We are on the move again. Craig’s job has ended for the summer and we are headed east to see family and get ready for school in the fall. As we drive an old VW Bus all our long trips start with tuning up the engine, changing the oil, checking the valves, tightening bolts, and getting everything a place to live so it won’t fall while driving. This is hard, dirty work, and can be very frustrating if things are not going well. So we decided to go back to Wenden, to get our mail and do some much needed maintenance on the bus.

     Knowing that there are lots of snakes in the desert, we prayed that God would keep us away from the snakes and the snakes away from us, as we would be unable to move once the work stared on the bus. We know of a good place to park as it is out of the way and has some shade as we work. As always, happens the job is bigger and takes longer than planned. So it took two days instead of one.

     As Craig was getting to the end of the job on the second day I was walking around the bus to tell Craig that I was going to find some sticks for a fire, when I came around the bus there was rattlesnake right under the tree headed toward where Craig was under the bus! I told Craig about the snake, he quickly went and got his pistol, and he shot it. We thank the Lord that I saw it as at that time we had no way to get help if Craig had gotten bit, as the bus was not running yet and there are no emergency services nearby. We had been planning to stay and camp that night but decided to move on as God had not allowed us to run in to any snakes up to that point, so we took it as a sign to move on.

Thank you God for your protection!

      The next day with the bus running well, we started out, headed for the Four Corners area by Friday where we are to meet one of my sisters for a few days. Our plan was to get to Payson, AZ as we were looking for cooler weather and a place to rest for a few days before moving on.
We didn’t make it to Payson but God gave us a nice camp site at Powers Spring camp ground, with pine trees, a picnic table and lots of wild animals running around. There was a pack of coyotes and grey wolves, running around the camp the first night and they seem to live nearby as we saw them the next morning.

     Craig was very tired from all the work on the bus and Israel (our dog) was very excited to be in the woods, so I decided to take her for a walk so Craig could get some rest. I usually use my walk time to call my family and catch up on what is going on in their lives, but we are out of service, so I said, “That’s okay, I’ll talk to God.” It’s been a long time since I just walked and prayed. So Israel and I started out to walk the road, as I’m aware that we could be in bear country and I knew that there are coyotes running around (maybe wolves too). I thought it unwise to walk in the woods alone.

     As we started out we saw two coyotes, and signs that an animal had been eating berries all along the road. Fear started to come as I thought it could be a bear, but then I thought if I let fear take over now I will never be able to go for a walk in the woods, and God is with us, so we went on. It was a very pleasant walk not too hot, the sun was out and there was a nice breeze. We saw some squirrels and other small animals, but there were times it sounded like there was something bigger in the woods. I had seen some old cow pies and thought it could be a cow or a deer walking in the woods, so we kept going.

     After we had gone about a mile, we started to go down a hill with thick brush on both sides of the road. All of a sudden there came a howl just off to the left, that was followed by a response behind us. I looked but could not see anything, but I knew that wolves or coyotes were close. Israel was straining on the leash and very intent on the hill to the left. By now I’m thinking this could get very bad quickly! I have no way of defending myself if we were to be attacked. So I prayed, “God, Send Your angels to protect us! I don’t believe it’s time for us to die.” Just as soon as I prayed, I heard a vehicle coming down the road, I looked up and there was a truck, like a moving truck coming down the road being followed by a car. I thought “Good that will scare away what is in the brush.” So we turned and stared to walk back to camp, Thanking God for His protection.

     About half way home we see Craig with his gun looking for us, he had heard the howling and barking along with a scream and came looking for us. I told him about the prayer and the truck and car, and He said “No one has been by today.” We continued walking back together and came to some people sitting out with their dog and Craig asked them if they had seen a truck and car go by, they said “No there hadn’t been anyone by that morning.”
No one saw the car and the truck that passed by Deborah, but surely it did. We are camped in a very remote area but close to the road, and there is only one way in and out. Surely God sent His Angels in response to Deborah’s prayer.

Thank you Lord for your Angels!

Psalm 91: 11, For He will give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.

Psalm 20:6 Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand.

I’m writing this blog on behalf of Craig.

     For a long time Craig has known and said that whenever he is headed in the wrong direction “God blows up the bus.” By this he doesn’t mean that God literally blows it into pieces, but that it stops working and he is left to pray and discern the direction God would have him go, how to get parts and to be aware of the people he may get to talk to along the way.

     We left Stanfield, AZ headed for Wenden AZ for some much needed work on the bus. Just tune up stuff really but very necessary for our summer plans of travel. As we were driving we decided to stop and get some gas and use the restroom in Tonopah AZ, before getting to Wenden that night. We already had reservations at a motel and were not expecting anything out of the ordinary.
     

     The “town” of Tonopah consists of a Mobil gas station, a Pilot gas station and a small family restaurant with a large parking lot that long haul truckers use to park in and sleep.
We took care of our necessities and started to get back on the road when the bus started acting up so rather than get on the road we pulled over in to the big parking lot, once stopped, that was it, the bus would not start. So here we are in the middle of nowhere again, and the bus won’t go.
Craig is prepared for this, as anything can happen when driving a classic car. He checked all the “normal” things, but to no avail. As it got dark and it became apparent that we would not be able to continue, we resigned ourselves to sleeping in the parking lot. Morning came with the realization that we would have to find the cause and fix it with the items available to us either in the bus with us or at the gas stations. Craig’s search of the bus led him to the fact that somehow we had lost the wire that goes from the front of the bus ignition to the alternator, actually cutting off power to the bus. We don’t know where it went?!?, But it was not there. Craig had a wire and replaced the offending wire and we were on the road again. But not before spending almost 14 hours working on the bus.

     So what did God want us to learn from this? Well, Tonopah is the town where “it all started”. We gave up what we wanted to do and thought we wanted to be for God, and prayed “God show us what You want us to do!    You sent us on this adventure, now show us what to do!” After that God led us throughout Arizona, looking at petroglyphs, taking star photos and learning a little about UXO work, all the way to where we were now!   Getting ready to go back east, visit family, build up the bus, get a trailer, all so Craig can go to school in September and we can keep on the UXO trail, so to speak. In other words we were saying “Thanks, God! We got this now. Glad You gave us a road map for our life.” It wasn’t until Craig realized this, and that Tonopah was the place of surrender that he found the problem and we could get back on the road. God was saying, “I still want to lead you one day at a time.” We are still missionaries, just to a different crowd, and tentmakers too.

So the adventure continues…

PS A word from Deborah –
I was reminded how important it is to be prepared for the things that may happen, if Craig had not had the tools and the stray piece of wire we would still be in Tonopah as neither of the gas stations had the things we needed.

Hebrews 12:7-11
If you endure chastening, God deals with as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore we have had human fathers to correct us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Blessings, On the road with Craig and Deborah <><