Final Howdy

I am already tired and it is only 9:15. Don't know why but do know that I do not sleep well on a plane. By the time I get to church tomorrow night I will have been up for about 42 hours so will not be all that active in the Bible class! I have been able to send and receive from the airport (I am currently in the gate area) but I have much to say in this email so will not send it until I get home. I will see Linda in about 97,000 seconds but who is counting!?

We left for the airport at about 5:45. The hotel van is air-conditioned and is very nice. It only takes about 10 minutes to get to the airport. We had to wait about 1 hour before they would let us in. Once in things went fairly smooth. The brethren left us to go back once we could not interact with them. We made it through customs with no problems and went to the gate area. They go through your carry-on and 'wand' you. We came into the room and I knew there was only one electrical outlet. I also knew that it did not work in February but 'hoped against hope' (where did that saying come from) that it would work but it would not. I have two batteries so should be able to work for most of the way to Paris. Once in Paris I will have electricity all the way to Dallas. Here in the gate area I was looking for another outlet and Chris pointed to something on the wall and asked if that was an outlet. Well, it was not but it was the thermostat to the A/C in here. Well, I can tell you that we are cooler than we have ever been as I lowered it. I don't know what the numbers represent but the 'warmest' reading will be around 30. When I looked at it the number was 26 and that is not that cool. I lowered it to 20 and we are all doing quite nicely. Now if I can only find the thermostat in the other parts of the airport! We are scheduled to take off at 10:45 and the plane is here. No good reason to be late as there are few planes at the airport at any one time. Bob is on his computer, Carter is listening to music and playing a game that Chuck taught him and Chuck is also playing it. Chris is reading a book and has already helped me a number of times with some computer stuff. While we were still downstairs with the brethren I discussed Catherine's health with Jean Claude. Catherine along with 2 others will travel to Banso on Sunday after worship. They will spend the night in Bamenda. Catherine cannot travel long distances as she begins to swell all over. Jean Claude will travel later and meet them on Monday. They are supposed to see the doctor that day and a decision will be made regarding surgery.

We took off on time last night and the flight to Paris was smooth. I think I have figgered out why airplane food is sooooooooo good; it is closer to heaven!!!!!!!! Got some sleep and work done and landed right on schedule. Boarded bus from the plane to the terminal. Then we had to catch another bus to our terminal! Had to say goodbye to Bob as he is flying straight to Houston and was flying out of another terminal. Carter and Montezuma are becoming close friends and there are some people you would just as soon stay away from, if you know what I mean! We already had a 5 hour layover but found that our flight had been delayed another 100 minutes. We went to a restaurant in the airport and all of us ate something except for Carter. We then went to a place where he could lay down and sleep. I got my computer out and started working. Chuck went and bought 6 tons of chocolate! OK, it wasn't 6 tons, only 5 7/8s tons! I think he is going to supply everyone in Dallas County with chocolate. We boarded on schedule, that is, on the delayed schedule. Chuck and I have an exit row so it is nice. It is a bulkhead seat so no one in front of us can lean back and mess me up on my computer. I whipped out my computer as soon as it was OK and have been working ever since except for a short time to eat lunch. Chuck gave me his salad and some of his main course so he is once again my best friend. One of the serendipitous blessings of the trip in the fall is that Linda is a nut (a cute one) and doesn't like most airplane food so I will get double on most everything. I am going to start working on my PowerPoint Presentation for Buckingham Road. BTW: my report will be on Sunday night, June 29 so if you are near, please come and here about what the Lord is doing in Cameroon. While I am thinking about it, please pray for my daughter Bapp. She is fixin to have her 3rd kid any moment! That will put 5 of our 9 grandkids nearby and while we wish it were 9 for 9, we will take the 5. Please pray that Linda will quit buying toys, however. Oh well, I am digressing.

Let me share some thoughts that I have probably shared before. The benefit of these trips go far beyond the evangelistic part of the work. I am able to talk to so many different brethren and get a clearer picture of what needs to be done to grow. A debate that will never be solved revolves around the support of native preachers. I get tickled at those who believe there is a Biblical model of how you support preachers and how that impacts the support of natives. We have no clue as to how the apostles were supported, how Epaphroditus, Titus, Timothy,Tychicus, Mark and anyone else earned their daily bread. Even with Paul we only have a snapshot and certainly no model. When you look at the Scriptures, there is very little methodology taught on any matter. How, for example, do you select elders. Some have used Titus as an example and say that the preacher should do it but they are using one exceptional case to make a universal case which makes no sense to me. How many songs should we have in our worship service? Song leader or not? What order of service? The point is that God has given us great latitude in the 'how' of carrying out His commands. We know that leaders are placed in the church to mature members (Eph 4). We know that when Paul went back to churches that he had started he appointed elders. There are two thoughts I have regarding supporting preachers:

2. When you probe and see what it costs to simply put food on the table, a roof over you and send your kids to school the amount is higher than what we are giving most of the preachers. I worked with a brother who has a small mill that produces palm oil. He has 4 employees and I asked him what he paid them and the answer was 90,000 per month. That is approximately $215 per month and we pay our guys less than that and these men are common laborers.

One more thing that has nothing to do with this ministry: many of you know that Linda's mom has been living with us since last August. Linda tells me that her mind is really getting bad and she is not sure she can continue to have the energy (both physical and emotional) to take care of her as well as the children she babysits. I certainly don't want to compromise her health so pray that God will either heal Dorothy's mind or give us the wisdom to make the best decision.

Remember to keep the fall seminars in prayer. We were able to lay a lot of groundwork in the past 2 weeks as I was able to talk to every coordinator face to face. I feel as though we have done all that we can do as far as planning. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out. We still need a great deal of money so please contribute, if possible. If you want a tax deduction make the check payable to Buckingham Road -Church of Christ -CMF and put Fall Travel under memo.