February 27-28, 2010

Saturday, Bonnie and I traveled the distance between Collierville, TN to Manchester, TN where we were to meet up with Charlotte and Ray Weddington late in the afternoon for an early supper at Cracker Barrel. Having arrived without any impendence three hours ahead of time, we explored Manchester a little—filling the gas tank, shopping at Home Depot for some items for our ongoing home repair, picking up a few things at Wal-Mart and browsing a wholesale/discount home supply.

Brother and sister Weddington always treat us royally, far beyond what we deserve, feeding us well, giving us their master bedroom and, most of all, befriending us. Ray and Charlotte came to know us first through Gospel Gazette Online, and they persuaded the church with which he works to begin supporting our missionary work before those brethren had ever met us. Sunday morning, I presented the PowerPoint lesson, Because of the Center Cross, in the Bible class; for worship, I preached, "What Is the Mission of the Church?" The Pleasant Cove Church of Christ continues to be a great encourager of Bonnie and me.

Sunday evening, we worshipped with the Centertown Church of Christ. There I presented my PowerPoint, Beverage Alcohol; weeks earlier, the congregation had distributed copies of my book by the same name to the congregation. Before worship, the two elders treated Bonnie and me to supper in McMinnville, TN. It is always a pleasure to become acquainted brethren, and such was the case Sunday . Leaving Centertown, we aimed the Town & Country coach westward toward Woodbury, Murfreesboro and Nashville, TN. We made it to Dickson, TN before we booked a motel for the night.

February 25-26, 2010

Thursday and Friday, a session of the J.C. Choate School of Missions convened in Winona at our office/warehouse at 600 Devine Street. The numbers were few, for various reasons, including seasonal illness. Of course, we eat breakfast, lunch and supper together; what else do brethren do when the get together? Just two more classes and the two-year program will be completed. Missionaries for the past nearly 24 months have followed a devised curriculum to encourage each other to greater effectiveness in taking the Gospel to the masses abroad. Only Bonnie and I have had perfect attendance, though we were an hour late last session due to traveling back from a speaking appointment one weekend.

Friday afternoon, Bonnie and I worked on The Voice of Truth International magazine in the office. However, we left about 2:30 p.m., after repacking our crates of books, etc. for appointments with congregations this coming weekend. Once more we used Rebecca's home as our own private Bed & Breakfast, from which we will depart Saturday morning for McMinnville, TN. Bonnie and I each worked on The Voice of Truth International upon arriving at Rebecca's home, having taken our laptops with us; we primarily use our laptops now whether in the office, at home or on the road so we do not have to synchronize computers back and forth.

February 22-24, 2010

Monday through Wednesday, we devoted ourselves to necessary labors in Winona, MS. Monday and Tuesday, we primarily turned our attention to the digital preparation of the upcoming issue 64 of The Voice of Truth International magazine. Bonnie does the grunt work of placing articles selected by Byron Nichols into the InDesign computer program. I proof, fine tune and finish filling out the pages before printing them off for proofing by Paula and Jerry Bates as well as Betty Choate. Then, I make any other needed corrections and re-print the pages for submission to the Editor (Byron Nichols). After he approves the final form, then I send digital PDF files to the printing company in North Carolina; in addition, I put the PDF file on the Gospel Gazette Online website, and Jerry Bates notifies the brother in India responsible for printing English copies of The Voice of Truth International for distribution in India.

Tuesday, we also finished production and preparation of our next newsletter for mailing; we sent 677 to churches and brethren through the U.S. mail. In addition, we had a local Winona team meeting (Jerry and Paula Bates, Betty Choate, Bonnie and me).

