Random Things

Well, I broke down and bought an iPod Shuffle. David (from the mission team) had one and talked about how he listened to sermons in between classes and walking around on campus, John N had also talked about doing the same thing and my personal ambition is to listen to all of the material on the church website (ChristianThinking.com) and so that's what I'm attempting to do, to redeem every spare moment in the car and in various places. Often I find that I'm too tired to really read and comprehend all I'm trying to, so this will be a good opportunity for me as well, to lay there listening. Now I'm just like all the other college students. But I still refuse a cell phone :D

I also realized that I can use this for helping with my Catechism Questions, by recording myself reading the questions and answers, putting them on the iPod and setting it to "shuffle" so it will just randomly choose one, say the question and answer. I can take a group of those with me (say 25 at a time) and bombard myself with them all throughout the day. Yes, I have put music on it as well. I think I'm enjoying this too much.....

I was also experimenting with the "average e-mail length" and came up with the following as a typical e-mail that teens send to one another, though they usually don't e-mail, they just wait until someone comes on AIM to ask something. Which seems an entire waste of time to me when you could just get it over with and send an e-mail right away. Anyway, here's my "typical e-mail."

hey just wanted to thx u 4 saying hi and i hope ur doin fine an we'll have lots uv fun this summr and sendign u email iz fun and i luv pink ponys

and the sad thing is, I've gotten e-mails similar to this before, especially in connection with The Hobbit video game. I had one just the other day from a guy who said "I don't know if you remember me but I had that file where I think I got some things I wasn't supposed to and I was wondering if you think I should start over or just keep going?" I was reading it to my brother and then added (in a whiny voice) "I can't make any decisions, please Shadow, help me with my life!" I mean, he's asking my advice as to whether he should restart the level or not. It just struck me as funny.

In my queue at MyLaptopGPS (as SafeRegistry is now called) I had an e-mail from a lady who said something like "THIS IS REDICULOUS, I MAILED YOU 6 TIMES AND YOU SAID IT WAS FIXED WELL YOU CAN JUST CANCEL ME NOW BECAUSE I'M THROUGH." And yes, she did misspell "ridiculous." I checked through the system and I'd only had two from her, the last one I had sent a response to saying that I was taking a guess at the new expiration date and told her what I was guessing. Apparently I was incorrect but she didn't bother to tell me, so the system e-mailed her saying she was still not paying.

I just finished listening to Bruce's sermon on the end of 2 Corinthians chapter 1, which speaks of correcting in love and the need to do so, but that it be done gently. I really appreciate the sermon because I do try that. Often I need correction and people don't give it to me enough for fear of hurting my feelings, which in a sense is a good thing, in another it's a bad thing. I try to be firm in my stand on certain issues (though I have failed most miserably before) but I don't think I'm nearly active enough. If I truly loved my Christian brothers, I would be trying to help them in their walk, not obnoxiously but really out of love and concern, taking them aside privately and mentioning certain things, being willing to have discussions, or even starting them. It's something I need to work on more.

And in other news, I'm reading through part of Calvin's Institutes right now, on Baptism and how it relates to infants especially. He has some very good points and I'm constantly going to my computer to type out multiple paragraphs on nearly every section as part of my own notes. He's also very vehement, as were many men in those days. I think in our times we are too passive and willing to let just about anything slide in silence, but let all things be done in love and gentleness, yet with firmness and conviction of conscience. And I need to get working on some more applications for scholarships so I'm going to stop with this.... jumble of notes.

I finished one of the applications, it asked for three different "essays" on various subjects. Each of them had to be less than 120 words. Honestly! What can you say in 120 words? You can barely say "hello" and "how are you" and "please pass the jam." That's about all you can say in 120 words. *grumble*

To finish off (and on a more serious note) here is a quote from one of Spurgeon's sermons that I was reading today, speaking of Jesus working in the blind man's life and is similar to the recent quote from Pink:

"Now learn this lesson, all ye followers of Christ. Whenever you see suffering, I hope you will each one feel "I must work, I must help." Whenever you witness poverty, whenever you behold vice, say to yourself, "I must work, I must work." If you are worthy of the Christ whom you call leader, let all the necessities of men impel you, compel you, constrain you to be blessing them. Let the world wich lieth in the wicked one arouse you; let the cries of men of Macedonia awaken you, as they say "Come over and help us!" Men are dying, dying in the dark. The cemetery is filling, and hell is filling too. Men are dying without hope; and are passing into the eternal night. "I must work."
They cry, -Master, spare thyself: incessant labour will wear thee down and bring thee to thy grave. But see! see! see! Perdition swallows crowds, they go down alive into the pit! Hark to their doleful cries! Lost souls are being shut out from God. "I must work." Oh, that I could lay my hand - or, better far, that my Master would lay his pierced hand on every true Christian here and press it upon him until he cried out, "I cannot sit here. I must be at work as soon as this service is done. I must not only hear, and give, and pray, but I must also work."

And that is precisely why I feel that I must labour without ceasing, without giving up hope, striving for Christ's Kingdom in whatever way I can that I might in some small way serve my Lord. John 9:4 is one of the verses that I have really taken to heart lately and I hope I'll never grow weary of labouring but always remember this:

"I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work"

Volume to a close

Today we poured concrete and it went pretty well. I finished volume one of Schaff, read a sermon of Spurgeon's, and wrote a couple of e-mails. I think I've written somewhere around 25 e-mails since I got back late Friday night, I don't know if it's just been that there is so much on my mind or I really wanted to get in touch with a few people. Probably both!

Oh, and something I forgot to mention, a milestone in my life you might say. I finally, after many, many tries, beat Expert in Minesweeper! Yay! It's not that hard it was just that I'd always end up in a spot where I would HAVE to guess and whenever that happened, I'd invariably guess wrong. I beat Intermediate in 80 seconds, if that means anything (that's slow for some people I know, but I'm not a huge Minesweeper fan).

Here is the ending to Schaff's volume 1 and I really liked it and wanted to share it:

Schaff's History of the Christian Church pg 863

"Christianity might live without the letter of the New Testament, but not without the facts and truths which it records and teaches. Were it possible to banish them from the world, the sun of our civilization would be extinguished, and mankind left ot midnight darkenss, with the dreary prospect of a dreamless and endless Nirvana.
But no power on earth or in hell can extinguish that sun. There it shines on the horizon, the king of day, obscured at times by clouds great or small, but breaking through again and again, and shedding light and life from east to west, until the darkest corners of the globe shall be illuminated. The past is secure; God will take care of the future."

I also read a bit more of Pink's commentary on Hebrews today and this passage struck me, it's something I've discussed with other people before. Aside from the verse in James which says "not many of you should be teachers" (which addresses a different issue) I really appreciated this. Too many people are not willing to discuss spiritual matters, even among professing Christians! I liked the two aims he lists as well.

"'You ought to be teachers' shows that this was a duty required of them. How little this is perceived by Christians today! How few listen to the ministry of the Scriptures with an ear not only for their own soul's profit, but also with the object of being equipped to help others. Instead, how many attend the preaching of the Word simply as a matter of custom, or to satisfy their conscience. Two aims should be prayerfully sought by every Christian auditor: his own edification, his usefulness to others.
'Ye ought to be teachers.' Let not the searching point of this be blunted by saying, God does not want all His people to be public preachers. The N.T. does not limit 'teaching' to the pulpit. One of the most important spheres is the home, and that should be a Christian seminary. Under the law God commanded the Israelite to give His words to the members of his household: 'And Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine youse, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up' (Deut. 6:7). Does God require less from us now, in this dispensation of full light? No, indeed. Note, again, how in Titus 2:3-5 the older sisters are bidden to 'teach the young women:' never was there a greater need for this than now. So in 2 Tim. 2:2 the brethren are to 'teach others also.' Yes, every Christian 'ought to be' a teacher."

More Schaff

One thing I forgot to mention about VBS in Enid was a day when Andrew R. (there were a bunch of Andrews, now that I think of it, a tenth of the kids were Andrews) put his hat on me. I actually liked Andrew R. I thought he was good kid, just active and needed guidance. He was quite strong for a five year old and very athletic and cheerful. Katie said that he was disrespectful toward her but I didn't see that toward me. Anyway, I'm rambling again, one day, he stuck his black baseball cap on my head as we were sitting playing duck-duck-goose and since it was small, it was perched on top of my head. I brought it down after a little while and gave a gasp, it had the letters "O" and "U" on it in red. I told him
"I can't wear this cap!"
"Why?!"
"Because I'm going to OSU!"
"That's okay, you can still wear it!" he told me with a look of deep concern on his face, he really thought I was worried about wearing it ;)

As I have been reading through Schaff, I have been especially excited about the way he treats the Scriptures themselves, as he gives a brief overview of each book and the time it was written, who it was written to and the writer. The way he describes it, I can see something similar as what was said by RC Sproul, that he doesn't make the Bible come alive, it already is, rather, it makes him come alive. He describes the book of Romans and Paul's writings in glowing style, he talks about the lives of men and I have been greatly excited to see a desire in my own heart to look back over them. I would have loved to have met Paul, and yet I can partially through his writing. Paul was a real, live person. It's hard for me to grasp that sometimes. It's hard to explain but rather than simple knowledge about facts, I'm becoming more and more excited at seeing the "life" that is there in the Scripturesl and a greater desire to read them rather than merely read about them.

Here is another exerpt from Schaff that I especially enjoyed.

