LUMglobal #077 ---- 3/29/09.
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
Bob and Jo Ann Tolliver
Life Unlimited Ministries
Touching Nations Here and Abroad
Number 077
March 29, 2009
Dear Friends, Family, and "In-Pact" Partners:
Yesterday was a dreary rainy, chilly day, with the prediction of as much as six to eight inches of snow for our area. We were experiencing one of those typical Spring winter blasts coming out of Oklahoma and Kansas. Our hope was that it wouldn't develop, and it didn't. While the cold weather did hit us, the snow hardly arrived in our immediate area, with only a slight coating of freezing rain followed by a powdering of snow, most of which was gone by 8:00 this morning. We don't anticipate much impact on vegetation because the weather is supposed to warm up rapidly today into the upper 40's with lots of sunshine and rising temps for several days to come, punctuated every couple of days with brief rain showers. A typical southwestern Missouri Spring.
Updates and What's Been Happening:
+ Bob's arm gave him lots of pain during the first two or three weeks after he injured it. Driving and working at the computer didn't help. Since he didn't want to interrupt or hamper our trip to Arizona, he didn't go to the doctor until last Monday. X-rays showed no fractures or damage to ligaments or muscle, but he believes he may have experienced hyper-extension or a possible torn muscle. The doctor didn't see any such indication. The only thing the doctor could see was that it looked like he could bend his elbow back a bit further than normal. The pain is 90% subsided and most of the swelling is gone, although Bob still feels like there is a "knot" on the top part of the muscle just below the bend in the elbow, and he appears to have a slight lump on the inside of the arm at the elbow. There are still several lifting positions he has to watch, and even lifting a pot of coffee still causes moderate pain at times. He's just having to watch himself very carefully.
+ We are still busy on house projects, trying to get things back in order after more than six years of "empty house" neglect. We seem to have gained the upper hand over our little mouse colony that had settled in the two small storage rooms, and the bug population is diminishing rapidly, although we still see an occasional spider. Jo Ann has done some deep cleaning in several rooms and we seem to have conquered the mildew and musty smell that goes with an empty house. The guest room is now usable again, both bedroom closets are in much better shape, and Bob is making steady progress in his office. He's gone through all the boxes of papers and is now working on a couple boxes of things from his Dad's place and also going through six file drawers of "stuff", discarding most of it to make room for teaching syllabi, manuscripts, and important articles. His next projects will be to reconfigure the two storage rooms, moving much of the "stuff" to the garage, and then begin working on the workshop and garage. We still have six or eight months worth of work yet to do in order to return our homestead to a place of total comfort and beauty.
+ Since he doesn't seem to have much to do, {;-) Bob has decided he wants to raise some vegetables . . . but not in the ordinary old-fashioned way, but instead using large moveable flower pots and the hotly-advertised "topsy turvy" buckets. He'd like to raise tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and beans ---- just enough for us to enjoy during the Summer and maybe freeze a little for the winter. Years ago we successfully raised pretty large gardens, but this will be enough for us now. We're also going to begin major renovation on flower beds and other landscaping, hopefully add a few flowering shrubs and trees as well ; our Pink Dogwood and several of our Forsythia plants didn't survive our neglect. We're wanting to plant some nice perennial ground cover plants both around the house, along the pond bank, and at the entrance to our property. We need things that don't take much maintenance. Bob's also wants to plant some wild flowers around the pond and our front entrance.
+ Winter storms and winds have also damaged many of the trees around our place. Not only did about eight trees have to be cut directly in front of the house over the past year, but an entire section of about 15 trees were so damaged that they had to be totally removed. Dallas was wonderful to get those areas taken care of, but there are several dozen trees out near the road that have blown down, and they are a real eyesore. You can see a small portion of the damage in the picture below. So, hopefully within the next week or two Bob will be able to cut them "down and up" with one of his trusty chain saws. Then, we need to also replace the decking on one of the decks, build a walkway between the deck and the front porch, and perhaps even enlarge the deck at the back of the house. We'd really like to make that into a three season screened room, but only time and money will tell. Below you see a neighbor's Forsythia, our Bradford Pear, and some of the downed trees.