Wednesday, Bonnie and I did not go into the office. We stayed home to continue repairing walls and painting. One primary reason for remaining at the house was attempting to free a persistently sluggish sewer drain for the small bathroom attached to our bedroom. Over several weeks, we have put $60 worth of chemicals into that section of pipe — not resolving the problem. Wednesday, I pulled the toilet and ran a plumber's snake many feet into the sewer line — also without successfully eliminating the blockage. However, the end of the snake retrieved some tree roots, indicating the nature of the problem. Although no trees are near the sewer line, one or more trees nevertheless have penetrated the pipe with their tentacles. I have been unable to ascertain if I can run a snake from the outside of the house toward the affected area of pipe, but on another somewhat warmer spring day next week, we will try once more to unblock this pipeline. Fortunately, we have another toilet that is not affected.

Wouldn't you know it! The new wax seal kit for reinstalling the toilet was missing the bolts to fasten the toilet to the pipe collar. After making a trip to the hardware store to retrieve new bolts, back at the house I discovered that the package was missing the second bolt that I needed and that two additional bolts of the wrong kind had been substituted for the one I needed. Back to the hardware store I went before it closed for the day to get another bolt. Wouldn't you know it!

We cleaned ourselves up hurriedly to join Betty Choate and her mother Theola Burton for supper at her house. Another guest did not arrive until after supper when it was time to leave for Bible class.

February 20, 2010

Sunday morning we drove to the Lake Forest Church of Christ in Walls, MS. (I haven't done it, but certainly if any place would be especially the right place, Walls, MS would be the perfect place to holler from the pulpit, "Amen, walls!") The small congregation here receives us each year kindly. For Bible class, I made my PowerPoint presentation about our mission trip in the fall of 2009 (Because of the Center Cross). During the worship hour, I preached my sermon, What is the Mission of the Church? I used my laptop (as the preacher commented, as though it were a teleprompter). Since I was preaching, David Fisher (the preacher) assumed the responsibility this morning to make the announcements; in mid sentence he interrupted himself and said, "There's Thomas!" I thought that someone named Thomas had entered our assembly, but brother Fisher proceeded to observe that the screen saver for my computer popped up a picture of full size train engine made over to look like Thomas the train engine (a child's toy); I like trains, and my screen save has lots of trains that take turns rotating across the screen. No one else in the auditorium could see my computer, and no one had the vaguest idea about what brother Fisher was talking. I had to explain to the congregation when I got up to preach about he preacher's mild outburst!

Brother and sister Fisher, as they do each year when we visit, treated us to a stellar lunch in a nice local restaurant; I think I have reaffirmed that my favorite steak house is Texas Roadhouse (this one at the junction of I-55 and Mississippi 302). Before lunch, though, several members encouraged us and some participated with us financially in our ongoing efforts for the cause of Christ.

That evening, we visited with the Tim and Betty Childs family in
Baldwyn, MS; Tim is the preacher for the Hillcrest Church of Christ. I presented my PowerPoint presentation, Because of the Center Cross. We were enthusiastically received and an elder and his wife there respectively gave us monetary gifts that helped us considerably in our evangelistic work, particularly in printing tracts for Myanmar and China. In addition, the church likewise gave me a check for speaking (interestingly in the memo line marked, "roof repair"). Some brethren bought books, and as we do everywhere we go, we gave away free copies of Beverage Alcohol and The Voice of Truth International.

After evening services, we braved a determined downpour, drenching rain, to accept the hospitality of Tim and Betty Childs for supper at a nearby Mexican restaurant. If there are any pitfalls to traveling extensively among our brethren, it has to include the delightful fellowshipping over meals with brethren throughout the brotherhood. Parting company with the Childs family, we aimed the automobile in the wet, dark night toward Winona, MS; we arrived back to our home port about half an hour before the new day.

February 17-19, 2010

Wednesday the 17th, we sanded and painted the dining room walls in the morning before we headed to the office; we returned home during daylight hours late in the afternoon to apply a second coat of paint. (We thought we selected a color somewhere in the neighborhood of a sandy color, but it looks pretty "peachy" to me.) Bonnie worked on preparation of a mailing of single copies of The Voice of Truth International to persons scattered throughout the states. Among other things, I printed different ink passes on our next newsletter (over the next three days).