Schaff's History of the Christian Church pg 752-54

"The style is the man." This applies with peculiar force to Paul. His style has been called "the most personal that ever existed." It fitly represents the force and fire of his mind and the tender affections of his heart. He disclaims classical elegance and calls himself "rude in speech," though by no means "in knowledge." He carried the heavenly treasure in earthen vessels. But the defects are more than made up by excellences. In his very weakness the Strength of Christ was perfected. We are not lost in the admiration of the mere form, but are kept mindful of the paramount importance of the contents and the hidden depths of truth which he behind the words and defy the power of expression.
Paul’s style is manly, bold, heroic, aggressive, and warlike; yet at times tender, delicate, gentle, and winning. It is involved, irregular, and rugged, but always forcible and expressive, and not seldom rises to more than poetic beauty, as in the triumphant paean at the end of the eighth chapter of Romans, and in the ode on love (1Co_13:1-13). His intense earnestness and overflowing fulness of ideas break through the ordinary rules of grammar. His logic is set on fire. He abounds in skilful arguments, bold antitheses, impetuous assaults, abrupt transitions, sudden turns, zigzag flashes, startling questions and exclamations. He is dialectical and argumentative; he likes logical particles, paradoxical phrases, and plays on words. He reasons from Scripture, from premises, from conclusions; he drives the opponent to the wall without mercy and reduces him ad absurdum, but without ever indulging in personalities. He is familiar with the sharp weapons of ridicule, irony, and sarcasm, but holds them in check and uses them rarely. He varies the argument by touching appeals to the heart and bursts of seraphic eloquence. He is never dry or dull, and never wastes words; he is brief, terse, and hits the nail on the head. His terseness makes him at times obscure, as is the case with the somewhat similar style of Thucydides, Tacitus, and Tertullian. His words are as many warriors marching on to victory and peace; they are like a mountain torrent rushing in foaming rapids over precipices, and then calmly flowing over green meadows, or like a thunderstorm ending in a refreshing shower and bright sunshine.
Paul created the vocabulary of scientific theology and put a profounder meaning into religious and moral terms than they ever had before. We cannot speak of sin, flesh, grace, mercy, peace, redemption, atonement, justification, glorification, church, faith, love, without bearing testimony to the ineffaceable effect which that greatest of Jewish rabbis and Christian teachers has had upon the language of Christendom.

Cleanup of the weeks behind

It's been a few days since an update and I apologize, I just didn't feel like I had a whole lot to talk about, though it is true that the trip left a lot on my heart. Mainly, it helped me to think more in terms of Christ's Kingdom, than before, the trip to the old mission, the going from house to house, speaking and arguing with people, listening, learning, teaching children. I want to see that kingdom grow and I want to be a part of it, I want to be used of God. I see tremendous potential in the youth of this church as they are being trained up by godly parents and by Bruce, who really has a heart for these young people. I see a lot of growth in them, and a desire to live godly lives, not just in knowledge but in love as well. I desire to be a part of that and to see the Stillwater Reformed Presbyterian Church be a base for reaching out to the community. Jesus Christ himself taught for three years without much of a true following, it wasn't time. Yet when the time came and he sent the Holy Spirit into the world, three thousand came in one day and more were being added daily. Can that not happen here too? Keep labouring and striving for the kingdom and trust that God will give the increase in due time.

Well, it was a fairly uneventful trip Friday night. I stayed at the Wagner's house to watch Spiderman, on the drive home I could see thunderclouds in the distance with lightning flashing every once in a while. It rained down by my parent's house, which was much needed. I could see even by my headlights that everything was brown. Even as I look out the window and across the pond, the tops of many of the trees are brown and dying, hopefully they'll spring back once we get a good rain.

Today my brother, father, and myself went over to a neighbour's house to do a little work, cleaning up around a shed and tearing it down. The slab was out of level, and out of square so we ended up ripping it out and we'll replace it with a new slab and shed. I said (even before we put the level on) that I could see it was out of whack. My brother said that he could have told me even before he saw the shed that it was out of whack, everything seems to be so around here, and it's not due to settling, it's due to people just getting it done themselves and not taking particular care how it's done :) We will also be doing a small pump house for the well on top of the hill. I was looking around for the well when we were driving towards it but didn't see it. We stopped next to an old ice chest, one of the "bend-over kind" and it was inside. Apparently a lot of people use those things because they have pretty good insulation and keep the well from freezing! It just looked odd though, to have a well put together inside of an old, rusty ice chest. We just worked a couple of hours and then came back home, since there wasn't much to do until we had material to put up a structure and build the slab. My brother and I put together a small cabinet when we got back.

My father also took us out to see Pirates of the Caribbean in the afternoon, which I would not recommend to anyone. I enjoyed the first one I'll admit, but this one was quite different and definitely not from a world view. It makes me want to stay at home and not go out into society when I see things like that. What they are bringing out and what the world accepts seems to get worse and worse. I'm not much of a movie-going person anyway and the entertainment industry makes me almost sick at times. It's the biggest industry in America, people are as much as saying "feed my eyes!" and it doesn't really have any lasting benefit that I can see. Many people in our society live for entertainment, that is why they work, to get money to entertain themselves, that's their only purpose in life, or so it would seem, for ME to have fun! I was reading in Schaff about the gospel of John today (I'm up to about page 700 in the first volume now, I read more Sunday than I had the entire three weeks with the mission team) and remembering how when Schaff had spoken of John previously, he mentions twice the same thing that Alan mentioned when going through first John, and that is that the aged John would say "little childen, love one another. For if you do this, it is enough." (paraphrased). It certainly is something to remember, and hopefully my life will be one of servitude and love toward others and not desiring to be served and loving myself. My ultimate focus needs to be on Christ, and I have been reminded of that especially these last two days, as my attention is diverted elsewhere. It is when I take my eyes off of him and the work that I should be doing, that I, like Peter, sink and begin to look to other things or people as objects of my attention.

Well, all that I have left for tonight is a couple of paragraphs that I really liked from Schaff that I was reading on Sunday, hopefully it will be enjoyable to you too, I'm not sure why this particular passage struck me but it was something that I simply had to quote somewhere!

Schaff Vol 1 pg 441-443
For the gospel does not destroy, but redeems and sanctifies the natural talents and tempers of men. It consecrates the fire of a Peter, the energy of a Paul, and the pensiveness of a John to the same service of God. It most strikingly displays its new creating power in the sudden conversion of the apostle of the Gentiles from a most dangerous foe to a most efficient friend of the church. Upon Paul the Spirit of God came as an overwhelming storm; upon John, as a gentle, refreshing breeze. But in all dwelt the same new, supernatural, divine principle of life. All are living apologies for Christianity, whose force no truth-loving heart can resist.

Notice, too, the moral effects of the gospel in the female characters of the New Testament. Christianity raises woman from the slavish position which she held both in Judaism and in heathendom, to her true moral dignity and importance; makes her an heir of the same salvation with man, (1Pe_3:7; Gal_3:28) and opens to her a field for the noblest and loveliest virtues, without thrusting her, after the manner of modern pseudo-philanthropic schemes of emancipation, out of her appropriate sphere of private, domestic life, and thus stripping her of her fairest ornament and peculiar charm.

Henceforth we find woman no longer a slave of man and tool of lust, but the pride and joy of her husband, the fond mother training her children to virtue and godliness, the ornament and treasure of the family, the faithful sister, the zealous servant of the congregation in every work of Christian charity, the sister of mercy, the martyr with superhuman courage, the guardian angel of peace, the example of purity, humility, gentleness, patience, love, and fidelity unto death. Such women were unknown before. The heathen Libanius, the enthusiastic eulogist of old Grecian culture, pronounced an involuntary eulogy on Christianity when he exclaimed, as he looked at the mother of Chrysostom: "What women the Christians have!"

The Grand Finale

Friday morning was one of relaxation. We didn't go out and do any of the door-to-door stuff, which in one sense I was disappointed, but in another I was thankful that we got to spend the time by going to Da Vinci's (a coffee house) for a drink and some time playing cards. Bill thanked us for coming and then we broke up into two groups and just chatted for a while. David, Nathaniel, Ruth, and Jeanne played Dutch Blitz. I joined in for one round but man, my heart was racing by the end of the game. Those things are just too fast for me. That, and I probably try to get a little competitive!

I spent the morning writing a couple of posts for this site, writing in a couple of journals, packing (which took all of five minutes) and reading, so overall I felt very rested and active when we went to the YMCA for the afternoon of Vacation Bible School. The kids were pretty good. I had to take Andrew R out for a little bit. I was thankful when he showed up he ran up and sat on my lap and told me he was going to be good today. He started squirming though and I moved him back. After he had proven he could sit still, we went back to the group.

David reiterated everything that we had done by asking questions and getting the kids involved. We recited our memory verse and sang a couple of songs we had learned. Admittedly, I had never heard "The Steps of a Good Man" before this week, and I enjoyed that one as much as the kids I think. There was a snack time where nearly everyone had Root Beer Floats, which made a bit of a mess but the kids loved it. Then we headed over to the pool. It took a little time to get everyone dressed and through. David had gone to the pool beforehand for preparation, I quickly changed and ran out there. There were a couple of small children that needed some place to go so I took them to the kiddie pool, which was about 15 x 15 feet and only 20 inches deep in the deepest part.

The bigger children were allowed to go in the larger pool if they took a swimming test. but all the little kids didn't mind being in water that went up to their thighs. I didn't see David or Clay but I'm told that they each had a half dozen kids hanging on them at any given time (in the larger pool). In the small pool, I was joined by about 15 kids, Christi, and Evelyn (who was looking after Leanna, the petite little girl who sat on my lap and just about everyone else's during the course of VBS). I was the monster and went "sneaking" around in the water, grabbing and gobbling whatever little kid I could get my hands on, grinning horribly and roaring whenever I lunged. I got rub marks on my knees from it being so shallow as I dragged my legs behind me but it was a lot of fun. Mikala (or something like that) was a tall girl who rarely smiled, was probably about 12 and was always in a corner by herself, with a little tuft of hair done up in a tail and glasses. I was surprised but she joined in too and she and Lily went around being sharks. She was having fun and was more active with the group than I'd seen her before. She dared me to get her (which I did several times by grabbing her ankle) and then she'd shriek and laugh. It was a good time. Oh, and if Christi ever sees this, I want to thank her again for the haircut, I had a couple of kids grab my hair and give a yank, thankfully there wasn't much to hold on to!

