SPEAKER_01: Hey everybody, welcome to Austin Avenue Unplugged.
SPEAKER_01: We have had a busy week at the office.
SPEAKER_01: At the time of recording this, we are on spring break.
SPEAKER_01: All the kids around Brownwood are cheering.
SPEAKER_01: All of the teachers are like, dang, it's Friday or spring break.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: We have to go back in three days.
SPEAKER_04: Everybody else who works is like, my my husband and my son are at home and I have to go to work.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: True.
SPEAKER_01: It's just normal.
SPEAKER_01: I have talked to a lot of parents this week about like if they're excited when spring break comes around, and they're usually really excited about the trips that they have, or like if families are coming in, they get to see their cousins, but they're like, Yeah, I still have to work.
SPEAKER_05: You still have to work.
SPEAKER_01: And my kids have to stay at home.
SPEAKER_01: And immediately when they come home, it's like, oh, let's go and do something.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, I just worked for eight hours straight.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And now I'm babysitting my kids.
SPEAKER_01: No, not babysitting, you're raising your kids.
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_04: I I've noticed that Donita gets so many phone calls from her children.
SPEAKER_01: That's you want to get if they're in school.
SPEAKER_04: That's right, that's right.
SPEAKER_04: What do you want now?
SPEAKER_04: No, it's fine.
SPEAKER_04: Don't hit your brother.
SPEAKER_01: So as a parent of a high schooler, a middle schooler, and an elementary kid, do y'all view spring break differently?
SPEAKER_02: Well, they have, and I'll I'll use this in quotes they have built-in babysitting.
SPEAKER_02: Uh at least Gracie does.
SPEAKER_02: Uh Lily came back from her trip, so she's at home, and Gracie's at home, and mom's at home, and so I don't have to deal with those phone calls.
SPEAKER_04: That's very true.
SPEAKER_02: Except I got a really good one a minute ago.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, hey, you want to join us for lunch at the train station?
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, Yes.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, I do.
SPEAKER_02: That sounds great.
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, other than that, no, I I come home and and they're all just sprawled out on the couch watching like I think Gracie's in kind of a Marvel run.
SPEAKER_02: And so that Spider-Man was, I don't know where that puts him in the whole energy.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so so anyway, so yeah, I it that hasn't changed a lot for me.
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't think of a better way to end a a work week than going to the train for lunch.
SPEAKER_01: I know.
SPEAKER_02: I'm excited.
SPEAKER_02: I hope we can hurry up.
SPEAKER_02: Um I may just go sit there.
SPEAKER_04: I may just crash your party in January.
SPEAKER_04: That sounds great.
SPEAKER_01: Doug's gonna walk in like, sorry, family.
SPEAKER_01: I invited the entire office.
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't stop.
SPEAKER_01: Is Trine pretty busy over spring break with sports?
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
SPEAKER_03: I don't think he played a lot of tennis this time.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Just some pickleball and hanging out with friends.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: They're headed to Abling today.
SPEAKER_03: But no like school-sanctioned events.
SPEAKER_03: No, no, they gave him a break.
SPEAKER_03: That's good for them.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, were your feelings hurt that Tron didn't invite you to play pickleball with him this week?
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: Jobs would have been blinded if I asked me Tron playing pickleball.
SPEAKER_00: I was the other day.
SPEAKER_02: Ask me that question.
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
SPEAKER_01: Douglas.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Were your feelings in any way, big or small, a little hurt by trying not inviting you to play pickleball?
SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm glad you asked that question.
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely yes.
SPEAKER_02: Trying to hope you hear this.
SPEAKER_02: Like I was weeping.
SPEAKER_02: Like I fell asleep crying into my pillow last night when I heard that you played pickleball and you didn't invite me.
SPEAKER_02: Your dad said, Yeah, Tron invited his friends to play pickleball.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Am I not your friend, Tron?
SPEAKER_02: Nope, I'm not.
SPEAKER_02: I'm the really old guy who yells at him for 25 minutes every Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: I actually did not play a little bit of this pickleball that they were playing.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And for the sake of the residents of Brownwood, I'm glad you weren't there.
SPEAKER_01: It was shirts versus kids.
SPEAKER_01: And I think everyone was on the shirt.
