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The Robinsons’ Herald
E·mail version for August Thru October 2005
Greetings from ‘Next to Heaven’ in
Carriacou, Grenada, West Indies!
Greetings from Carriacou.
I am happy to report that our tank is nearly full and that no more storms
came through this region of the Caribbean after Hurricane Emily in July.
Everyone is hoping that this season is finally through with making history.
Only time will tell. Meanwhile, Carriacou is as lovely as ever and the
weather has been wonderful. We wish you could be here.
We have some good news
and sad news to report in this issue of our quarterly herald.
First, we received a
phone call from our daughter, Tabitha, a little over six AM this morning
(Thursday December 22). She informed Linda that her father, William
(‘Billy’) Hugh Carson, had just passed away in the Appalachian Regional
Hospital, Beckley, West Virginia. I believe he was 78 years of age. His
health had been failing over the years, and he had been in the hospital
recently for a possible stroke and breathing problems. Last night, Linda’s
mom, Francis, told her that her father seemed to have improved some. But,
she received a call from the hospital a little before four this morning to
inform her that her husband had passed away. As may be expected, many are
taking it hard, but the Lord is giving them minute-by-minute grace.
Up until Mr. Carson was
transported to the hospital a few days ago, Jeshua had been helping his
grandmother take care of him. Since Jeshua has been in Beckley, he has spent
a lot of time with Linda’s parents, often staying in their home. Thus,
Jeshua had gotten closer to his grandfather. He is coping, but it is
difficult for him. This is the first time he has lost someone close to him
in death.
Tabitha has tentatively
found reservations for us to fly out of Grenada on Monday, December 26 and
return two weeks later on January 9. So far, it looks like we would need
about $1,900.00 for the round trip for us both combined.
Please
remember to pray for Linda, Jeshua, Tabitha, and all the Carson family as
they go through the bereavement process. Pray also for us as we look to the
Lord as we wish to travel to Beckley, to be with the family and attend the
funeral -- probably sometime next week.
Additional Prayer Requests for Linda
A little over a month
back, Linda was involved in a vehicle accident with our old bus while she
was picking up her route for Sunday Morning Service. It was raining
slightly, and the road had become slippery. She was going down a hill toward
a blind curve in the road when a Land Rover suddenly came from around the
corner and mostly on her side of the road. Linda was only traveling about 15
to 17 mph, but she locked up the brakes and skidded down hill and caught him
at his fender and door. Our bus suffered some damage to the bumper and
lights on that side. The other vehicle suffered the most damage.
As hard as it may be to
believe, the other driver is an American from Ohio that has a home and
business here, and they are
insured by the same company that insures us. The insurance company does not
want anyone to admit to fault and wants the courts to decide the case. Our
insurance policy specifically prohibits us from admitting liability, even if
we felt we were completely at fault – which we do not believe is the case.
The claims investigator and the agent both have also told us not to admit to
liability, even if we wanted to do so just to get this matter behind us. At
most, we could be liable for our deductible (which is 375.00 US) and perhaps
a fine (we are told could be (50.00 to 100.00 US) for Linda not exercising
“all due care and attention” if the court decides that she was completely at
fault. I have tried to explain this to the man that was driving the other
vehicle, but he has not been very understanding, and has gotten rude in past
conversations.
It does seem that the
insurance company is acting very slow to resolve the matter and it is
frustrating to us. I am sure that this has contributed somewhat to the anger
of the other party as well. In either case, we will need to repair our bus
ourselves because we only have ‘third party” (liability) coverage on it. (I
was told that this is the only coverage you can get on vehicles more than
four years old here.)
Please
pray for the Lord to resolve this matter quickly and justly. Pray for the
other family to come to understand our position. We do not want the other
people angry with us. We are not trying to stall or leave anyone hanging,
but our hands are tied. Please pray for Linda as she deals with the stress
that is coming from this situation on top of everything else.
News about Windward Bible Church
We are still holding
services in the basement of our home since the first Sunday after the
hurricane back in July. The landlord seems to be doing the work on the
building whenever she can get local men to work for her free of charge or at
a very low cost for labor. Consequently, the leaks have not been corrected
to the point that I believe it would be fitting and wise for us to begin
holding services there again. She had some work done a couple of weeks back,
but we now need a hard downpour to test the repairs.
