Free music: One of the “blessings” of tropical countries is the opportunity to share the music of your neighbors. We found the same thing in Liberia. Most parties are held outside, and the better the party, the louder the music - or the louder the music, the better the party. Usually here in Suriname, the party begins about 10 pm and goes well into the wee hours of the morning. For several years, our next door neighbors were living in Brazil, but recently returned. All our bedrooms face their house, and are about 10 feet from their yard. They had a small but loud party 10 days ago starting at 9:30 pm and finally stopping at 3:30 a.m. This week they had a birthday party which began at midnight last night but lasted only a short time. The real party began today at 6:15 pm with quite a crowd walking down the street dressed in colorful “kotomisi” costumes. What was amusing to see was a group of elderly ladies bringing up the rear walking with their canes, and accompanied by a car alongside them, I guess as a sort of protection. We went off to church, and when we arrived back at 9:40 pm, the party was moving along in full gear. The music is typical Caribbean dance music with a band and singers. The volume is loud enough to keep setting off the car alarm in a car parked in front of their house, and so that you can feel the vibrations under your feet in our house. Needless to say, it is very difficult to sleep with the loud music! Praise the Lord - stopped at 11:45 pm!

Sunny Point building project: The ceiling was finished this week, and most all the walls have been smoothed off. The major cement project is the second coat to the entire floor including the platform. We hope to start hanging doors and windows by Friday. When these tasks are done, the plumbing can be completed along with the electricity. We would appreciate prayer concern-ing the funds - it will not be good to stop before we get the church to a usable state. We will have a couple other things that need to be done as well before finishing up - we will probably need to put roof gutters on and a pump for water pressure, and we found out today that we will need to close in the two ends of the roof to prevent water being blown inside during storms. But otherwise, we are coming down the home stretch. We will look at painting and the finishing touches later as funds are available, but we really need to get the church usable before we go on furlough.

Andoe Kampoe: This week, we had good conversations with five individuals, but none were at the point of making a decision for Christ. We pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to convict and bring them to that point.

Caleb Champlin arrived: We were pleased to have our grandson Caleb with us for 2 nights after he returned to Suriname. He needed some paperwork done by the American Embassy which required their staying overnight a second night. He did well at Ambassador Baptist College, and the whole family is looking forward to him working in Suriname for this summer.

Radio station in Moengo: There are government delays in paperwork. Please pray that the approval will go through. The same thing is true of our requests for independence of the churches.
Bible Institute: We are completing the last module of the Advanced Bible Institute. I spent 2 lessons on apologetics, but am now going through the history of missions. The lives of various missionaries are a tremendous challenge to me. I am hoping that somehow our people will also grasp the fact that they also have a responsibility to reach out to the lost and to plant churches. They have done so with Sunny Point, which was really started primarily by the nationals; I have been helping, but they have done most of the work.

Toothy followup: One sad situation. After seeing the pain diminish, I finally went to the dentist, who x-rayed the tooth. He had already worked on it three times in the past, and two different dentists had worked on it previously in the USA. He found a small abscess and the roots pressing against the alveolar nerve. So it must come out. He referred me to an oral surgeon since I will need to come off my antiplatelet medications which I take for my stents in the heart. I would appreciate your prayers for that problem as well.

Prayer requests:

1. Our spiritual growth and walking in the Spirit
2. Health and strength for the work
3. Safety on the road
4. Sunny Point church building to be completed until it is functional - and finances to be there
5. Andoe Kampoe - to see a solid regular group of worshipers
6. Independence of the churches completed
7. Radio station approval for Moengo