Thursday the 18th, we headed to the office whereupon Bonnie continued to prepare the mailing mentioned above. She made address corrections in the mailing list for the upcoming mailing of the next edition of the Global Harvest magazine. Bonnie also entered articles for the next issue of The Voice of Truth International.

My to-do list is hearty, but often we triage the workload according to what cries for immediate attention. This day, the nagging and troublesome upcoming Spanish Edition of The Voice of Truth International magazine preempted consideration of other tasks to which I might otherwise have directed my attention. This issue has passed between a number of hands and through a number of different programs over several months. Further, the parties who have touched this edition reside in Tennessee, Mississippi and Missouri. We weren't really trying to complicate the matter, but we did a pretty good job in this regard anyhow. I spent the day beating my head bloody against the proverbial brick wall (the head banging and blood were proverbial, too). Often, the end result of the figurative wrestling match with technology, computer programs, etc. is a successful and satisfying outcome; not so on this occasion!

We returned to the house early enough to see in the dining room to paint the baseboard and crown moldings. This was especially important as I had removed the chandelier to paint the ceiling; however, upon removing the ceiling light, I found that there was no electrical box and that appliance wire protruded through a small hole in the ceiling to which the thin wires of the light fixture were twisted with fingers, and to which was applied some electrical tape (now brittle). I need to climb into the attic, crawl across the rafters to the site above the dining room to ascertain what wiring nightmare lies hidden there. I expect to find no electrical box and appliance wire taped to a bared piece of house wire, which I will have to remedy for better wiring integrity and fire safety.

We put tape on the walls and windows to mask them from over painting the trim. By then, the light was fading, but with the help of a couple of lamps with the shades removed, we could see well enough to proceed with painting the trim. It took us hours; I went high and Bonnie went low. We need to finish up painting the trim in the hallway, but I was too tired. I may revisit the wall in the living room where I had removed the air conditioner through the wall.

Friday the 19th, I printed another pass of ink on our newsletter. Lately, I have been printing morning and evening on the same side of the paper with several hours between printing to permit drying time. This time, though, I have either been spending some of those moments for printing twice on the same project in the same day working on the house or concentrating more heavily on work in the office.

Most of this day, I devoted my time to reworking some PDF files of The Voice of Truth International in the digital library I have been building. Between the files scanned by Tom Childers and more recent files that I have prepared in concert with the production of the magazine, I was able to bring that aspect of this digital library current. I also turned upright the cover of issue 22 that somehow was produced in PDF upside down. In addition, I have added numerous PDF files of books that I have written or books of others that I have published in the past, before coming to World Evangelism.

The mailing on which Bonnie had been working for days was now ready to be taken to the Post Office, which we did, along with taking other mail to the Post Office. First thing this morning, we took several cases of The Voice of Truth International magazine to the Post Office to foreign addresses. We also stopped by a bank to make a deposit for the ministry.

We were trying to pack the car with books, etc. for this weekend's travels to congregations in northern Mississippi (one on the east and one on the west), get to the house and pack for the occasion and meet with Rebecca after she finished teaching school in Horn Lake, MS. For two or three weeks, we have been trying to get out of the office in time to meet with Rebecca and take her to supper; however, each time, including tonight, we missed that appointment. We use her house as an inn whenever we're passing through the Memphis, TN area to points west, north or east, and it is only right to compensate her on occasion at least by treating her to supper. We'll try again tomorrow as we are already in her home for the night now as I write this. Saturday, Bonnie and Rebecca will be attending the Ladies' Inspiration day at the Collierville Church of Christ. May God bless each of you, this night, every night and eternally!

February 16, 2010

This morning, Bonnie and I both were scheduled for dental cleanings just south of Jackson, MS—a little over an hour and a half from Winona. One of the elders of the Siwell Road Church of Christ has a dental practice there. We left too early and had some time, so we visited Lowe's and Home Depot to return some items to the former and to pick up one item from the latter. Pleased that we had used our time wisely, we proceeded to our dental appointment.

