Or is it still Day VIII from week one?  My days/trips have run together but it is all good! 

Happy Independence Day even though it is technically over on the calendar.  I thank God for the folks who have given of themselves to insure our freedoms in America.  May America bless God! 

It is just before midnight and the last of our three waves of team members have now arrived.  Pastor Abel Garcia and his wife, Lynne, came with two others from 1st Baptist Freeport, TX and they were the first arrivals of the day.  Next came Mike, Marlene, & Garrett Borja from Gulfport, MS along with several members of my immediate family (I was glad to see my wife and girls).  Then Pastor Danny Sinquefield and Bret Hart arrived in the early afternoon with nine others from Faith Baptist of Bartlett, TN.  Pastor Terry Rainey and Pastor Eddie Burdette have led a group of fifteen others here from Motlow Creek Baptist and Shady Grove Baptist in South Carolina.  (These two are huge Clemson fans and I have already let them know that we have 8/30 circled on our calendar!) 

Believe it or not, I have postponed our morning Bible study time to 8:00AM because of the late arrival by the South Carolina folks.  That doesn’t happen often! 

I need to go back to the first trip and let the members of the Friendship family know that the chairman of our deacons, whom I will let remain anonymous, received a traffic ticket in Guatemala Friday morning!  He was bound for jail but I interceded on his behalf – he owes me!  Actually, we got pulled over for a check point and they got him for not wearing a seat belt.  Yes, that is a law in Guatemala. 

Please pray for Josh Caldwell, youth pastor at Motlow Creek Baptist, as he has been diagnosed with cancer.  It is my understanding that surgery will take place this Monday, 7/7.  His mother, Laura, was to have been on this trip but obviously had to change her plans.  Pray for Josh! 

Also, Pastor Danny Sinquefield’s wife was taken to the hospital last night but was sent home.  She recently had surgery and this episode was directly related to that surgery. 

I spoke with Dr. Tony Matheu about Estuardo’s situation and the process is beginning to determine if he needs surgery.  It appears that he does so please join me in praying for him.  Dan Smith and his ministry are continuing to pay Estuardo and that is a good thing.  Pray for Paradise Bound Ministries too as they adjust to their loss and deal with the financial issues of doing ministry.   

Well, I have kitchen duty in a few hours so I had best get some rest.  Thanks to the person from the first team who left me the card – sweet & kind!  Pray for this team as they begin ministering this morning! 

“Heaven came down and glory filled my soul!”   There are those times when you are in one of those “you just had to have been there” experiences.  Last night was one of those for this group!  Let me set the table. 

Our Thursday was planned – morning devotion, dedicate the houses, visit Amor del Nino, visit Casa Aleluya, come back to the house for a quick bite of lunch, finish painting at the seminary, tidy things up around the mission house, have a meeting, get ready to leave. 

It seemed that Murphy’s Law went into effect from the very start of the day.  Nothing seemed to go right and we were way behind time wise all day.  We didn’t even get back in time to go to the seminary to paint. 

So, I took comfort in the fact that we were able to lead one of the ladies who had received a house to pray to receive Jesus as her Savior.  Juan Marcos Ruiz was the one who led her in the prayer.  God thing, great thing, hallelujah!  Then one of our students came to me while we were washing the trucks and told me that she had asked Jesus to save her that afternoon.  She was happy!  God thing, great thing, hallelujah!  Now it was beginning to make some sense as to why all of the troubles had come our way. 

We began our final meeting around 8:00PM and it lasted until almost 11:00PM.  Three young men immediately shared that they had given their lives to Jesus that night.  God thing, great thing, hallelujah!  Then, about half way through the meeting, one of the young ladies just simply stated that she didn’t have Jesus in her heart and that was what she wanted so she prayed the sinner’s prayer on the spot.  Another young lady shared that she had given her heart to Jesus on Father’s Day but had not told anyone except her family.  God thing, great thing, hallelujah!  Another young man confessed that he had been saved but was living a double life and that was going to change.  God thing, great thing, hallelujah! 

This group had been extremely tight lipped during our share times all week but that ended last night.  God really did a work in our midst.  What a blessing! 

So, what seemed like a “bad” day ended up being very much a “God” day and we give Him the glory!  We have had a great week of ministry and I really hate to see this team leave.  They are making plans to return next year!  God thing, great thing, hallelujah! 

Jeanette, Callie is planning on you guys picking her up at the airport.  Speaking of the airport, it is almost 3:00AM and I am off to deliver our first group before returning to get the second group. 

Thanks for your prayers and for keeping up with us via this blog.  God is awesome!   

We have just finished our devotion for this morning.  Bro. Teddie has been teaching in the book of Jonah, which has caused me and I’m sure others to ask ourselves if we are running from God’s will in our lives.  There are two teams preparing to go back into the village today to finish up the cementing of the floors, another team will finish hanging doors and windows, Eddie Hall and Kevin Vice are taking a team to the Seminary to do some painting and we have a crew that was gracious enough to stay behind and do “spring cleaning” here at the house.  We built 6 more houses yesterday (which gives a total of 15 houses built in all), and 7 were cemented.  We did get a little rain yesterday while building, but the Lord blessed us and saved the heavy rain until we were back at the house.  Plans for tomorrow are to dedicate the houses and visit the orphanage.  We had “pizza night” last night.  We certainly have not been going hungry, Ms. Caroline Ford is a wonderful cook!  She says it is her job to send the men home healthy and the women home fat!  Please continue to pray for us, Bro Teddie will blog tomorrow.

No internet service last night.  We have had our devotion and are leaving for the work sites.  I will write more later today.  All is well.