Year in Review

Merry Christmas!  We close 2018 in just a few days, and marvel at what God has done this past year in our family and ministry.  We traveled widely throughout the United States, holding meetings in Alabama, North Carolina, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, New Mexico, West Virginia, Ohio, South Dakota, Wyoming, Indiana, South Carolina, Texas, and Colorado.  We praise the Lord for salvation decisions made in those meetings, as well as other important decisions. We also praise the Lord for His protection over the thousands of miles that we traveled.

A highlight of our year was our family mission trip to the Philippines during the month of May.  We spent a month ministering in different churches and teaching music in two camps while there.  Sarah and the girls stayed busy making a lot of handmade items to sell to help support our mission trip expenses.  A lot of yarn went into that trip! We are not sure where our next mission trip will take us, but we are exploring our options for 2019. 

This has been a bittersweet year in that it is the last that we will all travel together as a family.  Josiah is a senior in high school this year, and will graduate next spring.  His plan is to attend Ambassador Baptist College where he will study for the ministry.  We are so excited, and yet, it means a lot of changes for our family.  He is an integral part of our music ministry as well as the first to leave the nest. We know the Lord has great things in store for him, but we are going to have to adjust when he is away at college.

Our trailer has been in what seems a constant state of repair this fall.  We traveled without it for our last two meetings of the year, due to breaking a leaf spring while driving on Thanksgiving Day, which was a real adventure.  We rigged it with a block of wood and a few bungee cords and drove it another 500 miles to Mississippi where we left it.  Since we had to get to our next meetings, we only had a day to gather all our necessary belongings, pack them into suitcases, throw them in the bed of the truck, and get to our next meeting, which happened to be in Texas.  It was a little more excitement than we had anticipated, but the Lord saw us through.  The trailer is currently in the repair shop awaiting parts.  Please pray that the issues we are having would be corrected for good.  It is very difficult to maintain an itinerant ministry schedule when your “ox is in the ditch” more often than not.  We are praying for direction and provision for the trailer issues, since it is a big part of keeping our family together on the road. 

We are so grateful for what God has done in our lives this year, as well as what He has allowed us to be a part of in our ministry.  We could not accomplish this without the prayers and support of God’s people.  Your prayers on our behalf are important, and we thank God  for the churches and individuals He has placed along our way.  Please continue to pray that God would open doors of ministry for us, guide us in our daily decisions, provide for our needs, and protect us as we travel. 

Prayer requests:

Meetings for 2019

               Souls saved

               Lives surrendered to God

Trailer repairs (that the current ones would be fixed, and that there wouldn’t be any more problems for a looooong time!)

College preparation for Josiah

Summer job for Josiah (due to our constantly being on the road, he has not been able to have a job, and he will need to earn money for college)

Continued health for our family

               Esther is scheduled to have a peanut challenge allergy test on January 7, 2019, to                                 conclusively determine whether or not she is allergic to peanuts

Direction and provision for our 2019 family mission trip

May the Lord give you all a fruitful and prosperous new year.

Into the Holidays

After a cancellation in our schedule, we spent a couple of weeks at home in Mississippi, enough time to experience the first winter precipitation of the season!  It was very early for us to be getting snow/sleet (whatever happened to global warming?), but it was beautiful and enjoyable nonetheless.

The time in Mississippi allowed me to finish a set of bunk beds for the trailer while I was home.  RV mattresses can be very expensive ($500 for an RV twin) due to their unusual sizing, but I was able to find a deal in which I could pick them up for $130 apiece.  Once we had the mattresses, it was a small step to build the bunkbeds in the trailer.  Previously, the boys had shared a fold out sofa bed—the most uncomfortable I have ever encountered in 25 years of traveling—Abigail had slept in the one bunk while Esther slept on the floor.  Now, Daniel is on the floor, while each of the other three has a bunk of their own.  In a few short months, Josiah will be gone and all the floor sleeping will be a thing of the past.  From a parental standpoint, each child having a separate bed is a great aid in teaching personal responsibility.  No longer can one child blame the other for the state of his or her bed, not that our children would ever do that.  But in case they might be tempted to blame someone else, having their own separate area of responsibility will discourage that, or so the theory goes.

