Sunday and Home!

After last Sunday, I was looking forward to going back again and hopefully experiencing the same kind of worship and praise as last week.  I was not disappointed.  The social worker Roy that we have built a good relationship with invited us to his church and to his home for lunch after the service.  The congregation was a bit larger than we experienced last week, but the heart was the same.  This service was 2.5 hours of complete focus on the Lord and what he is doing in the lives of His people.  The praise was beyond anything I could put into words.  When the singing was done, the pastor asked a few of the men in the congregation to sit next to us to help interpret what he was speaking about.  He brought an awesome gospel message to the people and you could see the Lord at work in their hearts.  He spoke about how we needed complete dependence on Jesus and that He is the only thing good within us.  Jesus is what makes our works good, not of our own doing.  When the service was closing, he provided and opportunity for people to come to the altar and pray.  He made is what the 45 foot wide, 5 rows deep of people who come up to pray and worship God praying with them.  It was an awesome thing to see people crying of for the Lord.

It was a great reminder for us there from the Disaster Relief Team that the work that we were able to accomplish was only by the grace of God.  He provided the means and opportunity and we are thankful for it.

After the service, it was off to Roy's house.  Roy has a catering business with his wife and it showed.  There was enough food to feed and army.  Fried chicken, chicken curry, shrimp, brisket, salad, potato salad, rice, and I know I am forgetting something.  It was all amazing!  Well, I can't speak for the shrimp, but the other guys said it was good.  The best part of the afternoon was getting to know his family.  He is married with 5 kids.  One of them is autistic and his name is Caleb.  If you don't know, my son's name is Caleb, so I took a special liking to him.  He had such a tender heart and love to give you random hugs.  It was fun to watch him interact and get to know us as well.  We were are so thankful for their hospitality and their friendship.  We all will miss him and hope to keep in touch.

After lunch, a couple of us drove around to do a little shopping.  The Queen Victoria had docked and they setup shops for people to buy souvenirs.  We thought we would go check it out before we had to leave.  The shops were okay, but that ship was huge.  I had never been that close to a cruise ship.  You could get lost in one of those things.... :)

Before we left, the church we were staying at wanted to present us with a parting gift.  The people at Happy Valley Baptist Church (in AM Samoa) were amazing.  We started off with another time of praise and worship.  I could sit and listen to them all day.  Their desire to obedient to God's calling is so apparent in the way the show reverence to the Lord.  After another 2.5 hours of praising God, the congregation presented us with a traditional Samoan designed table setting.  They gave testimony on how the Disaster Relief Team had touched their life and were thankful for our arrival.  What a humbling experience to see how we were able to touch their lives knowing that it was God who brought us to American Samoa and God alone who did the work.  I can't say enough about how loving these people were and how at home they made you feel.

After another awesome Sunday, it was time to head to the airport.  Nothing too exciting there other than just getting checked in.  Once we were checked in, we all decided to get a bite to eat being that they were not serving a meal on the plane.  Once the meal was done, it was off to customs.

While standing in line for customs, a surprise came our way.  First, Roy and his wife showed up to wish us off.  To tell you how special this was, it was 10:30 at night and Roy won't even take his own family to the hospital.  He does not do well sending people off, but felt that he wanted to be there to see us go.  They presented all of us with a shell necklace and his contact information which I will be using for sure.  Then we turned around and a couple ladies from Happy Valley were their to wish us well too.  We had just left their service a few hours earlier, but wanted to give us another small gift.  Again, we were so humbled.

Nothing exciting to report about the flight to Hawaii other than it was late and caused us to miss the connecting flight to LA.   Fortunately they had a flight 30 minutes later that was going to San Francisco and we could connect to Phoenix from there.  It put us home a couple hours later, but that was okay with us.  We finally arrived home to see that in all the flight changes, our bags didn't make it.  Not a bit deal other than a few things I brought home to give to the family.

I was so excited to see the family.  I know it was only two weeks, but it is amazing how much they can change so quickly sometimes.  I missed them tremendously.

Well, I have so many things going through my head because of the events over the last two weeks.  I have been unable at this point wrap my mind around the experience.  I am looking forward to spending time with the Lord in reflection and also seeking what He has in store next.  As I believe I stated in another post, I am planning on keeping this blog updated and the Lord leads.  Not sure that will be everyday, but my goal is to keep all updated on what the Lord is doing in our family.  My hope would be that it might be an encouragement to someone and that it may be a tool the Lord can use to move people into service for Him.

GOD IS GOOD..... ALL THE TIME!!!

May God continue to bless you and your families.  Thank you again to all of you who have been following and I hope you are able to continue.  You have been such a blessing to me.

Until next time...... Billy