Update from the Road

Allen, Trish, and a Penske truck filled with backpacks are rolling down the road, as I write. They spent several days in Seattle. Through Seattle4Lempira donations, and backpacks from some long-term Manna4Lempira sponsors, they collected around 350 filled backpacks.

While in Seattle, they were also on hand to initiate the new Seattle4Lempira sponsorship program. About twenty-five people have already signed up to sponsor children. Those are the children Kate, Kelsea, and Russell were able to visit during Kate’s recent trip to Honduras.

Allen and Trish left Seattle on September 11. In a day’s time, they crossed through beautiful mountains, went through a small part of Idaho (which they also proclaimed to be beautiful), and made it to Montana. They spent the night in Deer Lodge, Montana, which was picturesque, though Trish confessed that the moderately priced motel where they stayed probably isn’t what the name “Deer Lodge” brings to mind!

At the time of our call, our favorite couple in a rental truck was heading to Yellowstone National Park. Yep. They are going to drive through Yellowstone in the aforementioned Penske truck filled with backpacks! How fitting! They had hoped to be able to spend a couple of days in Yellowstone, but ministry obligations take precedence. They aren’t complaining, mind you! How many people get to see Old Faithful from a Penske truck? They will end up in Wyoming, where they will visit with a childhood friend of Trish’s. From the background, Allen joked that the theme song for this trip is Johnny Cash’s, “I’ve Been Everywhere, Man”.

In exciting news, the husband of one of Trish’s friends discovered a spool of cable at a port in Seattle. It’s just the sort of cable needed to build bridges! And it’s Sowers4Pastors’ for the taking! This particular spool is GINORMOUS! The cable itself is 1.5 inches in diameter. The spool contains more than 4000 feet of cable. It’s 6.5 feet tall, 7 feet wide, and weighs more than 20,000 pounds! That will barely fit in a shipping container and is almost half the weight allowed in a container!

The tentative plan is to collect the spool from the port and store it for a year. Next year, when collecting backpacks, Allen and Trish are considering flying to Kansas and making their way to Seattle with the backpacks they collect along the way. They will add the backpacks to the container with the spool and ship it off to Honduras! The plan is to have three container shipping ports--Maryland, Florida, and Washington--all thanks to a really cool spool.

 - posted by Christi