This has been two more remarkably busy weeks. We have had a delightful time at Baptist College of Ministry and Falls Baptist Church. I have been teaching the same course, but with more time and more detail than at IFBC. We have had 29 students including 2 graduate students. By the time we finished our course, Liz had corrected daily quizzes with a total of 532 answers, as well as finals today with 120 questions - so she corrected about 20,000 questions over two weeks! The classes seemed to go well and the students were attentive and appreciative.

There were several things which I would have liked to do to enhance the teaching program to make it more effective in the future. We hope to be able to do that another year. Both schools would like us to continue for a second year. There are scheduling problems, so I would appreciate your prayers for being able to work out a solid program. It was interesting to have a missionary child in the class, and even more interesting to have a student from Ghana, West Africa. It is amazing to see how closely the African culture matches the culture of the Bush Negroes in Suriname in many areas. I was afraid that he might be bored, but he found it fascinating and helpful to better understand his own culture as well as the problems of the missionary.

We attended church at Falls Baptist Church on the Sunday night we arrived and the first Wednesday we were here. Then last Saturday, we traveled to First Baptist Church in Woodridge, which has been a supporting church for many years. We enjoyed visiting with their new pastor, Matthew Barber, who graduated from Baptist College of Ministry a couple years ago. Then we traveled a short distance to Bethel Baptist Church in Schaumberg, Il, with Pastor Brad Smith. We had good meetings at both churches, where I preached twice, as well as Sunday school at Woodridge.

This week, I had three additional opportunities to minister at Baptist College of Ministry and Falls Baptist Church. I preached in chapel on Tuesday over how God often permits trials and troubles in our lives which are really stepping stones to our spiritual growth and His blessings in our lives. But of course our attitude to trials is key, as evidenced by Paul in 2 Cor. 12:7-10. Then on Wednesday morning chapel I preached on how God uses the weak things of the world for His glory. I mentioned that often we don't obey God because of fear that we cannot succeed - but God wants to work in and through us, again to His glory. That night, I preached on Luke 6:38 concerning how God helps us in our finances when we yield to His leading.

Tomorrow we will head to Chicago, where I will be teaching Sunday school at Marquette Manor Baptist Church and then preaching in the evening service. They have just called a new pastor, who will be preaching his first sermon that morning! I feel honored to be able to be there on such a day. Monday we will be traveling to a prophet's chamber at Grace Baptist Church in Middletown, Ohio to sleep overnight. We were there for a Wednesday night one year ago. Then we have a long drive the following day to Ambassador Baptist College, where I will be teaching some classes for a few days, and then on to Crown College that weekend for the following week. Then we will begin heading north for our last few locations before returning to Suriname.

With the busy schedule, I have not had much time to do corrections on the Sranantongo commentary. I am just over a third of the way through. I would like to be able to finish before returning to Suriname if possible. Please pray for that.

Prayer requests:

1. Special strength and health for this busy time
2. Safety on the road
3. Our spiritual growth during this time
4. Our teaching classes - that God will bless, the students will learn, and we can work out all the necessary details to set up an ongoing program for the future.
5. The churches in Suriname - for growth in the national leadership especially, and that the nationalization of the churches will continue to progress
6. Completing the corrections of the Sranantongo New Testament Commentary