On The Road Again...

After a week of meetings, it was good to hang out with some friends Thursday afternoon and evening. We ate supper with the Hebert's and saw Jason make a horrendous mess (just ask him about it!!!). We then got everything ready, slept a bit, and arrived at the rental car place around 6:00 am. Our flight to Seattle was to leave at 7:00, however, at 6:55 they called us off the plane and put us on a plane flying straight to Portland (instead of Spokane-Seattle-Portland). For as time goes, that's great, but I did want to see Seattle. Anyway, we arrived at Portland ahead of schedule and was even able to fly out of there four hours early. To make a long story short, we arrived in Dallas before we would have even left Portland!!! And yes we flew first class (thanks again Retta!!!), and yes we enjoyed it!

Well, I have been working on the plane, in the hotel room, etc. and am ready for a short break. After that, we'll eat and get back to working on Sunday's stuff and next week's camp stuff (and the next week's camp stuff!!!).

Pray for us, we have one more flight from Dallas to Longview in the morning around 9:00 am or so. Can't wait to be home!!!

Day 3 - Report A

9:15 AM:
After enjoying a great breakfast (the bacon is incredible at the hotel restaurant - even though Jen did eat some of mine!) with the Grigsby's (former Pastor of Pleasant Hill MBC outside of Overton), we started the morning meeting with prayer, a devotional, and a special in song (a lady performed "How Great Thou Art" in sign language - it was beautiful!). Dr. Randy Cloud, Secretary-Treasurer of Missions of the ABA, gave his annual report concerning the missionary work supported through Texarkana. He reported "18,452 professions of faith, 1,613 baptisms, 601 received by letters, 74,341 sermons preached, and 16,611 lessons taught. Missionaries reported self-supporting churches being established in Africa, Philippines, India, Belize, and Thailand. For the fiscal year 2007-2008, $2,614,584.64 was given through the office in Texarkana. At the messenger meeting of the churches this year in Spokane, Washington, 194 missionaries will be recommended for financial support through the office of Secretary-Treasurer of Missions. These missionaries are serving the Lord in 28 states and 28 foreign countries. If all of the Interstate, Foreign, and National Missionaries are approved without any raises, the monthly pay out will increase approximately $23,000 or 11%. Approximately $2,767,000 will be needed to pay the missionaries for the coming year. The balance in the mission treasury at the end of May 2008 was $783,083.46." (abbreviated information taken from the Secretary-Treasurer's 2007-2008 fiscal year annual report) This information pertains only to the missionaries supported through the office in Texarkana - much more missionary work is done outside this program as well.

The final process of approving missionaries is now under way. Due to the nature of this meeting and my responsibility as a teller, I will be forced to write about the rest of the morning meeting later.

Sunday Happenings

I hope and pray you all had a wonderful Sunday (at least you finally got to hear some good preaching!). Jen and I attended Valley Landmark Missionary Baptist Church's worship service here at the DoubleTree Hotel and was blessed to hear Bro. Brian Sellers bring a message from Judges 7 (Gideon and his 300 men). Jen was also glad to finally hear some good preaching (and so was I)!!! Seriously though, it was a great to hear the Word of God preached. Afterward, the church had reserved a banquet room and fed all the guests. Now you know they are real Baptists! Jen and I also relaxed some and caught up on some reading. We also walked around the park (old Expo grounds) and loved seeing all the waterfalls here in Spokane.

Now for the interesting/funny stuff:
First, it is 9:17 pm here and it is just now getting dark. I mean, it will not be fully dark until about 9:45. What's up with that? Furthermore, if you don't like to get up early, then don't come to Spokane! I know at 5:30 it is full daylight!
Second, for some reason, people seem to think Jen and I have an accent...imagine that! We went to eat supper and when the waiter came to introduce himself, he asked from what southern state we came. We told him Texas, and he said that he knew we were not from Spokane.
Third, the waiter asked Jen what she wanted to drink and she said "Sweet tea." He then said, "Green tea?" She responded, "No, sweet tea." He then looked for a second and said, "Black tea?" She then looked at him and asked for iced tea. He then said, "Ah, you mean brewed tea." She said, "Yes. Brewed tea. Do you have it already sweetened?" He said, "No." So that's when I start thinking about Dr Pepper. Jen then ordered unsweet iced tea. Then he asked what I wanted and I said, "Tea, but bring some sugar." He brought the sugar, but the tea had some fruit flavoring in it - nasty! Tea should only have two things in it - ice and sugar! Here's the catch. No one up here serves sweet tea (or at least I have not found the right restaurant yet). In fact, many of them look at you weird when you ask for it. Besides, what self-respecting restaurant serves green tea?!? Well, I can only stomach so much of the tea, so then I ask for a Dr Pepper. He looked at me and said, "I'm sorry. We don't have Dr Pepper. We have Coke." Well, I can handle that, so off we go. Come to find out, the waiter loves Dr Pepper too!!! I have not found a restaurant up here that serves Dr Pepper, thus my theory is strengthened that we are not in the Bible Belt - no sweet tea and no Dr Pepper.

Well, as you can tell, I'm out of my culture up here. But at least the people are nice, and they have not thrown me too many weird looks. Yet, they are not used to people saying "Ma'am" and "Sir" so I'll try to soften up the "Southern speak"...naw, not really!

Now for the business:
We start the meetings tomorrow, so probably much less funny stuff and much more serious stuff will come your way. I hope you have a great week and we are praying for all of you!

World Traveler

We have finally made it to Spokane, Washington. We left this morning from Longview and arrived in Dallas. From there, we flew to Portland and then hopped on another plane to Spokane. Overall, it was a breeze (no pun intended). Besides being tired of travelling and the 2 hour time difference (not a big deal really), we are doing great.

The only complaint about this area is the price of everything. It is ALL high. Can't wait to be back in East Texas where things are not so outrageously priced (and not EVERY single item talks about environmental stuff).