Where in the World Are Allen and Trish Sowers?

Whenever Allen and Trish are traveling, it’s like trying to keep up with Waldo and Carmen Sandiego at the same time. Even when they share an itinerary, the rule of thumb is: Itineraries are subject to change! During our most recent phone call, Allen filled me in on some of the changes.

The duo has been driving for 8-9 hours a day in their rental truck filled with backpacks. It’s hard to make good time in a rental truck, so they essentially add an hour or two onto the projected drivetime. They left Topeka Kansas Wednesday morning and were near Pittsburgh Pennsylvania by sunset on Thursday!

Collecting and loading donations from friends in Indianapolis,
early Thursday morning

Allen recently talked with someone at a church in Ohio that wants him to visit their church. There was a slot that would work without altering the Sowers’ previous schedule, but that would have put them at the church on a weekday. When visiting a crowd at a church, it’s usually best to do it when the crowd is present, so . . . changes were made.

This Sunday, when the Ohio church wants Allen to visit, the Sowers were scheduled to be in Frederick Maryland. Allen and Trish were supposed to be at an event in Maryland the day before, to unload the backpacks and other donations from this trip, and load them into a shipping container which will be used for storage. Since Frederick is not actually in Ohio, that won’t work! Even Waldo and Carmen Sandiego cannot be in multiple places at the same time!

Jim and Denise Cofer are coming to the rescue. The Cofers have agreed to drive from their home in Maryland to meet up with the Sowers in Pittsburgh. There, they will swap vehicles. Allen and Trish will drive the Cofers’ car to Ohio. Jim Cofer, who has been added to the rental truck agreement, will drive the truck back to Maryland to be unloaded on schedule. Jim and Denise have a daughter who attends college in Pittsburgh, and this will give them an opportunity to pay her a quick visit.

Back in Maryland, the Cofers will oversee the packing event. If the good Lord’s willing and the creek don’t rise (excuse me - sometimes the Southern just has to get out!), the storage trailer, which is supposed to arrive on Friday, will be ready for this event. Then all of the filled backpacks and other goodies will be loaded into the trailer.

Even though Allen and Trish are sorry to miss the packing event, the timing for having the Sowers in Ohio is ideal. The church was already planning to highlight Sowers4Pastors on that Sunday. Who better to highlight it than Allen and Trish?

In Other News

On September 17, Allen and Trish were at a church in Kansas. While there, a woman who heard Allen's presentation about the ministry felt prompted to donate her motorcycle to Sowers4Pastors. That alone is great news. But, as it happens, the donated motorcycle is a custom built 2009 Kawasaki Vulcan 900. Now, most of those words mean less than nothing to me, but Allen explained the motorcycle is worth a fair amount of money.

A man in Kansas is working on selling the motorcycle on the ministry’s behalf. The proceeds will be used to purchase multiple motorcycles for multiple pastors in Honduras. In fact, if the price is right, it’s highly possible that the donated motorcycle will bring in enough money to purchase six motorcycles in Honduras!

Stay tuned for the next installment of “Where in the World Are Allen and Trish Sowers?”. - posted by Christi