Blogger: Preston

We arrived in a wet, rainy, "cold" (by SC standards, not CA standards) capital city late last night. After a time of debriefing today our team was able to do some touring of the beautiful "New City" here. The buildings that have all sprung up over the past decade or two certainly are stunning architecturally, but as they are raised into the sky, they also serve as a massive reminder of the rise of materialism here, especially in this proud new city. The work of men receives much praise here--work that is beautiful, but work that does not bring glory to the name of the Creator. Please Ask that the idol of materialism will be cast down and that the focus of this city will shift further upward, above the skyscrapers and monuments, to the One that gave us the ability to build all that we do.

Although we have left our target city, there is still a team there consisting of K-man, two guys that joined last Sunday, and our dear local friend. The guys are all staying in one apartment, and they were visited this morning by some police that wanted to see their papers. In addition to a visa in one's passport, one must also have an immigration card on them at all times--immigration cards that were in one of the guy's bags that came back to the capital with us last night. Consequently the two guys didn't have these necessary cards, so they and K-man spent the day with the immigration police until just a few hours ago. Although things have all blown over now, and there is no need to be distressed about their situation, this experience is a good reminder that there are two forces at work in this world, and one will do anything to try to discourage us and get us off track. Please Ask for renewed focus among the the team in our target city, for continued wisdom for K-man as he leads this team, and for vigilance against slip-ups for all of the workers here, but especially for our team.

We will be doing some more touring tomorrow and hopefully meeting up with some old friends from trips past. Please Ask for safety as we go about having fun tomorrow and also for meaningful times with our friends if we are able to meet up with them. On Wednesday at 3:40pm we will head to the South! Ask for safety and ease of travel as well as fun with our old friends in the Southern city and time of encouragement with S-lady on Thursday and all this weekend into next week. Thank you as always for following our activity!