Itis now Monday evening and we have completed our first day of classes. This email may be rather long so you may want to pick and choose where you read. Each of us have posted our reactions to the tremendous day we had.

GARY:
This now being my third trip to Africa, there are certain similiarities between the different countries. The main one is that there are no traffic rules when it comes to driving lanes. I have just chosen not to sit in the front seat and on occassion see the vehicle next to you just be an inch or two away. You just chuckle and keep talking to the others in the van. For those of you that comment on my New York driving, there is no comparison! Then there are the different modes of transporting property on the roads. Uganda was known for bananas loaded up high on the back of bicycles. Kenya was the carts being pulled by humans right in the middle of the road with all the other traffic whizzing by. Sudan has the same carts but they are being pulled by donkeys. It was interesting cutting one off this morning.

Not knowing what to expect this morning - it was a day that changed many of our lives forever. I was surprised by how many young people were there. I would say that 75% of the participants are between 18-25. That was so exciting to see. They love the Lord so much and used this week off from university to attend this conference on how to better work with children in their churches. Oh how I wish people their age in America would hunger for the things of the Lord like they do. Of course, the first thing was worship - and worship we did!! They could go all day and so could I. Pastor Joseph was our interpreter and how he brings to life your teaching and the love of the Lord. What a special man he is. SO rich in faith - so on fire for the Lord knowing the call God has on his life and what he wants to do in Sudan. To hear him encourage these young people in what God can do through them just like He did with the first group of disciples. I too found myself thinking the same thing as I looked out at them realizing God used a very similar group as His first disciples. They changed the world forever. Pastor Joseph is the only pastor I know who would leave his church to come greet us and bring us to his church on Sunday morning. Church was to start at 11am and they were just getting us at 10:45 and we were 1/2 hour away! Did not phase him - the people were actively worshipping when we arrived and Joseph just fit right in.

Back to today. Thanks for your prayers for the Holy Spirit to lead our meetings. That definitely happened today. After one of my sessions, I had the participants turn to one another and pray for the Spirit to be their anoint them for their teaching the young children in their churches and to strengthen them in the areas of weakness, depending on Him all the more. You should have been there to hear them pray - people began weeping - God's Spirit was moving as we had asked of Him. Pastor Joseph felt lead to preay for healing and a boldness to come upon everyone. It was sweating eyes time for most of us. God moved in a powerful way. Other times of serious teaching and laughter as Micheal and I reunited our whacky ways. What a joy to serve with him again after 20+ years. We clsoed with our the Blessing Song that we used this summer when in Uganda. The people loved it and wanted to do it again. Well that lead to more worship and more prayer. Everyone was uplifted by the Lord when we left. I have a new friend. His name is Rafael and he looks to be about 8. When we were doing the closing song, he was standing outside and I finally dragged him in because he was too shy to do it on his own. Turns out his dad had been with us all day and Rafael was playing outside. Now he will be coming and being my helper/buddy. It will be fun to see what God does with this relationship this week.

Prayer:
- sleep for us -we're still not getting very much
- Pastor Joseph - God has a call on his life and in brokenness, weeping on my shoulder, he knows there are areas in his life that he is still finding hard to surrender. God is using Him in big ways, which brings more spiritual battles.
- Holy Spirit to continue to do His amazing work in all of our lives

MICHEAL:
Some things just do not change. A year has gone by and the Sudanese attending the conference are still smiling, still laughing, still making me laugh, still making me cry, still dancing and still the most wonderful group I can imagine to hang around with. It was a very good day. I did a review of some of the main points covered last year and why I am teaching on marriage this year as a realm to impact children for God. Then we played a Bingo alphabet game. I had forgotten how competitive these folks are. I had them copy the alphabet on Bingo cards in a random fashion and gave out cups of beans for markers. We practiced shouting BINGO! for several minutes as they loved the sound of the word. After one game with a prize given to winner, the competition became fierce. You needed at least 5 squares to win and after the third letter I called out, one of the guys yelled BINGO! The room was instantly in chaos as everyone was yelling in Arabic regarding this outrageous claim to Bingo. It took a while to restore order but it was hilarious.

Tom Starr, you will especially appreciate this. Tom sent sheets of pictures from last year which I taped to the walls around the room. These were a huge hit. Joseph, the student, who was so upset with me last year for not remembering his name, came in and I had some fun pretending not to recall his name. Then he asked about Ginny, Billie and Tom (he remembered all your names) and I told him he should look on the pictures to see them. He got this really pitiful look on his face and with head bowed very woefully said, "Yes Micheal, I looked at all the pictures, and could not find my face on any of them." I got our camera out and took his picture which brought a smile back to his face. Vergil did an outstanding job in two sessions teaching on how to study the Bible -- we want them to know how to study the Word and take it into their hearts so they can be effective in teaching the children. Gary is a gifted teacher and did some really fun things with ways to make your teaching both fun and effective. He is a huge hit with those at conference and hasn't even brought out the puppets yet. After having worked together over 20 years ago, it was really fun doing some kids lessons with him after Vergil's teachings. At the end of Gary's first session he had them get into groups of 3 to pray for one another regarding areas where they need to grow in order to become more effective teachers. During that prayer time the Holy Spirit touched all our lives with His presence and Pastor Joseph had some very powerful words of encouragement (as only Pastor Joseph can deliver) for several individual teachers as well as the group as a whole. It was a very holy time. After a break it was Vergil's time to teach again! . He got up to speak and the Lord had a message of encouragement for him to deliver to the Sudanese -- getting only part way through he was broken and there was much weeping in the room. It was just that kind of day. The Lord spoke to us in tears, in laughter, in the Word, in the worship and in our relating to one another. It was a very good day. I told the conference at the beginning that last year was so special and wonderful, and that this year was going to be wonderful as well, but different. The same sentiment was shared at the end of this first day as was last year -- what could possibly happen that would be better than this? In my wisdom of a year's experience I could only say, just wait and see.

Everyone is well but still a little tired from lack of sleep. I even got the good drugs for sleep this year, the kind that the pharmacist said could be addictive if taken several nights in a row, but they don't seem to work so well. Think I'll try two tonight and then maybe go up from there as needed. (Just kidding wife Renee'). If anything interesting should happen at the conference tomorrow, I will let you know. Days like today can only be attributed to your continuing prayers. Thank you.

Blessings from Khartoum,
Micheal


VERGIL:
I have yet to fully adjust to the 10 hour time difference and by the time I do, it will be time to come home and start all over again. Today's sessions were a wonderful time of prayer, praise, and solid teaching. Micheal kicked things off by giving a review of last year's conference and then moved into the english lesson for the day. Gary (children's pastor at Rolling Hills) is a dynamic teacher. He taught from over 20 years of experience on how to teach the bible to children and he gave several very fun examples. Micheal followed in the same manner, teaching by using interactive illustrations. It was fun to watch. Both of those guys really know and understand how to reach children. It was fun seeing them work together.

Today I taught on biblical authority & scriptural integrity and principlizing. I think it was received fairly well. The Sudanese people have great passion for the things of God, we are trying to give their passion direction. Because of their sincere love for God, I know that they will bear fruit of His word; our labor is not in vain. Today, I thought about the long trip over here, the amount of preparation, the amount of money spent to make this conference happen; and I concluded that the people here are worth every penny, they are worth every hour of travel, and they are worth all the preparation.

Well, I better be off now to study. Thank you for you emails.

For His Glory,
Vergil