March 13, 2024

The pipe clangs every morning at 6am to make sure that all of the students are up and at ‘em. Plenty of them have been up before that. The first class of the day begins at 8am. The temperature then is a nice 70 degrees, but by the time the our morning classes end, it will be close to 100f. The room where Jerry and I do most of our teaching in is not air conditioned so, we compete with noisy ceiling fans and a lot of heat.

Yesterday, we moved the afternoon class into a common area that has AC. We were crammed in rather tightly but it worked. Then they asked if we could add another teaching time to the schedule, so they crammed in again, this time from 6p-8p. After this, they ate dinner, finished chores and went to bed. Today, Jerry and I will teach and we will preach since today begins a 3-day preaching conference that culminates in the graduation ceremony on Saturday. It is tiring and exhilarating to teach and preach in a setting like this.

I am teaching on how to prepare expositional sermons and Jerry is teaching on the Psalms. While we are encouraged by the response of the students, we are even more encouraged by the fact that the leadership of this school is becoming so committed to helping the students understand the vital role that a healthy church plays in the life of a believer. Our church has made some significant investment into this ministry with work teams, maintenance efforts, teaching and counsel. One of our team members will stay behind a few weeks to oversee some work on a building we’ve been assisting with.

The gospel need in this area is massive. But, there is a gospel presence and by God’s grace we, as your representatives are able to blow some fresh wind into the sails of some of the churches here. We covet your prayers for faithfulness and endurance. It is so sweet to get a preview of Revelation 7.9-10. I send you greetings from brothers and sisters that you will meet and enjoy in glory.

Grace and peace,

Bob