Back at Home Base in Kakinada - Daryl

I got a good night's sleep last night and felt much better today.  Thanks to all of you who expressed concern and said a little extra prayer.  We went back to the village we visited on Wednesday.  This time we were there for a Preacher's Workshop.  There were about 25 preachers from area villages.  The original plan was for me to speak for an hour and then Steve would speak and we would leave.  Once we got there, we realized that many of the same men had come to the first workshop we did here in Kakinada.  Steve and I had planned to do the same lessons.

So, at the last minute Ricky asked if I could speak on the nature of the church since many of the preachers get asked a lot of questions about that topic.  Fortunately, I just recently preached a sermon in Tulsa on that very subject and happened to have it with me.  As I preached, Ricky would ask me to give further explanations and added some himself.  Before we knew it, we had spoken for over 2 hours!  They were like sponges just soaking it all in.  Afterwards, they just kept thanking us for the message.  Steve didn't get to speak, but he seemed OK with that.  I think it gave his voice a much needed rest.

As it has been everywhere we have gone, we received more requests for assistance.  There is certainly no shortage of genuine needs here.  Most of the preachers are little more than volunteers.  The support they receive from their congregations is very little.  Most of them work with 2 or 3 congregations so all of their traveling doesn't allow a lot of time for other work but somehow they manage to survive.  There is a great need for Bibles, song books, bicycles, church buildings, etc...  I did my best to express to them that we are certainly sympathetic to their need and that we will share what we have learned here with others.  I told them as much as I would love to be able to say we could meet all their needs or even part of them, that just wasn't possible.  I felt like I was letting the air out of their balloon of hope, but at the same time I didn't want them thinking that any day now large sums of money were going to start flowing in from the US.  It is my hope and prayer that God will find a way to meet all their needs and soon.

On the way home we finally saw some monkeys!  We haven't seen much wildlife since being here, but today we saw 4 or 5 monkeys here and there along the way.  We were moving too quickly and they were too far away so I didn't get any pictures, but at least I can say I saw them.  It is good to be back in Kakinada.  We have tonight off and most of the day tomorrow, Yeah!

I think I have figured out how to load a slideshow so look for it in the upper left corner of the page very soon!