Jacksonville

Well, here we are in Jacksonville, FL. It is kind of neat being in the city where I was born. I am amazed that my parents were able to stand this heat for a long time. It is a lot cooler today and humidity is down. The past few days have been very hot though. It makes me very glad that everything we have done has been indoors and the air-conditioners work very well. It is funny talking to missionaries who are based in Florida talk about going to other parts of the country and talk about how cold it is all the time.

We had one problem while we were driving here and that is that the siding of the trailer started to come off. In the front on the drivers side we had serious delamination occur. We have it sealed off with duct tape for now. We can only drive about 50 mph or it baloons up so we have to get it fixed before we leave here. We had one estimate for $1,800 to $3,800 depending on the damage to the wood underneath the siding. We are looking for other estimates as we do not have that kind of money.

This week we are at our Field Conference for Latin America which is being held at West Jacksonville Baptist Church. At the same time they are having their Missions Conference. We are having a great time and the church is taking such good care of us. We have eaten far to much and today they took us Ladies out shopping. I was able to get a beautiful dress and some earrings to match. I also got a nice casual shirt and a necklace to match that. It was such a blessing to have not only the fellowship of other missionaries, but also to get to spend some money that was just for us. I tried to buy some jeans for Jordan (he has outgrown all but one and is close to growing out of those) but the other missionary ladies wouldn't let me. They said it was for me and they were going to make sure I spent it on me. :-)

The preaching this week has been excellent. This morning Pastor Kelley spoke on Belzaleel from the book of Exodus. He was a man that was the master craftsman who built the tabernacle. He showed us that God inroduced him in Exodus chaper 31 (I think) and then showed us how Aaron didn't use him to build the golden calf and how wasn't that odd that Aaron didn't try to use the best craftsman in all of Isreal to make the calf. He said the Belzaleel was saving himself for the work of God. He was the only human to touch the Ark of the Covenant and live. It was a great sermon. We have had one great preacher after another. We only have one more day of this. :-( God has really touched our hearts this week.