Pat Storey Newsletter (Fall 2022)

Greetings from a very wet Florida!

I hope you are all doing very well during this fall season as the weather cools off and you can enjoy the outdoors more.

Hurricane Ian just trounced Florida last week, but here in Merritt Island and the surrounding areas got mostly a lot of rain and some flooding. We were without power for just about three hours here. Teen Missions looks like a mess with all the palm fronds on the ground, but no real damage, just some cleanup needed. Pray for those in the southwest part of Florida because there is a lot of damage there around Naples and the Ft Myers area.  

Well, in the last letter I wrote to you, I told you that I would be serving on our summer staff this year and that was the plan until the middle of Boot Camp. We had previously had some communication with some of our staff in Uganda that things were not going quite right there.  During Boot Camp, we got more reports and so our president asked me to go check it out since I already have built a relationship with the staff there (and I was the only one available who wasn’t already leading a team). So that is what I did. There was already a team going to the base there in Jinja and so I came right behind them. We have three bases there and the northern base had some involvement in the rumors so one of the staff met me at the airport and we traveled by bus to that base first. I was able to meet with the staff and then the students and was only there one full day. Then we began the very long drive in the Teen Missions vehicle to our southern base with a stop at the central base along the way. I had never met most of the staff there, so it was fun to see the base again and to meet the new staff.  

I think it was at about 2:00-3:00 in the afternoon, when we began driving again. About an 1 ½ hours down the road, the driver hit some loose rock going around a corner and lost control of the vehicle. I have no idea how fast we were going, but we hit the bank, the man sitting behind me was thrown out the window and the pickup rolled the other direction. We landed upright and thank the Lord had only minor injuries. The driver had a severe laceration on his hand, I had badly bruised ribs from the seat belt and the one thrown out had a broken collarbone. Treatment is always interesting in a foreign country and even though we were taken to a clinic, we didn’t get treated until the next evening—a little over 24 hours later. I know without a doubt that God protected all of us because our injuries could have been much,much worse.

Anyway, when we finally arrived at the base, we were given a very warm welcome from the staff, students and the American team, who let me hang out with them when I had time. It was so good to see some familiar faces! I was in Uganda about five weeks and the last two weeks, I was joined by our Malawi coordinator who came to help confirm my findings and help wrap things up. While in Uganda, I got to help cut the ribbon when we dedicated their new girls’ dorm for the Bible school. That was a very fun evening and a blessing for sure!

After making that trip home, some of our staff from Florida made another long trip about a week later to Indonesia for our Asian Summit. What a great time of fellowship with our coordinators from Indonesia where we have seven bases, Myanmar, Philippines, Cambodia and India. Many of them I had met in 2019 when I went to Cambodia to do some training with them there. After the summit our U.S. staff that were there visited several of the Asian bases and I got to spend the next week at our Entikong base on the Island of Kalimantan near the Malaysian border. My purpose there was to train our new Circuit Riders about running Sunday School Circuits there. It was so much fun to get to know those fun-loving people who love children and will be excellent Circuit Riders!  

Before meeting the Kostners at the airport, I was able to spend a couple of days at our base in Tangerang on the Island of Java. Our building is in the middle of the city and a unique base as TMI bases go. Most are in more remote areas and have plenty of room for gardens and animals, etc. There’s no place for a garden there so they have a hydroponic garden on the roof. It was very interesting to see.

Please pray for our Asian staff. Some countries have almost insurmountable situations that they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Myanmar is still a dangerous country with the military unrest there. Some other countries are in the middle of other disputes and need wisdom from God to know how to handle each situation.

We returned home from Indonesia on September 7 and have been working in the office and planning my own deputation trip since then. This Friday, October 7, I will be heading to Iowa to report to some of my supporters and to visit family. One of the hardest things about living in Florida for me is that it’s so far away from my kids and grandkids. However, I’m not sure I would survive another Iowa winter if I were to live there again. God has blessed me big time by allowing me to live and serve here. 

If you support me and I have not been able to get to your church recently, let me know when would be a good time. I would love to visit your church and I can sometimes get away for a weekend here and there, but will definitely try to work it in on my next deputation trip in 2023.

We had our first (in many years) staff retreat where our staff, interns, students and some of our board members went to Bradenton, Florida on the Gulf coast. We spent three very lovely days at a retreat center where we evaluated the past summer and spent a lot of time playing games and just enjoying each other’s company in a much more fun way than when we are at the office working.

I drove over a couple of days early and spent a day with my sister, Donna, who also lives in Bradenton. It’s always good to catch up with her.  

As always, I would like to take a moment to tell all of you how much I appreciate your prayers and financial support. I would not get to do this without your help and words cannot really express my thanks well enough. I pray that God is blessing you as much as he is me because of your generosity. Thank you all so much!

Serving Him with you,

Pat

Hebrews 4:16