We praise the Lord that He saw fit to allow us to take our first deputation road trip with little problem. Our truck was able to pull the trailer effectively, we arrived at all our meetings on time and safely and did not experience any vehicle issues. For those things and many other blessings we praise the Lord and appreciate your prayer on our behalf.
While not problematic, it does not mean it was not uneventful as we learned our share of lessons over the past 8 days. From setting up and using a travel trailer to closing and maintaining it I found myself busy scratching my head, parking and unhitching just slightly too far from my services (lesson learned) and learning things about holding tanks, chemicals, awnings etc. It was a good learning experience for all of us and we enjoyed every minute (well most of them).
The girls had a great time, they did perhaps better than expected on the long rides having to stop only once in 6+ hours on the way there and back. Each of our meetings required a shorter drive and they did great with them also. Of course we found that a 2 and a 3 year old are not ready to sit through a full service after just getting out of carseats for the past 2-2.5 hours... So that left mom busy a couple times - lesson learned for next time. Proverbs 31 speaks of the virtuous woman by saying that her children arise up and call her blessed, her husband also and he praiseth her. I appreciate my wife tremendously. Four girls, six months to six years, require patience, love, organization and prayer. My wife wonderfully balances these very things in allowing me to focus on setup, presenting, preaching etc. She is a blessing.
The big fear was "what important thing will we forget with all this packing?" Praise the Lord, we had everything we needed on the way - it was the way back that was the issue. It was 90 in Smyrna, De on Sunday after a great service and a wonderful lunch fellowship. Steph was gathering kids and I was breaking down the display table. Well, sure enough we left something behind. We are grateful to Pastor Cereghin and Grace Baptist for their graciousness in mailing it home since we were a few hours down the road before it was recognized as missing... lesson learned - have a checklist.
The meetings were great, three churches in three cities - one in a home, one in a storefront and one in a building - all excited about the things of God and all missions minded. It was great to fellowship with each family, share testimonies and make connections to shared acquiantances.
It is not uncommon in the Philippines that I am asked to dunk a basketball while I am in a shirt and tie at a jail or school or whatever but I cant say I expected it on deputation. Sure enough it was requested, made me feel like I was back in Manila. That was Rockland Bible Baptist Church and the other wonderful experience there was that many of their members are Filipino. It was a good time for us to learn more and be encouraged. The presentation turned more into a game of Jeoparday and I would ask the members how many islands, what is the population or when were they given their independence etc... it was a lot of fun while at the same time helping the body of Christ to lift up their eyes and look on the fields that are white already unto harvest.
Again, we appreciate your prayer that God would continue to open the door for meetings on a consistent basis and that the Lord will impress upon those He will to partner with us in bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Philippine Islands.
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