Richard and Josi Ingram

Good grief! I’ve missed a week, somehow… Things have been moving on.

The trip to Galveston was good. Philip and Heather (the couple Richard helped) lost a lot of stuff, but their house was not destroyed. Pray for them to recover. They are in an apartment while they wait for their house to be repaired and continue med school in Galveston.

Praise the Lord! Our search for a house has come to a conclusion! We sign papers today on a new home. It’s a great looking house, priced lower than what we paid for our house in Globe! Pray now for a good inspection. We are looking forward to doing the little bit of fix-up (painting, carpeting, and the like) and moving. This home will be dedicated to the Lord’s service. This is His house and He has given it to us to the caretakers.

By-the-way, we moved this past weekend from the one-room Guest House accommodations to some friend’s house while they are away for three weeks. (Yes, they know we are here.)

There was one scare we had yesterday. We were notified that there had been a fire in the building where one of our storage units is located. Turned out to be no danger to our stuff (smells a little smoky, but will be fine), but eight other units were totally destroyed by the fire that was determined to be arson. Pray for the people who lost everything in the fire.

We are keeping the PO Box address:

Richard and Josi Ingram
445 E. FM 1382 Ste 3 PMB 204
Cedar Hill, TX 75104

This is a long-term address. Please send all correspondence to us here.

Here are some other prayer concerns:

1. Richard’s sister Sharon begins the process for a possible kidney transplant. Pray for the right donor-Richard and her children are the most likely candidates.
2. Amy Carter has been moved to Kindred Hospital for therapy and continued radiation treatments for the brain tumor. She is recovering, but it is very slow.
3. Our friend Vickie in Albuquerque had surgery yesterday to recover the joint in her hip. She will require four months of healing before therapy can begin.
4. Now that we are here, our finances will be taking a hard hit preparing a new home. Pray for more partners to come alongside us to help us with our monthly expenses and support us in prayer.
5. Josi’s niece Andre is having serious health concerns. Doctors are working out treatments.

This list is created weekly, not necessarily on the same day. If you would like us to pray for any of your concerns, please send us a note.

In Christ’s Service
Richard and Josi Ingram
Pioneer Bible Translators

Keeping this short because I’m (Richard) heading for bed at 4:30 in the afternoon. Keep a group of us from the office in prayer tonight and tomorrow. We are leaving at 11:00 pm this evening for Galveston to be there in time for the lifting of curfew at 6:00 am. We are helping a newlywed couple who are med students there to try and salvage some of their belongings off Galveston Island. We have one day to get as much stuff as we can. The wife of the couple is the daughter of Josi’s boss, Marsha.

Also, the house we made an offer on went to a higher bidder. We will continue to wait on God’s will for a new house here in Dallas and keep looking.

We are both adjusting to our new jobs here at Pioneer Bible Translators and having a great time!

Like I said, keeping this short.

In Christ’s Service,
Richard and Josi Ingram
Pioneer Bible Translators

445 E. FM 1382 Ste 3 PMB 204
Cedar Hill, TX 75104

Well, Hurricane Ike was a no-show for us. If you were worried and praying for our safety, thanks. Your prayers worked. Ike flew by to the east of Dallas and dropped only a little rain and brought minor winds. We’ve had worse in the monsoons in Arizona. However, your prayers for those who were struck by Hurricane Ike are greatly appreciated. There were some families of some of the people who work with us at Pioneer Bible Translators that were seriously affected by the storm.

We are settling into our room in the dormitories on campus and still looking for a house. The house last week was sold to a higher bidder, but we have made an offer on another home yesterday. Pray for God’s will in this house-it’s great, but if it’s not God’s will for us to buy it, then so be it. We waited many months for our house to sell in Arizona, we can wait awhile for the right house to come along.

In the meantime, we have gotten a post office box for our mail, instead of using the office address. This will get mail to us faster. The new address is:

Richard and Josi Ingram
445 E. FM 1382 Ste 3 PMB 204
Cedar Hill, TX 75104

This is a long-term address. Please send all correspondence to us here.

In the meantime, here are some prayer concerns:

1. Amy Carter is still in the hospital. They are beginning other treatments for the remainder of the growth. Pray for the doctors to have skill and knowledge through the Holy Spirit to bring her back to health.
2. Our friend Vickie in Albuquerque is having a lot of pain in her hip and is looking at having a resurfacing job or hip replacement. Pray for her healing and the doctors to be quick in deciding what to do.
3. Jean, who helped us move to Dallas, is having knee surgery tomorrow. Pray for her quick recovery and, again, God’s healing hand with the doctors.
4. Praise! Richard’s niece passed her board exams! She is still dealing with a splinted wrist, but at least some of the worry is gone!
5. Pray for God’s favor on the house we have made an offer for. It is in great shape and at a really good price. May this be the home He has chosen for us.
6. Now that we are here, our finances will be taking a hard hit preparing a new home. Pray for more partners to come alongside us to help us with our monthly expenses and support us in prayer.
7. We are adjusting to being back at work. Praise to God for His blessings on us here. We are having a great time getting to know everyone and looking forward to using the talents He has given us in our work..

