As I said before, I never repeat myself.

Saturday, we did a progressive dinner for the teens from church. No one knew where they would be going or what they would have to eat. They had never done this before so it was kind of interesting to start.

Around eight o’clock, people started arriving at the first stop, our house, for hors d’oeuvres on the 16th floor, or “almost rooftop restaurant” as they called it. Sue had a nice spread of foods she knew they would like, but they all kind of hung around talking (there were ten kids out on the balcony off the living room at one time). Just hanging around when there’s food to eat is not normal for them.
Once the idea was explained to them – again - they ate and didn’t stop until the next day! At each stop I did part of our Bible study for the week with them.

Some parents were the drivers to get from one course to the next. We continued on to our colleague Sue Lodico’s house for salad, and even though it was vegetables, the kids didn’t hold back.

Third stop, the main course, was at our friends Guto and Vanice’s house. They have two daughters in our youth group. The main course was pizza, and there were all kinds of pizza with all kinds of toppings to go around.

As the family who was to host dessert had to go to a wedding, we ended up at the Lord’s house instead.

It worked out well to end up at church since we had some games which needed more space to play. We finished up just after mid-night.

Sunday I concluded my part of a series on Nehemiah. So many people came to me and said how helpful it had been, and how little they really knew about Nehemiah before. Another baby was dedicated that night making five new babies at church! That’s one way to have church growth.

At the end of the evening, Dave showed the wildest video about the property for church. It was a lot like going on Mr Toad’s wild ride. I was glad I’d seen the property beforehand to identify it as things flew by!

Now everyone at church is getting ready for Labor Day weekend retreat coming up this weekend. I'll be preaching for that too. Hopefully the weather will stay nice for it as fall is setting in. Of course fall temps here would be down to around eighty degrees during the day.

For those who remember my sister Jewl Ann, who served as a missionary in the Philippines, the following article and pictures make a fine tribute to her and her ministry:
Monday, February 22, 2010, was the day of dedication of the memorial library in honor of Jewl Ann Spoelhof for the Norcot Bible School (NBS) in North Cotabato on the island of Mindanao - where Jewl Ann served for thirty years - in the Philippines.

More than 200 attended the dedication ceremony of the Jewl Ann Spoelhof Memorial Library.

This new Bible school is the initiative of Filipino regional churches. NBS is dedicated to training Filipino Christian workers for ministry among unreached Muslim people groups, and is located in southwestern Mindanao. A better place could not have picked for a library in memory of Jewl Ann. We believe she would have been thrilled!

A generous gift was given by her sending church, Wealthy Park Baptist, toward the purchase of library books, as well as another financial gift from her ABWE Philippines team colleagues toward the cost of electrical wiring for the new facility.