July 23. Praise the Lord for a good night’s rest. Left around 8:00 this morning. Along the way, we saw field after field after field of corn and soybeans. Gained an hour when we crossed from Indiana into Illinois. Stopped at a rest area a short ways into Illinois and stayed there a little longer than we had planned. But it was a very restful and enjoyable stop. Took lots of pictures - an old, old road scraper, lots of beautiful flowers, a large pond with a sign that said “Do Not Feed the Geese” (but we didn’t see any geese), a short shady walking trail. How we enjoyed the beautiful flowers and trees and other things that God had created! Later in the morning (after noon eastern time), we stopped for lunch at Woody’s Family Restaurant #3 in a place called Minont. Daddy had cod fish with mashed potatoes, corn, and a side salad. I ordered a nacho supreme salad. We both had lemon water to drink. Then we splurged and had a soft cone for dessert - only 99c for a very generous helping. On to our destination in Creston after that. Just a little bitty town of about 800 people, but still had a hard time finding someone who knew where Grove St. was where New Beginnings Baptist Church is located. Arrived at the Rooses’ house (next to the church) around mid-afternoon. After getting things in from the car, we had a welcome nap. Then we went over to the church, and Pastor and Linda showed us around. We sat over there and talked for a good while before going back to the house. Sister Linda grilled hamburgers for supper, and we had fresh corn on the cob, squash casserole, green beans…. After supper, we talked for a while in the living room. Then Daddy and I worked together on some notes for Sunday school, as Pastor Roose wanted him to tell as much as he could about how the people in Owena lived. “30And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 31And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.” Acts 8:30,31 Some people can get saved just by reading the Scriptures, but most people need guidance in order to understand what the Scripture says and means. That’s why God told us all to go and preach the gospel to every creature. Some don’t even have Scripture to read, but need to hear and then to have the Scriptures written for them. July 24. After Daddy got the notes printed out last night for this morning’s Sunday school lesson, we were tired and took showers so we could go to bed. It was early (Central Time), but our bodies were still on Eastern Time. We woke up early for the same reason, but managed to keep abed until almost 6:00 central time. After I got into bed last night, I kept hearing a very loud rumbling noise. Couldn’t figure out what it was at first. I thought, Who in the world is doing construction this time of night on a Saturday night? Then I looked out the bedroom window. Wow! What a sight! One lightning flash right after another. That’s why there was all that noise - continuous loud rumbling, roaring, and rolling of thunder. It never ceased for some time after I went to sleep. Power went out for a little while. This morning after getting dressed, reading Bible, etc., we got our own breakfast, although Linda did fix eggs and toast for Daddy. The Rooses had gotten up around 6:00 and had their coffee on the deck. It was already hot outside early this morning. Daddy and I went for a very short walk around the church block. As soon as we stepped outside, my glasses steamed up from the humid heat. We went over to the church early to set up the display table and slide projector. For some reason, we could not get the sound to work at all through the projector so we ended up putting a microphone on the computer speaker. After getting everything set up, we went back to the house for a while. A good number of people were there for the meetings even though a number were sick and some were away for a funeral. Daddy showed the video at the beginning of Sunday school and then told more about life in PNG. Many asked questions at the end of Sunday school. With the Lord’s help, Daddy did a good job of preaching a message entitled “Mission Unaccomplished.” People were very friendly and hung around and talked for a while after the meeting. We really enjoyed the people and the good fellowship with them. After everyone left, we went and packed up the car. Then we followed the Rooses to Rochelle, about five miles down the highway, where we had lunch with them and with their daughter and family at a family restaurant. Daddy and I each ordered from the senior citizens’ menu, but we still had huge helpings of food. Besides our main dish of meat, potatoes, and veggies, there was a side salad, soup, and dessert. We praise the Lord for the blessings of the morning. After dinner, we said good-bye to the Rooses and headed for Belvidere. Here we are staying in the prophet’s chamber of Bible Baptist Church, which is in the basement of the church - comfortable and quiet. Arrived here around 3:30 and met Pastor Matties. He showed us the church and helped us get things in and taken to the prophet’s chamber. They do have a video screen and we tried to set up our video, but Pastor didn’t know how to do it, and Daddy couldn’t figure it out. So we would wait until later when someone else could do it. In the meantime, we went down to our little chamber and had a nice nap. After nap, we got the display table set up and then freshened up and changed clothes before the evening meeting. We had never met Pastor Matties before, but he had invited Daddy to preach. People came early for choir practice, and we got to meet many of them and talk with them before the meeting. There is no air conditioning in this building, and a lot of the ladies used fans. A large fan was put on the platform for Daddy to have air blowing on him as he preached. Amazingly, though, it is quite comfortable inside the building, considering how hot it is outside. After the singing, we all went into the fellowship room where the video screen is, and they watched our presentation. Then Pastor Matties had said he was going to put me on the spot and told me to follow him up front. What was up his sleeve? It wasn’t too bad. He gave people time to ask questions, and I was to answer them, after the pastor gave his idea of what the answer would be. We all had some good laughs. After that, we went back into the auditorium where Daddy was given the liberty to preach as long as he wanted. He tried to stay within their normal time frame, however. Preached again the “Mission Unaccomplished” message. We really enjoyed our time with these dear people as well. After all had left, the Matties took us out for a bite to eat at McDonalds. I just had a smoothie and Daddy had iced mocha. We had had so much for dinner, we weren’t very hungry. Now it is after 11:00 p.m. (eastern time) and time to shower and go to bed. Praise the Lord for answered prayer today and his blessings upon the meetings and upon our lives. “But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.” Acts 8:40 Philip too preached in all the cities through which he passed. Isn’t that the task our Lord gave us in Acts 1:8 – to preach the word everywhere?
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