The schedule between now and Christmas is a busy one.  On the family side of things, November is a busy birthday month for us.  Sarah’s birthday comes two days before Daniel’s, and then Thanksgiving arrives the following week.  This year, we will be in a meeting through Tuesday on the week of Thanksgiving, celebrate the holiday on Wednesday and spend the rest of the week trying to get to our next meeting on the busiest American travel weekend of the year.  Please pray for us.  Ohio to Texas to Colorado to Mississippi—that is the traveling schedule over the next few weeks.

On the ministry front, in addition to our meetings, there is also another great opportunity in the early part of December.  One of my good friends from Mississippi is getting ordained and I have been asked to be on the counsel of men examining him for the ministry.  What a great privilege and responsibility!

December will be our “down” time as we spend some time at home preparing for the Christmas holiday, working in our home church, and getting ready to resume travel once again in January.  Thank you so much for your prayers.

In our ministry, there are always background projects that are ongoing about which we rarely speak.  Sarah’s piano books are still in demand, and she has begun a series of YouTube tutorials regarding hymnplaying.  She has always been an excellent piano teacher and is now attempting to use technology to bring her instruction to a wider audience.  Anyone interested may contact her directly via Facebook or through my phone or e-mail.  In addition to Sarah’s work, I am working on writing projects of my own.  A long-term project is another book, while short term projects include choral arrangements that I put out from time to time.  Combined with our traveling schedule, the work keeps us busy.

Thank you as always for your prayers.  May your year end holiday celebrations be filled with Christ and His wonderful love for us.

Paul Crow

Coats, Conversions, and the Ox in the Ditch

 Greetings to all from the evangelism trail.  We have entered a very busy time in our fall schedule, and life seems rather like a whirlwind at times.  Since we last wrote, Esther is our newest successful hunter (or is that, huntress?), having bagged a nice little deer while we were in Wyoming.  She was absolutely thrilled to go hunting with Paul and to actually bring home a deer!  We were all quite happy for her as well.

We were home briefly(for about ten days) during which Paul preached in our home church and we ministered in music.  I went on a binge-cleanout of our things and attempted a garage sale over the weekend, but it was a huge waste of effort, since hardly anyone came by.  The fact that I was selling winter clothing was not helped by the heat wave that his that weekend, spiking temps into the 90’s.  I mean, really, who wants to even think about sweaters and long sleeves when you are standing in flip-flops and sweating at 10:00 am?  So, I had to pack everything back up into bins and put it all back in the house for the time being, until I can get a little more time to dispose of it properly.  Such is the life of and evangelist’s wife. 

We are back on the road and have held two meetings since leaving home. The first was a missions conference in southern Indiana, where the Lord used His Word to convict us about reaching our Jerusalem.  How many opportunities do we allow to pass us by each week, just because we aren’t keeping eternity’s values in view? 

Last week, we were in the Lansing, MI, area.  The temperatures have dropped significantly as we have traveled north, necessitating long sleeves, tights, boots, hats, gloves, and coats!  This morning as we packed up the trailer to leave, it was 27 degrees! 

Please pray for the needs of our trailer.  The last three weeks, we have had to deal with some serious trailer issues.  Of course, there is always something, but these have been serious, time-consuming repairs.  What most people do not realize is that, yes, you can take it into an RV service center to be repaired, but many times, they are booked solid for weeks, even months.  They are in no hurry to put us in line in front of other customers.  Parts usually have to be ordered, and they take days, or maybe even weeks, to arrive, then several more days for the repair.  In the meantime, our family is in limbo, having our “home on wheels” in the shop for an unspecified and seemingly interminable amount of time.  Our other option is to get the parts and fix it ourselves.  Paul, who has become quite the trailer repairman in the last sixteen years, does an admirable job of not only diagnosing the problem, but fixing it as well.  Josiah helps at times, and so does Daniel.  This is usually our best option, since it is the fastest.  It also means a lot of running back and forth to get parts, tools, and other necessities, and a great deal of time sitting on the ground under the trailer.

