Home at Last

Back home ... at last! It was so good to return home after a week away in smoggy Manila! I had such a frustrating day on Saturday - it took us almost 5 hrs to get Pastor Abe discharged from the hospital! Don't ask me why or I will lose today's joy as well! Suffice to say that sometimes trying to get discharged from a hospital here makes you feel like a criminal ... as though you are guilty of something. The cartoon (left)is how I feel right now!!!

We travelled during the night and arrived at 6:30am. I tip-toed into the house, put on the kettle, collapsed into the Sofa and hoped for a 30 min nap! Well, after 2.5 mins two little kids came running through the living room shouting, "Daddy's home, Daddy's home .. weyhay!" The welcome was worth losing sleep over! It was so good to see Mary, who has had a tough week holding everything together whilst I was away. We decided to miss the first Tagalog Cornerstone Service that started at 8am. This reminds me of a funny story I heard once:

Son: "Mum, I'm not going to church this morning" He pulls the duvet over his head.

Mother" You should go. Can you try and go .. pleeeaaase?

Son: Give me 3 valid reasons and I'll think about it.

Mother: One, it is the house of God and you should not forsake meeting together.

Son : Mmmm... not bad.

Mother: Two, God is waiting for your praise.

Son: Mmmm... true.

Mother: Third ... you ARE the Pastor!

That was me on Sunday 8am - Pastor Missameetin Ritchie. But we made the 2nd service arrived just in time for all the dads to recieve a Fathers Day mug from all the ladies in the church ... accompanied by a song - "Thank You for the Cross Lord" (I thought the title of the song was ironic, but kinda funny!) We had a great service and I really enjoyed seeing everyone in the church again.

Today (Monday) has been a day of catching up with everything. There is a pile of stuff on my desk to sort out from last week. I went to visit Abe & then Pastora Julie. You know, it's amazing. Pastor Julie's stomach has shrunk to normal size, she is eating well, walking a lot and her hair is growing back. Pastor Abe doesn't have far to look for inspiration! I'll take photos of Julie so you can see the difference from a few weeks ago.

We had orientation and a welcome party for our new students at the Bible School this afternoon and tonight. We have 25 new 1st Year students and around 10 have stayed on for 2nd year. Praise God .. in all the hard times the Lord is always calling and anointing people. Moe photos and news from SBTC later in the week.

We also welcomed Maureen & Sabrina from Singapore tonight. They are two lovely ladies who are here to cover the school for us over the next couple of months. They will also keep an ye on the Children's Home and help us in the church. They are so lovely and they are from Cornerstone Singapore. We are so blessed with them. Another lady from Cornerstone, Brenda, will come from July-January to take over the school etc. GOD IS SO GOOD.

Well, after all my excitement about the World Cup being here, I have to tell you that I have only seen one game! My team are doing well now - GHANA! I love Ghana as a nation and as a people. I went there for 6 months in 1994 and saw the Lord do great and wonderful things. You should see the smile of a Ghanaian! So come on Ghana. One more win and we are through!

England? What can I say? Scrape through with a own goal in the first game and a couple of goals against the world class Tobagoans in the second. Never mind, maybe by the time Josiah is 18 Scotland will be good enough to qualify! Until then, we will just dream of '78!