What's that Smell?

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and

through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

2 Corinthians 2:14 (NKJV)

There are a lot of things that can be said about this one little verse but the part that arrests my attention is the last part where it says that everywhere we go an aroma of Godliness should permeate the atmosphere around us. It is not our own righteousness or holiness that people "smell", but as you can see from the verse that it is God Who diffuses His own fragrance through us. Now that is in contrast to someone who covers themselves in cologne in order to camouflage an unpleasant body odor. God never masks our stench (sin). His fragrance will only emanate from a life that is free of it's own putrefying smell. What do people smell when they are with you?

Fall Colors

This is for all of you who enjoy taking a drive into the mountains to see the fall colors. About the only thing we can do, though, is to drive around town and look at the Maples and a few other trees with colorful foliage that people have planted near their homes. Other than that there is not a lot of fall colors in this area.

These pictures aren't exactly before and after pictures. Because the first picture above was taken after many hours of digging up grass around the old building, hauling in fill, tearing out an old step and getting the right levels for the new walk. Anyway at least you get an idea. I really enjoyed laying this walk. I did this sort of work in the States for the landscaping company I worked for. So after about 3 years it was nice to lay a walk again. The black plastic was something new for me, but that is how they do it here. I wouldn't have chosen this particular color of paver either, but economy is more important.

Here's a picture of the newly finished class room.

The bad with the good

I thought I would share a picture of reality. I have to say though that our P.O. only looks this way once in a while. Most of the time it is fairly clean.

Easter Conference

Last Friday we held a one-day Easter conference at our Manyatseng Church. Transportation was provided for the people from our four South African churches. There were about 175 in the morning service and about 180+ in the afternoon service. Rev. Pheko from Lesotho preached in the morning and Rev. Kali also from Lesotho preached in the afternoon. We were happy to have Bro. Malimabe back from college to help with interpretation.

We pitched a tent next to the church for preparing food for the conference. The food was cooked on burners connected to propane tanks. The ladies from our Mauersnek congregation did a great job with the food.

More Birthday Celebration

Isaac's birthday is on April 6th and Amrie's birthday is April 9th, so we all went out to the farm (Amrie's parent's home) and celebrated their birthdays together. The ladies got creative with the birthday cake made especially for Isaac.

Turning Six

Yesterday Isaac turned six years old. We celebrated the day by giving him a few small gifts at different times throughout the day. We also went to KFC for lunch. Isaac wanted to go to another restaurant but when we arrived we found out they were closed and out of business. So we opted for KFC. After lunch Gwen watched the boys at a small playground here in town while I did some business. In the evening Gwen made a large no-bake cookie in the shape of a ginger bread man. On Thursday this week we plan to go out to the farm and celebrate Isaac and Amrie's (Phil's wife) birthdays. We will have a normal birthday cake then. We thank God very much for Isaac. He is a sweet boy and a wonderful blessing in our home.

Unusual

This morning we found out that an intoxicated college student made some 'minor' adjustments to the gate and fence at our church/school in Mauersnek last night. Apparently the damage to his vehicle was also significant. There were car parts, including his license plate, lying all around the scene. With the license plate we found out who the individual was and where he lived. We found out that the father of the boy who did the damage owns a steel company. The father said he would come and make the needed 'adjustments' to the gate and fence. (PROVERBS 20:1)

Picnic

On Monday, for the first time in about two years our family packed up and headed for the country for a picnic. We really enjoyed ourselves. We cooked hot dogs and enjoyed marshmallows, potato salad and banana bread. It was so peaceful and relaxing. Of course the boys had a great time. You can see they REALLY enjoyed the roasted marshmallows.