SPEAKER_01: On the skin steam.
SPEAKER_02: Like somebody like, yeah, you could have like opened up your window and like, why are there fluorescent tubes out there?
SPEAKER_03: Like, I came home a little sunburned.
SPEAKER_01: All over.
SPEAKER_01: You could see the farmer's hand from across the block.
SPEAKER_01: The forearms looked appropriate color.
SPEAKER_01: He's wearing a really white shirt.
SPEAKER_01: I used to have a yellow t-shirt that was just like just enough of my skin color that at first glance of someone driving by, you would think I was not wearing a shirt.
SPEAKER_01: But it had black words on it, so it's like, did you tattoo?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's a great idea.
SPEAKER_00: I'm there's something in the works now.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody else is getting shirts for different things.
SPEAKER_02: Lance has a shirt.
SPEAKER_02: You have a shirt.
SPEAKER_02: He does have a shirt.
SPEAKER_02: I have one of his shirt.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: I still don't know who started that whole thing, but oh, I know what I'm gonna say.
SPEAKER_02: We're not gonna rant him out on the project.
SPEAKER_02: All I know is if I was in college, I would get like NIL money for that.
SPEAKER_02: Name image likeness, but I'm not in college, so I got nothing for people wearing my face on their shirt.
SPEAKER_03: That's too bad.
SPEAKER_02: I'm really sad about that.
SPEAKER_03: And Lance's is in fish form.
SPEAKER_01: That is yeah, it's not even what uh what about yours?
SPEAKER_01: Do y'all have any elementary spring break?
SPEAKER_01: Elementary.
SPEAKER_04: Uh well, we're going camping this weekend, and I'm super excited.
SPEAKER_04: Um now that now that I work and I have to take days off, I'm really reluctant to take those days off until we've planned accordingly, like this early in the in the year.
SPEAKER_04: So we're just taking a weekend, kinda skipping out on some stuff.
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: And um we're going to the state park.
SPEAKER_04: Super excited.
SPEAKER_04: I love the lake.
SPEAKER_04: And it'll be nice to to set up camp for more than a night and and relax and have no TV, have no screens, and just kinda just kind of enjoy each other.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so just give me, you said set up camp, so give me a little I mean, are we talking about like tents?
SPEAKER_02: Are we what are we talking about?
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_04: Uh Aaron and I will be in a tent.
SPEAKER_04: Gordon is gonna put up his tent.
SPEAKER_04: We got new cots because we're old and we do not need to sleep on air mattresses anymore.
SPEAKER_04: Um so excited.
SPEAKER_04: So we got cots and we got Aaron got us memory foam toppers.
SPEAKER_06: Okay.
SPEAKER_04: And it's so comfortable.
SPEAKER_04: I've never I've never slept on anything that wasn't a bed that that w was that comfortable.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: Like no hip pain, no shoulder pain.
SPEAKER_04: That makes a big difference.
SPEAKER_04: A huge difference.
SPEAKER_04: So I'm I'm very excited.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: Uh so yes, we'll each we'll each have our own tents.
SPEAKER_04: I have a kitchen set up that I will get to test out.
SPEAKER_04: Um some new gear that I've used once, so it'll be fun to use it again.
SPEAKER_04: Um I'm yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: So after you join us at the train station today, then we're gonna join you for camping.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, so how many memory foam?
SPEAKER_04: Well, we only have three.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, I don't know which one of your family members won't get one, but I'm uh as long as I get mine, I'm senior.
SPEAKER_04: Well, then that I guess that means Gordon doesn't get one.
SPEAKER_01: Uh well, that seems pretty intense.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone?
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02: It'll be very Hey, if you're listening, like it wasn't just this awkward sound, like everybody had a pain look on their face when Jow said that.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody dropped their heads.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's just like their kids went down and their eyes went down.
SPEAKER_02: I know in post-production, Sarah's gonna be like, Wow, wow.
SPEAKER_04: If I can find the free noise to do that, I found an elephant once.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I found this interesting.
SPEAKER_01: Like this whole week I've been asking people, or especially last week when spring break started, if they had any plans or anything exciting.
SPEAKER_01: And a vast majority of families said, no.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna stay home.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're gonna hopefully enjoy one another.