After our appointments and before returning to Winona, we ate at our favorite restaurant, Cracker Barrel. However, especially with our lessened food intake lately coupled with our growing tendency to eat less anyway, we needed boxes to take food home. Another meal's worth of food successfully negotiating its way to our refrigerator is not a loss, but an appointment to keep at a future mealtime. Sometimes, we go to the trouble of boxing food to take home and forget to take to the car from the restaurant; a week or two earlier, a favorite waitress followed us to the car with our forgotten vittles! Years ago, we got the food to the car, but when we stopped at someone's home (the friends of which who had been out with us), we left the tailgate of the van open by mistake. Upon returning to head home later in the evening, we found that an untidy varmint (probably a racoon) had crawled into the car and helped himself to our leftovers. It was disappointing on two fronts, and a little amusing, too.

A little office work, and then we were off to the house. I have light switches and an outlet to replace, sanding waiting and painting to do. Oh, if it's not too late, we need to go order the carpet!

February 15, 2010

Monday, we did not hurry ourselves to leave the motel. We were disappointed in the "free breakfast," but we were determined to get our money's worth. No waffles here. No microwave. The warmer had been turned off, and hence the pancake-looking eggs were cold, as were the stiff biscuits and the lone patty of greasy sausage. The juices were good, as were the pastries (once I carried samples of these on small plates back to the room to heat and rejuvenate in the room microwave).

We went to Wal-Mart nearby to have the oil changed, as we were over due having it changed, but like the last two Wal-Marts at which we stopped on Saturday, we could not get a timely oil change and left (at one Wal-Mart, we could not get waited on at all!). We refueled at Murphy Gas at the far end of the parking lot, after which we crossed the street to have the oil changed at another business. I'm not sure we got the oil changed much more quickly than we would have encountered at Wal-Mart. Come to find out, the oil plug had been cross-threaded by former oil changes, and we had to have it replaced, too.

We stopped at Home Depot to get some of the materials needed for working on the house, but alas, we will have to find still another Home Depot on another day as this one did not have everything we needed and only Home Depot carries one item we need (to match other similar items already purchased for our home project). We tried to stop at Lowe's for specific items only available there for our project, but the traffic was too fierce and we could neither make the left turn we needed nor turn around due to the traffic behind us.

GPS suggested an alternative route homeward to what we had formerly experienced, and we opted for that route because we had not tried that route yet. I'm not sure we'll take that route again soon. We traveled south on the west side of the Mississippi River until crossing the river at Helena, AR. We traveled east until turning south on US 49, then traveling east to Batesville, MS where we picked up I-55.

Upon arriving in Winona, we proceeded to Betty's house to pick up the proofs for my next book to be reprinted, Biblical Companions: Geography, Archaeology & Sacred History. It is a more comprehensive treatment of Bible geography that I had written for classes I had taught for years at the West Virginia School of Preaching. Too tired to tear into sanding plaster, etc., we rested that evening, sort of, while Bonnie caught up on finances, I worked on this blog, and we watched an old movie together. Goodnight!

February 13-14, 2010

Saturday, we headed for Imboden, Ar for Sunday morning Bible class and worship. We are always graciously received by Sharon and Gevan Murphy. We were delighted to enjoy a great home cooked supper, along with additional guests. We showed lots of pictures in the living room of our 2009 fall mission trip to India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

Sunday morning for Bible class, I presented the PowerPoint, Because of the Center Cross; for worship, I preached, What Is the Mission of the Church? After worship, an elementary age girl came to where Bonnie and I were standing together and handed me a Valentine card with a sucker attached to it. Children are precious; I teased Bonnie that she didn't get a Valentine card, but I did! Following worship, we participated with the congregation in a fellowship meal.

