When we began on the deputation trail, we had no idea how fun it could be! This last month, we visited churches that felt so much like home. What I expected to be nerves and worry turned into joy and excitement as we got to see familiar faces in Oklahoma and Texas. God knows when we need encouragement and joy. When the trail feels long and hard, it is a blessing to see friends and family. It gives us a much needed boost to continue on our deputation trail.

We started this month at Southwest Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, our church during our time at Heartland Baptist Bible College. When the Lord revealed that we were going to Brazil, Pastor Gaddis was the first pastor I called about their missions conference. Southwest Baptist felt the most like home for me in many ways. Going back there was a bigger blessing than I could have imagined. Before arriving, I anticipated that I would be quite a bundle of nerves since it would be the largest group of people I have ever spoken in front of, but that ended up not being the case. The family we made there, our Heartland professors, our remaining friends, and the wonderful church atmosphere were comforting and enjoyable, and my nerves were calmed quickly. The full missions conference schedule was Wednesday through Sunday.  We were having so much fun that we didn't even notice how busy we actually were! We were truly blessed by them and pray that we also were a blessing to them.

Recently, some old friends moved to Oklahoma and joined a church in Yukon. They introduced us to their pastor, and we scheduled a meeting with them. We loved the church and were encouraged to hear how God was working in that church plant. They are continuing to grow, and clearly, God is blessing them abundantly. We had an excellent meeting with the church and a good time with our friends as well.

As usual, my allergies in Oklahoma flared up badly. It was a stretching period for me to continue preaching and singing even when I felt physically incapable. But somehow, every time in my weakness, God continued to work through me. When I am weak, He is strong. As I started getting over Oklahoma allergies, we made our way back to Texas for a couple of meetings, a wedding, and a whole new round of Texas allergies (fortunately much milder than the last round). We had an excellent meeting in Grandview, Texas, and they added us to their missionary support. Ironically, they had a map showing their supported missionaries' location, and they had accidentally mislabeled their other Brazilian missionaries RIGHT ON OUR CITY. It was like they already had the marker set for us to join them!

We wrapped up the month with a final missions conference in Chico, Texas. We happily took part in their first annual missions conference. We shared the meeting with two other missionary families to Argentina and Nicaragua, also on deputation. It was a blessing to see their fields, and the preaching for the conference was encouraging. They took all of us on for support. The blessings keep coming as we continue serving and gaining support. We are six months into our deputation and are now at a third of our needed support! We are well on our way to our goal of making it to Brazil by December 2022! Keep praying that churches will take us on for support, that people will be called to the mission field, and that the Lord will continue to protect us physically and in our travels.