The good news is that our
attendance has been up considerably since our last prayer letter in which we
asked people to pray about the low attendance.
Thanks for praying! The
attendance in our services has been running from the mid thirties to the mid
forties on most occasions since then! Even when attendance is normally down
for this time of the year, we have seen even more coming back that we had
not seen for many years.
This past Sunday morning
we held our yearly Christmas program and over fifty were present! The
program went really well and everyone enjoyed it. Linda and some of the
other adults and older teens had worked with the children since early in
November, and the children were very cooperative and eager to participate.
After the program, I took
about fifteen minutes to share the Biblical significance of Christmas – the
greatest gift made available to all mankind through the gospel. Afterwards,
two ladies, both parents of children involved in the program, raised their
hands to signify that they had prayed to receive the Lord Jesus as their
Lord and Savior!
Pray
that the Lord will help these two single ladies to fully understand and grow
in the Lord as we endeavor to nourish them as babes in Christ.
Many in our congregation
have told us that they are looking forward to going with us to visit the two
nursing homes and the hospital on Christmas Eve, this Saturday. The children
will also say their recitations and we plan to sing a few carols and give a
short message at each place so the patients and patrons can be reminded of
the true significance of Christmas. We also plan to leave gift baskets or
plates with each to let them know that they are not forgotten. Some are
scheduled to help put the baskets together tomorrow, Friday, here at our
home.
Pray also for the Lord to use us to be a blessing to those in the nursing
homes and hospital here on this coming Saturday.
We are seeing the
sweetest spirit among the people in our congregation here than we have seen
for many years. The Ladies’ Bible Studies on Tuesdays and the Men’s Bible
Studies on Fridays have been well attended. Linda and I had special banquets
and times of fellowship in the Bible studies last week to finish this year.
Yum, Yum, and praise the Lord until we resume in January of 2006, Lord
willing.
We still have our
struggles and our ups and downs. But we are seeing more victories and ups
than we have seen for some time. A young man (29) prayed with me to receive
Christ as his savior several weeks back. I believe he has been genuinely
born again, but it is also evident that he struggling right now as a new
believer.
Please
remember to pray for “DB” to grow in the Lord and for us as we endeavor to
nourish him as a babe in Christ. Please pray for the attendance to remain up
and continue to increase. Pray for others to become more faithful once
again. Also, remember to pray for the health of Sisters Scott, Stafford, and
Williams, and also Brothers Clement and Alexander who are in the US working
and furthering their education.
Other Ongoing Matters
I thought I had the oil
leak on the Vista corrected until the middle of last week. It had run
perfectly with no leaks for three or four weeks, then suddenly, it began to
leak again. I now believe the RTV silicon sealer I purchased here and have
been using is no good and keeps losing its seal. However, some friends from
Florida came to visit us the last week in November, and they brought some
good stuff at my request. I hope to remove the pan and use the new sealer on
it as soon as possible.
Please
pray for me to have the wisdom, stamina, and strength to fix the oil pan
leak and correct the transmission problem. Also, pray that we will get a
good price for it when we sell it.
News about Jeshua
Jeshua has been working
at Wal-Mart in Beckley and taking steps to get into college as soon as
possible. His e·mail address is
JeshuaRobinson@gmail.com. His mailing address is: P. O. Box 2, Crab
Orchard, West Virginia 25827. His physical Address is 148 Sutphin Street,
Crab Orchard, West Virginia. (Tabitha’s addresses) The phone number there is
(304) 253-0395. He has also been spending many days at his grandparents’
(Linda’s parents) home in East Park (subdivision in Beckley). The address
there is 507 Broadway Street, Beckley, 25801 (Tel: 304-252-5549).
As expected, we still
miss Jeshua very much, and from time to time we are still stung by his
absence. Yet, God has been giving us both grace – I believe largely as
result of people praying for us. The people here miss him as well. I am
amazed at how often even the young children (boys and girls alike) tell us
that they miss ‘Jessie’ and they mention his name for prayer during prayer
request time in most services. Many his friends here ask about him when they
see Linda or me out and about.