+ Our trip to Arizona was absolutely wonderful, although it had a sad note in that Jo Ann's oldest sister died the afternoon before we were to arrive in Tucson. She had celebrated her birthday just the day before. Anita was one of the people Jo Ann really wanted to see on the trip, so that left a big empty spot in the trip. Otherwise, the rest of the trip was all we had hoped for and more. In addition to visiting relatives in Prescott and Gilbert, we spent some time with a friend in the Prescott area concerning the needs of churches in central Arizona, and visited with our dear friend, Candy (Warner) Maddox in Phoenix learning a little more about her ministry with Frontiers Missions and possible common objectives we have. Candy was on several of our teams we took to Croatia, and then served as a missionary in Bosnia for several years before returning to Frontiers Missions. What a treat it was for us to eat lunch with her in a tiny authentic Bosnian Restaurant called "Sarajevo Diner" (as you see in the last picture above).
We also spoke briefly on Sunday morning in one of our supporting churches in Tucson, Vistoso Community Church, and then returned to an enthusiastic crowd on Wednesday evening for a full video presentation of our work in Kyiv and our future plans. And, in between those times we visited with Jo Ann's brother and sister, her family, and several nieces and nephews who arrived for Anita's funeral. On one day when her brother had a meeting, we took a wandering trip around the city visiting houses we had lived in, schools Jo Ann had attended as a child, and churches Bob's father had pastored. It was a special blessing to take pictures of those places to pass on to our children and grandchildren. It certainly brought back many memories, and familiar names returned to our minds.
As you can see from the pictures above, Arizona is an amazing state with a great variety of beauty. You cannot stand anywhere in the State without seeing mountains. The first pictures is of Granite Dells near Prescott. The second is near Sedona, and the third is the view of the northwest side of the Catalina Mountains from Jo Ann's brother's kitchen and dining area. None of these do justice to the awesome beauty and diversity of the State. It seems that every mountain range is unique and different . . . from the tall pine covered ranges of the Catalinas near Tucson and the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff to the rugged cactus laden desert mountains like the Tucson Mountains, Sentinel Peak, and Ajo Peak. We were blessed to have two separate days when we took the long way around enroute to our destinations. Leaving Prescott, we traveled to the ghost town of Jerome, Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, and Flagstaff before turning south to spend the night in Camp Verde. When we returned to Phoenix to catch our flight home, we went through copper, gold, and silver mining country by way of Oracle, Winkleman, and Superior. What rugged splendor it was. It certainly made us both homesick for Arizona.
Ministry News:
+ You may wonder what any of this cleaning up, remodeling, and traveling have to do with our ministry, but they everything to do with it. We knew that upon our return, it would take several months of settling in, reconnecting with people, and informing friends of our new ministry before things could really begin to develop. Frankly, ministry developments have begun much more quickly than we anticipated. We are in the planning stages for an area prayer summit involving several churches later next month, and then a follow-up "What's Going On?" conference in a host church the following week.
+ We're also continuing our discussions with some pastors in Sweden, and maintaining contact regarding possible ministry in Cuba. We're also in various scheduling stages with several churches in the States for meetings and seminars yet this year, planning on attending several regional multi-church conferences mainly in Missouri, and refining printed material describing our new ministry.
+ In addition, we've been working on a new ministry card, updating our information in the Fellowship of Missouri Evangelists organization of which we are members, and trying to get back to working on a website. Bob is also planning on reconnecting with a number of pastor friends across the country, and is trying to find a way to express our new vision in a simple and practical way.
+ KIBC in Kyiv continues going through a period of change as it tries to move into the next chapter the Lord has. Several people have chosen other directions since we left, but the Pastoral Leadership Team (PLT)continues praying and seeking the Lord's will for the future. It has been hard on us, especially Bob, to see the numbers drop, but both of us know beyond any doubt that we did the right thing in returning to the States. The really exciting thing for us has been to see the Lord add new people to the fellowship, give the PLT some fresh new ideas for ministry, and most of the various language groups started during our time there not only continue but also grow.
+ The Persian work now includes three cities in Ukraine, and continues to amaze us. "M", "F", "H", and "V" remain strong leaders, and we believe this is one of God's greatest blessings coming out of our ministry there. Likewise, the Spanish work continues growing and expanding. We praise the Lord that in both cases, folks here in the States want to support these works both financially and in prayer.
+ Perhaps one of our greatest joys is to see the continuing fruit from our investment of time and energy with those who were in our Timothy and Esther Fellowship groups. Not only are those in Kyiv continuing in the Lord's work, but those who have been moved into other harvest fields are also remaining faithful. This makes us feel so full; we feel like extremely proud grandparents . . . not proud of our accomplishments, but proud of them. Tania is still going strong in Sweden, though exhausted from a year and a half of studying Swedish. We talked with her by phone last week. Maxim is still in Bangkok and sent us pictures recently. We're so proud of him. Senthil is still in Oslo, Norway, active in a small international church there. "M", "F", "H", Ira, Iryna, Emily, Brent, Becky, . . . the list just goes on and on of these amazing young people who enriched our lives so much, and we know we forgot to name some of them. Our spiritual "quiver" is full of many great and straight "arrows". God has been just too good to us.