 I believe in the last update, I mentioned the broken gears in the main slide out.  Paul fixed them while we were in South Dakota.  By the time we had reached Indiana two weeks ago, they had broken again.  Three days later, it was once again operational.  We drove to Michigan, and found to our dismay, when we arrived, that we had a broken leaf spring and a bad tire. Two days later, those were both replaced.  When we packed up this morning, we found that our KantLeak water system, has, in fact, been falsely advertised.  It has been leaking for some time in the bowels of the trailer, and has rotted out part of the bay.  The trailer place has no solution for this problem, having recognized the inferiority of the product and moved on to another type of system.  That still remains to be fixed.  There is another problem with the slide out, that involved cutting off some carriage bolts and readjusting the arms of the mechanism that runs underneath the slide.  Paul is currently working on that, now that we are in Indiana again. 

I do not say this in a complaining spirit, but rather to let you know the everyday struggles of the evangelist.  These problems are not unique to us--just today we were told of another evangelist who plugged into a hookup and blew all of his appliances and electronics because the box had wrong wiring.  It happens, and it is difficult to maintain an attitude of joy when everything seems to be falling apart around you.  The desire of every evangelist is to study the Word and share the Gospel.  It is really hard to do this when you are working on your trailer/vehicle all day.  Pray for those who have an itinerant ministry, that God would supply their needs, and encourage their hearts.  Pray that the devil would be kept at bay and that the distractions he throws in our paths would not discourage us.  Pray for souls.

We were privileged to see two young boys trust Christ this past Sunday in Michigan.  One had been coming for quite some time and had heard the Gospel numerous times, and the church was thrilled to see him walk the aisle and trust Christ as his Savior, along with his friend.  God still answers prayer. 

We are in northern Indiana this week, and begin our next meeting in a few days.  It will be a busy time, but we are thankful for the ministry the Lord has given to our family.  Pray for us, brethren, that the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified.  Thank you for your prayers, your support, and your friendship.

Sarah

sarah@paulcrow.org

Into Fall

September is here, and with it, the first breath of autumn.  We have been traveling in the northern midwest and mountain states, and I personally have found the cooler weather quite a relief from the brutal heat of summer we have experienced so far this year.

We had the privilege of being a part of Opening Revival at Ambassador Baptist College in late August, and we are so excited about what God is doing there.  It is always a joy to spend time with the students and to fellowship with the faculty as well as with numerous friends who still live in the area. 

Two weeks ago, we were in Brookings, SD, where we had the privilege of seeing a young man from South Dakota State University in the morning service.  After the gospel was clearly presented in the message, he walked the aisle and trusted Christ!  We are always excited to see souls trust Christ in our meetings. 

This week we are in Sheridan, WY, and Paul has been able to do some hunting.  So far, we have two deer for our freezer, and he is currently out with Esther, who is hoping to get her first deer this year (we are all very hopeful for her sake).  The meat that we get from hunting goes a long way to fill our freezer for the coming months, and we are grateful for God’s provision in this manner.

In addition to holding meetings, we are staying busy with school, and trying to cram in some family activities as well.  Earlier this month, we had some issues with our trailer slide out, but after several days of tedious work and scrambling for parts, Paul and Josiah were able to complete the repairs.  The ability to fix it ourselves is quite a blessing, since every time we have to take it in to a dealership or service center to be repaired, it means a total disruption of our daily life for several days, if not weeks. 

It will not be long before we turn our rig towards home, where we will stop for a few days to pick up some warmer clothing for the coming winter months and also to have Josiah’s senior pictures taken before heading out again for the rest of the year.  The Lord has blessed us with a full schedule, and as we travel, we covet your prayers for safety and fruitfulness in ministry.

Sarah

August Happenings

Camp is done for the summer, and while we love camps, and the unique ministry opportunities they present, we also give a sigh of relief when they are all over for the summer and our life returns to semi-normal.  We were home briefly at the end of July and were able to spend some time at a conference with some of our home church staff.  The opportunity for fellowship was a welcome blessing, and we had a great time together. 

School has resumed for the children, and with it comes a lot more scheduling and responsibility.  Travel days have to be planned carefully and extra school work done in advance of long drives.  This year is a milestone for us.  Josiah, our oldest, is a senior in high school.  I can hardly believe that he will be graduating next summer.  Abigail is a freshman, Esther started junior high, and Daniel is in the fifth grade, so everyone will be quite busy this school year. 

We have had some good meetings in Ohio this month, and have also had the opportunity to do some fun things as a family as well.  Our kids experienced their first amusement park about a week ago, and loved it.  The big roller coasters were a huge hit with the older three.  We are thankful that the Lord enabled us to spend some time with them doing something new and exciting.

