The photo on the front shows us doing a Psalm 141 exercise in Saipan. Psalm 141:2 says “Receive my
prayer as incense, my uplifted hands as an evening sacrifice.”
But, it also looks like we are working with some electrical wires and we were! Sometimes, the evening
sacrifice contains both physical and spiritual work. We were with Radio KFBS on the island of Saipan
in the South Pacific during the months of March and April and we appreciated the opportunity to work
with the staff there. The job was to modify some of their equipment so that it could send a digital
signal broadcast and we accomplished that and in the process left some of our heart in those countries
to whom the special programs were broadcast, especially Japan. So we will continue with our incense
and sacrifice for that country.
Upon our return from Saipan, we had several speaking engagements. One was to 450 or so radio
people in Dayton, Ohio. The event was a secular one and we rarely speak at those, but felt this was an
important occasion. We prepared carefully and thoroughly....how to present an interesting topic with
a God witness without being offensive. We trembled a bit at first, but half way through the program,
we felt the presence of Jesus so strongly that we waxed eloquent and stepped off the platform to a
standing ovation. It was a night to long be remembered as several people from the audience came up
to us afterward to share testimonies, or to give warm thank you's for our witness, or to just give a hug.
HE has HIS PEOPLE everywhere!
Another trip found us in the back hills of rural Kentucky at a small radio station run by a Bible college.
We spent quite a bit of leg power tramping through cow pastures from tower to tower to find a
problem and then, several more hours hunkered down in uncomfortable positions behind the radio
transmitter. Again, it was one of those times when human wisdom was not coming up with an answer
when, all of a sudden, that God wisdom just popped in and we found several well hidden faults. The
engineer there is working to complete the “to do” list we left behind.
The Internet continues to be a good medium for us. We receive requests most every day from various
parts of the world. Some requests require just a one e-mail answer and some require extended follow
up. Some we will eventually travel to, some are lined up already for later this year. One of the
extended ones is the continued struggle to resurrect the ailing transmitter in Liberia. We are into the
third month of OFF and although there is some progress, it continues to be so very slow . You can read
on our website a July Missions Matter article that explains in more detail. Please pray!
Since our last letter to you, we have had a visit from David, one of our students in India in the late 60's.
He had tracked us down through the Internet and since he had a business meeting in Florida, he took a
flight to Chattanooga and spent several days with us. Let the memories roll! We dug up some old
photos and slides and talked into the night.
Another friend from Zambia days in the mid 90's, with whom we then worked later in Chile and other
places, came for a visit as well. Andrew is our engineering friend we began teaching in Zambia and
who has learned well and now is engineering head of a world wide radio ministry based in England.
(By the way, speaking of “Andrews”, our own son, Andrew, lives and works in Temple, Georgia,
training dogs. We also stay in touch with him through the Internet, especially when we are away, by
using Skype, a communication system on the net. It works great from places like Saipan and beyond.)
And more recently, Shinichi, a Japanese peace corp fellow, who worked with us in India, sent us a
photo and an e-mail saying “remember me?” We are not brave enough to join Facebook or My Space,
but the Internet has been a good gift to us in maintaining friendships as well as radio equipment.
We are planning on doing something in August that we usually do not plan to do! We are going to take
a trip when we DO NOT have to! To celebrate our 40 years of marriage, we hope to drive to the Bay of
Fundy in New Brunswick, Canada in late August to see the tides. On the way, we will see some friends
and relatives and, of course, we can't resist a radio station or two. But, the purpose of the trip is to
celebrate the wonderful gift we have in each other and God's blessings throughout these 40 years.
John asked me on our anniversary last December if I was game for another 40 years. I said yes, but
we'll bring it on one day at a time!
Forty years of marriage also means 40 years of ministry. So let us ask you, our friends and supporters,
the same question....Are you game for another 40 years? Let's work at it, one day at a time.
Happy 40th Anniversary, John and Ruth
With love and grateful thanks,
This website was last update was on the 11th of Aug 2009