Then, we were off on a three-hour trek to Center Ridge, AR; we arrived three hours ahead of the evening worship and spent the afternoon with Don and Linda Adkins. We have become dear friends, and they are great encouragers of us.

There is no place in America where we are more impressed with the youth of a local congregation than Center Ridge, AR. These youth represent at least 20% of the little church, which has gotten a little smaller lately as some members have had to move away for work. These brethren are much moral support to Bonnie and me, in addition to them making it financially possible for us to serve our Lord stateside and abroad. This little congregation also supports Rebecca financially with trip money; she is going to Myanmar and Guyana this year.

We are going with her to Myanmar for a special youth session among Burmese youth. Burmese brethren realize that to have men qualified to be deacons and elders years down the road, the church must begin working with their youth today. In 1997, there were only about 50 Christians in Myanmar, but today, there are over 6,000 true Christians. This is despite persecution and the threat of death. Yet, the church blossoms, and it is full of conviction and zeal. We are proud to have something to do with the spread of the church throughout this nation.

Following evening worship, we participated with these good brethren in our second fellowship meal of the day! Though invited to stay the night with the Adkins, we turned the Gospel chariot into the night toward Conway, AR, where we took a motel for the night so we would be that much further on our way back to Winona by morning.

February 9-12, 2010

Tuesday through Friday, Bonnie and I worked daily at the office on some of all those things that occur behind the scenes to keep World Evangelism moving forward (daily shipping, daily accounting, making bank deposits, working on The Voice of Truth International and Gospel Gazette Online, attending to important details respecting the upcoming Spanish edition of VOTI, etc.). Jerry and Paula Bates were away tending a display at Freed Hardeman University for the week, and so some of what they normally do, we did this week in addition to in what we specialize. Of course, they, likewise, pick up our slack where they can when we are away from Winona.

Thursday had the added occasion of unloading a tractor-trailer of incoming books and Volume 63 of VOTI—in total, five pallets, one box at a time. With the Bates out of town, we were a little shorthanded, but it was nothing that the three of us could not handle (Betty Choate, Bonnie and me). A little slow-going, yet we were up to the chore. One of the incoming titles was my newest book, No Hermeneutical Gymnastics, Please! It is subtitled, The Essentiality of Correct Biblical Interpretation. Brother Gary Hampton authored the lead chapter. The theme of the volume under girds the basis of all verbal communication, including divine communication to humanity through the Bible. The so-called New Hermeneutic heralded in the 1970s came to roost decades ago especially among some larger congregations, but by now manifests its evil crop even among small, rural congregations. From university campuses to little churches throughout the land, biblical authority and correct biblical interpretation lie defenseless upon the altars of palatable preferences, rather than being buttressed by "thus saith the Lord."

Evenings throughout the week, Bonnie and I labored feverishly at the house, plastering, sanding and painting walls, trim and ceilings. We are making progress, though we are weary. We hung some of the wall hangings in the living room. We made a new list of supplies, picked up more paint, rollers and sanding pads. We are heartened to trudge ahead because we can see progress. We hope to have the hallway, three bedrooms, the living room and the dining room finished—plastered, sanded, painted, carpeted, window dressings, wall hangings, etc.—before the next school of missions, and the guests who stay over with us overnight.

Oh, there is that persistent problem with the sewer drain for the one bathroom that has clogged or slowed dramatically from time to time over the past two and one half years we have been here. It's too cold to address it from outside presently if I can wait out the cold weather, but drain cleaners and plunging are not fruitful. I'm afraid we'll find that the drain may have partially collapsed or that an angle or elevation impairs proper function; there are no trees in the area of this section of pipe to be the culprits.

February 8, 2010

Upon waking Monday morning and turning to email before departing from the motel, we noticed an urgent message from our daughter, Rebecca. She advised to call her upon finding the email. As it turned out, it appeared that we were cut off by bad weather from going home. Weather radar maps indicated that we could neither avoid the inclement weather by going south before turning west nor simply traveling along our planned, southwest route. Besides, a southern route could add four hours to the trip even if we did not encounter bad weather. Therefore, we proceeded pensively on the anticipated journey southward on I-65 to I-40 toward Memphis.

