Talking Dog for Sale

There is no real point in this posting other than I thought the joke below was funny.

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It was late afternoon near Savannah, Tennessee. Johnny was riding back from a gig in Nashville. He sat with his head against the window of the bus looking bored at the roadside as it passed. A sign in front of a house changed his boredom to curiosity, and he had his driver turn around. The sign said:

“Talking Dog for Sale”

He rings the bell and the owner tells him the dog is in the backyard. The guy goes into the backyard and sees a yellow Labrador retriever sitting there.

“You talk?” he asks.

“Yep,” the Lab replies.

“So, what's your story?”

The Lab looks up and says, "Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA about my gift, and in no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running."

"But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security wandering near suspicious characters and listening in."

"I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals. I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired."

Johnny is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

"Ten dollars," the singer says.

"Ten dollars? This dog is amazing. Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?"

"'Cause he's a liar! He never did any of that stuff!"

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Adam

Missions Update

I have been corresponding via e-mail with Pastor Ron Barnes for the past couple of weeks. Ron Barnes is an ABWE missionary involved with church planting and training in the Czech Republic. Several years ago the president of the Baptist Union in the Czech Republic invited ABWE to assist them in the work of church planting, Bible training, and leadership training in the Southern Bohemia region.

The Czech Republic is one of the more stable post-communist countries in Eastern Europe. However, 60% of adults identify themselves as atheists. It is the least evangelized country in Eastern Europe. In Southern Bohemia there is only one Baptist church which is in the city of Ceske Budejovice. There are few other Bible believing churches in the region. Pastor Barnes is currently supporting the work of the Baptist church in Ceske Budejovice, and two other church plants that will be starting up within the year. He is also coordinating work on starting a Bible Seminary in a nearby city.

I sent Pastor Barnes some information about me, our family, and our call to missions, and we corresponded a number of times via e-mail. The work in Southern Bohemia is of great interest to us, so I made arrangements for Pastor Barnes to call me via internet phone on Saturday morning. I was on one phone and Marge and the children were on the speaker phone. We spent about two hours getting to know one another, and working to get a broader sense of the work and culture in the Southern Bohemia region of the Czech Republic. It turns out that he will be in the states for about one week, and will have the afternoon free on Sunday 18-Feb.

After Marge and I spoke with him on the phone, we really felt like working with the team in the Czech Republic could be an excellent fit for us. Typically the next step is to take a survey trip to meet the team there, spend time with the church members and leaders, and experience the culture. However, since Pastor Barnes is going to be in the states, I decided the best next step would be to fly out to Newark where he will be and spend the afternoon with him. We’ll share a hotel room together and then go our separate ways. Choosing a field of service and joining a missionary team is something like a marriage.

If my meeting with Pastor Barnes goes well, and we all think we should take the next step, then we will schedule a survey trip. This is all very new for me, and asking for help is not something I am accustomed to do. That said, I have already received several offers to help with travel expenses, and that help will be needed. These trips are completely outside our budget, so we are trusting God to provide, and believe He will.


Donations Accepted

Bethel Baptist Church has set up a special account for anyone who would like to donate toward our missionary expenses. This account is only temporary in that when we are officially appointed as ABWE missionaries, then we will have an account set up with them. We will be appointed as ABWE missionaries upon successful completion of Candidate Seminar.

In the meantime we will have several times when we will need to travel. I’m already starting to set up dates to go share my testimony and sing at some churches where I have family or I have been to before. I’m not officially raising support, but this gives me an opportunity to make contact, encourage people, and share with them how God has been working in our lives. We will need help with the expenses of traveling to churches, the trip this weekend, the survey trip, and travel to Candidate Seminar.

As always, please don’t feel any pressure to give money. Your prayers and friendship are most important. However, if you would like to give some money, please send it to:

ATTN: Donation for Parmenter Missions
Bethel Baptist Church
402 South Westnedge
Kalamazoo, MI 49007


Keep in touch.

We would love to hear how you are doing. The best way to get in touch with us is via this e-mail link. If you would like to send us an old fashioned paper letter, I promise one of us (or several of us) will write back to you. You can write to us at Parmenter Family 1512 Bank Street, Kalamazoo, MI 49001.

Finally, let me know how we can pray for you. We want to support you with our prayers even as you are so kindly praying for us.

In Christ,

Adam Parmenter
On behalf of Marge and the kids

Czech

I've been corresponding with the missionary who is the country coordinator for the Czech Republic. He is getting a new work going there in the Southern Bohemia (a region of the Czech republic). There is only one Baptist church in Southern Bohemia.

ABWE reports that in a survey 60% of adults identified themselves as atheists. ABWE was invited in to work in Southern Bohemia to train national believers as maturing believers, leaders, and church planters.

I've been reading a little about Bohemia and learning what I can. Marge and I are very interested, and are scheduled to have a phone conversation with Pastor Ron Barnes who is the team leader/country coordinator in the Czech Republic.

Pray that if this is the best place for us to serve the Lord that God will clearly draw our family to the work there.

Adam

Baby It's Cold Outside

It's been wind chill of up to 20 below the last several days here in balmy Kalamazoo, Michigan. Marge and I are finishing up an assignment called "Grey Areas". It's a tape series about dealing with life style issues to which scripture does not make a definitive statement.

Obviously, this will be an issue requiring maturity on our part as we join with a team of missionaries who are from various background in a culture that is foreign to our own.

After that we will be studying up for our doctrinal oral exam. We also are supposed to review a book that is designed for study with new Christian. They would like us to go through it with a new Christian. We are going to go through it as a family first, and then think through who else we could study it with.

The other preparation work is financial. We are looking at our debt, which is small by most standards. If we sold our house today, we would likely pay it all off. We aren't waiting or that, so last night we sat down and planned out our savings and checking cash flow, tax returns, and some reimbursements that we'll be getting and what we'll be able to put toward debt.

We've cut out things like home internet access, and video rentals. We are also checking with each other before we spend any money not on the list. That's no fun. However, the cool thing is that we are planning on building up a small cash reserve. We haven't had that so that unexpected expenses always turn into credit card debt.

We'll shortly be developing a missions wish list, because there are certain items that we'll never be able to afford. We're discovering that there are people that want to help out. Things like a projector and lap top for Presentations at churches. The lap top will also help with studies, etc. It feels funny asking for gifts. I want to earn everything on my own, but I know that part of the way others participate in our missions journey is by giving. So, I'm learning how to receive.

By, the way, I'm setting up a missions newsletter. If you would like to receive it, please click this link, send me an e-mail, and request being added to the e-mail newsletter.

Adam