SPEAKER_01: But even if we don't, we're still gonna stay at home and we're gonna watch some shows or get some chores done, do some spring cleaning.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And every kid was excited about that last one.
SPEAKER_01: But last year, I remember around this time, we were going to Cayenta, Arizona, and to Mesa, Arizona, over a spring break mission trip.
SPEAKER_01: And we were thinking about kind of like the timing of it and the rhythm of it.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if we do it every year, then families never get a spring break.
SPEAKER_01: They never get to go out and travel.
SPEAKER_03: LTC with Easter.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to be away for every Easter Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
SPEAKER_01: And so we decided that every other year, so in not in 2026, but in 25 and in 27, 29, the odd years, we're gonna take a long mission trip over spring break.
SPEAKER_01: That way the other years people can travel.
SPEAKER_01: Well, last year when we were doing the Arizona thing, there were a lot of families that were like, Man, we would actually really love to go, but we have plans, so we can't this time, but we would love to go next time.
SPEAKER_01: And they were kind of heartbroken that they were traveling and that they couldn't go.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And then this year comes around and we're not having a mission trip, and everyone's like, Yep, staying in.
SPEAKER_01: Not going anywhere.
SPEAKER_02: Although didn't you have a few people, uh, not to embarrass anyone, but a few people who asked, like uh like on Friday, like last Friday, they're like, uh what mission trip are we pulling on for spring break?
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, that's two days from now.
SPEAKER_04: Like, you would have heard already.
SPEAKER_04: Hopefully you would have heard already.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: We do not plan week-long mission trips 72 hours in advance, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why not.
SPEAKER_01: I would be super.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, can't we spring it on them?
SPEAKER_01: We do have a 12-hour drive of planning things on the way up there.
SPEAKER_01: Is there a plan for a next spring break?
SPEAKER_01: There is.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Uh nothing like we're gonna leave at this time on this date or anything.
SPEAKER_01: Uh there is an idea that we're direction but a west.
SPEAKER_01: West.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Go west, young man.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we try to visit our local sites during spring break.
SPEAKER_01: Um, although spring break is an entire week, it's not quite long enough to go overseas.
SPEAKER_01: Um that's just a big endeavor to try to do.
SPEAKER_01: It sure is now.
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's harder for families to to do it and things like that.
SPEAKER_01: Um so all of our local ones we say local, they're in the US.
SPEAKER_01: In the US.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we'll call it that.
SPEAKER_01: Um, we'll just say like in America, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like South America, Latin America, Central, all that.
SPEAKER_01: Um like Monterey, uh, that's an option.
SPEAKER_01: Uh the Arizona ones we support two in Arizona.
SPEAKER_01: Um and then we go to Houston every summer already, and we support Carlos down there.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: We love going to visit them.
SPEAKER_01: So we try to hit those every few years.
SPEAKER_01: And I think actually just recently we had.
SPEAKER_01: Did Roland go to oh, I asked a bone about a bowen.
SPEAKER_01: Nope.
SPEAKER_01: I broke the rule.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, were there some people in Monterey just a few weeks ago?
SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
SPEAKER_04: Roland and Mario went to Monterey uh just a couple of weeks ago.
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
SPEAKER_04: Gotcha.
SPEAKER_02: Are we not allowed to ask questions about family?
SPEAKER_02: I can't ask.
SPEAKER_02: Well, just for this one.
SPEAKER_04: The joke is a bowen usually doesn't know where a bowen is.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: Well, if you have any poll with your father-in-law, will you have him start supporting a missionary in the Bahamas?
SPEAKER_02: And I'm glad I'll be, yeah.
SPEAKER_04: Are we gonna go church plant?
SPEAKER_04: Like I'm on board for that.
SPEAKER_04: We on the beach.
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: Church plant in the Bahamas.
SPEAKER_01: I'm actually reading a really interesting book.
SPEAKER_01: It's like a social science book.
SPEAKER_01: And I think in another life, I would really love to be a social scientist if that's a thing.
SPEAKER_01: If not in another life after that, I would love to make that up.
SPEAKER_00: So you have to do some prep work in your next lap for the following yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like a phoenix.
SPEAKER_00: Community for matches.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Uh but it's it's titled Toxic Charity, which sounds really hardcore, but it's really not.