This list is created weekly, not necessarily on the same day. If you would like us to pray for any of your concerns, please send us a note.

In Christ’s Service
Richard and Josi Ingram
Pioneer Bible Translators

We are both in agreement-we have found the house to put a bid on. Located in Grand Prairie, it is only 5 miles from the offices of Pioneer Bible Translators.

Please join us in prayer. We want to be sure that this is the house God has chosen for us. If it is, the negotiations will go smoothly and we will be able to move soon.

In Christ’s Service
Richard & Josi Ingram
Pioneer Bible Translators

Well, did you make it? That’s the question we’ve been fielding on our cell phones the last couple of days.

Yes, we have arrived in Dallas, Texas, and are settling into our temporary accommodations in the Guest House at Pioneer Bible Translators. Most of our possessions are now residing in two storage units here, as we look for a new house to purchase and set up our new home. The dogs are staying with a PBT family here.

The trip from Globe to Dallas, was uneventful. The dogs had a great time, while Josi and I and Bill and Jean Cook motored our way across Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

For the time being, our current address is:

Richard and Josi Ingram
Pioneer Bible Translators
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Road
Dallas, TX 75236-5629

Our phone numbers will stay the same for now; Richard’s is 602-920-0215 and Josi’s is 928-200-2227. Our email addresses are still the same; richard[at]omrisson[dot]com and josinoe[at]omrisson[dot]com. (I’ve done our addresses this way for anti-spam reasons.)

As soon as we have a permanent new address, we will keep you updated.

In the meantime, here are some prayer concerns:

1. Amy Carter, sister to Rusty Howard, and wife of Ed Carter, was diagnosed August 29 with a malignant brain tumor. She went into surgery on Sunday, August 31, and the doctors removed most of the growth. However, there remains parts attached to the brain stem that they cannot remove surgically. They will be treating it with chemotherapy while they are doing physical therapy to help her recover lost motor skills. Pray for her and her family while she recovers. Pray that the treatment will remove the remainder of the growth.
2. We have been prequalified for a new home in Dallas. Pray for us to find the right house. Our new home will be dedicated to the Lord’s work.
3. Pray for us as we live in a single room in the Guest House for a month. Pray for us not to trip over each other, not to get cabin fever, and to find a house SOON.
4. Pray for us to adjust to new weather, new working conditions, new people, new EVERYTHING. We are excited, but adjustment is always hard.
5. Now that we are here, our finances will be taking a hard hit preparing a new home. Pray for more partners to come alongside us to help us with our monthly expenses and support us in prayer.
6. Richard’s niece broke her wrist last weekend. Pray for healing as she adjusts to having it in a cast while doing school work.

In Christ’s Service
Richard and Josi Ingram
Pioneer Bible Translators

We are now just days away from moving to Dallas, Texas. Escrow on the house is closed, and we are as packed as we can be while we are still here. We pick up the truck on Tuesday morning, and head out Thursday morning. It’s a little hard to believe that the time has finally come for us to go, and after waiting for so long, the last couple of weeks have gone by so fast.

When you follow the Lord the enemy throws things in your way to try to trip you up. They are things that, if you let them, will cause a lot of stress, anger, fear, and trouble. We find, however, that if we hold on to our trust in God-the faith that He set us on this path-the problems will either be overcome, or will go away. He has not failed us yet. We have had more costs than we expected in the sale, but were able to save about the same amount in moving costs. The U-Haul dealer up here was not going to have a truck available for us, even though we had one reserved, but by calling the corporate office we got the truck AND 30 days free storage in Dallas. Every time something that looked bad has happened, it has worked out as soon as we let go and trusted in our Lord. These are good lessons for us to learn now, and take with us, because the enemy never stops.

Our next prayer list may be a little off schedule, due to travel and settling in at the new place. We will have our friends, Bill and Jean, with us for awhile, and we will be looking at houses and getting started in the offices. So please forgive us if we run late, and keep us in your prayers. Thank you so much that we can count on your faithful prayers.