The workers at the pool turned on some water fountains, one of which was on top of a large mushroom, or umbrella and came cascading down in a shower around the edges. There were also fountains that squirted water in on the sides, and the kids lined up, sitting on the edges to play with those. Two of the older boys stayed in the pool to "help" with the younger ones. I think Tray (Trace?) is a good kid, he looks after his younger siblings and they respect him and like him a lot, as do many of the younger kids. The first day I had one of them tell me, "That's Tray, he's cool."

Soon it was time to get out and go get changed. It took a while to get all the boys out of the locker rooms, when I came in, the larger boys were putting the younger ones INSIDE the lockers. Thankfully there were no locks on them and the younger boys liked it, but I tried to move them out as quickly as possible so we could get going to the parents. I was thankful in a way that it was over and we could rest from those labours, but at the same time, I had enjoyed interacting with some of the kids and knew that if I did see them next year (since the Y invited us back) that they would have grown and wondered if they would remember me. Some of the children had bonded a little with us, and looked up to us as their leaders and friends, and that is a great thing to have.

We went back to the W's house and some of them got ready to go, as Mr S just pulled in to take them to Covenant Heights. We said goodbye to them all and hopefully some of the guys and myself will be able to keep in touch with e-mail.

It was sad to see everyone leave, but I knew that I at least would be back in about a month for school, so that was something to look forward to. I'll miss you Evelyn, it was really nice getting to know you better and being able to share a few things about the trip and I think I finally figured out who was making the faces at me. It was Anna.

Okay, so maybe I'm not sure but it's a good guess at least. I'll connect the dots one of these days, and then The Shadow really will know!

It was such a great group of people and we all got along very well. I was blessed to be a part of the group and was so thankful I stayed another week. Thanks to the W family and S family in particular, and Ruth and Anna for all their help, Evelyn, Laura, for the days she came (thanks for being my partner) and the entire church family, everyone was so generous and willing to work and I was blessed.

I stayed for dinner and then decided I wanted to watch Spiderman with the W family and Clay and then I went home, arriving just at about 12:05, taking almost exactly two and a half hours. Then I woke up this morning and said hello and started talking! See you all soon, Lord Willing.

Thursday does it!

Thursday

We got something of a late start during the morning when we were to go door-to-door. When we got there, the W girls said that they probably wouldn't stay the entire time there, Beth might not be able to last in the sun the whole period. Evelyn said that she could but there wasn't enough seats in Brad's car to hold all the guys and an extra person, so she was to be going home with the girls if it came to that. Each guy went off to a different section and the three girls stuck together. David and I were across the street from one another as we worked our way down the blocks.

The first guy I came to was an elderly, stooped man, I started off with
"Good morning! I'm from the Reformed Presbyterian church....."
"No."
"Well wouldn't you be able to help me with a short survey..."
"No!"
I smiled.
"Well, have a nice day"
"Yeah, you too."
as he shut the door. I doubt he really meant it though. I had another lady who also wouldn't look me in the eye and emphatically said "no" when I was asking if I could do the survey or speak with her. Oh well, I do pray that their hearts and minds would be open to discussing spiritual matters.

There was a black gentleman who seemed nice enough but almost afraid of me in another way, he almost cringed and told me that he had been to our church before on Saturday evenings. I said it was the "REFORMED" Presbyterian and he says "Oh, isn't that the one on Maine street?" I said no, that was the First Presbyterian. He seemed a bit er.... "high" on something, but I could have been mistaken. He was just slow and slurred his words, and almost afraid of me because he hadn't been to the church in a while.

There was one older lady who said she was too busy to answer the questions, she had a sick husband she was taking care of. I asked what church she went to (First Baptist I believe) and asked to give her information but she said that any information she needed she could find in the Bible. Which is true, yes, but that doesn't discount those who try to preach the Bible. I told her that I hoped her husband would get better but she said "he won't." He must have had some kind of terminal illness. As soon as the door closed I knew I should have offered to pray with her on the matter. That is an area where I failed yesterday because I should have always been ready to pray with someone over a sick loved one, a lost soul, or anything really.

We finished our neighbourhood and met up with the three girls, who were moving back towards the cars as well. On the way we picked up the last street of houses on this side of the main road. David and I just paired up and one guy who answered the door had a cross on his (rather large) t-shirt with a purple sash on it. We asked if he could answer our questions and he said that he already had a church. To which David replied that it was okay, we were still interested in hearing what he had to say. But when he got to the question about "To you, who is Jesus." They guy said "you know what boys, I'm a minister and you should just move along, I don't want to answer these." It made me want to punch his fat face (forgive the language) because of all the people who should be willing to give an answer, he should! He should be willing to listen to what we believe, to discuss, to tell us and tell everyone about what God has done for him. Him above all people out there should realize that. I pity his congregation very much.

We headed across the road and took a few more houses. Clay and Nathaniel were somewhere back in there but we took a little side street that curved around. David got involved in a conversation with a guy and spent about 20 minutes with him. I continued on and then came back to lend a bit of support, even if it was just standing there with him. The guy he was speaking to was a former Catholic, had studied at seminary and was very argumentative. He got quite vehement at various points, though never nasty. Apparently David got him to retract on a few points but he still believed essentially in living a good life to get one to heaven. David is much better than I am at carrying on a conversation like that. I wouldn't have been able to get a word in edgewise, I would have waited for a pause, which he didn't really give, David had to make points to get into the "conversation."

Then we headed back to the Wagners. Brad offered everyone a drink at Sonic, I just had a large water, which was 3/4 filled with ice but which "hit the spot." When we got home, we ate lunch and prepared for going to the YMCA. There were some children already there waiting for us. I had to pull a couple of boys to my side during the singing and story time because they were being a bit disruptive. They respected me after that though and actually came and sat by me later, instead of thinking I was "Mr Mean Man." A lot of these kids just need a firm hand to guide them. And they certainly will test you out when you tell them not to do something. I scanned the crowd periodically to see where the troublemakers were and motioned for Clay and Brad and David if they were available.

We were supposed to climb a climbing wall that day, but they were only taking ten at a time. I took a bunch of the younger kids into a raquetball court to play some dodge ball (which was just pretty much throwing balls at everyone). We were in there for the whole hour David said, and I was drenched by the end of the time. A lot of kids kept on asking when they were going to get to climb the wall but I had to tell them when Mr Brad came and took them. Well, it never happened because they didn't have enough time to put them all through. I was soaked and when I sat down I left a wet spot on the floor.

Poor Evelyn apparently had to deal with a lot of parents who were upset that their child had not climbed the wall. I didn't know that was happening at the time or I would have offered at least to stand out there and help, I was inside cleaning up and playing Duck-Duck-Goose.

We came home and practised our song a little bit for the talent show that night. I sat on the steps and briefly thought of what I was going to do for the "voice impressions" that I was to be doing. What I had was okay, I wish I could have incorporated more voices but many people there wouldn't have recognized them if I had. The boys drove in one car and the girls in another, we went to Stillwater and to the Community Center. It was a fun evening, I'm sure F.B. will have a very nice description on her blog, so I'll just talk about a couple I really remember. Laura's piano piece, by Beethoven, was beautiful, I wouldn't mind having that in my music collection. The Wagner girls did a skit with some "health foods" which would supposedly transform a person, change hair colour, grow taller, shorter, more muscular, etc. Nathaniel and I held a sheet where everyone was hiding behind.

The Fisher kids (Dani, Ben, and Greg) did a "Stevie Blue and his Roadkill Band" thing, with beanie baby dolls on a bench. Playing the guitar, singing, and rockin' on the drums. It was really, really clever and very funny.

David got up and sang a song with a guitar, which likewise was funny, he had a long introduction where he told about how he was walking and wanted to see Bald Eagle and finally he did see one and as it swooped down he was sure he heard a distinct cry, so he composed a song based upon that experience and then played it for us. He strummed the guitar and squawked three times, then bowed. He also recited some bad poems, it was a good act. He's such a ham, so are the Wagner girls.

The Wagners and Clay did "Leader of the Pack" where they just mouthed the words. The funniest thing though was when the dropped the sheet and Clay was sitting on a little red tricycle, had a leather jacket, dark sunglasses, and his hat backwards. He looked like the motorcycle type and played it well as he "revved his engine."

There were many more very talented acts and entertaining shows. Our song went well (the one we've been practising for that is still stuck in my head) and everyone enjoyed themselves, except poor Nathaniel who was trying to burn a CD and ended up not finishing it and not getting to say goodbye to everyone. But at least he was trying, you can't really regret something like that for too long or you'll never make your way through life.

I had some quotes I wanted to share from what I've been reading in Schaff's history (yes, I have had a bit of time to read thankfully, but not much!) The first is a quote a really appreciated one that I thought made an excellent distinction when speaking about the life of Paul, and in my own life. Both are from volume one.

Pg 343
Paul was inflexible in resisting the demands of false brethren, but always willing to accomodate himself to weak brethren.

Which can't really be commented on, lest it should detract from the simple beauty.

The next is a poem that was in the footnotes, about Paul, and one I appreciated especially as we went out door to door these past few weeks.

Pg 294
Christ! I am Christ's! and let the name suffice you;
Aye, for me, too, He greatly hath sufficed;
Lo, with no winning words I would entice you;
Paul has no honor and no friend but Christ.

Yes, without cheer of sister or of dauther-
Yes, without stay of father or of son,
Lone on the land, and homeless on the water,
Pass I in patience till the work be done.

Yet not in solitude, if Christ anear me
Waketh Him workers for the great employ;
Oh, not in solitude, if souls that hear me
Catch from my joyance the surprise of joy.

Hearts I have won of sister or of brother
Quick on the earth or hidden in the sod;
Lo, every heart awaiteth me, another
Friend in the blameless family of God.

Wednesday Why Em See Ay?