SPEAKER_01: Um but it talks about like benevolence work and mission work and and things like that.
SPEAKER_01: And it's actually really interesting about um sometimes we just go on these mission trips and we come back feeling good, but how much help did we really do?
SPEAKER_01: Did we just paint the orphanage six times in six summers?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Did it really need it?
SPEAKER_01: And yes.
SPEAKER_01: It kind of challenges us more less towards um dependency that they just depend on us because we give them free food or give them free clothing or give them free money, and more towards um every relationship ever is built on trust.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so more towards a partnership.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm five chapters of the ten chapters in, halfway through, and it's been really about halfway through.
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
SPEAKER_01: Roughly 30% of the Harry Lance.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's traveling this week, this week break, yeah, and sending us pictures, kind of jealous of that.
SPEAKER_01: Speaking of beaches.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Joe.
SPEAKER_01: He'll have to tell us about it when he gets back.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I was gonna wait for the story when he gets back.
SPEAKER_02: I had an interesting conversation with a good friend of mine who did mission work for several years.
SPEAKER_02: And one of the things he pointed out, he's like, you know what?
SPEAKER_02: Like, when you're a missionary, you're far from home, like it's so nice to have people come and visit.
SPEAKER_02: He said, But for some reason, people call and they say, Hey, we want to come visit, and they're like, Will you make us an itinerary of like what we can do like all week long?
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, he's like, honestly, as a missionary, what me and my family would really love is for you to show up and say, Hey, we just want to hang out with you.
SPEAKER_02: Like, we can go sightseeing.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, When I'm in this place, like he was over in Scotland, he's like, I was a missionary, I didn't have the time or the resources to go, you know, sightseeing.
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, then people come over and like quadruple my workload with all these things, and there's no relationship building.
SPEAKER_02: It's like we've got to go paint this and do that.
SPEAKER_02: And he goes, he goes, the best is when people just come over, they have meals together.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, we all get to go visit someplace.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, for my family, that was the most beneficial.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, but nobody ever wanted to do that.
SPEAKER_02: They they assumed that like they were gonna show up and he was gonna like task, be a taskmaster for four or five days.
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Oh, that's an interesting approach.
SPEAKER_02: Like the the missionaries need that support too, not just us painting uh the same house for the six days.
SPEAKER_01: How long ago did you have that conversation?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it was probably oh six or eight years ago.
SPEAKER_01: Have you had the opportunity to do something kind of like that?
SPEAKER_02: Not not really, not a whole lot.
SPEAKER_02: Well, a a little bit when I went to the Philippines.
SPEAKER_02: There was there was a lot of uh relational, but I I mean they still had a lot of work for us to do too.
SPEAKER_02: So but yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Um I I I just again, he was so far away from home.
SPEAKER_02: Um it was just n he was like, it's just nice to like sit down and and talk about you know what what's going on in in Texas and not feel like you're just you know rushing a bunch of people around.
SPEAKER_04: A a bunch of to-dos.
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
SPEAKER_04: I feel like we we really had that opportunity uh in at Salt River, for sure.
SPEAKER_04: Um there was plenty to do, but there it was it was all focused around meals.
SPEAKER_04: I think we had potlucks, we had a ladies' group meet together, I think a men's group met together.
SPEAKER_04: I kind of sat half of it out because I was hurt.
SPEAKER_04: And and then the uh relationship class.
SPEAKER_04: Um but that's what we all take away, isn't it?
SPEAKER_04: Are those those conversations that we had that last uh those last few classes and uh and that changes everything.
SPEAKER_04: But that makes you more attentive to the work that they do there, like reading the newsletters, um excited to see them again on the next trip because it's been two years.
SPEAKER_04: Um but you're right, it's it's the relational um chip, it's the relationship that changes the ministry.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, not the to-dos.
SPEAKER_01: Me, Shanna, and Waylon uh got pretty lucky because NCYM, a conference that we go to was in Tucson, just two hours south of the Salt River Church Christ that we were serving at.
SPEAKER_01: So we got to go.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and there was a lot of people there that like recognized us but forgot the name.
