Stolen Van Updates

Wednesday, September 23, 2015 Update

For those who haven't heard, Daddy was able to get a flight to St. Louis last night using our flyer miles for $5.60!  He left GSP airport at 5:30pm here and arrived in St. Louis around 8:15CT.  The place where our van was towed for the night did not open until 9am this morning, and we have just heard from Dad--more is missing than we had gathered from the officer yesterday.  Of course this is disappointing but we have so much to be thankful for. The van itself appears to be in good condition, which is a miracle and blessing. As of right now we know there is at least one trumpet missing, a few of the suitcases, the suit bag, Daddy's diabetic bag, plus the laptops and purse. The van was being towed to a shop for Pastor Spilger's son, who is a mechanic, to look over. Daddy is with Pastor Spilger back at the parking lot where it was found, looking through nearby trash cans and dumpsters for anything.

Just heard that the Bible bag and Dads briefcase with his Bibles and papers are gone as well.

This is all I have time for right now but please continue to pray that Dad will have wisdom and peace concerning it all.  I'll be honest and say we had gotten our hopes up a little too much yesterday so the disappointment is a bit hard.  

Thanks again for your love and support!

Tuesday, September 22, 2015, News Update

http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/crime/2015/09/21/stolen-van-cuts-mission-trip-short/72589348/

Tuesday, September 22, 2015, 12:35pm

Just wanted to let everyone know very quickly--our van has been found!!!!!

I'm not home right now and haven't even heard all the details myself but I do know that an officer called Dad about an hour ago now and said that he was sitting behind a white, 15-passenger van on the side of the road and wanted to confirm that it was ours!  At the time he had not even looked through it, but he said that from what he'd seen through the windows the trunk looked full of luggage, with a lot of blankets and pillows on top, and that he could see some 'hard cases' that looked like trumpets and 'a lot of backpacks'!!!  That is about all I know right now... but we just wanted to get the word out as quickly as possible and to thank all of you for your prayers!!  This is without a doubt a miracle.  God is so good!

Monday, September 21, 2015, 6 O'Clock News

http://www.ksdk.com/videos/news/crime/2015/09/21/mission-groups-van-stolen-in-st-louis/72597154/?post_id=1608027029462244_1608027026128911#_=_

Sunday, September 20, 2015, Later that Evening 

Part of an email my dad sent out:

 In our family devotions this morning, we talked about how that all of our things, including the van, were just that--things. And how that according to Matt. 6:33 if we seek first "the Kingdom of God and His righteousness" "all these things shall be added unto you".

 Some of the "things" that were stolen are my wife and Jesse's laptops and an external hard drive, which contain all of our pictures from the last five or six years; all of our instruments (three trumpets, two violins, and a flute); all of our luggage, which included 12 days worth of clothes and my son's and my new suits that the Lord recently provided; 7 backpacks full of all of the kids school books; my daughter Jesse's sewing machine and serger that she travels with; our display board, prayer cards and music; and one of the hardest to accept, all of our Bibles. We have determined that there were at least 14 Bibles in the van, some very sentimental to some of us.

 I have been praising the Lord that my most treasured possessions, my family, are all together and safe.

We would appreciate your prayers in the days ahead for wisdom and provision.

Because of Him,

Bill Henderson

Sunday, September 20, 2015, 7:00 p.m.

Psalm 18:30, As for God, His way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him.
Dear Friends and Family,
I know some of you have already heard of what has recently happened to our family, but for those who haven't, I want to first try and explain in detail exactly what took place yesterday..
As I mentioned in our last post, we left Houston, TX, early Thursday morning and made it to Southaven, MS, (just outside Memphis, TN) Thursday night.  Friday morning we drove to St. Louis, MO, and stayed the night in the prophets chamber of Trinity Baptist Church.  Our meeting today was in Monroe, WI, and we had a little over five hours to drive Saturday to get there.  When we arrived in St. Louis Friday night, we had the chance to get out and take pictures around the Gateway Arch, but as it had already closed for the night, we made plans to come back early the next morning on our way out of town to go down under the arch and watch a video of the history of its construction and for us older four kids to actually take the 'elevator' up to the top of the arch.  My parents last visited St. Louis nearly 20 years ago, and going inside the arch has been something they have told us about for many years.  We looked forward (a little nervously) to being able to do it ourselves!  Just as planned, we got up early Saturday morning, loaded the van, and actually left the church right when we had wanted to (a miracle!).  We made it downtown around 8:30 without getting in any traffic, parked right in front of the Old Courthouse, got tickets, and by 10:30 us older ones were riding the tram up to the top of the Arch.  It was an awesome experience and once we reached the top we were able to take a lot of amazing pictures of St. Louis, the Mississippi River, our family (over 600 feet below us!), and even our van, which we could clearly see from way up there!  Once we came back down, we visited the gift shop, took some more pictures, used the restrooms one last time, and started walking to our vehicle.  As we came down the Courthouse steps, at approximately 11:35am, some of us noticed that our van was not parked where we had left it!  Our first thought (after confirming that we actually had parked right there) was that we had done something wrong at the parking meter, and that we had been towed!  Of course this wasn't a comforting thought, knowing we'd have to track it down and pay to get it back, delaying our trip to Wisconsin by at least a couple of hours.  But we knew that the Lord was in control, and so before anything else, we stopped right there on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse and Dad led us all in prayer.  That would be the first of many impromptu 'prayer meetings' we would end up having yesterday :)Long story short, our van had not been towed, it was actually stolen!  Even as I write this it seems unreal--it's still hard to comprehend that its just.. gone!A police report was made, but by 1pm we were pretty much on our own--the church we had stayed in the night before had another missionary family coming that night, and none of us knew anybody in the area to contact!  Dad stayed busy on the phones (all of our chargers were in the van--so he had to alternate between the three as they were slowly dying :), and finally through the help of the pastor in Wisconsin that we were supposed to be with today, he got in contact with Pastor Ken Spilger, who arranged for his wife and another man of the church to come pick us up and take us all back to the Spilger's house.  We have been with them and they have taken care of us ever since. :)At first we intended to stay in the area at least one more day, but after much prayer and counsel, we are going home. Two men from our home church have already left in the church van to pick us up, and a lady from the church here will be taking us as soon as the service ends tonight in a borrowed van to meet them about three hours out. We will be driving through the night and hope to be home early tomorrow morning.
That is all I have time to post right now. I know its long but if I forgot anything please leave a comment or email me--I would be glad to answer any questions!
Lord willing, I will be able to put out more posts in the next 24 hours with more details and stories of how the Lord has worked through it all.
I do want to finish with this--God is so good. None of this took Him by surprise, and we know that all of this is just a part of 'living by faith'--trusting God no matter what.
Thank you so much for your prayers. They have been desperately needed and will continue to be greatly needed and appreciated in the days ahead.