Please
continue to pray for the Lord to protect, lead, and provide for Jeshua and
give him ongoing good health.
Robinsons Furlough Plans
As
mentioned in our last three prayer letters,
we had hoped to take furlough in 2006
if someone could take over for us in our absence. Our need for increased
support is even more so now due to a recent, tremendous, and sudden surge in
the cost of living here.
Some three
months back our fuel cost jumped by about 42%, and I have been told that it
is going to go up again in the near future. This has affected prices across
the board from groceries to power, which was already two to three times what
it had been in the US. As mentioned in our last prayer letter, because of
the sudden increase in the cost of living here we may need to take furlough
very soon – even if there is no one here to take over for us while we are
away for about a year, which would not be good for Windward Bible Church.
The good
news is that there is currently a couple that is praying about and looking
into coming down to take over for us next year! Because of previous
obligations, they would not be able to come until the latter part of June of
next year if things work out and the Lord continues to lead. They are very
serious, and in fact, they are the ones that came down to visit us and
survey the work here the last week in this past November. They had already
visited us back in 2000.
We are
thankful for their willingness to help. I will provide more specifics about
them in the days ahead as things progress a little further. I believe we are
in complete agreement in doctrine with this couple. They will need to raise
support as both the man and the woman will be leaving their jobs behinds to
serve the Lord here for one year.
Please pray for the Lord to
continue to lead and provide for this faithful couple as they remain open to
possibly serving the Lord here on Carriacou in our absence next year.
Because of
the amount of work that has to be done here, it would still be good if there
were another couple or two that could down and work with them (one couple to
work for the year or two couples that could work for six months each). It
would be good even if someone could help for only a few months or even
weeks.
Perhaps
some of you know of someone that is considering overseas mission work as a
church planter or helper. Please put them in contact with us right away.
Please pray
for the Lord to supply additional helpers not only while we are furlough,
but also on a permanent basis.
Perhaps
some of you also know of a church or pastor that is looking for, or is open
to taking on the support of new missionaries – even if it is only temporary
– until we take our next furlough. If so, please send me their contact
information. Even better, you could put in a good word and recommend us to
them. They can find all the information about us they would need through our
website at:
www.windwardbiblechurch.org.
In the mean time, please pray
for the Lord to lead new churches, individuals, and groups of like faith to
support us to help meet our current needs.
Prayer
Requests and Praise for Answered Prayer
1.
(Revised.) Car is
running again, but I still need to correct a stubborn oil pan leak and a
transmission problem. I hope to
complete repairs and offer it for sell ASAP, Lord willing.)
2.
(Ongoing and revised)
We need to sell our old bus or recondition it. We must constantly watch the
temperature gauge and add water to it because it needs a radiator. It must
be replaced soon or we could lose the engine.
(I now plan to fully restore this bus or sell it and replace it with the
money I hope to get for its sell and the sell of our car after I have gotten
it back in good shape. We need to get $6500.00 to $7,000.00 (US$) from
selling them both. Earlier in May of this year, we received a gracious gift
of $9,000.00 to meet our targeted goal of 10,000.00 to purchase another bus!
We found and purchased another bus in June! This is a big praise and answer
to prayer. However, our old bus still needs to be repaired as a result of
the accident, even though we are still using it. )
3.
(Ongoing.) The purchase
of welding tanks so that I can make repairs to our vehicles and the security
bars on our church building.
4.
(Ongoing.) We need
to have a sign made for our meeting place in Windward for
Windward Bible Church.
5.
(Ongoing.) Purchase
of several sheets of decorative plywood to replace paneling on the walls
that was damaged in our meeting place during the storms and subsequent
rains.
6.
(Ongoing.)
Completion of electrical wiring for our meeting place so that we can get our
own power meter.
7.
(Ongoing.) A small
desk and chair for my office in our meeting place.
8.
(Ongoing.) Paint to
repaint the concrete floor of our meeting place.
9.
(Revised)
Funds to pay for the purchase of two small window air conditioners and a
closet-shelving organizer arrived in April. We must keep one room in our
house with controlled humidity to protect precious books, electronic
equipment, and recorded media from the salt air and constantly high
humidity. We are currently using my office in our home for this. I estimate
the total cost at $250.00 (US$).
