"I told my husband this morning I wanted to get saved. I have wanted to for a long time, but I didn't know how." C.A., a 21 year old mother of two, apparently came to our Bible club and church when she was 13 years old, but never received Christ. Looking at the deteriorating world situation, she wanted to be saved. When we did not find the lady we were looking for across the street, we went to see the younger sister of CA, hoping to talk to her mother. Her mother was not there. C.A. came out to us with a big smile, and was wide open for the gospel. What a joy to see her receive the Lord. Before we went soulwinning, we had asked the Lord to lead us to someone to get saved. He answered our prayer.

Later while visiting a another new lady from the interior, we spoke with her shy 9 year old daughter. We rejoiced that one of our faithful Sunday school workers, Natalie Talea, had already led her to the Lord.

Good Friday and Easter Sunday we had very good services with a number of visitors. Kalow Palata preached about the necessity of the cross on Good Friday. On Sunday, I preached on "both aspects of salvation." Often we so concentrate on the payment for our sins that we neglect to preach about Christ's gift of righteousness, and the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Often we rejoice that our past sins are covered, and that in the future we will go to heaven, but neglect the fact that we can live today with victory over sin through the indwelling Christ... Christ in us.

We also had two young mothers and a young woman baptized by Eduard Akoeba - another blessing. We were pleased to see very good attendance for both services, especially Easter Sunday. It was an answer to prayer - we had our day of fasting and prayer on Saturday. Suriname has been experiencing spiritual apathy and poor attendance at church services in recent years. We were pleased to be an exception.

One of the "blessings" of Suriname is hearing our neighbors' birthday parties. Since they are usually held in the open, the loudspeakers are blaring and the ground shaking. It is part of the culture, and you don't complain. Typically they begin around 10 pm and go till 2-3 in the morning. Today next door our neighbor' celebration began before 6 pm. They have children present, so there is hope for sleep later. But the loudspeakers blast right into our house, especially into the bedroom. Oh well, you are only 60 years old once.

Wandel march: A 45 year old tradition is a four day parade the Wednesday - Saturday after Easter. It is a big thing. This year over 4000 are participating. Some groups just wear matching t-shirts and slacks, etc. but some go all out with costumes. The classic one for ladies is the koto-misi dress... They are very pretty, very decent, and very Suriname. This was how the slave ladies dressed up 150 years ago. The groups walk through different streets each day. Yesterday, they walked 23 km! (About 13 miles). They normally begin about 4 pm and we heard them return in the distance until well after 11 pm. Today we crossed their path while soulwinning after 6 pm and saw a few groups. They looked pretty weary! Some groups come from other caribbean countries to participate.

Prayer requests:

1. Health and strength for the work
2. Our spiritual growth
3. Soulwinning and discipling believers
4. Independence of the 4 churches
5. Bible Institute growth (they had a week vacation)