Church Service and Information Meeting

Me...standing in front of the Ray`s window. This is the beautiful scene they see every morning. There`s a pond on their property! This picture dosen`t do the actual scenery justice.




We have much to laugh about and much to be thankful for.

Phyllis and I woke up this morning around 3:00a.m. Our bodies and minds are completely off due to the time change. We tried to go back to sleep, but couldn`t so we just got up, ate breakfast, looked at the most beautiful scene outside the front door, and thanked God for giving his son. A few hours later, we went back to bed and finally slept an hour or so more. We laughed about our sleepiness and about how our morning started!

Church service was truly wonderful this morning. There are people here with such pure hearts. You can feel their love for the lord and one another. Phyllis and I both looked at each other when the members started singing. Awesome! Everyone sang so sweetly. Three ladies really have voices like angels! I don`t know what we expected, but we were shocked by the melody and vocal ranges. Tom Norwood would love to have these ladies singing in choir with him. Ha! Marlin (minister--Hallie Johnson`s cousin and missionary we`re staying with) preached a wonderful sermon on how Fathers are kind and provide willingly and lovingly for their families just as Jesus is kind, caring, and loving to us...even when we don`t deserve it. Oh, Happy Father`s Day to all you fathers. I`m sitting here in disbelief that I sang hymns in Japanese and was able to follow the sermon which was done 90% in Japanese.

Today was a potluck luncheon at church. Delicious food, I tell you. There were about 20-30 in attendance today for church and the luncheon.

We had our information meeting this evening at 7:00. There were 25 readers ready to sign up! It might not sound like a lot to you but in that small room, it felt like 50! They were all so nice and eager to get to know us and learn. The information meeting is designed to meet potential readers and sign them up for individual reading times. Phyllis scheduled ll readers and I have l0. Jeanne (Marlin`s wife) also has 3 readers schedule. Those three readers really have no English background. We introduced ourselves by telling where we come from, family background, occupation, etc. etc. The readers will give us all their background history during their first reading session. We want them to talk more and us listen and guide them to understanding the seed thought to each lesson.

I`m very proud of my teammate (Phyllis). She is the bookkeeper for us and is doing a great job keeping up with our finances. I`m also proud of her because she has such a love for God and is very easy to communicate with.

All in all, our information meeting went smoothly. There were so many smiles and hugs from everyone. I feel so blessed! Thank you God for this day.

Tomorrow we will go to the bank and start our readers after lunch. Pray for us and our readers. I promise (again) to post a session of random picutres soon. The one of me up top was my practice trial.

Good Night,
Tommie