Dear Pastor,
The excitement was almost uncontainable. October was full of meetings with excellent and loving churches. We were well received in them all and were gifted many useful things for the road. Our girls, Sarah and Kayla, loved it. Although we had lots of driving involved, being busy was a huge blessing.
As November came, I was very excited to present in Canada, for it reminded me of the first time I received a love offering abroad. During my time in college, I went to Europe, and a church invited me to preach, and it was a highlight for me. This time in Canada, I would preach and present my ministry in another country. The church had invited me a while back, and we finally worked a mutual date. I had everything ready, from flights to passports. Unfortunately, days before my flight, I fell sick. I had a terrible earache the night before the flight and knew I could not fly the following day.
We took the time to recover, and as I got better, our next meetings in the South were approaching. We loaded up and headed from Chicago to New Orleans. In Southern Illinois, our vehicle began overheating.
I pulled over ASAP and found a pinhole in our radiator. Thankfully, the first exit available landed us in Walmart. I decided not to stress but to pray and figure out a solution. I went to acquire coolant and water. I met an older gentleman by the name of Waterhouse. He asked me to help him reach a gallon of water. I did, and I asked him for help.
He showed me what the aluminum/copper tablets that would repair my radiator looked like at the auto store. We headed there and performed the repair. I shared with him that we were missionaries to Alaska. His response was interesting: "If you ever need to know where something in the Bible is, you can call me."
I took that opportunity to see if he had accepted Christ. I asked him if he knew what happened to a soul when it died without Jesus. His answer was glazed with a theology out of this world. Although thankful for his help, I somehow had to tell Mr. Waterhouse He was wrong.
Unfortunately, his views were very peculiar. He didn't call himself a Christian. I heard of people being non-denominational or even rejecting the name Baptist, but I never heard of someone saying we can't be called that because we cannot perform miracles. Therefore, we are not Christ-like. I still gave him a "Pleasure to Meet You" track from Bible Tracks Incorporated.
After topping my coolant off, I drove around Marion, Illinois. The temperature would not go down. We managed to make it to a car rental place minutes before closing. There, I met Elijah, a born-again Christian with reformed views. Although we did not agree on some things, he was kind enough to give me a discount.
Every mechanic was closed, and I didn't want to miss more meetings. We had to leave the van somewhere, so I spoke to the Walmart manager, who hesitantly agreed. With Thanksgiving approaching and the Canada meetings postponed, we didn't want this month to be unproductive.
We are at a conference and praying for a solution to our transportation problem and a mechanic. Please pray that we can make it to our family this Thanksgiving; it will be our last one as we plan to be in the field on May 15.
As for support, we only had a 2% increase in these two months. That seems extremely low for the busiest time of the year, but we are not concerned, as voting and deciding may take some time after a meeting.
Gratefully,
The Villafranca Family