Dear Family and Friends,
As many of you are aware, there has been much delay on the latest container of missionary goods being readied for shipment to Chad. We were in quite a rush for many of the supplies and have continually asked you to petition the Lord in regards to the difficulties we have been having. It was to have shipped late April 2009. There were many months where we did not know what was happening. Communication between us and the forwarder in Virginia was non-existent much of that time. Even when we were able to communicate the updates were inconclusive. Many were wanting me to take drastic (though legitimate) action. There were many suspecting stories circulating of similar situations that had happened to others. I will admit that I even entertained some thoughts that things may have been mishandled. However through it all I never found evidence of wrong doing and God kept impressing on my heart that integrity was the key and we had never had any problems with the shipper over 15 or more years.
I now have VERY GOOD NEWS that as I write the containers are being loaded and have a shipping date set for April 7th. Pray for I.S.S. as they get things moving that all will be done correctly and with safety for both the workers and the secure placement of the goods for the long trip.
In the words of Paul Harvey “now for the rest of the story”…   During the course of these months we had heard on a couple of occasions that the manager of I.S.S. had suffered a stroke (or maybe 2) but the details were sketchy. After 8 or 9 months delay we engaged the help of some men located in the US with the hopes that a closer physical location would help resolve the delay or take care of any mishandling that was being suspected of taking place. Near the end of Feb. our US liaison also lost contact for a few weeks. I then got the shocking news early in March that the Gen.Mgr. of I.S.S. had gone to be with the Lord. We contacted I.S.S. relay our condolences and to see how this was going to affect things and were assured by the Beth who was the office manager that our shipment was to be their top priority. I must admit that though I recognized the issues, I remained skeptical.  I renewed our lines of communication and worked closely with Beth over the next few weeks. Things seemed to be coming together well but I remained silent, not wanting to raise false hopes in those of you who were praying. Beth was true to her word and worked very hard for us, even finding old suppliers that had previously remained illusive.  We remain very sympathetic to the family’s loss at I.S.S. having served us and many mission agencies around the globe. We remain uncertain of the future for I.S.S. but in my books it was simply unfortunate events the met with unperceived contingency plans. They are a small family run ministry and not a major forwarding agent, thus the events though unfortunate for all, are not out of the realm of possibility. My faith and appreciation for them has been restored and I would hope that should I meet with similar difficulties, that a brother in the Lord would have the same confidence in me. To Beth’s (and my) great delight they began loading today and she forwarded me the first pictures of the shipping containers being loaded. We are all still in the dark as to why these chain of events happened but we remain forever in trust of a Sovereign God.
On another note. We joined the rest of the Chad missionaries for a 3 day Spiritual retreat last week. It was a wonderful time together. We also used our new (to us) truck and are very thankful to both God and the Godbolds who made it possible thus far. The retreat was held at a lodge just north of the capital which is some 45km from one of Chad’s tourist spots. So we had to go and see as we had never seen Elephant rock in the 12 yrs we (40+ years I) have been in Chad. I will be posting some pics on my WebShots in the next few days to check them out.
Again thanks to you for your prayers and to a Sovereign God for the progress being made on the container shipment. Don’t give up now though as it still has the sea voyage to Douala ETA May 17th, followed by the truck transport inland which will take some 3 – 6weeks. We trust that this will be followed by a fair treatment by customs’ officials.  As you can see by the timing this will also mean that I will be returning to Chad mid to late June for the final unloading and processing of the supplies. May God continue to encourage you in your walk with him. He is all powerful, sovereign and still our Father.
Blessings to all and may His name be praised.
Paul for the family.