SPEAKER_01: And same on our end too.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of people we recognized, but but there was a lot that it was just like we were there yesterday, and then we showed up the next day, but actually it was eight months in between.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Uh so it was really cool to get back.
SPEAKER_01: Um and then their church was just growing, and so there's a lot of I won't say a lot, but there was a handful of people that came up like, Hey, you seem to be known, but I haven't ever seen you around here before.
SPEAKER_01: Tell me who you are.
SPEAKER_01: I'm from Texas, and they're like, Wow, that is quite the trend.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, why don't you?
SPEAKER_01: I don't do this every week.
SPEAKER_01: That's a long commute.
SPEAKER_01: Uh but it is cool to go back and to not recognize people, it's not the exact same people.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I remember having that same sentiment with gosh, like during COVID, I remember going to like 13 funerals in in that same year.
SPEAKER_01: Not all related to the pandemic, some just age and but some some towards it.
SPEAKER_01: And it was so honoring to go to people that I loved and then look around being like, I know none of these other people here.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of cool to see the wide.
SPEAKER_01: To see your world.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: I I knew them in maybe this one avenue.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but really their life was so much bigger than the way I just knew him or or her.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And so that that's kind of one of my life goals is I want there to be strangers at my funeral.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully not strangers to me.
SPEAKER_01: That's creepy.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but strangers to everyone else that you look around and go, I don't know who these other people are.
SPEAKER_04: We'll send out we'll send out invitations.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, if you can put that in the email, that'd be great.
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Send out a push notification.
SPEAKER_02: There's kind of a story in the Bible about that, you know, they're having a big feast and so they go just wrangle up, you know, strangers uh on the street.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's that's well, I won't be alive for this, but like we're gonna offer them something in return.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: We'll have a meal.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we'll have a meal.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I heard um a missionary came back.
SPEAKER_01: This is when we had MRN come into town.
SPEAKER_01: And I forget it was uh kind of a South African country, but I I can't recall which one it is.
SPEAKER_01: Um but he was sharing that he was there for I think it was like 16 years.
SPEAKER_01: And when he comes back to the States, um the preacher got up and introduced them and welcomed them back, and he made a really good point that that stuck with that family, is that his kids, I don't think they were born there, but they were for most of their lives raised in this country.
SPEAKER_01: And so the preacher challenged the congregation not to come up and say, Hey, welcome home.
SPEAKER_01: They just left home.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: That that was their home in I forget what country it was.
SPEAKER_01: Um but I thought that's really cool too, talking about your Scotland, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Missionary friend from Scotland.
SPEAKER_01: Like he he probably feels like that's his home.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And then we'll come and visit his home and be like, hey, let me let me help out around the house and say, Really, I would like to just show you the neighborhood.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Just kind of and just have a little bit of a Sabbath and because because for missionaries, I mean, they're just that they have they have sacrificed their life and and and for their kids and their spouse, like it is a big deal.
SPEAKER_02: And so to just show up and say, Man, we just want to say we we love what you have done and and we don't want to add more work.
SPEAKER_02: I it made me think about when we went to Arizona.
SPEAKER_02: Now think about this, we had um we had a couple projects.
SPEAKER_02: It was uh on a reservation, and so they had these little um octagon, I can't remember what they're called.
SPEAKER_02: Goggle ball.
SPEAKER_02: No, not the goggles.
SPEAKER_02: There were houses, but there's uh an Indian word for it.
SPEAKER_05: But I can't remember Hogan?
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, Hogan.
SPEAKER_05: That's it.
SPEAKER_02: That's a pull from the field.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, way to go.
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
SPEAKER_02: I knew we had you here for a reason, and it's awesome.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, you can leave that.
SPEAKER_01: The designated hitter.
SPEAKER_01: She stepped up to the plate.
SPEAKER_01: She did nailed it.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Um, so anyway, I don't even know why I wanted to describe that word because I like to make long stories out of short ones.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but we we had two groups, one of them that built bunk beds, and we had to like uh I mean we had to build like a hundred, or we got to build like a hundred of them, like twelve in each one or something.
SPEAKER_02: And so it was like a lot of a lot of work, a lot of lumber.
SPEAKER_02: Like we had to take two trips uh with with huge trailers just to get off because it was so heavy.
