Dear Family, Friends and Faithful Supporters,
We think of you all more often than we write and wonder how life is going for you these days. Some of you probably have some physical complaints as we all seem to have as we age. Still there are better things to talk about, but we do wonder how best to pray for each other. We all have concerns for different ones in our families, especially as the Lord’s coming could be soon. That coming surely can’t be very long now. It does inspire hope during these days of dire warnings—the collapse of the dollar, the government wanting to confiscate our retirement funds, also seeming progress toward the evil “one world order.”
Whew! We made it home from our mini vacation, praise the Lord. We left on the 2nd of May to attend the wedding of our granddaughter Katie, our son Joel’s youngest child. We had a little problem with the car and wondered whether we might be hindered from attending this wedding, like the last one two years ago. Then, we had our tickets to go to the wedding of her sister Heidi but had to cancel when Tom had to have surgery for colon cancer. But we got the car fixed and left the next day. Then later a warning light appeared saying, Service Engine Soon. This was after a full service had been done. Tom and others thought the problem was in the transmission, so we kept going. The light kept appearing and there was loss of power. Tom babied the car for the following two weeks and the Lord kept it going. After making it home he had it checked and found that the problem was not in the transmission; the catylitic converter was shot due to the burning out of the ignition coil and module. It is a wonder we made it home. Anyhow, the cost of $900 was a quarter of what transmission work would have cost, praise the Lord, and He provided for half of that. We are thankful that we can continue with this 20 year-old, yet still nice, Buick, for a while longer. The car might not have been worth keeping to do major transmission work on it.
Katie’s wedding, in some ways, was like a mini reunion, 19 of us in all. All of Joel & Ruthi’s children were there, except for Charlie, who was in the midst of some special flight training in the Marines. Judy and Jim’s daughter Heather and son Darren also attended. Tom said it would be nice if their brother Ilai (James) Burdett could come also. Joel and family graciously bought plane tickets for him. How wonderful to see him connect again with siblings and cousins after so many years apart. Some of Ruthi’s sisters were able to attend. Joel’s son Rob, who had quit his chemo treatment for leukemia and was working in Hawaii, flew home to attend. He really looked great. Josh and his wife came from Arizona. We really enjoyed being at this, the first wedding of any of our kids or grandkids we have been able to attend – God is good.
Since the wedding was in Kentucky and was only a short distance from the ARK ENCOUNTER, we took the opportunity to visit there. The building and equipping of that replica is a project of Ken Ham, founder of “Answers in Genesis”. The motto, as one approaches it reads, “Prepare to Believe”. The structure follows the dimensions of the ark in the Bible, the length of 1½ football fields. It is set up as Noah might have prepared it – quarters for all the “kinds” of animals, amazing storage facility for food and water, and for the disposing of waste, etc., etc. It illustrates the great intelligence and hard work of Noah and the other seven. Then we took the following two days to visit Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY. The displays and features there are remarkable.. Both sites are really worth visiting, by he way.
Even though we saw Ilai at the wedding, we went and spent a weekend with him in Syracuse, NY, as planned. Many of you have been praying for him and his dire situation since he got out of prison 3 months ago. He is renting a room, and is now looking for work. He has surrendered to the Lord and is a changed man. He attends a good church. We attended his AA meeting on Saturday, and then church with him on Mothers’ Day. The AA program has really helped him, too. He asked for prayer that he will not fall back into the slavery of drugs and the world. He told us the temptation is still great. Thanks for praying.
After that, since we were in New York we enjoyed some sight seeing in NY city. A shuttle bus came right to our motel in New Jersey to drive us into the city. One day as we were riding on the upper level of a tour bus we got word of an accident in Times Square, where we had just left. A young man had driven onto the curb, killing one lady and injuring several people. Not being allowed to return there, we missed our shuttle back to NJ, and had to take the later one. But anyway, we were spared being in that area when the accident occurred.
After the NY visit we enjoyed our visits with friends and family members on our way home. Traveling in rain near Fayetteville, North Carolina, at 3 o’clock, God kept another dangerous situation away from us. We felt tremendous wind and heavy downpour for a few minutes. We learned later on the news that a tornado had, right at that hour, missed Fayetteville and touched down, causing damage, a mere 15 miles to the east. Wow, we were thankful we only experienced the edge of the storm.
On arriving home we picked up three post office boxes full of the mail that the PO was holding for us, mostly sales and politics. It took us awhile to handle all that. Tom remarked to the PO worker that he wished we did not receive so much mail, and that we are trying to stop plenty of it. The worker replied that he was glad that we are getting it. That guaranteed that he had a job. Please pray for the Lord’s wisdom in dealing with it all. It takes too much of my time to the neglect of those to whom I should be writing.
I would appreciate prayer for my eyes. The day before we left on our trip I broke the frame on my glasses, and I have been wearing an old pair. Also my slight macular degeneration is worsening. Now I seem to have a bluish sort of spot in my right eye, which comes and goes. One of our good friends who is over 90 just lost her sight through macular degeneration. So to avoid that, I have an appointment on 22nd June at Florida Retina Institute.
Please keep Jim Jora, Tom’s Hamtai co-translator, in your prayers. He and Malcolm are discouraged at the lack of support from the Hamtai local churches. Jim is pressing on with checking Old Testament portions even though his daughter needs brain surgery to correct her eyes, which are going blind. We are praying that somehow God will provide for her to go to Australia and get her sight restored.
Heather, Ilai (James), Darren and wife Katie Burdett
We do appreciate the gifts that some of you continue to send even though some of you are in your nineties. Our income is less than half of what it used to be. Many folk have discontinued our support, some passing on, some cutting the amount in half, some having to cease altogether. But the Lord always provides our needs in some way or other. The social security payments we receive do help.
Our mission has just recently changed its name from New Tribes Mission to Ethnos360. If you receive NTM@WORK magazine you have learned the reason for the change. The magazine is now called just Ethnos360 Magazine. Leadership and staff have also just moved mission headquarters from 1000 E. First Street farther up the street, still on First Street. All donations and other communication should be addressed to: Ethnos360; 312 W. First St.; Sanford, FL 32771-1231. Please pray for a buyer for the former building.
Look at the new Logo for Ethnos360 below. Ethnos is the Greek word used in the New Testament for a nation, a people group, or a language group. The 360 refers to the whole circumference of the globe, where Ethnos360 has opportunities for ministry world-wide. The connected dots apparently represent the various areas of ministry working together for the common goal. Our name has changed, but our vision is as bright and urgent as ever.
In His Love,
Tom & Corinne