(We
received these items in April. So far, the church that purchased these items
and shipped them to us have not told us how much we need to pay, though I
have phoned the pastor and asked twice. I am currently waiting for his
response.)
10.
(Ongoing.) Funds to
build a restroom attached to our meeting place. We need a toilet, sink,
pump, and other plumbing necessities, construction of a septic tank, and a
small cistern (or tank) to store water caught from the roof.
11.
(Urgent and Revised.)
For a few additional churches or individuals to begin to support us
until we take furlough around July of 2006. We may have to take furlough
sooner because of the pressing need of additional support as explained
above.
12.
(Ongoing and Urgent.)
As explained above, we desperately need another family to come and
work permanently with us in the work here. We need a man to work as both an
assistant pastor and youth pastor. A woman is needed to help in the ministry
to young children and help Linda with ministering to the ladies. They would
also help in our transportation ministry.
13.
(Ongoing and Urgent.)
We desperately need one or two families to take over for us when we
take a much-needed furlough soon. We will likely be on furlough for six to
twelve months. As explained above, we may need to take furlough soon even if
no one is provided to take over in our absence. This would not be good for
the church. One couple for twelve months or two couples for six months each
are needed as soon as possible. Pray specifically for one couple (as
mentioned above) that is already praying and seeking the Lord’s will about
coming the latter part of June 2006 to work here for one year. It would be
good to have at least one other couple here to work with them.
14.
(Revised.) Ongoing
health and continued improvement for me (Walter). I have been doing much,
much better concerning the health issues that were treated last year. Linda
has also been doing well. My
back has been doing much better the last few months.
(Please remember to continue
praying for this need, and especially for the Lord to strengthen my back and
heal it.)
15.
(Revised - Ongoing and urgent)
For guidance and provision as Jeshua seeks to learn the Lord’s
will for his life as he plans to further his education. He finished his
twelfth year and is now looking forward to attending college. He is
interested in medicine – specifically dentistry. He is considering a couple
of schools at this point, one located in Huntington, West Virginia, and the
other in South Carolina. His mind is not yet made up and he is still seeking
the Lord leading and provision.
16.
(Ongoing.) As was
predicted, this hurricane season has broken many records. Some on the
mainland and on Carriacou still had not yet recovered from damage and
destruction from last year, and now they are contending with damage and
destruction cause by Hurricane Emily. Please pray that all of Grenada will
be spared from another direct hit from hurricanes and tropical storms this
year.
17.
(Revised
- Praise and ongoing needs)
Proper repair of our meeting place for Windward Bible Church in the Village
of Windward. Roof is covered once again, but looks iffy and still had seven
leaks as of about three weeks ago. We have much work to do yet by way of
painting and some wall repairs.
18.
(Ongoing and Revised)
We need to replace our old standby generator (made in the 1960s). I prefer a
replacement rated at five to seven KW, with remote start and shutdown
capabilities. Either LPG or gasoline will work. Our old one is worn out and
burns one quart of oil every one to two hours of operation. A used Onan twin
cylinder RV type in good condition would be good and cost much less in
duties to get it into the country. We were recently told about a new Briggs
and Stratton “7KW Remote Start Home Backup Generator” (item 776781) that
would be even better, and it may cost less than the above mentioned type
that is used. It goes for about $1,500.00 at Sam’s Club. This is
not a luxury for us when
the current goes out for long periods after a hurricane or for other
reasons. We need it to keep our refrigerator cold and to supply water to our
house by the electric pump. It also enable us to keep our internet
connection up so that we can maintain communications to the states during
emergencies.
We are
always thankful for each of you that support us by your gifts, prayers,
friendship, and words of encouragement. We wish that each of you will
experience the manifold benefits and grace that stems from knowing the Lord
as we commemorate the provision of the priceless gift to His children some
2,000 years ago. All the best now, and in the year to come, and Merry
Christmas to all...
Still looking up for Him,
Walter Robinson II
Note: If you would like to have a shorter bimonthly or even a monthly prayer
letter (instead of the current quarterly ones), write and let me know. I
will consider it in the months ahead.
Copyright © 2000 Last Chance Ministries. All rights reserved.
Revised: September 10, 2006.
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