What Was I Thinking?

I'm beginning this entry while riding in a van along a bumpy highway in Thailand. It isn't easy to type on an iPhone under such conditions.  Our next stop on the traveling Greater Grace missions conference was Davao. I recall it being blazing hot upon our arrival and having to haul our luggage up four flights of stairs to our rooms. Here's a picture of the hotel: And here's a picture of Mr. Handsome outside: After a buffet lunch in the hotel, we rode in vehicles to a nearby Baptist church where many pastors and lay people awaited us. God be praised, the sanctuary was air conditioned. We began by singing a rousing hymn from my Baptist boyhood, hymn #449: "Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin! How shall my tongue describe it? Where shall His praise begin? Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free, O the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me!" This was followed by messages by Pastors Drew and DeVries and much hymn singing by us in the congregation ...

I neglected to mention that we met Molly and Pastor Manny Harrison at the airport where they had been waiting after their long flight from America. They had several bags of stuff for their new home in Dumaguete, wherever that turned out to be.    The first night of the conference, we were divided into teams according to the colors of our name tags, blue, pink, or green and orange. Each team was given a 1000 piece puzzle to complete on a round table in the meeting hall where the sessions were held. This was a great idea, at least for me since I enjoy jigsaw puzzles. Pastor Josef Marian's children decided to join our team and were a big help. Pastor Josef literally had his hands full during the conference, sometimes holding one of his daughters as he preached. His wife was in China with their newborn child, and he had come by faith with all the other four or five. They made good use of the swimming pool.  Pastor Clyde's church led praise and worship for most sessions and we...

This won't be a long blog since I'm typing on my iPhone. I'm in Bangkok, Thailand resting after a long day walking in the heat. My feet hurt and I am sleepy, but compelled to write since it has been so long since my last entry.  I left Korea on a cold Wednesday morning, hauling my suitcase full of warm and not too cold clothing down to the subway to Seoul station and from there to the airport in Inchon where I met up with Pastor DeVries, Emily, William, and Tain. We ran into a royal procession in the terminal. I mailed a package of postcards to the classes at GGCA and flew away to the Philippines with my traveling companions.  We arrived in Manila just in time to hit the rush hour traffic. The weather was hot and humid, but we had air conditioning in our van, so I survived the long trip to our overnight lodgings at the YMCA. Along the way, I saw my first jeepney, a sort of stretch jeep with bench seating in the rear for as many people as can squeeze in. Some were elaboratel...