The past month has seen a couple of waves of unusually high repair bills for different things.  First, there were trailer expenses that were very expensive, then our house air conditioner had to have some major repairs.  Every time of financial testing gives us opportunity to lean on the Lord and witness His miraculous provision for us.

We have seen the Lord answer specific prayer and continually provide for every need that has arisen in our daily life and ministry.  It is a wonderful thing to have access to the throne of grace!  We are praying specifically about producing a family musical recording this winter, and would ask that you pray with us for God's direction and provision in that endeavor.  There are a lot of details that must fall into place before this recording can happen, and we are still trying to sort out all those details.

We are currently in North Carolina, and have several meetings here in the next few weeks.  We are excited to see what God does, and look forward to the blessings He has in store for us.

Thank you for your prayers. 

Half Way Around the World

This summer has been a whirlwind of ministry opportunities for our family.  We spent the month of May in the Philippines, participating in two different music camps, one in Nueva Ecija, and the other in Amadeo, Cavite.  The camps were well attended, with over forty-five local churches sending delegates.  The ministry team was composed of Filipinos, Aussies, Americans, and even a family from Singapore.  Our goal is to help educate and instruct the next generation of church musicians, not only in proper technique, but also in instilling Biblical principles of music.  The Lord gave us a very fruitful time there, and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve in this way.  Please pray as our ministry there continues.  If you would like to see more of what we did while there, please click on the following link to watch a short video of our ministry in the Philippines.  https://youtu.be/POkv5bvi4qQ

After returning home in the first week of June, we had a few days to recover from jetlag before taking off again – this time for camp in New Mexico.  We were nearly 100 miles east of El Paso when the axle on our trailer broke, and the wheel went wandering off on its own.  We pulled over on the side of the  interstate, and began to assess the situation.  It was not good.  The wheel actually came to rest about ten feet behind the trailer, much better than the last time we lost a wheel (it bounded away and probably ended up in the Ohio River).  Our immediate thought was thankfulness that no one was hurt or endangered in any way, either our family, or the motorists all around us.  I would like to insert here that your prayers for an evangelist as he travels are much needed, and very appreciated.

Paul strapped up the axle and we limped along the interstate until we could get onto a service road, going about 15 miles per hour the whole way.  The closest thing to civilization was the town of Sierra Blanca, Texas.  It looks more like a ghost town than a thriving municipality, but beggars can’t be choosers, as they say.  We found an RV park and set up there, while trying to get in touch with mechanics, insurance companies, and other people who needed to be notified of our unexpected delay.  To make a long story short, we ended up packing up our belongings and leaving the trailer to the tender mercies of a very unusual, colorful, tin-hat wearing man who oversaw the RV park.  In return, he solicited our votes for the 2020 presidential election… that is, if he hadn’t already left on the Mother Ship for the next closest inhabitable planet.  Seriously.

The remainder of the trip to Silver City, NM was made without incident. Camp was, as usual, very busy.  There were about forty campers this year, and of those we saw five saved, as well as other life decisions made.  It is so gratifying to battle adversity and discouragement and watch God win the victory in young hearts and lives.  The trailer axle was being repaired while we were up the mountain at camp, and Paul was able to drive and pick up the trailer with a friend and bring it to Silver City, where additional repairs were made in town.  I was really glad to have my little home on wheels in the same general area again. 

After camp, we had a few days to breathe, and spent them with friends in Arizona over the weekend.  We were able to attend the world’s oldest rodeo in Prescott, AZ, and it was a great show the night we went!  We traveled most of the day on July 4^th, heading to West Virginia for our last scheduled week of camp.  We managed to cover 2300 miles in about four days, with a Sunday thrown in as well. It was quite the journey.

We arrived at Wildwood Christian Retreat on Monday and jumped into another busy schedule.  Since it is a junior camp week, only our two younger children are campers, while the older two look on with a mixture of amusement and envy at the good time their siblings are having.  As I write this, we are anticipating the final service of camp tonight.  One never knows the impact that the Word of God has on the hearts of those who hear it.  We are praying that this week will be a turning point for young people.  Please continue to keep us in prayer as we serve the Lord in the ministry of evangelism.

Sarah Crow