Both Sarah and I are graduates of Ambassador Baptist College in Lattimore, North Carolina. Our two older children are both students there, and when a need for a piano teacher arose, Sarah volunteered to step in and help out until someone more permanent could be found. Accordingly, our ministry is different now than it has ever been before. Currently, the family lives in our trailer in NC while I travel to our meetings. The difference is striking for me because I am used to traveling with the entire family. There was a day when the Crow family arrived at a church, the Crows poured forth from the cab of the truck like clowns out of a Volkswagen. Now, much of my traveling is done alone.
My meetings still continue, in addition to several trips to Mississippi to take care of details on our house. There have been a lot of hectic goings on with the changes that we are experiencing. Our house has been in the process of having solar electric panels installed. Not quite a year ago, we had a particularly cold day in December. It was 3 degrees. On this the coldest day of the year, the power company informed us that they did not have enough electricity to keep our heat on. It was then that I decided that I was going to have to do what I could to generate my own electricity. Solar seemed to be the answer, and we found a company that was supposed to be one of the best in the country at the time. Our experience with them was nothing short of awful.
The process lasted over a year and after all kinds of delays, problems, lack of communication, and frustration, the solar is supposed to be brought online next week. These kinds of things are keeping me on the road back and forth from North Carolina to Mississippi. My hope is to have all of this taken care as soon as possible.
Our meetings have been going well, despite the changes in the family. (In reality, we are in the time of life when a lot of things change anyway.) For some meetings, Esther and Daniel will travel with me. This makes special music an adventure, different from what we have ever done before.
As I type this, we have just closed a meeting in Morganton, NC, about 50 miles north of where our trailer is parked. Once I return from MS, we will be in Greenwood, SC, before packing up the trailer and heading to IL.
God continues to open doors for us as we serve Him, and we are grateful for every opportunity He sends our way. Two missions opportunities loom in the future for us in 2024. The first is a meeting in the Dominican Republic in January of next year. The second is another trip to Italy in July. Please pray that the Lord will supply the resources needed for these two trips. The trip to the Dominican will be a first for us. Italy has become a favorite destination for us due to the lasting friendships we have made there and the abundant fruit we saw during our last trip.
Thank you all for your prayers and support.