Wednesday

I got to sleep in for a little bit during the morning, then had my quiet time and spent some time hanging around, talking and listening to various people. I read a bit in my book. I haven't had much time to read but I get a few pages in here and there. David laughed at me and said he loves how I always drag the book around but never have time to read it, or so it seems!

We went evangelizing (surveying really) in the morning. Laura and Bruce came along and Laura asked to go with me again, since I didn't have a partner yet. We gathered our papers and went off with Anna and Evelyn, hopping around from door to door. When we reached the end of the block, we split up to opposite sides of the street and then Laura and I kept going around the block.

There were several empty houses but one man who was on a motorcycle, just about to leave who stopped and spoke with us for a short time. He was a Catholic and we asked if he would be interested in more information if he was incorrect in his beliefs but he said no. Thanks for stopping by though! It's people like that who make me shake my head in wonder and sadness. We actually had quite a few people today who gave us good, solid answers! I was thankful for that.

Down the other side of the street we saw a man standing out on the front lawn of an old house, badly in need of repair. He saw us coming and asked what he could do for us. He was rather short and stocky, with a high-browed baseball cap and periodically took a puff on a pipe he was holding. When he spoke I could see that he had only two teeth left, both were his lower incisors (I think, I'm no dentist) and his gums were worn down, which made the teeth look like tusks. He motioned us to come to the porch and then spoke for a while with us.

His name was David and he had previously endured problems with alcohol abuse but thanks to Alcoholics Anonymous, he had been sober for nearly eleven years now. He rambled off on to a whole lot of different subject and Laura had a hard time getting the questions in because once one was asked, he'd go off onto it and then wind up in some completely different area of conversation. He had been to many, many churches in his lifetime and was apparently even a deacon in the Catholic Church, but he saw so much hypocrisy and people trying to force their opinions on himself that he had pretty much given it all up, though he certainly believed in a God. There was much more that he said on various issues but the main thing was that we got his name and address and hopefully someone can come back and visit with him. He said he was happy with his life now and knew that he couldn't have gotten out of the alcohol abuse without God helping him. We pray that it would become a personal faith.

Then we headed over to the YMCA for the afternoon, first to cool off by going swimming, and then to work with the kids during VBS. On the way over, I was making noises in the backseat of Brad's car. I made a suction noise (like pulling oneself out of mud) followed by a sharp "pop!" Brad laughed and said "L-, your kids are going to love you." Well, I don't know about that, but I'm sure where I get most of these sounds from is my father, who has been mewing, popping, dripping, and whistling ever since I can remember. I recall seeing an old video of me at about a year old and my father shooting ping-pong balls out of his mouth "p-too!" which made me go into hysterical laughter.

The pool was nice but there were some older ladies in there on their water noodles who didn't seem to like the invasion, especially because youth often splash when they swim. I hope we didn't disturb them too much. I raced David to the other side of the pool, him with flippers on and me without, but he ran me off into the divider. He would have won anyway since he was creeping ahead. I swam the length of the pool completely underwater without taking a breath, watched Clay and Brad, David and Bruce, tried a pair of flippers on, and just swam around for a while. Clay said he was going to get out and get something to eat (Mrs W had brought out lunch out) and I decided it was time for me to get out too, though apparently he stayed for a little while longer. My eyes were smarting from the chlorine and made me feel tired. I ate my lunch in the room where we do VBS and then read for a little while.

Missy and Beth were sitting on these large rubber balls (about two foot diameter) and Brad grabbed a pink one and tried to balance on it, falling over backwards. It looked absolutely ridiculous (and it was) but I had to try it too. Brad and I had a contest (on Bruce's mark), first one to touch the floor, loses. I jiggled around, bounced a few times, and then rolled right off. Brad was very good at balancing and definitely won. A little while after that, he asked me if I'd ever done Alligator Wrestling, and challenged me to that. It was pretty fun, I'll have to try that with my siblings when I get home!

The kids began to arrive and we started another rousing game of duck-duck-goose. They wanted to play it, though I figured that by this time they would be getting rather bored with it. I guess it's just the excitement of the chase, the running around, the (gently) whacking of people on the heads.

I taught the story time but felt much more comfortable with the younger group than with the older group, I felt as though a lot of my examples were geared for a younger mindset. Overall it went well though. There were several boys who were a bit rambunctious and would run around the room, not sit still etc. There was one young boy (five) who was named Drake, and he was always crying, whining, or complaining about something. I had him and another chap on my lap for the closing skit, they took their sandals off and put them on their hands. It's hard to keep little boys focused on what is going on, their attention is SO easily drawn to something else!

It was all over for the day and we gathered things up and left after a few suggestions from Bruce as to what we should to next. Thursday we should be doing some climbing on the "rock" wall, which will be fun. Hopefully the ones who aren't climbing won't be unengaged with some activity or something interesting.

After a brief time at the Wagners (where we practised the song that we are to be singing for the talent show Thursday night) we followed Brad over to his parent's house. It was a good evening and I really enjoyed getting to know them a bit better. Brad is absolutely crazy and on the trip over, was turning on his blinker, changing lanes, and violently driving (like Brad always does). He says he's just an aggressive driver, not an unsafe one.

He barbequed some chicken and we ate that together with potato salad, spaghetti squash, and some honey-dew melon with strawberries. It was all very good and we enjoyed the evening. Brad ran and got the tractor after supper and taught everyone how to drive it around, which they thoroughly enjoyed. Brad was having a great time. He drove over with Katie and got a sledge to pull around behind it, which was two 2x4 studs stacked on each side, with plywood across the top. He came back pulling Katie on it. Some other youth hopped on and he gave them a short ride around the yard. Nathaniel got on the back and Brad started to take off and there was room so I ran and jumped on "surfing" around the yard. Brad circled around so that he was pointed in the opposite direction, gave the tractor her head, which in turn gave the sledge a violent jerk. I knew I probably wouldn't stay on when he was winding around for that, and I didn't. Ah, it was fun. The Wagners (most of them) left while some of the rest of us stayed behind.

Brad took us on a "Nature Walk" out in the woods, where they had mowed a path. I had a chance to talk to Evelyn about various things, about the lack of fireflies where our family used to live (they were blinking tonight, though not a whole lot of them) and then I went rambling off on something about my Grandpa William and his younger days (which was spawned by a memory of "Chiggahs." I thoroughly enjoyed my time. Mrs C, Brad's mom, kept telling us not to get hurt or lost, and to watch out for the poison ivy, and all in all, mothering us. She is a very nice lady and I'm not sure how she wound up with Brad for a son! We were sitting out by the picnic table chatting and could see Brad's parents and Nathaniel (who was doing something with his Palm Pilot) inside, so Brad said we should go up to the window like Zombies. He snuck over and put a couple of chairs under the windows and then we crept up and when he said go, Brad, myself, David, and Clay, plastered ourselves against the windows and glass doors with horrible, wide-eyed, gaping expressions on our faces. Nathaniel glanced up but that's about it, Mrs C went running from the room with her hands on her eyes and temples. We just couldn't stop laughing. We were so silly. Mrs C came out and thankfully she was used to Brad enough to not have been really frightened and she was laughing too. I would have felt bad if we had really given her a bad start. She said she might have bad dreams though.

We needed to get going but Brad still wanted to try to elicit some response from Nathaniel so we staggered in and fell on the couch, moaning, mouths open and blank stares on our faces. He didn't even look up. I said something like "Oh, come on Nathaniel! Play along!" He just wasn't in the mood I guess. I thought the evening was very enjoyable and I was thankful for the opportunity. On the ride back home, we prayed for Calvin and sang a couple of songs, Nathaniel read a few Psalms which I appreciated, then we (Nathaniel, Ruth, Evelyn, and myself) discussed the Chronicles of Narnia for a time. As soon as we got home, I prepared for bed and tried to go to sleep. It took a while but at last I dozed off and got up the next morning at about 6:15. Time for another day!

More news!

Monday/Tuesday

Last night was interesting. Not in a mentally stimulating sort of way, but more in a "strange" sort of way. I was tired after three hours of kids and the morning walking around in the hot sun, so I retired for the night. Somewhere around midnight (I don't really know, I don't have a clock) an alarm started beeping. I sat up. It was coming from inside the couch next to me! It was a sleeper sofa and some kind of alarm had been put inside. I couldn't get to it without waking up Clay but it went off soon enough. I laid back down and tried to get to sleep again. After dozing off, another alarm went off. This time it was one inside the window between the screen and glass. I took the screen out (in the dark) and grabbed it and it went off. I knew of course by now that this was a prank played upon the mission team. I thought it was rather humourous but at the same time the thought was going through my head that I needed some sleep! After dozing off again, another alarm went off. I don't know if they were set at two or one hour intervals, this time Clay got up and turned it off after finding it with his flashlight. Thankfully, no more came until dawn. I was apparently the only one who heard all three (and very well I might add) because David slept right through all of them and Clay heard the last two. It was funny but I certainly don't want anything like that to happen tonight. I'm feeling rather weary :)

After reading my Bible I went outside and tried to figure out how to get more line on the weed-eater but had to wait until Bill came back (it just needed pliers and I thought I was doing it wrong). Then I trimmed around the house, finishing up what we had started yesterday, blew off the sidewalks and the front driveway (which had about a half inch layer of dirt and chipped cement in one part) and shoveled all of the dirt up and took it to various holes and spots that Jeanne wanted filled in with the dirt. Then quickly showered and ate and we soon headed out for the evangelism in the morning.

I asked Ruth if she wanted to be my partner for the day and we broke off to go do a house right nearby and then followed with Beth and Evelyn with several streets, leap-frogging. Today was actually an encouraging day as we got about four people who gave answers that sounded good, meaning that their hope of salvation lay only in their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, and not in going to church or being a good person. One older gentleman, the type of guy who is probably a perfect grandfather, when Ruth asked him whether he would go to heaven or hell, said "purgatory. Oh wait! I mean heaven." He winked at me and said he was playing around. I couldn't tell if he was just teasing Ruth, or as Evelyn said, merely joking around about religion in general.

