Adventures in the Second Mob

The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever: forsake not the works of Thine own hands. Psalm 138:8

     Ted's Air Force job in 1968 was in the Control Tower Mobile unit at Maron Air Force Base in Sevilla, Spain. Their out fit was sent to various places in Europe and the Middle East to set up mobile towers.  They were affectionately known as the 2nd Mob.
     Because of this job, Ted came home periodically and announced that he was being sent TDY (Temporary Duty) to Italy, Germany, Greece or Turkey or some other exotic  place. Although this was an exciting job for him, it was hard on our family and the Baptist Fellowship that he pastored, in the Chapel, on base. At those times one of the substitute "preachers" would take over the preaching and the board would do their best to administrate the operation until he returned. Usually three weeks was the length of any TDY and we managed pretty well without him for that length of time.
     On evening Ted came in and said, "I have some bad news."
     I sighed and asked "What"?
     "I'm being sent to Turkey for an extended time. I'll probably be gone for two months."
     "Oh, no! What will happen to the Fellowship. Will we be paid while you're gone?"
     "The Fellowship will be okay. The board won't let anything happen to it and you'll just keep most of my last check and I'll take as little money as I can. The Air Force will feed and house me...and that is my first job after all."
     "Sounds miserable." I replied and tred to drop the subject, knowing that whining about it would only make us both cranky.
     In the next few days we prepared for his long TDY. Ted met with the Fellowship Board and made arrangements for one of the guys to preach and someone to take his chapel Sunday School class. We all hunkered down to get along without him.
     He left within the week and the days dragged by. We were up to about a hundred in attendance at the Fellowship when he left and for the first couple of weeks, folks stayed with us. After the second week, attendance began to drop. Added to this, my money started to dwindle. The ladies of the Fellowship and neighbors were now bringing us casseroles and cupcakes so I wouldn't have to use my "pittance" for food.
      The Fellowship was structured along the lines of any Baptist church in the states. We couldn't call ourselves a church unless we were under a mission board, which we weren't.  We baptized new converts in the Base Chapel. We held communion on a regular basis. We had a once a month lady's Bible Study. We had a youth group and a once a week prayer meeting. Yet we were not a church. As a matter of fact within our Fellowship were, Methodist, Pentecostals, Baptists, and probably a couple more that I'm forgetting. Our drawing card was that our services were closer to the way most of these folks worshipped at home than the chapel was.
     When the attendance started to drop, the head of our lady's Bible Study called an "emergency meeting".
She began the meeting with this announcement, "This is ridiculous and unacceptable! We need to start praying on a daily basis that God will send our pastor home early." She then commissioned a couple of us to go see Major Miller, the commander of the 2nd Mob and a member of our Fellowship board. She told us to appeal to him to see if he could intervene with the Air Force to send Ted home early. He had been gone three weeks by this time and we didn't see how we could possibly carry on for another five weeks without him.
     Two of us did go to the Major and if I remember right his response was something like, "You're joking, right?" Then he laughed! "There is no way the Air Force is going to let anyone come home early. The work there is not finished and it's an important operation. You may as well give it up."
     "Well, our lady's Bible Study is going to pray daily that he gets to come home early. We believe that God can work miracles even with the U.S. Air Force and cause that to happen. So will you please ask?"
     He looked at us, trying to wipe the smirk off his face and said, "Ok, I'll try, but don't hold your breath."
     We tried not to hold it against him knowing that he was as concerned about the drop in attendance at the Fellowship as we were. Added to that, a couple of counseling situations had arisen and they all wished Ted was home to take care of his ministry. That was on Thursday of the third week. We had started praying the day before.
     The Major did ask the next day and came over to my house that evening to report the bad news to me. The following day, Saturday, the ladies reconvened for another prayer meeting.
     The Monday before I had spoken to Ted on the phone. I could call him every once in a while on the Chapel phone. He said that he was broke and even if he could get out early there was little chance that he could get a ride to Spain. He said that without money he'd have nothing for food or a taxi to get him home. Since we didn't have phones in our homes he'd be miles from home when he landed in Sevilla. More than likely they would take him to Madrid and drop him off and there he'd be. It all seemed impossible.
     My situation on the home front was that I had food for at least another week, a half tank of gas in the car and 300 pesetas ($5.00 in American money). I knew that the members of the Fellowship wouldn't let us go hungry and someone would pick us up for church if we ran out of gasoline so I wasn't worried about us. There was a check waiting for Ted at Maron AFB when he returned, but neither of us could get to it at the moment and the check was desperately needed.
