Pastor Matt's Blogosphere

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!