The last house we stopped at we were greeted by an elderly man wearing a jumper suit, he said he had just been working at the church and he was glad to help us with our survey we were doing. He was a Nazarene minister and talked to us for about a half hour. He had some beliefs that were strange, as in speaking of salvation not necessariliy being a single point (what we would call justification) but that after we are sanctified to a point, the Holy Spirit takes away our sin nature, in that we are "being saved." He also mentioned some other things and talked about tongues (which he said he had studied a lot) etc. It was somewhat unprofitable because we weren't able to go to other houses during that time and it was mainly him that talked, almost as if he were preaching a sermon to us. After that, we headed back and went to the cars. I'd lost track of Beth and Evelyn but I spotted them at the corner and suggested we go pick them up on the way out.

I was riding in Brad's car and he was a wild driver. Man. I think he went up near 80 in a 55 zone and was at 50 in a 35. He and Missy were racing through the end of town, over the bridge and to the W's house. Missy burned rubber on a couple of starts after the stoplights.

At the W's house, I got a cup and went to have a glass of lemonade but I could tell instantly that there was salt in it, and I recalled David having said something about salt the previous night. That was a bad cup of lemonade, but funny at the same time.

I had a few minutes to work on a skit that I was supposed to be in during the afternoon and then we headed on over to the YMCA for the Vacation Bible School. The afternoon went fairly well, we broke the kids up into two groups and it seemed like there was a lot more of them today. We play a version of dodge ball called "sprout ball" which was pretty fun, and had the story time and everything else that we normally do. When it came time to do the skit, I came out of the closet as a reporter, accidentally lost all my papers and finally made it to the chair. I had asked David to be my second reporter to ask questions and get things pointed in the right direction because I was also controlling Charlie Horse. He seemed to be a hit with the kids, at least he held their attention. Nathaniel wasn't around when he was supposed to come in but with David's help we covered it nicely and then he came in, with the brilliant excuse of traffic being bad and it being a long trip from Sudan (the country we are speaking about). David was great and helped keep things moving, I really appreciated it because I honestly didn't have much.

We came home, spent some time hanging around and then went on over to the bowling alley at the air force base, that is, Missy, Christi, Jeanne, David, Clay, Ruth, Nathaniel and myself. My very first ball hit the gutter and I felt I was in for a poor evening, but things picked up later on and of my last three throws, two were strikes. I had three strikes and three spares. David and I were seeing how fast we could throw it because it also measured your speed in miles per hour. I got over 19 mph first, then David threw a 19.60, I got a 19.59 (which is just plain wrong!) and finally topped it with a 20.09, which was also a strike. The first round I was surprised but I had the highest score by a few points. Christi was amazing and had such great form and a lot of consistency. Our team beat Clay, David, Ruth, and Jeanne by well over 100 points (the boys at least were competing). Nathaniel had an odd way of throwing but was very consistent as well, and certainly scored higher than me in the second game. I had a couple of strikes I think and maybe a spare. Overall, everyone did better the second game (I did worse). Poor Ruth had a bad ball with a flat spot that apparently ruined a lot of her first game and we didn't find out until the second. She did much better after that.

It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we did it. When we got back, most everyone went in to watch "Mask of Zorro" and I tried to finish my post here. Then Christi offered to cut my hair (she had been doing the other boys the previous night and I had asked if she would be willing to do mine too). Which she did but left it too long. I asked for it to be shorter and she obliged. I think it looks great but I personally wouldn't even mind a buzz. My mother usually cuts my hair but I forgot to ask her to do it before I left and these last couple of weeks it's been really bugging me, especially out in the sun and it gets pretty wild.

Well, that's about it for tonight, I'm going to try to head off to bed as soon as the movie is over, I'm feeling ready for it :)

The Days In Between

Saturday and Sunday

I had especially wanted to write about this day but haven't had an opportunity to do so until now.

In the morning, I arranged some things and of course made the previous posts, then I drove on down to the corner of Husband and 12th street in order to work with Dan and a couple of other guys.

I waited for about 15 minutes (not knowing which house it was) and once Dan arrived, went inside with a few other men. The outside of the house looked "normal" for the area, but the inside was all gutted out. The owners were living in the house but trying to remodel it (slowly) at the same time. They had several walls torn out and the living room/ dining area were nearly bare. They spent a while going around showing everyone what they were trying to accomplish (which generally seems to take longer than actually just telling people to start working on something). The whole project needed someone with experience and skill in order to get everyone going in the right direction. I ripped out a few studs from a rotten wall that was getting replaced and then started pulling nails out of the wall where the wooden lath had been before they pulled it out. Before long, a couple of brothers showed up and started to help. They build houses for a living with their father and older brother I believe, one was named Daniel and the other was Christopher and they were very soft spoken but very helpful and knowledgeable and I was glad that they came and sort of took over. Christopher was the oldest and an Architecture student at OSU but Daniel seemed to have more of the practical knowledge, but spent most of the time getting tools, which were scarce. I wished I had my nail bags because even hammers were hard to get. We jacked up part of the second story to get an old 2 x 12 out and to stick up a new beam which would be a better support. Then we took out some studs on the wall separating the kitchen from the dining area and put up another beam across the entire room as a header. In between the times of putting the headers up (when was when my muscle was needed, or so I was told) I put on hangers. There were no nails for the hangers so we put them in with screws, which I wasn't exactly excited about.

All of the walls were out of level and even once we had put the header in, that was measured from the floor up and not level either (or so I surmised from eyeing it) and the owner said that at one point, there was a doorway where we were putting the beam and one side of the doorway was about 90 inches tall and the other was 91, even in that short of a distance!

The project was unfortunately a bit disorganized but I was able to stay and help for a bit, especially with the putting of the beams in. Dan left at about 11:15 and I left at about 12:30. I headed on over to the S ranch to gather a few things, ate at Braums on the way and then gave JD a call and headed on over to his house for some filming.

He is making a film called "Cat Girl" which features his youngest sister, Mary, as Cat Girl, a super-hero. I'm the super-villain, a kid named "GameBoy" who get picked on by bullies at school and decides to try his hand at sports (fails miserably) and after that, turns to video gaming. When beaten at video games by two other kids (Betty and Daniel), this nerdy, wimpy kid, builds a remote control that lets him speed up or slow down things, thus becoming more powerful than could possibly be imagined.

Anyway, we first went to the backyard and started with some shots of me trying to lift these really wimpy weights, shaking and straining and groaning. I did my best to look like I was trying violently to lift them but failing because of wimpiness. Next we headed out to the park for some sports shots, I tried Basketball, throwing the ball smashing against the rim, way over the backboard, or throwing as hard as I could and it flies up in the air and lands in front of me. Then we tried my hand at baseball, which I threw up in the air but it would land behind me, and when I did get a chance to swing, I'd miss, try to hit it on the ground, get mad, throw down the bat etc. Lastly we did football, I'd try to kick it and miss, fall on the ground. I'd try to tackle someone and they wouldn't budge, I'd finally get the ball and promptly get flattened by Will. I think we got some pretty good and funny shots.

Laura and Stephen came walking up while we were filming and the park and joined us. We went back to the house and filmed some scenes with me playing against other gamers. Laura and Abigail were dressed something like twins, with their hair in a pony tail on the side and looking quite ditzy. Stephen looked like some hippie dude, and Will looked very tough and menacing. The mission team showed up soon and we then went to film the "bully scene" with me getting beat up by David and Clay. We went out to 12th street and down to some Action house, the sidwalk went along the road and we had various "actors" going around looking like school-kids with backpacks. Then I went walking along, glancing over my shoulder and at the sky and suddenly run into Clay and David, who grab me and shove me over to the wall saying something about me being a little punk, rip off my backpack and take Charlie Horse out of it, with me whining "give it back!"

We tried several different takes, the hilarious thing though (and this was the highlight of the day) was that after a while of filming and we were waiting around for David to come back, I and Charlie Horse were doing a "behind the scenes" short clip, I noticed a police car pull up and I said something. He walks up to us (I've got this brightly coloured puppet) and I'm thinking that perhaps he thought we were loitering but when I went over to ask him what he wanted, he told us that they had had several phone calls from people who had been driving by on the street and had said they saw a couple of kids beating up another kid. I started laughing and we explained that no, we were shooting a film and I was the one who had been beaten up, that it was a bully scene and that no one was really getting beaten up. Oscars for everyone!

We finished up a few other miscellaneous scenes, I think we got a good start on the movie, though of course it will not be finished yet. We may go ahead and do voice-overs for all of it so that it has better sound quality. Then we headed on over for supper at the Noells, which was wonderful as always, but I had to skip out a little early to go do laundry, along with David's and Nathaniel's. Clay and David both offered to do it for me but I didn't mind. There were four loads to do and the laundromat was closing so I was only able to get in the washing part and had to go to the RV park for the other loads, which took two different cycles because there was only two dryers there. But I got some good reading in. It was very quiet there, I didn't see a single person.

Then I came back at about 11:20 and crashed on the bed. I needed sleep!

Sunday morning was good, we had breakfast at the S house again, which was bagels, eggs, and bacon, then headed off to church. I was ready to go at 8:50 with everything packed but decided to wait for my passengers, even if Clay could have taken the other two team members in his car, which he was driving as well, since we might not be coming back to the ranch.

We did indeed arrive later and the N's had a good start on the setup. We pitched in and everything was soon finished. The sermon was on the difference between the letter of the law (which kills) and the Spirit. I thought it was interesting because the previous night I had been reading Schaff's history and he was saying that according to rabbinical tradition, the law had been given 50 days after the passover and the leaving of Egypt. So there seemed to be some significance in the Spirit being given on the same day (traditionally) as the law was given, and something to think about a bit.