Though we expected weather related travel delays, we did not hit bad roads until we neared Memphis. Traveling more slowly than some traffic around us, we stayed the course despite sleet, slush, snow and rain. Some of the faster traffic, though, slid off either side of the highway. By the time we made it south of Memphis, the icy roads had melted, and we sailed down wet roads to Winona.

February 7, 2010

The occasion of my invitation to preach was that the elders of the North Lexington Church of Christ had received free copies of my book, Beverage Alcohol, at Polishing the Pulpit last year. Having read the book, they requested enough copies to distribute to each family of their congregation, which they did the morning that the elders had me make my PowerPoint presentation, Beverage Alcohol. Pleased with both the book and the presentation, one of the elders marveled that more congregations have not opted to have me make the live presentation also after receiving and distributing my book, Beverage Alcohol, among their members. Some churches have had me come to make this presentation in a number of different states, though far more books have been distributed than have elders had me follow up with my PowerPoint presentation (about 45-minutes, covering roughly the first half of the book). Altogether, around 12,000 or so copies of Beverage Alcohol have been made available free, through the generosity of the late brother Victor Durrington and his wife, Colleen. Tentative plans are underway as well to make this title available in Spanish, too. February 7 was, however, the first time I preached about Beverage Alcohol in Kentucky.

We noticed a low front tire on the van when we headed to the church building for Bible class and worship in the morning. After morning services, we dropped the car at Sam's Club where they inspected the tire for a leak (didn't find one) and rotated the tires. While Sam's Club was attending to such, one of the elders hosted Bonnie and me for lunch at Cheddar's restaurant, one of our favorite restaurants, few of which are in many of the areas to which we travel. The excellent catfish meal was complemented by stellar companionship of this elder and his wife. Afterward, they graciously entertained us in their comfortable home. We conversed much about out missionary labors abroad, especially in Myanmar (Burma).

Sunday evening, I made my PowerPoint presentation about the One True Church of the Bible. A fine Christian couple treated us to supper out, before we headed into the darkness back toward Mississippi. We traveled as far as Cave City, KY where we often stay at the Super 8, operated by a new friend from Bombay, India.

February 6, 2010

We left Collierville, TN at 8:00 a.m., and Louis steered the car east toward Lexington, KY. The clouds spitted snow at us before reaching Nashville, and we encountered heavier flurries north of Nashville. Fortunately, the white stuff is not sticking to the road.

About 11:30 a.m., we stopped for gas, restrooms and a sandwich at Burger King (and picked up two postcards for our grandsons). Whoever had the “bright idea” of combining fast food restaurants and gas stations in the same building came up with a winner. One-stop locations are a time saver for the weary traveler. However, the staff at this Burger King could have been a little better trained at taking orders and customer service. Thirty to forty minutes later, we are back on the road again.

Hours later, we arrived in time for supper at the home of our host and hostess in Lexington. After supper, we set up our display and books at the meetinghouse. When back at their home, we showed our PowerPoint presentation about evangelism (Because of the Center Cross) on their living room television. Bonnie and I find it so refreshing and invigorating to become acquainted with and become friends with Christians in congregations to which we had not been before; today was no exception.

February 4-5, 2010

We took a day off—from the office that is. In December, Louis patched holes and we repainted, with the help of Rebecca, the master bedroom and bathroom. In January, we managed to patch and repaint another bedroom. It is now time to work on the living and dining room. Louis has been spending time each evening patching and sanding the living room walls. We opted to spend today painting the living room. As usual, I planned more work than hours in the day would permit us to accomplish. My goal was to have the walls painted and furniture replaced in the living room by the time we quit for the night. Since Louis still had some sanding to do, we did not start painting until after lunch. We managed to paint the ceiling and walls before supper. Since the walls need a second coat of paint, we opted to wait until morning and daylight to apply the second coat. Needless to say, we did not reach my goal. Friday morning, we painted the living room walls one more time, and I gave Louis a haircut, before showering and heading to the office, arriving about 10:00 a.m. We still need to paint the trim white, which will have to wait until we return from our weekend trip.

