This Past Week: To say the least these are busy days for us. Between lesson preparation, translation and the constant interruptions that life brings we find ourselves clinging to Him daily: His faithful grace and strength overwhelms and sustains even the crazy days! Praise the Lord, Phil hasn’t come down with the cold that has been affecting me (Elin) all week long. I am feeling better, thankfully, and getting back to normal slowly but surely. We are entering into our final week of school and ALL look forward a break from that! With Francois gone, the bulk of the teaching has been on Phil this past week. The numbers attending had dropped off significantly at the beginning of the week. We found ourselves just crying out to the Lord to move and work, and slowly, the numbers increased. By the end of the week, the crowd gathering was more typical to what we were accustomed to. We taught through most of the Old Testament in a giant sweep over 2 days, covering the judges, Samuel, Saul, David, and into the prophets. They saw the children of Israel, again and again, turning from God and then God’s hand of mercy in turning them back to Him. “That’s us, the Mwinika people”, one leader said during the teaching. This led to an interesting discussion on what “repentance” really was – “agreeing with God about what HE says about us” – and not just converting or moving from one group to another. They also really enjoyed the story of Jonah and the fish. Part of the teaching included reading Psalms 139, the intimate knowledge God has of each one of us, and how we can never run from Him. Pray for people as they listen over and review the lessons of this past week. Pray that the Lord will continue to work in their hearts, convincing them of their need for “repentance” and that the solution for their sin problem is found only in HIM! Upcoming Week: The big transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament will occur this week. The first few days will be all about the prophesies of Christ found in the Old Testament. A chart will be laid out, so that they can clearly see the fulfillment of each prophesy regarding Him as we study about it. John the Baptist will make his appearance as well the end of this week. Please PRAY! We are now moving into territory that is less ”agreeable” to many religious sects here. The Old Testament stories they could readily agree with as there was nothing hugely controversial for them there. As we move into the New Testament and introduce the Savior, that tension will begin to grow. Indeed they MUST stumble over Christ or we haven’t presented them with the Truth! Even before we introduce Christ as the Messiah, please pray that hearts will be open and that the truths they have learned so far will hold fast and ring true! Francois’ trip has been extended through to the end of this next week, so Phil will be doing all the teaching again this week. Pray for strength for him and that he won’t get sick. Pray also for safety and a profitable time for Francois on his survey.