Feb 14, 2007

We had a great conference, as we expected, with about 80 people filling the Key Ministry Center at Euless, Texas. It was good to see old friends and to meet new people. A couple flew in from the U.K., and another man who was working in China barely made it back in time to attend. Others came from all around America.

The local group prepared continental breakfasts and lunches for everyone. All of our expenses were covered, thanks to their generosity, although we sold no tickets and demanded no fees to be there or to eat with us. One man, who could not attend in person, actually sent in a couple offerings to help with expenses. Thank-you, all of you, for being there. You know who you are.

I am always impressed by the quality of the people who have come to understand the Sonship and Kingdom message.

Thom Mills flew in from Toronto to record the meetings with a good-quality video camera and a "green screen," which will allow him some extra leeway in editing and inserting Scripture verses, charts, or group shots as he can. It will take him awhile to do the editing, but I will let you know when these are finished so that you may order them directly from him.

I had opportunity to talk to a Persian lady at the conference, which broadened my perspective of the present situation. She used to work for the Iranian government during the time of the Shah (up to 1979). Her escape as well as her testimony of how she found a Bible in her mattress and thus found Christ was truly interesting.

Harold and Melissa invited us to Arkansas after the conference, so I am currently writing from there. We have known these people for over 20 years. Melissa was our family doctor when we lived in Arkansas in the 1980's. She treated Darla in 1988 when she had complete thyroid failure and quite literally brought her back from the brink of death without removing her thyroid. So we decided to stay here a few days so that I could get a little rest and Darla could get some other treatment to build up her health.

We expect to be home Friday or Saturday. Meanwhile, since they have a computer with internet access, I am able to continue with these reports and studies. I also hope to answer a few emails today. I am far behind, of course, because it is difficult to find time to spend online during a conference or while traveling.

By the way, on our way to the conference in Texas, we stopped at Mexico, Missouri and had a couple of meetings with some new friends. On Saturday, Feb. 3, we were supposed to meet twice, from 1-3 p.m. and again from 7-9 p.m., but as it turned out, we had just one continuous meeting from 1:00 to 10:00 p.m. It has been a few years since I did a 9-hour interactive meeting. But when people are hungry, I want to do what I can to feed them. Such meetings are food to me as well.

We were also able to spend two days visiting our two oldest daughters and their families who live in Northeast Arkansas. As many of you know, we have five grandchildren, two boys from Erin and three girls from Tasha. Someday I hope to expand our Personal page to include more family pictures. Some of you might want to see us in a family context.

Enough of the personals. I need to get back to our current series of teaching and will write another article shortly.