     In that Saturday morning prayer meeting the lady's group prayed that the Lord would not only provide him a ride home, but that he would be taken care of  him even without money. That he'd be able to eat and when he arrived in Spain he'd get transportation home. Then one bold prayer warrior prayed that God would send him back in time for tomorrow's service. New believer! I thought privately. They think anything is possible. I hope she's not too disappointed if he doesn't make it home for tomorrow's church service.
     We went to bed early on Saturday night so we'd not miss our ride to church the next morning. About 11:00 p.m. I was awakened by a knock at the door. I grabbed my robe and rushed downstairs. I opened the door and there stood Ted with a big smile on his face. I gasped and thought of the maiden in the New Testament who found Peter on the doorstep while the church was praying for his release from prison. She actually slammed the door in his face in unbelief. Well, at least I didn't do that. He grabbed me, hugged and kissed me, proving that he was real and then threw his duffel bag into the house.
     "Do you have any pesetas?" he asked. I looked outside and saw a Spanish taxi in front of the house.
     "Yes, I have 300."
     "That's what I need." he declared as I went for my purse.
     After he paid the taxi driver we went into the living room and he told me his story. "Most of the work on my end was done so I requested to come home early. I was told that it would be okay if I could find transportation but they weren't expecting another plane in for two weeks. I was filling in in the control tower so I was there about mid-morning of the following day when a plane landed for refueling. I rushed down to base ops and inquired where they were going. "They're going to Madrid for some high level meetings. They have Generals and Senators on board. I got excited and went to the CO to ask if I could hitch a ride with them. He asked, "Do you have any civilian clothes with you, Sarge?" I said, "Yes Sir!" He said, "Go put them on and hurry out to the plane. Keep your mouth shut and act like a Senator!"
     I ran back to the tower and called a friend to bring my gear to me while I changed into my civies. He arrived with my bag just as I was boarding. The steward led me to a jump seat right behind the pilot then he asked, "Are you hungry, Sarge?"
     I was starving but I said, "Not really. I think I'll just go to sleep and sleep all the way. That way if I get hungry I won't know it."
     He paused then asked, "Are you broke?"
     "No, I think I have like twenty cents left." I smiled and he smiled. He walked away and I tried to get comfortable on the jump seat.
     In a short time he returned with a covered plate. I uncovered it to find a ham steak almost as big as the plate, sweet potatoes, green beans and applesauce and a small loaf of bread. "I don't think my twenty cents will cover all this," I said.
     "Don't worry about it." He waved his hand. "We always carry more than they can eat."
     When I had finished all of that food, he returned with a huge piece of apple pie and apologized because he had run out of whipped cream to top it with.
     Just before touchdown in Madrid he came back and woke me up and said, "We're about to land in Madrid. When we do you just watch the others and do exactly as they do."
     I stepped off the plane and stood there watching official Air Force cars pick up the Senators and Generals one at a time. Finally one stopped in front of me. An Airman jumped out and grabbed my bag and asked, "Where to, Sir?"
     I straightened my tie and tried to look important and replied, "Torrejon, Terminal. I settled in the back seat, wondering how long a guy could get in the brigg for impersonating a Senator.
     I walked into the terminal and asked the man at the front desk, "Anything going to Seville tonight?"
     He looked at me in my suit rather suspiciously, and asked, "Do you have and Air Force I.D.?"
     I opened my wallet and showed him my I.D. and he said. "Grab your bag and run. There's one about to taxi out to the runway."
     When I arrived in Sevilla I hailed a taxi and prayed, Lord, please let Laura have some pesetas!" ...so here I am!"
     "Just wait until you hear my side of the story!" I said. Then I added, "Let's go wake up the Major!" We all lived in base housing so he was just a couple blocks away. We jumped into the car and drove over to his house and rather than ring the doorbell and wake the whole family, we walked across the lawn to their bedroom window and tapped on it. We peeked inside and saw him sit up in bed. He got up and came over and opened the window.'
     I was standing there smiling and pointing at Ted..
     "Gehrke" he said. what are you doing here? Then he added quickly, "No, I don't want to know. Go away, it's after midnight!"
     "I just wanted to let you know that God still answers prayer." I said.
     "Thanks," he said, "I'm sure I'll sleep a lot better...you can tell me all about it in the morning." He was already cranking the window closed. We drove home laughing about seeing the Major in his boxers and the look on his face when he saw Ted.
     The Fellowship wasn't always exciting and fun but it was a unique ministry and our school in Christianity 101. There we learned to trust God in little things and we learned just how weak and dependant we were on Him. It was the beginning of the long journey we called our ministry and our on the job training for the pastorate... a priceless education.