3.9.07

Friday 3/9
(11:30pm)

Two great days in a row – Praise God! I woke up feeling weird this morning, and spent quite a while in the bathroom. Some Immodium and dehydrations salts seem to be a reliable cure, and worked their magic again prior to my teaching.

On the way to the church we dropped Paulcy and George off at the bookstore property where men were already hard at work. At the church, we opened by teaching Psalm 27 and “How Sweet and Awful is the Place.” By the time I started into Chapter 10 of the BCO, a nice breeze had made its contribution to an already pleasantly cool, cloudy day. We took a break around 11:30am only to have a light shower hurry everyone back under cover. I finished Chapter 11 and therefore my final teaching responsibility before noon – hooray! I handed the mike over to Dr. Allison and he handled a variety of worship and mission-church related questions until almost 1:45pm.

With our teaching finished, we drove back to the bookstore, where one bookshelf was finished, the walls were primed, and a porch foundation was dug – impressive progress and encouraging for our Tuesday deadline. We had instructed the various ministers to lead a church-wide prayer meeting in the afternoon, so we could get back to the EGH and prepare for the evening.

George and Paulcy actually left right after lunch – George to the bookstore and Paulcy to visit Kowah’s home. During lunch (and just prior to a call from Linds regarding the tire situation), we had decided that I would again teach Sunday School, so I spent some time on my message before enjoying an almost hour-long nap.

When our companions returned, they brought Rufus and Kowah with them and when we departed for the crusade ground we packed in James (the barber) and Mike Miller (an unsaved local teen who lives nearby and whom George befriended last year). Again the crowd at the crusade began small, but grew especially once the preaching started. A generator problem caused the lights on the pulpit to flicker distractingly during Dr. Allison’s intro, and once it regulated, the lit podium (and Dr. Allison) became a magnet for swarms of flying ants. He, his Bible, his notes and the podium were practically covered with the insects , which had emerged because of the earlier rain. So, Moses went up on stage and waved the bugs off for the rest of the service. And what a service! Dr. Allison preached from Matthew 27 on the observers of Christ’s crucifixion – very powerful. When he finished, I led the invitation with two songs and prayer. A number of new converts from last evening walked up simply to get literature (“A New Beginning” and Bible Study pamphlets) that had been promised them, but also maybe 8 or 10 new people came up seeking Christ. After the invitation and newspaper photo shoot (with on of the newly converted reporters), Paulcy and I struck up conversation with 4 guys who had all come forward but dispersed before talking with a pastor. One of them was Mike Miller and after a wonderful presentation of the Gospel by Paulcy, he asked if he could be saved. I led all four guys in prayer and then turned to a teenager named Big Boy who didn’t seem to quite be grasping everything. After maybe 10 minutes of individual attention, he came to assurance of the salvation he had just prayed for. He can’t read and he has lost both parents, but wants to live for God and promised to come to church on Sunday – Hallelujah for the cross! Both Mike and Big Boy are considering baptism as well.

When we finally returned to the EGH, Rufus, Kowah and Moses shared a delicious pita meal with us. Moses finally informed us that the baptismal is not a pool, tank, well, or stream – all of which had been previously implied – but in his own words, a “lagoon.” Apparently there is a popular tidal pool that leads out to the Atlantic – Dr. Allison is understandably a little nervous and wishing he had some waders. Paulcy bought him some used shoes to ruin and I gave Kowah money to buy Dr. Allison cheap pants and a shirt tomorrow morning before he picks us up.

Before we all retired for the night, we watched CNN’s coverage of Dr. Paisley and the DUP’s victory in Northern Ireland – pretty cool to have a Presbytery Moderator become the first Chief Minister of a country. After a few Cote D’Or chocolate pieces we all said goodnight. I took my habitual cold shower and now am off to sleep on what I discovered is the firmer of the two foam beds in my room. I am hoping for some nice dreams about Linds and the boys – I miss them like crazy.