Sometime Thursday evening, Betty sent an email needing the exact number of copies of The Voice of Truth International for overseas shipment. The printer in North Carolina ships the overseas copies directly to the shipping company in New York, and needed to know how many copies to send this time as the number varies with each issue (some are deleted for invalid addresses and new requests are added). I spent the first half hour updating addresses in the database and discovered that with Volume 63 (currently at the printer), we will send 18,235 copies into 80 countries. Another 5,000 copies (English only) are printed and distributed in India, in addition to Tamil, Telegu and Braille editions.

We spent the balance of the day in preparation for our weekend out of town travels. Shortly after lunch, brother Ferguson from Kosciusko, MS stopped at the office to pick up Spanish books for his upcoming trip to Peru. We planned to leave the office at 3:00 p.m. so that we could pack our clothes and leave the house by 4:00 p.m. We are meeting Rebecca for supper, spending the night with her, then leaving Saturday morning for Lexington, KY, where Louis will speak twice at the North Lexington Church of Christ on Sunday. We left the office a little before 4:00 p.m., went to the post office, home to pack and left the house about 4:40 p.m. I called Rebecca to inform her we were leaving later than expected and to eat without us, since we would not arrive until 7:00 or later.

February 3, 2010

It occurred to me last night that though I am ahead (for me) or on schedule in having the next issue of Gospel Gazette Online ready, and I had it ready in time for brother Paul Mobley to proofread it before announcing it to the world, I forgot to change the pointers on the web site to go to the February issue when the new month debuted. So, I did the only thing I could do; I rebuked myself and made the necessary corrections this morning for everyone to see the new issue who clicks on "Current Issue" on the homepage. Next, I sent reminders to the hundreds of free subscribers to GGO.

Having added the blog last month, like a New Year's resolution, I wonder on occasion if it will fall by the wayside. I also muse if anyone will find our blog worth viewing, or is it merely a form of self-therapy. A little behind, but not forgotten, I push ahead with the blog. It took a little tweaking this morning to move from the January issue to the February issue, amending the structure of both the appearance and the behind the scenes file hierarchy.

February 2, 2010

My book Biblical Companions: Bible Geography, Bible Archaeology & Sacred History is the next to head to the printing company. Though I thought it was about ready, I spent the entire day tweaking the formatting, adding the back page and spine to the cover Betty Choate had already made for it, etc. After awhile, I don't want to see a piece of print work again until at least it comes back from the printing company (due to the weariness often involved behind the scenes bringing something like this to fruition).

Bonnie was able print the thousands of addresses on which she had been working many hours. Now on labels, we passed the postcards and labels to Betty and her mother, Theola; the latter had to take a break from her hours upon hours of quilting to attend to the cards and labels. No one works harder than Theola (around the yard, in the house and out); I call her Gorgeous, and Betty accuses me of flirting with her mother.

Before going to the office, I applied some more plaster to the walls. Since it was not dry by evening, I had a reprieve one night from working on the living room walls. We did, though, buy the paint and more rollers so we can attack the job at first opportunity.

February 1, 2010

Bonnie began the new month by preparing thousands of addresses to which we will send postcards, apprising congregations in several states of the upcoming, new issue of Global Harvest magazine. Printed in China and shipped by boat, the third issue of Global Harvest is expected in early March. Preparation of these addresses has been an ongoing project for Bonnie. I printed postcards and other materials, as well as worked on the formatting of a couple of books we will be printing in the near future. At the house, more wall preparation prior to painting the living room.