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, and then we had another crew that their job was they they go out and the government cut down trees uh into manageable size logs um because they're trying to um thin out the trees.
SPEAKER_02: Um and so they allowed this church to come in that that we were a part of and they would gather up the woods, they were literally hauling like logs all day long.
SPEAKER_02: We were in U-holes and fill those things up.
SPEAKER_02: It was so exhausting.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Penskey.
SPEAKER_02: It was so exhausting.
SPEAKER_02: And we did that for like three or four days.
SPEAKER_02: We expected that, and like then we like got to go home and uh and then so the first year one of the missionaries was there, and the second year when we went back, he wasn't there.
SPEAKER_02: Like he had he had gone on vacation or something.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I was like, I wonder where that guy is.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, you know what?
SPEAKER_02: Like he probably has to haul wood all year round.
SPEAKER_02: He probably doesn't want to be like, hey, y'all want to come join us for three straight days of hauling wood.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he's like, we out.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I'm not I think that's a good point in there.
SPEAKER_01: Like any group that comes in, our goal is to make life a little easier for them.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, and if you're going to a place that all they do all year is haul word and build bunk beds, yeah, it's nice to bring a group of you know, twenty or thirty people over to get you ahead on that.
SPEAKER_01: Now you don't have to worry about it.
SPEAKER_01: You can take a day or two off.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Um but if you're I'm going back to that Scotland guy again, if you're having to make work for these people that want to come and visit you, um, that's not helpful.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: It's it's in a weird dynamic because they're like if I I mean I feel like uh if if if I'm a missionary and a group of people come in and they're working hard and they're supporting my mission effort, I feel like I need to be there Hollandwood too.
SPEAKER_02: Like that would be weird.
SPEAKER_02: But so now I'm on the hook for being there for backbreaking labor for three days and and again what you really want to say is no you you're doing this all the time.
SPEAKER_02: I know this sounds weird but if y you should like find a way to excuse the mission the missionary for just those work times say hey join us for for meals but like go do something enjoy just a little time off in a way because it's um it can be especially when you're working in those places where there there's never a time where there's not somebody knocking at the door or ringing your your phone saying I need help and there can be quite a bit of of ministry fatigue missionary fatigue.
SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02: So if we come in and take kind of take over and let them have a break yeah that would probably be more beneficial than just you know if you're there for four days say hey for the first two days we're sending you and your wife or you and your family you know off to this place y'all go like we'll we'll take to where you came from yeah yeah and we'll have stuff for them to do there.
SPEAKER_02: Trade how awkward would it be if you're like during the work hours, you know you enjoy yourself uh don't answer the phone like you're off the hook and then you see him yeah playing disc golf when you're enjoying yourself yeah but you have to be intentional because like if if you if you bring in a group of people and say hey look what you want to do is say hey on Sunday morning you don't have to do anything we'll do the singing we'll do the preaching we'll do everything and then the people are there like man they must not really like this guy at all because they won't let him do anything.
SPEAKER_02: They show up and take everything away from them.
SPEAKER_02: So you have to be very like we want to give this guy a break.
SPEAKER_02: He's been working hard for you and for the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah so yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Well and I like I I have a personal relationship with some of our missionaries and I like their teachings.
SPEAKER_01: Yes and oftentimes I don't get to hear them in person.
SPEAKER_01: And so when we show up and then I don't know this is the selfish part of like the people that get to go in.
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely and then you just hear the same people that you hear every Sunday back home.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah that's true and I know we live in a world that I can go and listen to any of those guys anytime from I don't know from the last six years probably at least that's the cool part.
SPEAKER_01: So it is neat and it's refreshing hopefully to the congregation that we're serving that you have a fresh perspective and a yeah a a different state of mind.
SPEAKER_02: Melinda what I heard from Giles's comment is that he's really tired of listening to me and he leaves so he can listen to someone else.
SPEAKER_04: Is that what you got I did too didn't we talk about uh a roll switch oh I guess we are chocolate we did a randomizer I remember you were pulled the pulpit yeah I remember what everyone else was I can't remember Sarah was mine was I guess your janitor Donita was Roland he's in charge I think we said for six months or for six weeks we were going to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Yes um so none of our missionaries are getting paid for six weeks yeah and and that's not a shot at Donita that is such a deep world every time I talk to Roland about it I'm like this thing is the biggest onion I've ever seen there's so many layers to this and it makes me cry every time I hope he knows that if he ever fully retires and steps away we're gonna be lost.
