Formal Classs Com eto an End

What a wonderful way to bring our formal teaching sessions to a close. This evening after classes, we drove to Lumbly Beach where 4 precious souls were baptized into Christ. This brings the total number of baptisms to 25. Praise God! I wish you could have seen what these precious souls endured to make the trip to Lumbly and back. We did not get there until after 7:00 pm and it was very dark. The four plus four others rode in Joseph’s old Ford Explorer. Two of the men sat in the back with the hatch open with their legs hanging out. To endure that drive through Freetown all the way out to Lumbly in those crowded conditions is testimony to how badly they wanted to be baptized. We could not have ended our classes on a better note!

As mentioned today was our last formal day of teaching. Steve led off today talking about “How to Plant a Church.” Two gentlemen are very interested in planting a church in their neighborhood of Kissy. Steve did a great job helping explain what steps would led to the planting of a church. Jimmy then taught a lesson on the coming of Jesus in judgment. I closed out the day with a lesson on “What God Really Wants from Me.”

It was obvious that we were not the only ones tired and worn out. It has not been easy on the students to sit through 5 hours of classes each day. While they classes have been well attended and the attention great, it is clear that folks are ready for a break. I pray the lessons we have taught will now sink deeply into their hearts and be digested.

Tomorrow we will pack up, say our good-byes and head for home. We will meet with the students at 1:00 to say our farewells and then catch a ferry over to Lungi Airport. Our plane does not leave until a few minutes before midnight but in order to take the ferry and get checked in we will have to leave Freetown around 6:00 pm. It will be a long wait, a long plane ride, but it will end, Lord willing, with us in the arms of our wonderful families.

We spoke briefly with Sid and Phil. They have made it safely back from Bo and are resting at the airport hotel. One was baptized last night and 3 were baptized who had attended their nightly Bible classes. I do not have any other details but as I get their report I will share it on this blog.

Where has the time gone? It has passed so quickly. The people from Freetown with whom we have studies are fine, fine people. They have proven to be honest and hospitable people. They have a great thirst for Bible knowledge. More, much more, needs to be taught and these babes in Christ need to be grounded. Through the Internet classes that John Gentry conducts and our email conversations, I pray that some of the needed grounding can take place.

We have tried and tried to make copies of our lessons to leave, but have frustrated at every turn. To get them printed here is outrageous. It will be cheaper for us to copy them at home and mail them over. Why didn’t we bring copies with us? Well, we had to change lessons so often and make new lessons that even if we had made copies to bring with us many of them would have been useless.

We have been invited back at our earliest convenience. We have made no promises. We need time to reflect upon this trip and pray fervently about any future. Please join with us prayer as we pray and meditate on any future work.