February got off to a very bad start. We woke up to a call from the pastor we work with in Myanmar to tell us that there had been a military coup in the country and that all the democratically elected leaders of the country had been imprisoned, the country was under martial law, the banks were closed, and prices for food and all other essentials had skyrocketed overnight. As soon as we got off the phone with him, our son called to say that he had COVID. While we were still on the phone with him, an email from Liberia came in telling us that a large transfer we had sent to help purchase a vehicle for the ministry had been somehow converted to British pounds and then reconverted to US dollars in the transfer process, making the total they received almost five hundred dollars less than we had sent. What a rapid succession of “swift kicks in the pants”! Making reference to the movie Groundhog Day in which the characters were caught in a repeat cycle and had to relive the same day over and over, Delron joked that he was happy that this had not happened the following day.

Even though we didn’t have to relive that one day repeatedly, we did face many other challenges during the month. The ministry we work with in Niger emailed to let us know that they were having to halt construction of their church building in the almost-totally-Muslim nation due to having run out of funds for concrete. In a Whatsapp conversion with missionary friends in the Dominican Republic, we learned that the couple were having to use their Social Security checks (their only source of personal income) to feed the residents at the rehab center they care for. IN addition, the director of our outreach in India informed us that many of the people are still without work and a struggling to survive – a report that was also echoed by our contact in the Congo.

We remembered Jesus’ promise in Luke 21:28 that when we see all the apocalyptic conditions beginning to converge that we should look upward because our redemption is drawing near and the words of the prophet that no weapon formed against us will be able to prosper (Isaiah 54:17) and reminded ourselves that there is no reason to worry because Jesus is with us even in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:25) and the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4).

Within twenty-four hours of the call from Myanmar, we were online with the congregation as scheduled for our ZOOM Bible study. Even though there were intermittent periods of blackouts during the month, we did not miss any of the weekly studies for the entire month. Even though the food prices were spiraling out of control, the pastor was able to find one merchant who was willing to sell him supplies at the normal price; so, we funded another outreach to the needy in his community. Unfortunately, there was one really tragic effect of the coup. The pastor’s uncle had a serious emergency and had to be rushed to the hospital which happened to be shut down, and he died due to the lack of necessary medical care.

Because it took several days for the bank to acknowledge their error and reimburse the funds that were lost by sending the money through Ghana rather than directly to the bank in Liberia, we lost the vehicle in Liberia because another customer bought it while we were waiting for the funds to arrive. In the meantime, our contact in Liberia was able to find another vehicle that was actually much better suited for the work there; however, it cost three thousand dollars more than we had budgeted. In a random conversation with one of our donors, we casually mentioned the story, and he reminded us that the vehicle that we had intended to buy was the same model that he had previously owned and that the new one we were looking at is the same model that he is presently considering purchasing for himself because it is a much better truck than the other one. He then totally surprised us by adding that he was going to send a donation to cover the difference so that we could go ahead with the purchase! Unfortunately, the second truck was also sold before we could get the additional funds to Liberia. However, all the necessary funds are now safely in the bank in Monrovia so we can act as soon the proper vehicle becomes available.

Our son quickly recovered from his bout with COVID and was back to work after just a few days. We began to allocate the funds that our generous partners have entrusted to us in an attempt to alleviate the some of these needs around the world. Through our normal partnership and a couple special gifts that we received during the month, Teach All Nations was able to send special offerings to the Dominican Republic, Niger, India, and the Congo. And, like a cherry on top, we had the unexpected privilege of being invited to minster in a ZOOM conference for the Philippines – an opportunity to fulfill our mission of teaching the nations, even from our own living room! Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. (Ecclesiastes 7:8)