The Longest Day Continues

Church. It's amazing how different churches are. As different as people I guess. Our church service this morning starts with singing and greeting each other as we sing. We sang and walked around shaking hands and hugging all over the sanctuary. The singing was loud and free and open and wonderful. Sure puts our church to shame. Big Roy is funny singing and waving his arms above his head. I will miss watching him when we leave. The tears are already welling up in my eyes as I think about leaving this place.

As the service starts, our team is recognized as well as the Indian tribes that have traveled from the interior for the conference. We laugh as we see that Cody and Tom have joined the praise band for this morning. Of course, we can't see Cody because he's behind the banner and all we can see are his legs! They did a great job though and how sweet to be able to be a part of the service.

When the sermon starts Kathy, Tracey and I leave and go downstairs to help with the children's class. There is only one Sunday school class for the kids so we have them from four to high school. Our lesson is about heaven and how Jesus will one day return. We tied yellow ribbons around all of the posts and had the children write signs saying "Jesus is coming!". Some of the signs were remarkable in their detail and we posted the signs among the ribbons. It was a great morning and we really enjoyed ourselves. You know kids are kids no matter what country you're in.

After church we had lunch at the Smits, just left overs. We checked our emails and I warned Bruce about the possibility of the hurricane delaying our trip home. Shared several prayer requests with both him and my sisters. We headed back to Peggy's to rest and pack before the night session, but neither of us could sleep. I kept thinking about having to say good-by and would begin to tear up. I finally got up and called Bruce and was able to get through and talk to him. I felt much better after hearing his voice and just being able to share my concerns about the trip home with him. He didn't think the storm was going to be an issue and I can't tell you how great that made me feel.

I showered and did some packing then back to church for our final session of the conference. For this last night, the Indian tribes led the praise and worship and that place was rockin'! It killed me not to know the words to sing along but I could sure clap and smile. It was AWESOME! Perry and Pastor Tom did these last two sessions and then it was over. What a powerful conference. But now we had to say good-by. Hugging and crying I made my rounds of these new friends. It was excruciating. In just 8 short days these people have become so precious to me. I pray we don't have to wait until heaven to see each other again.

With the conference over the team and all of the hosts board Imro's bus and head to the new Burger King to have a quick bite to eat. We all sat around talking, laughing, hating to see this week come to it's end. Then back to Imro and Linda's to head off to our hosts' homes to finish packing and prepare to head to the airport. Imro would be picking us up at Peggy's around 1:00 AM to leave for the airport where we would wait till our flight at 5:30 AM.

At Peggy's we finished our packing, hauled everything back downstairs and then hung out in Peggy's room and talked till Imro arrived. It's funny but when it finally came time to tell Peggy good-by I didn't cry. I really thought I would be a faucet, but we hugged and said our good-byes without a tear. What a precious host she has been this week to Tracey and I. Sure has been different than anything I had imagined.

So back to the airport we head.