Fourth Quarter RV Report, 2021. This covers October 1st through January 11th, 2021.
As I shared in the previous RV Ministry Report, our website server suffered a massive outage, and we lost almost all of our webpages since their May 2019 beginning. There was no negligence on the server’s part, and they worked in every way they could to help us restore our website. Thanks to them, I downloaded many pages from the archives.org site. The Home, Staff, About Us, RV Ministry Reports, and Info Center (called Articles before) pages have now been updated. It was a step by step process, and took some time, due to working by trial and error. But the website is now pretty much intact as it was before, with a few differences. Hopefully, these are for the better!
During this quarter, we visited Richard’s mother, Lane’s parents, and our oldest son and his family. Our other son came from FL for the fall/holiday season, and our daughter came from CA for the Christmas season. These visits included Lane’s mother’s 90th bday, two trips to the Louisville zoo with our oldest son’s family, a huge arts and crafts fair and a pumpkin spectacular in two Louisville parks, our youngest granddaughter’s 3rd bday, Lane’s parents’ 70th wedding anniversary, Thanksgiving, Richard’s mother’s 91st bday, and Christmas. (We celebrated Lane’s father’s 90th bday on January 13th.)
During this 4th quarter, we gave away 12 business cards, 126 Gospel tracts including the new Halloween gospel tracts, and six Gospels of John. People were very intrigued by the Halloween tracts. We stayed in RV campgrounds in four states—Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.
We stayed at Cedars of Lebanon SP, near Lebanon, TN, the Oak Mountain SP near Pelham, AL, the KV RV Campground at Hartselle, AL, and the Spring Creek Campground, Clarksville, TN. The camp owners of Spring Creek are former SBC International Mission Board missionaries to China, forced out by the government. Now almost no SBC or other missionaries are in that country, but the churches are continuing to grow. Other RV campgrounds were the Charlestown SP, Charlestown, IN, the Deam Lake State Recreational Park near Borden, IN, and Clifty Falls SP, Madison, IN.
Richard created a one-page RV Ministry Report that covered the two and a half years since May 2019. This was requested by Director of Missions Rev. Mark Gayden, Sr., of the Long Beach Harbor Southern Baptist Association. He graciously included it in the Book of Reports for the LBHSBA Annual Meeting held during October, 2021. It is also in the RV Ministry Reports on our website at www.godzfriends.net.
During this quarter, we had two money gifts from a pastor and his church in CA, and from a couple in CA, through our Zelle account. If you want to do that, go to Zelle, find “Marian Graham,” and her phone number 562-676-5740.
Our RV has needed some repairs: a water pump primed, a water heater, and a short in a circuit box. Just after Christmas, our RV refrigerator went out completely. We will get it replaced later in 2022. Lane and I have also gotten new glasses.
On Nov. 23rd, we went to a Frisch's Restaurant in Lexington, KY, and had lunch with a lady and her husband. The lady was with Lane when Lane and I met at the Baptist Student Union at the University of Kentucky in September 1972. She and Lane were freshmen; I was a senior. I tell people that when Lane and I met, God nudged an angel and said, "Hey, see those two? Watch what I do with them!" She and Lane have stayed friends over the years. While we talked with them, we began to think about somehow getting a house in Louisville as a base for our RV ministry.
Well, the Lord has surprised us. We thought we would have to rent a house. After all, we live and travel on our Social Security plus a small annuity from GuideStone, and I am 71 years old. Who would give a mortgage to such a couple? But we still wondered if the Lord wanted us to buy a house. And if so, how would we manage to pay for it?
So we prayed and began to investigate. Long story short, the answers were yes and yes. The Lord did want us to buy a house, and the Christian Community Credit Union (CCCU) in CA, where we have had accounts since 2004, pre-approved us for a 30 year mortgage! On Dec. 7th, through a real estate agent, we reached an agreement with the executor of an estate consisting of a three BR, one bath house, with a basement, a two-car garage, and a yard in Louisville, KY! Wow! We obtained a loan with CCCU, did the three inspections of house, pest, and radon, and closed on January 7th! We moved in January 10th and 11th! This is exactly seven weeks from the time we began to wonder if God wanted us to buy a house! God’s timing was visible all through the process! We still have to do a termite treatment, a radon venting system, and get a drain system stoppage fixed. We are amazed, and very grateful for what the Lord is allowing us to do. We will still do a great deal of traveling and RV ministry, but this will allow us to have a hub from which to do our RV ministry, plus see our families in the Kentucky area. We are both thrilled and astounded! Please keep us in your prayers, as we want to be used of the Lord in both home ownership and RV ministry! Thank you!
This has been an exciting time for us. It has been 43 years since we owned a home, and it is thrilling to own one again! At the third, fourth, and fifth churches which I pastored, we had to live in parsonages. They are great for the church, but not so good for a pastor and his family. Pastors in parsonages don't get to own a home and build equity in it. Churches should make it possible for their pastor to own his own home. If your church is not big enough, then you really should get a part-time pastor, not a so-called full-time one. Then in CA, we lived in apartments.
Since we moved into the house, we have been attending services at various churches in the house’s area, praying and asking the Lord which one He wants for us to join. Please pray for us, as we seek His will in the matter!
In spite of the pandemic, we have continued to travel and share the Gospel with people, via tracts, bcards, gospels of John, testimonies, jewelry, and other means. It really is not that hard. We would be glad to share with anyone how we do this, and how easy it is for almost anyone to do the same, whether they are RVers or not. Jump in the water; it’s fine! Check out our website at www.godzfriends.net as well!
Richard and Lane Graham
RV Missionaries