Praise and Prayer needs

1. Praise that the house has closed and we are ready to go.
2. Praise that we will be able to spend the holiday with Josi’s family in Phoenix, and her sister and brother-in-law from Las Vegas.
3. Pray for travel mercies as Richard and Bill drive a moving truck towing the Jeep on a trailer, and Josi and Jean drive the mini-van with the dogs.
4. Pray for us to get pre-qualified for a new home in Dallas. We have applied with a couple of places and are waiting for word.
5. Pray for us as we live in a single room in the Residence Hall at the International Service Center for a month. We will be eating in a cafeteria, have no TV (horrors.), and limited computer space. And the dogs will be staying elsewhere. Pray for us not to trip over each other, not to get cabin fever, and to find a house SOON.
6. Pray for us to adjust to new weather, new working conditions, new people, new EVERYTHING. We are excited, but adjustment is always hard.

This list is created weekly, not necessarily on the same day. If you would like us to pray for any of your concerns, please send us a note.

In Christ’s Service
Richard and Josi Ingram
Pioneer Bible Translators

The escrow on our house in Globe, Arizona, closes on August 29. We will be moving the furniture and final belongings out on Tuesday, September 2, and will finish emptying the storage units on September 3.

Our move to Dallas will hit the road on September 4—WooHooo! We expect to arrive in Dallas around 2:00 pm on Saturday, September 6, to offload into storage units in Duncanville.

We begin work in earnest at the International Service Center of Pioneer Bible Translators soon after. We’ll be spending a few days or a couple of weeks finding a new home there.

We will be sending all of our Partners new address information when we reach Dallas, when we rent a PO Box.

In Christ’s Service
Richard and Josi Ingram

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old, the elders, received their commendation”. Hebrews 11:1-2

A year ago, August 2007, God told us to “pack our bags” and that “this time next year, everything will be different.” We were not thinking in terms of leaving our ministry with Arizona Reservation Ministries. In October, God removed us from that ministry, leading us to Pioneer Bible Translators just a couple of weeks later.

Escrow will close on our house August 29, and we will move the last things out on September 2. We will be in Dallas by the 6^th. With God’s leading, we will soon be in a new home, finally working out of PBT’s International Service Center.

It has been hard, waiting on the Lord this long, but our faith, weak as it is by some standards, has led us to this point in our lives. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) He has called us, and we have answered.

For our friends and family here in Arizona, it’s time to be saying “goodbye.”. But this isn’t really a goodbye, it’s a “See you later.” We’ll be back on occasion. For old friends and new friends in Texas, we will soon be saying “Hello!”

There will be new challenges in the weeks, months, and years ahead. Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” We have faith that He will give us the strength, discernment, wisdom, and talents to meet all of the challenges that are ahead of us.

Prayers and praises for this week:

1. Praise! The house is sold, the termite inspection is clear, the house inspection was done and a minor repair has been made.
2. The septic inspection will be in the next couple of days, but pray that there are no problems.
3. Pray that the final packing and preparations will be uneventful.
4. Pray for the friends that will be helping us pack on the 2^nd and 3^rd of September.
5. We still need to raise new partners in our ministry-individuals and churches who are willing to stand alongside us in our ministry with Pioneer Bible Translators.
6. Pray for everyone at PBT-they’re going to have to get used to us “foreigners.”

This list is created weekly, not necessarily on the same day. If you would like us to pray for any of your concerns, please send us a note.

In Christ’s Service
Richard and Josi Ingram
Pioneer Bible Translators

… but [Jesus] said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and has had mercy on you.” Mark 5:19 (MKJV)

What great things the Lord has done for us! Our house goes into escrow tomorrow morning (8/15) and we will be moving to Dallas around September 5.

We shall praise the Lord for all His blessings. Sometime soon, I’m going to have to list them all. Our life is so full of them, it may take awhile.

But, here are some prayers and praises:

1. Praise! The house moves into escrow tomorrow. It closes on September 5.
2. Pray for our move. We are renting a truck and moving ourselves. The moving companies want way too much of our funds to be worthwhile.
3. We still need to raise new partners in our ministry-individuals and churches who are willing to stand alongside us in our ministry with Pioneer Bible Translators.
4. Continue praying for PBT-the missionaries, interns and teams that are in the field. Their safety and health are always of concern. Pray for their continued work in spreading the Gospel to Bible-less people.
5. Pray for our friends Bill and Jean, who have resigned from Arizona Reservation Ministries. May God lead them in new adventures.

This list is created weekly, not necessarily on the same day. If you would like us to pray for any of your concerns, please send us a note.

In Christ’s Service
Richard and Josi Ingram
Pioneer Bible Translators

God is good and He sees us through all circumstances.

We have an offer for the house, but it is $10,000 below our asking price. However, it is a cash offer with a closing date of September 5. We will be making a counter offer in the morning-we would really like to be right in the middle, but we will leave the negotiating up to God.

We will keep you informed as things progress.

In Christ’s Service,
Richard and Josi Ingram