After the service and the lunch, we had a time of Bible verse recitation and also a little gathering to speak of the next week. Bruce will not be coming down to Enid with us, we are pretty much on our own but with the excellent supervision of the Ws.

We traveled that afternoon to the W's house. They will be sheltering us the entire time we are here in Enid. After a good study there in Hebrews 12, there were a couple of Psalms sung and then I headed off for bed, reading a bit until Clay came in and was ready to turn out the lights and we both dozed off. I am very thankful that Evelyn was able to come and stay the week as well, with Anna and Ruth for a couple of days. Brad will be working with us and the entire mission team. The Wagners have a full house but all the help is needed!

Monday morning I got up somewhat early, read in my Bible for a bit and then went outside. I took a few pictures of the morning scenes (the first I've taken in the last few weeks) and then went and started the weed eater. We were going to be doing some work around the house and were planning to start at 7:00 but I started on the weed-eating abotu 15 minutes early. Clay took over on the riding lawn mower and David with the push mower. Nathaniel helped Katie with the hedge trimming and we got most of it done. I took over for Clay on the riding lawn mower after a while (which was fun) but wasn't able to finish it all by 9:00, which was when I had to come in and eat, shower, and get ready for the trip over to Enid for the evangelism. We went door to door again in the morning, until about 12:00. I was paired up with Laura. We had a few houses where people answered questions, one lady sounded rather enthusiastic and while she agreed (when I said something about it) that belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour of her life is the only way to salvation, she did say something about going to church as a reason why she would go to heaven.

One house we came to rather early on had an elderly gentleman who opened the door, he told us that his wife would want to speak to us, so Laura went inside and I shut the door behind us. She was an elderly lady who said she was ninety. She was a pentecostal minister and she and her husband went around to various places (they had a travel trailer out in front). She spoke (or preached rather) to us for a while on various things, such as the necessity to be filled with the Spirit and how she has had many evidences of tongues and that is why she believes she will go to heaven. She prayed for us and started babbling with a couple of words here and there and told us we could pray in whatever language we chose. I tried to direct the conversation to something that would pry a little more but it was hard to get a word in edgewise, even though she agreed with what I was saying. She also said that God had given her many Psalms and that he had given her the music and the words. She started singing one in a cracking, faltering voice for us, something like:
He's inside of me,
He's inside of me,
Everywhere I go, he's inside of me.

Her manner was very nice but so many strange things she said as well. After we left Laura and I had a good discussion about it and some of the beliefs. I compared some of the pressure to have "evidence of tongues" to the Emperor's new clothes, where the nobles felt that they had to say they saw them or else they would have been suspected of being dishonest or whatever it was. Many people I am sure sincerely believe what they are doing, but many others feel the pressure to put on an act. I mentioned examples of one man standing up and saying that he had a message from God and that the elders needed to repent and become better, then another saying immediately afterward that he too had a message from God and that the elders were doing wonderful and God told him to encourage them. Does God contradict himself? They make a mockery of his Spirit. This lady spoke of how she was on a cane because she had a bruise 6 years previously but that she knew God would make her walk again. There is a difference however between believing that God will do something for you and abiding in his will and understanding that no matter what happens, he has our best interests in mind and will work all things according to the good of those who love him. I can't imagine living through life expecting certain things that I wanted and thinking that I just didn't have enough faith to get them done.

We also had a man who was alone in the house listening to the radio about the things that had been going on in Israel, he invited us in and turned it down and answered our questions. He said that he didn't believe Jesus was God because God was someone whom we couldn't define and certainly wouldn't be a man, he also believed in an afterlife but not necessarily a heaven and a hell. He sounded very confused and was willing to listen to what I was trying to say but just didn't know what to make of it all. We left him with some information and got his name and address for a future visit. I think he might be open to such a thing. After our time was up, we headed back to the vehicles and drove to the Wagner's for lunch, ate quickly and then went to the YMCA to set up for VBS. There were quite a few kids that showed up and we were thankful for that! Beth just said there were thirty-three who showed up, which is a pretty good turnout! We kept them all together in one group and attempted to entertain, enlighten, and enclose them for three hours. That was a long afternoon. It went well though and we had a good time. I had one little red-headed girl come up to me and sit for a while as I was talking with her and another little boy and she sniffed my headband (which was sweaty) and told me I smelled nice. Then she said I was handsome and she loved me. Keep in mind she is probably 6 or 7 years old! But she did something similar with David and Anna so it wasn't just me! I was thinking "um.. okay, this is really strange. You're moving a little too fast girl."

We then came back and had supper. I finished up the mowing before-hand and had some time to write a little. We had spaghetti. We went afterwards to the Air Force base, where Mr W had arranged to let us try the flight simulators. I thought it was fantastic. We tried some old ones first and when I took the controls, they had the force feedback and you could see 200 degrees around you, the cockpit had the controls, even the compass moved when you did. I did a barrel roll. It was an amazing feeling, almost as though you really were flying. I liked the second simulator even better, it was a large sphere and you could really see almost all around. We were flying over the part of Oklahoma where we were at and could recognize certain landmarks. It was such an exhilarating feeling and something you'll probably be able to read in much more detail and richness on FB's blog ;)

Well, I'm going to hit the sack. It's 10:30 as I'm writing this in TED Notepad and I'd like to get to bed soon.

Friday VBS

Friday was the last day of the VBS in Stillwater. We had scheduled it for the evening so that the parents could be there but unfortunately, many of the kids didn't show up and so neither did the parents. It was scheduled for 6:00 so perhaps it interrupted too many suppers.

But let me go back.

In the morning, Clay, David, Nathaniel, and myself, went over to Enid to check out the YMCA and to do some flyer distribution around the neighbourhood. We arrived with 100 flyers, which split up between five guys means that each of us had about twenty, which would go pretty fast. Brad met us at the Wagners and went with us and he had spoken of going to Staples and making more copies (he had his own vehicle there as well) so we all headed out and I went down W. Maine from about Washington to Buchanan, which is about 15 blocks Nathaniel said (I don't know, but he seems to know street names a lot better). I was carefully saving my flyers since it was a very stately, elderly neighbourhood in some parts. When you see a "brand new" '85 Cadillac outside a house and the yard had lots of flowers and water fountains and a white archway outside and the porch simply has white law chairs, you kind of suspect that the people there don't have children. Anyway, I didn't run into a whole lot of people.

There were about four houses where there were children who answered the door and when I asked if their parents were home they told me no. One house I went to, just as I was about to knock the door opens slowly, then the screen door, and a tiny girl, about 4 or 5, opens the door and lets a cat outside. Then she notices me and stares mutely upward. I asked if her mother, or grandmother was home (it looked like a grandma's house) and she just said "no, she's at work." I gave her a flyer and told her we were going to be having Vacation Bible School and we hoped she would come and to tell her grandma about it. She nodded and took the flyer and went back slowly inside. All these children in the neighbourhood that just open the door without parents at home? Maybe everyone has a baby sitter that is sitting behind the door with a baseball bat, ready to pounce on me should I make some sort of attempt to kidnap. Hey, you never know!

I came across a house where there was a boy outside on the porch talking with a friend using his Nintendo DS (which is something like a PDA, it has a touch screen and you can write messages with it). I told him that I had one of those and then gave him the flyer (his mother was coming out right then) and went down the street. On the way back I came across his friend's house, he also was on the porch and I gave him a flyer as well and told him that I though his DS looked really, really nice (it was one of the latest versions that I'd not seen before). He grinned and sounded like he might want to come to VBS when I told him about it. Pretty soon (as I went further on) I could hear both of the boys yelling across the street at eachother, apparently the writing or typing was too slow!

At a few more houses I had good responses. I left flyers at two places that had some evidence of children at home, but I tried to conserve my flyers since I only had a limited amount and I'd been told to come back at 12:30 (two hours from when we started) it was about 12:15 by the time I finally made it back, with about 5 flyers left. Everyone else had been there for over an hour waiting for me, which made me feel a little bad. I just figured they would go out and make more copies since Brad had his car there, but apparently he kept saying I'd be back any minute. Well, I did have a very stately, retired street and if I'd left flyers at every place they would have been gone in a wink. What made it worse was that I had the keys to the car and everyone's water was in there. Well, everyone except Nathaniel, carrying his in his backpack, who then proceeded to tell us all how it reminded him of the foolish virgins and he supposed there were three foolish virgins and only one wise one in this instance. I laughed but I'm a camel and don't bring water anyway. I stock up when I can and go without when I can't. "Well yeah, but...."

We had a good time together and visited the YMCA, where I decided that I had to stay another week to help out. I had told Bruce quite some time beforehand that I was planning on two weeks off from work, but after realizing how shorthanded they would be and how much I really wanted to stay, I filled in one of the volunteer forms and turned it in. We then went out for another hour (Brad had to leave) with our new copies of the pamphlets and headed out. This time I felt like I had much more ammo so we dropped a flyer off at every house we went to. The first five houses I had four families with children who sounded interested, and one lady who said her grandchildren definitely needed some fun next week and she was going to bring them. I held four fingers up to David across the street and grinned.

The four of us covered two streets, one on each side of the street and then David and I got another one as we came back. I didn't have too many houses where children resided after that, but I learned during the day to listen to those people I did meet who could tell me about their neighbours "well, I know the next three houses don't have children, nor anyone on that side of the block, but that small blue house four doors down does. Their the minister's kids......" etc. The elderly people often do know their neighbourhood, and I tried to take advantage of that. I was glad to see quite a few friendly people but that was probably partially because we weren't talking about religious issues but merely inviting people. I had one elderly gentleman tell me he was glad for what we were doing.

It was a warm day, humid, and with all the fast walking, I was drenched in sweat. By the time we drove back (we had dinner with the N's, which was very, very much appreciated yet again, and delicious too! I love spicy foods...) I was feeling a bit tired. But of course couldn't let the kids at VBS see that! The final night went well. David did a wonderful job with the story, pulled everything together that we'd been learning during the week, and gave a gospel presentation. I thought it was extremely well done and really appreciated it.

