Tozour Times 2010

Tozour Time Capsule 2010

This year has been perhaps the most exciting year of our married lives. In February, we learned that we were expecting a baby! In April, we got a new “home.” In May, we took a 16-day trip to Europe as a family. And in October, we welcomed our third daughter into the world. Yes, it’s been a stellar year for the Tozour family!

Adding to our Nest

When Angela first suspected that she was expecting back in late January, she had to take three tests before she would believe it. She would be 39, and Rich would turn 44 the week the little one would arrive.

It wasn’t an easy pregnancy for Angela. She battled sickness the first three months. At the very end, it was difficult for the whole family: Rich flew to meetings for a month, while the rest of the clan stayed home in Kansas City.

The due date was October 4 th, but this baby was too comfy in the womb to make an on-time arrival. At six in the morning on Thursday, October 7 th, Angela experienced her first labor pain. Three hours later, we welcomed our third daughter, Lanae [la-NAY’] Richelle, into the family. Our “not-so-little girl” was 9 lbs. 2 oz, 20 inches long. What joy we had in our hearts as we held this precious gift from God! “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” (Psa. 127:3)

Our oldest, Briana, is fourteen. Heather is eleven. And now we have a baby! Rich will be 62 when this child graduates from high school. The Lord must be smiling!

Building a New Nest

Not only did our nest size increase this year, but we built a “new nest,” too, as it were.

Our 1994 Travel Supreme had been utterly worn out. We had lived in it full-time for twelve years—the only home our kids had ever known. But we had gotten some leaks in our roof, resulting in rotting walls and moldy patches in the ceiling; we were in desperate need of a new trailer.

Some of you know that we had made a commitment never to go into debt for anything but to wait on God for all of our needs. We’d seen the Lord provide a minivan, two F-350 pick-up trucks, and our 40-foot fifth wheel over the seventeen years that we’ve been in evangelism. But in the past two-and-a-half years, we had spent $16,000 repairing our truck—money that had either been given to us or saved toward our next trailer or truck. Now we were in dire need of a trailer, and we faced two major challenges: 1) We had no money for a 5 th wheel, and 2) We didn’t know where to get a decent used two-bedroom fifth-wheel even if we did have the money.

In December 2009, someone contacted our pastor, asking if he could donate to us anonymously. The gift was $20,000! This was the first significant gift we had been given toward a truck and trailer in several years, and it was the second largest we had ever received.

As a family, we were praying earnestly for a new home. But we weren’t even aware of a used trailer that would meet our desired criteria (43’ long, four slide-outs, 2 nd bedroom with three bunk beds).

In April, another person gave us a check for $5,000 toward a truck or trailer. The following Sunday, we were at Bethel Baptist Church in West Carrollton, Ohio, for a meeting. The assistant pastor, Jim Shihady, asked us if we were considering a new(er) trailer. Rich said that, in fact, we were. “Have you looked at Jason Tester’s fifth-wheel?” Jim asked. (Bro. Tester is a fellow evangelist.) Rich said, “Jason told me about his trailer last year, but I assumed he had sold it by now.” Since it had not yet sold, Rich asked Bro. Jason to send him some photos via e-mail.

When Angela got the pictures the next day, Rich was out. She called his cell phone. “Honey,” she said, “I’m looking at the Testers’ trailer. I think this may be the one for us.”

It just so happened that the trailer was only 30 minutes from where we were preaching that week. The next day, we went over to see it. As Rich videoed, the girls were in the back bedroom jumping and saying, “Daddy, this is the one! This is the one!” (The children’s bedroom had three bunks and a slide-out, plus a closet and drawers for each child.) Rich then asked Angela what she thought. “I think this is the one,” she replied grinning. Rich saw the double refrigerator/freezer and agreed, “This must be the one!” The trailer was also a forty-three footer with four slide-outs—just what we had asked the Lord for. The asking price was $49,500!

Rich told Jason that he had half of what he was asking. If we had possessed the full amount, we would have bought the trailer on the spot. Then Rich said, “I’ll pray for the money, but it could be weeks or months before I get it. So, if someone makes an offer, go ahead and take it.”

That night, Rich called our pastor and told him what we were considering. He said that he would have everyone pray for us at prayer meeting that evening. Rich gathered the girls and Angela and said,” Okay, we’ve looked at a trailer that we believe may be the one for us. We need to ask the Lord to provide us $25,000.” The girls retorted, “That’s a lot of money, Daddy!” Rich explained that the Lord had led us to a no-debt policy and that He had promised to meet all of our needs (Matt. 6:33; Phil. 4:19). The amount of money was certainly no obstacle for Him.

The next morning Rich was talking to our pastor. Rich told him about our family discussion and our prayer for $25,000. He said, “Rich, there’s something you need to know. Do you remember hearing about the church that closed down last year and gave us $10,000? We voted this past Sunday [the Sunday we learned about the Testers’ trailer] to give your family that money toward a truck or trailer.” We were moved. But then Pastor Franseen added something even more remarkable: “We also voted to take a special offering this coming week. We had purposed, no matter how much comes in from that offering, that we are going to give your family a total of $25,000 toward a truck or trailer.” This decision was made before our home church even knew that we were looking at a specific trailer, let alone the amount we needed!

Our family rejoiced, and the Tester family was amazed when we called back that next day to say that we were prepared to buy the trailer.

As further evidence of God’s hand on these circumstances, the very next week we were in Urbana, Ohio—only 50 miles from our previous meeting. This allowed us to purchase the fifth-wheel, park it door-to-door with our old trailer, and spend the week moving in. Michael and Candace helped us do the moving throughout the week. We worked until 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. each night and by Saturday afternoon had completely moved in to our new home! How grateful we are for our Heavenly Father’s gracious—and miraculous—provision for us!

Tozour Trip to Europe

Harry and Gina Stanley, dear missionary friends of ours in England, had been asking us to visit them for some time. We also have close friends in Germany, Al Roberts and family, who had been inviting us there. The obstacle for us was the high cost of plane tickets.

But last January, we met a lady who had tons of frequent flier miles saved up from her global travels. She offered us enough points (200,000) to take our entire family to Europe to visit our friends!

We flew to Frankfort, Germany, at the end of May and spent the next sixteen days in Europe: Ramstein AFB (in Germany and proximity), Paris; London; Luxembourg City; and Salzburg (Austria)—five countries in 2 ½ weeks. It was a fabulous trip! Angela was in her fourth month of pregnancy and, thankfully, felt well enough that she didn’t miss out on anything. It was the first time our girls had been outside of North America, and what a glorious trip it was! We’re so thankful to the Lord for His abundant blessings this year.

Milestones for Michael & Candace

As if not to be outdone by the Tozours (we’re joking, of course!), Michael and Candace announced in May that they were going to have another baby! That same week, their F-550 pick-up truck was totaled in a hit-and-run accident. True to Romans 8:28 (“all things work together for good”), the Wessbergs saw this as an opportunity to seek out a larger truck that could accommodate four children in car seats! Our home church gave them a very generous offering of $15,000, and in September they purchased a Volvo semi truck for ministry. On December 20, their fourth child (a second daughter) was born! Evy Noelle weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. and was 20 ½ inches long. We are looking forward to starting our seventh year together as an evangelistic team.