March 26

Almost everyone went for the week of prayer this morning. Robby sang with some of the students for a special music. Then our guys did a brass quartet. Sharley talked about the blessings of music. And then everyone sang “Here I am Lord.” When we finished the principle gave an appreciation speech and they gave us hats and key chains. It was very nice of them. Then a ton of the students wanted to get all of our emails and signatures. Some of our guys were pretty swamped :)
The café behind the hotel has better wifi then the lobby so we hang out there a lot. And right now there is a program going on at the Tao temple, so at lunch time, while a group of us a sitting at one of the tables, a bunch of “priests” came over for lunch. Bethany said it was like National Geographic walking towards us :)
Most of the students went to the beach this afternoon and I stayed back and had a lot of time to read. I sat outside and finished two of the books I have been reading. I brought along Education and finished it and have been reading the Desire of Ages for my devotions and finished it. I have one more book I brought along for this trip and have only one more chapter. Two and a quarter books, that’s not too bad if you ask me. Let me tell you, I sure learned a lot. The first 9 chapters of Education and the last chapters of Desire of Ages are absolutely life changing. I will never be the same.
This evening I went with Sharon and David. Now, I have heard a lot about how their suspension bridge is pretty crazy. I have been across a couple of others so I thought this one couldn’t be any different. Boy was I wrong. It was crazy sketchy. Boards were rotten and missing. The wire mesh was rusting through. And it swayed like crazy. But I think most of that was Sharon’s fault :)
Their church is right at the edge of the village. And about a stone’s throw away is the village Mosque. and just around the corner is the Catholic church. While we were waiting for supper to be ready I was talking to the pastor about how I wanted some rubber. There was a rubber grove right close so he sent a young lad over to get me some. He brought me back a little chunk left over from this morning’s cutting. It wasn’t quite dry yet. I learned that wet rubber smells really, really bad. So I left it outside to dry a bit longer before taking it home.
We had an amazing supper. The food here is always great. I am really going to miss it. I ate so much I couldn’t take another bite.
Sharon spoke this evening on the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. She did a very nice job. Her translator is very good. He works at the mission and has been translating since he was a kid.
There is a Catholic family that has been coming to all of the meetings. They started coming because they wanted to sing in the church choir. Their priest doesn’t mind them coming just so long as they don’t convert. When one of the little boys told a church member this he told him was fine, you don’t have to be an Adventist to start following the Bible.
On the way back the translator/driver told us stories of his child hood. His grandfather was the village witchdoctor and his father was next in line to be one too. But God intervened. He was taking Bible studies and when his father found out he brought him outside and built a huge pile of wood. He put his charms on top and his son prayed and put his Bible next to them. “Let’s see who wins” said his father. After the fire died down all that was left was the Bible with the cover burned off! That Bible is now at the GC head quarters. Pretty powerful stuff.