When the children were to go up to sing with their group leaders, I went up in the middle of the Boulders, though I felt conspicuous as the only team member up there and most definitely the oldest (and also stumbling on some of the words, grrr), but I wanted to help the boys especially to have someone they could have with them. That's what I've tried to do all week, is sit where the boys could see me and possibly have some sort of figure they can look up to that is a leader, yet one of them as well. After everything was over though, I was fairly tired and ready for bed. David, Nathaniel and I went to Sonic after we arrived back home and then all of us watched a movie called "Saints and Soldiers" (lent to us by Mr Carrol, we'd just not had a chance to watch it) until about 11:30. I thought it was a good movie and displayed several things well. As David said, it really brought home the humanity of the enemy rather than them just being mindless monsters as we are all told. They have families too and are fighting to protect them.

It's been a good week and I'm looking forward to another! This morning I am going to be working at a house with Dan Y and in the afternoon (hopefully) we'll finally be able to do some shooting on Cat Girl. Poor JD, he's been wanting to all week but we had absolutely no time. The other gentlemen on the team are going to the Cowboy Museum I believe. I'll probably have another chance at that.

Testimony

I was asked this past week to give my testimony with other members of the mission team and the CY so I wrote it up and read it. It still needs much refining and this seems to me to be a rough draft but hopefully it is worth sharing.


I was blessed to be raised in a Christian home by parents who loved me and really tried to teach me how I should live. I don't remember this but I am told that when I was three years old I said that I needed Jesus in my life. So my parents led me through a prayer. Later on, at six, I was baptized. A few years ago I was wondering if I had really known what salvation is all about so I found (in my mother's files) my testimony that I had written at the time. I had said that I was a sinner and knew that Jesus Christ was the only one who could wash away my sin and make me clean. I wanted to believe on him and be baptized and to live a life of service to him as a Christian should.

My own life has been one of steady growth. Between the ages of 3 and 7 (to the best of my knowlege) my family had attended a Nazarene church, which is generally very shallow and has some beliefs which I would certainly disagree with today, such as losing one's salvation. But I remember asking my father at about 5 years old and wondering if I was one of God's "chosen ones." I was afraid that I wasn't and wouldn't be able to go to heaven and wanted to search that out. He pretty much brushed off the question at the time. I'm not sure why I asked that because the church there certainly didn't teach that God chooses and saves people. I think it was evidence of an inward spiritual growth and a desire to find out more about God.

Soon after this, my family began to meet in houses with several other families and to listen to sermons on tape. I certainly learned a lot during that period and know that it was a time of great spiritual growth for my parents as well, as they began to instruct us kids at home. As I look back on my life though, I was a pretty good kid on the outside, but on the inside (and out of sight of my parents) I was mean, sarcastic, and prideful. I remember talking with a lot of children there and we would goof around and generally be foolish, and one of the verses I read in Matthew really struck home at that time. Matthew 12:35 "for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

I told the other kids there about this passage and how we would be judged by what we said. I think that was an important point in my spiritual growth, as I tried more and more to actually live a godly life and not just say I believed in God.

It has been much a steady growth from there as I would ask questions and try to pay attention in church and listen. About 2004 I really started to look at the Bible in more depth (though I'd been reading parts of it ever since I could remember) and to study theology for my own. I remembered liking A.W. Pink's "Attributes of God" which my father had read to us many years before and I actually had some of Pink's books on my computer and started reading them. I don't think he is the best theologian but he certainly inspired me to study more for myself and he was God's instrument to "set me on fire."

When I was young I used to think that heaven would be very boring, people just sitting up there all day with nothing to do. Forever. To a six year old, that just doesn't sound fun but as I grew older I realized that what the Bible says of heaven is much more than just "not going to hell." It's fellowship with God, it's learning more about him than I could ever learn here on earth, and it's a closer relationship than I could ever have here. Everything that I think of as being good here, is but rags in comparison with that. I believe in Jesus Christ as my God and my Saviour and he has promised me that if I will believe in him and place my faith and trust in him and turn from my sin, that I will be saved, and will be with God forever. I know that there is nothing I can do to earn my way to heaven because God's requirement is perfection, and nothing impure shall ever enter heaven. It is only through Jesus Christ, who died on the cross and took my sins upon him, and transferred his righteous deeds to me, that God looks at me as though I had lived the life Jesus had! And punished Jesus for all my sins. Sin must have a punishment, and Jesus took that punishment that I justly deserve and changed my heart and he can do that for anyone who believes upon his name and turns away from their sin and asks for forgiveness.

Thursday VBS

It seems like a lot has happened in the past couple of days. Oh, and my apologies, the Pebbles don't "get in your shoes," they "get under your feet." My memory is faltering. It's interesting how after I make a post, I'll lie awake at night thinking of all the things I should have said or forgot to mention. It's terrible.

Thursday we had VBS like normal, Nathaniel was doing the teaching and spoke of Paul's missionary journey. The country we have been studying about all week has been Sudan, and we were trying to raise money to send a satellite phone to the missionaries. By the end of the week we had raised over $200, which was pretty nice, since our goal was $100!

After that was over and the children had gone home, the team and the youth played Scattergories and finished the game we had started Monday. The winning team had 99 points I believe, the team I was on (with Betty and Stephen) finished up at a respectable 96. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we were able to finish all 12 lists during the week.

We went door to door in the afternoon. I had Laura and JD as my partners. It's funny how the group I was on had three people (if there was an extra person, he or she would go with one of the other groups) these past three days, at least I think that is so. We moved along quite rapidly but had most people tell us they were too busy. JD said that it's sad, but when going around fund-raising and asking for money, people will almost always give them something and it's a whole lot easier to get people to listen. But as soon as you mention "Reformed Presbyterian Church," you more often than not hear a "well, we attend church already" or "I'm really busy right now," or something similar.

We had one young man who answered the questions correctly but didn't seem enthusiastic about it at all. That could be because we were disturbing him.

There was another person who was smiling and answered the questions, but when we asked if he would go to heaven or hell if he died right now, he stated that he would probably go to hell, because he drinks, smokes, cusses, etc. When asked if he wanted any more information he just said that no thanks, he didn't want anything but that we were doing a great job! It was sad because he didn't seem worried about the condition he was in, nor did he want to speak further on the matter with anyone. He was content to live in his sin and had not seriously thought about the consequences. I really do pray that the questions we have asked may spurn him on to study and searching and seriously considering his life and future.

We had one young lady who had just moved there and had three children and wanted to find out more information because they didn't have a church yet. We encouraged her to come and gave her information.

There was another man who said he was a part of the First Presbyterian church. When we knocked on the door we heard him say "come in." and so I opened it up and walked inside. He was tottering around (probably about mid-forties but with disabilities) and the phone had just rung so he answered it and as soon as he was done, cheerfully asked us what we wanted. When we told him what we were doing, he agreed to answer the questions and though he believed that he would probably go to heaven based upon doing good things, he was definitely open to hearing if his beliefs were wrong, so we got his name and number and I hope that much fruit will come out of it.

However (this was the highlight of myself and my partners I think), there was another man who was in a wheelchair, probably about thirty years of age, and when he answered the door, he was smiling and asking what he could do for us. We asked him if we might query him on his religious beliefs and he said that we sure could. He answered everything exactly right (as far as where his hope of heaven lies especially) and encouraged us. I gave a relieved smile and shook his hand as I said "it's really encouraging to hear your answers, we get a lot of answers that aren't too good around here." He said that he imagined that was the case and invited us in for some water if we wanted some. I didn't and neither did Laura or JD so we politely declined. He encouraged us to keep going and really appreciated our courage to do so and wished he could be out there with us. He was the type of guy that I'd love to spend the afternoon with discussing religous things. I think I'm going to try to stop by again some time. In our excitement, I think we forgot to ask what church he went to. Or at least I don't recall him stating.

We had supper at the Yost house in the evening, with some fantastic lasagna and chicken, then we came home and I talked for a while with David and Clay about my future and desires. It was a very good time for myself, even if it did mean that we were in bed rather late :)

Witness Wednesday

I forgot to mention in my last post (well, there are lots of things in all these posts that I think I should have mentioned, I sit lying in bed at night smacking my head and thinking "man! I should have talked about that!) that Tuesday night was something of a night off. Providentially though, it was the night that Mr Y called. I answered the phone (brought by Mrs S) and he told me that a friend of his was getting married, moving, and needed to be out of his house by Thursday and he thought he'd have a couple of days but his boss had told him he wanted him to work, so he was in a bind and Dan thought that since there were four "strapping young fellows" nearby, we might be able to help. I said I would be glad to and two of the others said they would be glad to as well. All four of us ended going as well. I had just been speaking earlier that evening about how I didn't think they worked us hard enough (agreeing with Philip's observations of his team). We stayed for over an hour I believe, loading up a pickup and van (since they couldn't get a U-Haul) and taking stuff out of the house. It actually went very quickly because there wasn't as much stuff as expected. There were some other guys there who said they would handle the unloading so we stopped by Braum's for sodas and then headed on home and to bed. Probably about midnight again.

Yesterday was the day I was to present the VBS lesson. I was speaking on Saul's change of heart, how he was going and telling others about how Jesus was the Christ, being lowered in a basket, and also how we are living stones and being built up.

The first group I had was the "Amish Flintstones" (no one knows why they picked that name for themselves). I felt as though while they enjoyed the lesson (and I hope they learned from it) that I stammered a bit through it. I had practiced the lesson earlier but I really needed that personal interaction. The second group were the Boulders and I felt I did much better and was much smoother and comfortable. The last group was the Pebbles and it was with them that I felt the most comfortable and think the lesson went really well. They were the little girls, probably about 5 years old.