+ We really feel driven in our hearts regarding things that are going on globally. It's hard for us to imagine anyone not seeing these developments and recognizing that the return of Christ is so very near. Bible prophecies are being fulfilled almost daily . . . and yet so may Christians are either oblivious to the facts or have chosen to stick their heads in the sand, ignore them, and do nothing to see their loved ones and acquaintances come to Christ. We are seeing the Laodicean Church in all her splendor (Rev 3:14-22). And, America is not nearly as "safe and secure" as many Christian prognosticators claim; we personally believe the U.S. is in for a period of extreme hardship and grave danger, and our political, educational, and economic leaders don't seem to have a clue. This is one of the driving forces that keep us going instead of being satisfied to "retire" and let the younger ones carry on. Unfortunately, the younger ones often don't see the picture.
+ While it looks like we'll not be traveling much for the next six weeks or so, we will have a five-state trip coming up the latter part of May visiting both family and ministry supporters mainly in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri. We're still working on details, but if you live in one of those states and would like us to try to include you, let us know.
Family News:
+ One of our grand daughters, Katya, recently married. It caught everyone by surprise, and none of us had an opportunity to celebrate the private ceremony.
+ Our oldest daughter, Cindy has had a recurrence of some suspicious spots (she had pre-cancerous tissue removed two or three years ago). They will also be returning to the States on furlough for a year, arriving sometime in late June. We're anxious to see them. Christopher has had big challenges this year again in school as several classmates make fun of him and "bully" him because of his convictions. Kevin has been doing lots of teaching at the seminary, and has been working with volunteer construction teams working in Medellin and Bogota.
+ We learned earlier this week that our son-in-law, Bob, has Prostate Cancer. They will have a consultation early next week to discuss treatment alternatives. Needless to say, these have all come as great surprises to us, and we ask you to pray with us about these matters.
+ Our second daughter, Debbie, continues her battle with MS, but we don't have any updated information. Abby, Sarah, and Rachel are all finishing classes in a few weeks. We think Abby has one more year at Missouri University. Sarah recently went on a mission trip to Mozambique. Rachel continues to excel in the special performance arts high school she attends. All but Abby still live in Fort Worth.
+ Our youngest daughter, Deanna, and her family have been blessed by the Lord with the purchase of a nice new home in Galesburg, IL, where Jim now serves as pastor of a growing and innovative church in neighboring Knoxville. We're anxious to see the house, them, and also visit their church.
+ Tammy Clark, our "Fifth Daughter", is home from the mission field and participated in a missions conference this week-end not far from us. So, she will be arriving tonight to spend a day or two with us before going back to Kansas City. We've not seen her for quite a number of years. She and Deanna roomed together at Bob's parents' home for several years before Deanna's marriage.
Prayer Requests:
+ Pray that we have strength and energy to get all the projects around the house completed in a timely way. Pray that these things will not hinder us in doing ministry as God opens the door.
+ Pray that Bob's arm heals completely . . . and quickly. Pray that he doesn't aggravate it with all the lifting and other work he has to get done around the house the next couple of weeks.
+ Pray that God will open doors nearby for us to have some meaningful ministry while we're sticking close to home most of the Spring and Summer. Pray that He will open the doors for us to minister significantly to pastors and churches throughout the U.S. This is a heavy burden we carry for the spiritual condition of the Church in America, and we feel God has given us some clear messages we need to be able to share in a spirit of love and encouragement.
+ Pray that our financial needs will be met. Pray that financial decisions we make will be according to the Lord's plan for us.
+ Pray for Cindy and Bob J. regarding treatment for their particular needs. Pray for Cheri and her ongoing challenges with her back. Pray for Debbie and her battle against MS.
+ Pray that God opens doors for us to minister in our home church. Nothing has surfaced thus far in the three months we've been home.
Finally:
Again, we thank you for your prayer, support, encouragement, and friendship. Being able to reconnect with many has further reminded us of just how impossible our past ministry would have been without folks like you. And, we know that our future ministry will depend on such dependence continuing.
In Christ's Bond of Love,
Bob and Jo Ann
The Tollivers
Missionaries to the Nations
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