing for Asia, prepare my lessons for three weeks in Myanmar (four to six hours daily), prepare and rehearse sermons and classes for two congregations for which I will speak this weekend, mow the grass (it’s been four weeks), prepare six months of classes for Wednesday nights at the Siwell Rd. Church of Christ that commence upon my return from Asia, and try and deposit our bucking, sputtering van at a dealership for much needed nurture while away in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia; yesterday, the car’s odometer exceeded 173,000 miles. Like me, some of its body parts don’t work right anymore!

I dare say that a few other more routine matters will cry for attention as well. We will triage one and all as needed. It is time for us to send another newsletter, but I’m not sure we can squeeze one out at this time. Thank you for your continued interest in our efforts to serve our Lord stateside and especially abroad.

Annual World Evangelism Team Meeting & More

Group Picture Less about 3 Photographers

Wednesday, July 10, attendees of the Annual World Evangelism Team Meeting began arriving in Winona, MS. Altogether, just under 30 adults and children attended this year’s gathering on Thursday and Friday. Those attending included the core group of team members who voluntarily cooperate to provide a well-rounded and worldwide program of evangelism, but others who came are a part of a larger circle of fellow missionaries with whom we also cooperate. Yet others were merely interested in evangelism – stateside or abroad and came to be with us.

Happily, Thursday evening after returning from catfish supper at Carmack, MS Fish House, many hands of numerous visitors to the team meeting quickly tabbed (two per mail piece) and labeled 649 July edition of the Rushmore Newsletter. Friday morning, I shipped it off via the local Post Office. If we had not been the beneficiaries of such gracious assistance, the newsletter would have had to wait until we returned from our upcoming trip on July 19.

Of course, we did a lot of eating together! We chiefly encouraged each other and talked about how we can possibly be more effective in our evangelistic efforts. Among the topics entertained were literature (The Voice of Truth International and Global Harvest magazines, books, and tracts), foreign Bible schools, school of missions, graded class material under development, training our replacements as missionaries, etc.

Thursday night and especially Friday morning, brethren began departing for home, depending on the distances they had to travel or special needs to which they had to respond. Bonnie and I left around noon for her next chemotherapy about two hours away in Jackson, MS.

Unfortunately, Bonnie’s white blood count was low enough that she could not receive chemo on Friday, since we were leaving town for the week. If we were going to be around for a few days before leaving, she could have received a shot on Monday to help boost her white blood cell count. However, we are leaving Saturday morning on a jet airplane for Colorado to observe our 40^th wedding anniversary. We will ride the Silverton train from Durango to Silverton and back. We will also drive the San Juan Skyway and take two days to do it. If Bonnie is strong enough and not too tired, we will also take a day to visit Mesa Verde before returning to Mississippi.

With the drop of Bonnie’s white cell blood count, she must be careful of not exposing herself to sickness or germs in general unnecessarily. We are taking a prescription antibiotic with us on the trip. We will have to wait and see in the future whether she must (at least some of the time) refrain from public interaction. When Bonnie has her next scheduled appointment, she will also meet again with her oncologist for an assessment and medical advice. It is important to Bonnie and me that we make this planned trip, and the medical personnel advise us as well to make this trip – for they think that not only does this milestone need to be celebrated but that the aside of this pleasure trip may actually be a positive note in Bonnie’s ongoing treatment. Thank you for your interest in us, and your encouragement and support of Bonnie and me as we endeavor to give ourselves over to the service of our Lord and Great God.