Holding your breath...

August has been a long hard month like holding your breath trying to get to the surface. Lots of work and many battles some won some lost. And the battle raged on 2 weeks longer than provision. Even so blessings abounded. A terrestrial loss for celestrial gain. After a long struggle in various issues, we lost 2 pastors in our ministry, two pulpits needing a voice and sheep need care for. But thankfully our young institute students are stepping up. One has offered to go up the mountain on weekends to teach, preach in church and even begin instructing institute classes there. My part of the deal is to help provide him a way up and back. No easy task, if I were to drive him it would cost near $300 just in fuel each month plus 30 or more hours drive time. And be brutal on the vehicle. We need to do something similar for another location as well. Busses work but are inconvienent and add days to the project. Motorcycles seem the best option.
Lisa was asked to help do a wedding in a mountian church. She provided, electric, dresses, decorations, shirts, ties, and of course the wedding cake for 300 guests for 2 weddings on same day(was going to be 4 weddings) She did it but without sleep on the last 2 days to get it all done. Carrying a wedding cake up a steep bumpy mountian path...think it will arive pristine? dont hold your breath.

We had American visitors from a supporting church. The LORD allowed us to share many parts of our ministry with them. Visited homes, chased monkies, helped in the wedding, preaching , handing out tracts in public school and so on. I believe the LORD worked in their hearts and eyes see clearer. Our church services at the Lighthouse have been full, we ran out of chairs 2 times this month. Over 100 in our little building. Amen a good problem. Electric has been an issue as of late. that is keeping it on, whether by storms taking it out or provision it has been off a lot. Cost is high.

Went with the ladies group to the dump for an outreach. Changed a bit since the last time I was there there. Children are no longer allowed inside so they stay just outside the gate. There were two events one for kids in the street. Numerous decisions. So many, the ladies broke up in 7 groups to deal with the children better. Many, maybe 30, plus 3 adults present made decisions for Christ. Handed out food and hygene bags and shot off the candy cannon. We then went into the dump. Open the doors and the ladies were overwhelmed by the smell. You can only hold your breath so long. it soon passed and we had a small crowd gather to listen under a leanto. They presented the gospel and 5 wanted Christ as Saviour. Beautiful to watch. Hand out the food/hygene bags. Several folks remembered me from years ago.(side note one of the kids with me in our home was a frequent resident of this dump many years ago today she was my photographer and cannon shooter) One of the little things I thought humorous. My Lighhouse kids with me, after helping at the dump, watching people eat cookies and cupcakes with very very unclean hands(like they used to),...afterwards climb in the truck and start digging through things to find handsanitiser. My how things change... Cant go up to the devil and plink him in the nose and not expect a response...
 Come home to a house still without electric(2days) and now without water. Check out our storage tank on the mountain and find someone jumped up and down on the $4000 tank to get the lid off and put dead animals in it. Oh joy. Climb in push tank back out, clean out the tank bleach it then clean the property system. Been a very very long month on the finances. Everything terrestrial is behind, But all heavenly deposits have been on time. Amen!
Saw 2 of the boys who used to be with us years ago but ended up back with their parents, now they are begging in the streets. I stopped and bought them a pizza and talked with Mario and Fernando. Mario showed me the recent scar where his dad cut his arm with a machete while in a drunken rage… heartbreaking. They enjoyed the pizza but you could tell it was in sorrow over what they had lost when they saw the kids still with us.