Last night at Bible study with the teen girls I spoke of persistence, not quitting when the odds are against you. I shared with them of Job who was able to deal with the tragedy of the loss of his children, his lands, his wealth, his livestock and his servants. It was not until his wife told him "to curse God and die" that he began to waver. He did hang tough as you know but he began doubting and thinking "Why was I born?". That happens so often to Christians. Strong Christians can also hang tough when they lose a family member, wealth or even health. But then the person closest to them is of little or no help in the battle. Not having someone stand with you makes the battle so much more difficult. I praise God that through all the years of ministry and following the multitude of difficulties I always had Dottie by my side. If Job would have married Dottie things for him would have been better.

This past weekend was such a blessing as I shared with you last night. However, I received an email telling me what the offering was at Purcellville Baptist Church there in Virginia where I preached Monday and it was enough to get us through following the hurricanes. God is so good to me. So many people have been so faithful and now the Lord puts us over the hump. It is though He brought the birds of heaven with bread in their beaks to feed our children. I want to thank Pastor David, Mike, Peter and the team in Purcellville and all of you who have been so giving in the wake of the devestation of the Gulf Coast. I am eternally grateful to all of you.

I do have one regret about last weekend. I missed Melvin's graduation. Regina attended and placed his ring on his finger. However, it appears that I will be able to attend Pablo, Pedro and Roberto's graduation Thursday, Nov 24th, before leaving Fiday to perform the marriage ceremony for Debbie's son, Matthew. I will go alone and return on Monday. If any of you are desirous of my sharing a power point and tell of what the Lord is doing I am in that area Sunday, 27th.

After staff meeting this morning Dottie and I will gather up the trucks and vans and whomever can drive and begin moving the items we have in storage to the school. There are still many gifts for the younger children that we bought and shipped in February and also items we bought down here. What we will do for the older children is taking them shopping for clothes.

Please remember that we would like to have school uniforms for 2006 and a sweat shirt, navy blue, will be what we will use. You can buy them relatively cheap.