I was talking with Clay last night and telling him that it was so satisfying or amazing to see those little girls captivated by what I was telling them. I tried to put it in their language and they listened intently to everyone this past week I believe, but to see them hanging on my words was very much a blessing and I really enjoyed it.

The lesson went pretty much like this:
I started off with a re-telling of what had happened earlier, about how Saul was a mean man and wanted to stone Stephen and kill all of the Christians because they believed in Jesus. Then Jesus met Saul on the road to Damascus and Saul became blind. Then Ananias came and Saul's heart was changed and he believed in Jesus, Saul, who had been killing people for doing just that! Then something like scales fell off of his eyes and he could see!

Then came the story of Saul telling others about Jesus Christ and the Jews wanting to put him to death. They lay in wait for him at night, but his friends took ropes and a big basket and lowered Saul out of a window. I had a picture that I had drawn on a large piece of construction paper of Saul being lowered from a city wall, with Saul peeking out over the basket.

Then I talked about how the church was being built up, and how Jesus had told Peter that he would build the church on this rock and tied that in with the living stones from 1 Peter. I said that of course Jesus didn't mean that he was going to stick Peter in the ground and build a house on top of him! As our "living house" we did another exercise which everyone liked and that was to put about four children side by side on the ground (lying face down) then three stacked on top of them, then two, then one. Sort of like a pyramid, and we made this "living wall." After everyone stopped laughing and got sitting back down, I said that we were living stones but that doesn't mean we are stacked on top of eachother as we just did, but that we were able to build upon eachother and build one another up and be part of the church that Jesus is building up and how everyone who believes in Jesus is part of this church that is built of people!

Another illustration was taking building blocks out of Pastor Parnell's backpack and making a little wall out of it. Then I pushed it over and it fell all to pieces. This represented a loose wall. I then took legos and built a wall out of those and they stayed together, being "fitted together" (like the body of Christ) and stronger because of it.

Lastly I took David or Clay as my demonstration guy and had them stand on a loose foundation (the building blocks) as the foolish man who had built his house upon the sand. Then all the kids were to be the wind, the rain, and the floods. I had a picture of lightning I'd drawn and when I said "Go!" I started to make crashing noises and they all pushed against my demonstrator, who fell flat down. After the first group I figured that they may be too violent for me to stand up (it would be horrible to have your point ruined) so I got on my hands and knees and just went on the floor (which was solid concrete) and they pushed and pulled and crashed and roared but the house stood firm.

I tied it all together by saying that if we build our lives upon Jesus and have our foundation upon him as the rock of our salvation, we wouldn't be moved. If we built our life upon other things (like games, or sports, or dolls or whatever) then we would be just building our life upon sand, things that don't last. But if you do believe in Jesus, you will be built up as living stones and part of his church.

I felt so much more comfortable and flowing at the last group than at the first and had an idea of what I wanted to get said. On the little girls at the end, when they came in I acted very sleepy and needed them to help me to be awake, (which is something Katie did I think) so they shouted their name to me (Pebbles) and that helped to wake me up (and break the ice hopefully). I think that the leaders say something like
"who are we?"
"Pebbles"
"What do we do?"
"Get under people's feet!"
Which has something of a dual meaning and is pretty funny.

With the little girls especially, I triedto get them involved in answering questions. It was so much fun working with the children.

I helped them play Dodge Sponge ball a bit, they were just going to be throwing it at eachother but I jumped in and then Sam and they were attacking us mainly, since attacking eachother didn't seem like fun. But when big boys shriek and prance around, it seems to make the game much more enjoyable! We headed up for the finale and then everyone went home.

The mission team stayed a while with the CY and ate lunch, played Scattergories, and cleaned up, then went out for some more evangelism. I was paired up with Ruth and Evelyn this time and really enjoyed it. We had one lady who gave us very solid answers, for which we were appreciative and excited, most of the houses in the area were vacant and we ran out of door hangers. We got the address of one young lady who seemed to me to be very "giddy" and when answering the questions, would giggle at the end. It made me somewhat sad because she obviously had not thought about the seriousness of her situation. I hope that the questions we ask will prompt some people to do so and to begin to search.

Oh, and Evelyn, if you're reading this, I appreciated your reminding me to pray for the houses but I really hadn't forgotten, I just wanted to make sure we were far enough away so it didn't seem like we were standing in condemnation on the house if the person we'd just visited happened to be watching. I am very burdened to pray for the households we visit and even afterward, and during would pray that the hangers we left for those not at home would bear fruit and that the seeds would not be sown in vain. We don't know what God may bring from those and may never know until we get to heaven.

We heard some testimonies in the afternoon. Anna, if you're reading this, I really did appreciate hearing yours and how you quite openly talked about the condition of your heart and how even though other people couldn't see it, you knew of your sin. I think that is a powerful witness to others. Then I headed out with Brad to get a swimsuit (I needed a new one anyway and hadn't brought mine) while the rest of the team took my car and went to the S house to get theirs. We were supposed to meet up at the N house but Clay missed where he was supposed to turn off and ended out in the countryside, Brad guided him back to the house (after lots of "You're WHERE?!" and "How in the world did you get out there!" But Brad himself made a couple of wrong turns and I had to direct him to the N house. I'm not that familiar with the city either, I just know how to get to certain places.

We ate supper, which was very good (those "cookies" for dessert were scrum-diddly-unctious, made by Evelyn I'm told) and then headed out for the pool. Remember to ALWAYS wait at least 30 seconds after eating before going swimming. There's your safety tip for the day.

It was a blast, I had mobs of little kids (and some big kids) swarming all over me, torpedoing me etc. There were slides there and a diving board. There were a lot of people there at the public pool but it seemed to be all right, it wasn't as crowded as it could have been. I played with Susanna for a while (who just turned seven I believe) and goodness, Anna kept splashing me for NO APPARENT REASON (sheesh), and Laura and Abigail were like leeches. Some of the younger boys and myself had a slow motion fist fight and were getting knocked back with exaggerated motions. The two hours went by quickly and yet I knew I'd sleep well that night.

We shall see what this next day will bring. The Lord is good to all of us and we pray for his mercy when we go door-to-door. David apparently had a person who spoke with them for an hour. I think it was a wonderful opportunity, most of the people we talk to do not seem interested at all, but I trust the Lord will work what he will.

For His Kingdom,
Shadow

Two's day with Vee Be Es Muy Caliente!

We had fun yesterday. Like Monday, we got up fairly early, finished the things that we needed to get done, met for prayer, and then went to meet at the church where VBS is held. There were actually a couple more kids who showed up in addition to the ones we had Monday, though a couple also didn't come the second day. We had the morning time (when everyone was getting ready) playing quack-quack-honky tonk (that's Duck-duck-goose y'all) and then went up to the main chapel room to get the day started.

Bruce is really good with children and I enjoy watching him dig in his backpack, coming up with some new thing. Monday, he had a rock that he tapped with a hammer to show its hardness (and we spoke of the hardness of Saul's heart). Today he had a sponge, which he tried to tap but which of course sunk in because it was soft. Everyone laughed at that. The lesson was about how God had softened Saul's heart.

I went down with the "Boulders" (Betty and Laura's team) to the memory verse station, which was led by Anna. We said the verse (Ezekiel 36:27) over several times with each time through a few more words were erased. At the end we said it in a "funny voice" sounding like horses. Then we stomped upstairs for the Bible story time which was led by Katie. She is really in her element when working with children and I think that the kids enjoyed the story. Then we headed downstairs for some crafts.

It's interesting watching how some of the children are perfectionists, having to trace the lines carefully (and start over if they make a mistake) while others were snip-snipping done in a wink and bouncing off the walls again. With some, they grab the nearest materials, with others, each ribbon or pin has to be carefully selected. The colours have to be perfect, and the paper has to be lined up just so.

Once we finally got everyone outside for the game, they lined up in two teams and they were going to have a duel with sponges. Five paces, turn, and fire! I don't know what happened but with the coordination of it all, we ended up with two of the three groups outside at the same time, Sam left and Katie and I were trying to run it. It was a great idea but they wanted to have some sort of a contest where each of the winners would go on and battle again. But try doing that with about 20 kids, matching four at a time, and you have no idea who won (because they more often miss than not) and doing the re-matches and then making sure everyone has a turn and also making sure they stood still instead of dodging the sponges (which would have made it nearly impossible for anyone to hit). We just lacked the coordination. It ended up with me kind of taking over, handing out the sponges, and calling everyone to the center. "All right GentleMEN! (and gentleladies), On my mark! One, Two, Three, Four, Turn and FIRE!"

At the end apparently one little boy had not had a chance so there was a private duel with Mr Roc (JD) and then David and myself had one. He nailed me good, which spoiled my chance to claim he threw like a girl. But I told him so anyway ;) We all marched inside for a snack, which was granola bars. It had rained the previous day and with the granola bars, the tables, chairs, and floor was soon covered with crumbs and bits of grass and dirt. I grabbed a broom and started sweeping up while the kids went upstairs. It was a small broom so it took a while, but with Mrs N and F.B. helping it was soon finished and I hurried up to hear the ending of the day.

Later that afternoon we met briefly at the church office, then we went out for about an hour to do some door-to-door work. We had several people tell us they weren't interested, a couple who answered our questions, and one that MIGHT read the information we gave them. I believe most take the pamphlet just so they don't appear rude. But I don't know what will happen and as we walked along (Stephen, Katie, and myself) we prayed that the "seeds" wouldn't be sown in vain but that God would use them to bring salvation to these people. The responses are discouraging sometimes, especially when there doesn't appear to be any interest, but the command is still there and may we be found faithful and labouring and doing the will of our Father.

Today is my turn to give the story and I'm talking about Saul being lowered in a basket and about how the church was being built up (a great opportunity to bring in the living stones). I had some ideas as to how to get the kids involved and we'll see how they go. I tried drawing some things on posters last night, which look okay but certainly are not the best quality. I'm not very much of an artist in anything really. Well, let's hope the day goes well and that Christ may be glorified!