SPEAKER_02: I think if we redid that shuffle it would be like all of us together do Roland's job and Roland can do all of our and that would be that would be fair.
SPEAKER_02: It'd be streamlined after that exactly I was nervous about who's gonna get Darlene's are we going to get paid you don't want me doing the math because everybody will be paid in meatballs we tried to get auto pay once would call in his mom and brother and be like help the accountants Darlene if you would just write six months worth of checks and put them in envelopes and I'll we will set them out I believe I was either you or Donita I don't remember I was one of the desk.
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm that would be a hard one for me too you get in a rhythm you really do.
SPEAKER_02: I think I could edit the podcast yeah either well going back to our conversation we had prior to this um it spring break is almost over so it's maybe a little late uh and by the time you're listening to it spring break is in the rear view mirror for a few more days but you know I think that's something that's uh a healthy reminder for us is if if you are feeling overwhelmed whether you're a missionary or a mom uh or you're retired and and your life is full this is uh a hard word to say but maybe God has not called you to that place of busyness and where you're just stressed out and overwhelmed.
SPEAKER_02: Just if you look all throughout the scriptures God is calling his people to rest uh to take time away um specifically with the Israelites the Sabbath but even on into the New Testament um we are called to stop to slow down to remember Jesus went away often uh and so if you're in a time where you're like I'm just stressed out and the thought of somebody calling you and saying hey would you know would you like to do something together and your first thought is I just don't have time or energy or whatever um then then maybe maybe God is calling you to say hey um why don't you lay down some things yeah uh and don't feel guilty about that.
SPEAKER_02: That God God ordains work.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying that he wants you to never work.
SPEAKER_02: I mean that is that is important but we have to be careful um not to overwork ourselves because then we lose our passion and our joy and the reason we do it.
SPEAKER_01: So the goal is to is to not rest from things.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah we don't rest because we're burnt out and we're too tired.
SPEAKER_01: The goal is to rest for things absolutely stable minded.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know we we feel rejuvenated and not just running on fumes all the time.
SPEAKER_02: Giles will be writing a book soon and I'm gonna make sure he puts that in there is we don't we don't rest from we rest for four.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I I'm not writing a book soon but I can do an alphabet book maybe I'll do the four word okay it'll be just as long as the book will be I think that was a shot at both of us like I think I put it through a boomerang and hit me, bounced off and hit you too I only have three words and Doug has way too many.
SPEAKER_01: Well thank you all for tuning in to Austin Avenue Unplugged this week.
SPEAKER_01: Yes we enjoy making these I hope that comes through the microphones and the camera and that y'all enjoy listening to them.
SPEAKER_01: Doug would you like to close us?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah but just remember don't forget to like subscribe and hit the comment button if you would like to sponsor this open I don't know what any of that means Melinda is there any cleaning products we're short on Clorox if you would like to sponsor this podcast.
SPEAKER_02: Toilet paper if you hear this the biodegradable kind Double fly please double Scott brand like 30 seconds ago was the perfect time to pray and we were so close to closing off so much and then we just like how am I going to be able to pray now on the city I'm gonna struggle okay that was too funny okay okay that's great God thank you so much for giving us joy for giving us friends for giving us opportunities to slow down with what's going on in our life and and just enjoy your creation which we know comes in the form of stars and sunrises but it also comes uh in the form of of humans uh Satan um is using every tool he can to try to destroy and divide us um and and there's a lot of uh ways in which he's um he's succeeding um we become very um uh angry uh towards um our fellow humans uh and we we watch uh the news uh or social media and we're convinced that everybody out there is terrible but what I do know is everybody out there is your creation uh and and you're uh you have called them to worship you and you're calling us to love them and so Lord we just we want to do that Lord I pray that we um are grateful uh for all the people we come in contact with uh and that we're able to shine uh your light into their lives uh uh in their their difficult situations.
SPEAKER_02: God I thank you again uh for friends and all you do for us Lord we just we pray we can glorify you every day it's in Jesus' name