Summer Plans

I hesitate to announce that we've made any "plans." Life is unpredictable, ours especially.  But we do have some exciting invitations and, yes, plans, for this spring/summer.  Blog readers are among the first to know about this, besides our family.

After a more than a year of staying "home," (well, home moved, but we stayed with it!) Todd is going on a mission tour this summer.  Beginning on June 18th in Istanbul he will drive the van full of equipment through 3 countries to get to the area where our group has been invited to do a series of concerts/shows.  

Clearly this trip needs a great deal of prayer.  This is the second  year our group has worked in this small country, which is 90% Muslim.  Todd has driven in Turkey before but the large number of countries and border crossings this time is something else!  In addition this is a long trip, as he's estimated to be there until July 9th.  I think The Mayor has only had his Dad home for his birthday (June 30) once since we started doing these tours!  And finally, there is need for prayer because plane tickets costs twice as much now as they did the last time Todd went overseas.  It's a concern for us to have enough support for the trip, and for others as well.  These tours usually have several band members "imported" from Canada, US, Europe and elsewhere, who are even now raising funds for the trip.  We need every band member or performer God has appointed for this tour to be there!

For my readers who are not acquainted with our overseas work, Todd is a sound man.  Here in the US he works in the business as well, providing audio technology for concerts, speakers, and this year an outdoor teacher's rally at the NY capitol building.  The group we work with overseas uses a variety of art forms to present the gospel in public forums.  We also support local churches in their use of media and in developing worship in the local language.  At public venues we survey the audience so that we connect individuals who are interested in exploring the gospel message with local believers or workers for follow-up.

I didn't plan to use this blog to talk much about our work, but it is an adventure worth sharing from time to time!  I try to leave out the names of the countries we are visiting in order to protect the work.  Likewise I won't mention the name of the sending agency we work with, but for the past two years we have been members of a sending agency that provides counsel, prayer support and oversight to our work.  I am happy to answer questions about this work privately for people that I know.  And we thank you for your prayers.