It was a good day.  As I wrote earlier, it began early with a set-up and sound check at 7:45 a.m.  I used J.J., played the offertory and sung.  Then tonight I did a concert featuring my horns and 3 of my “friends”.  It was a fun night and the people were responsive.  Following the service we broke everything down and loaded it.

Tomorrow we’ll go over to the High School auditorium for our program.  Here’s how you can pray for us.  The Upward Basketball program here is huge.  First Baptist started it and soon the entire county got involved.  The have to use the public high school auditorium for their awards program because there is no other place in the city large enough to host the event.  There will be over 1000 people in attendance.  All teams, cheerleaders, AND parents.  This is a wonderful outreach and opportunity to reach the lost.  I will give an invitation at the conclusion of the program.  Pray for receptive hearts and that people will be respective of those around them as I present the Word.

Thanks,
John

We arrived here in Ripley around 4 p.m. and had plans to set up equipment but were unable to do so.  We will head to the church tomorrow morning around 7:40 to set up.  The worship service is at 9 a.m. so that would explain the early arrival.

The plans are for me to do a vent spot (teaser), play the offertory on the horns, then sing the music before the preaching.  Thank y0u for your prayers.  Tomorrow’s going to be a rather long day.

Blessings,
John

Yesterdays travel was a little difficult due to the wind.  LOT’S of wind!  20 to 25 mph winds with my trailer makes things a little more difficult than normal.

No problems though and we arrived late afternoon to visit with parents for a couple of days.  We’ll be around today helping out where needed, preparing for the weekends work then tomorrow we’ll head up to Ripley, MS.

Thank you for your prayers
John

Well, we had a really good crowd tonight.  There were a number of things that seemed to “fail” tonight.  I began the service with one of my “friends” then as we headed into the song service the Song Show program failed.  We had rehearsed things before the service and all was well.  That’s the way it is sometimes.  We had to change several things on the fly but things worked out.

At the conclusion of the service there was a teenager that gave her heart to Jesus.  Just to show you…”in our weakness”.  We’ll pull out in the morning for Yazoo City for a couple of days with parents to help them out.  We’ll be in touch.

Blessings,
John

It was a good night albeit a difficult one.  Lots of distractions with “small ones” in the congregation.  This church has a heart for kids and with that comes distractions many times.  There was a little movement at the invitation and we are grateful for that.

Pray that God will continue to work.  The pastor has felt led to close out services tomorrow night so there will be no “hold over”.  Pray this last service will be effective for the Kingdom and the seed will be planted according to His will.

John

Small crowd at the church tonight but the good side is that we did meet tonight and had a good service.  The schools are still closed in the area but, of course, that is mainly due to the rural bus routes whose roads are still pretty dangerous.  For the most part things are thawing although the high today was around 38.

The pastor is considering extending.  He mentioned it tonight following the service and asked the folks to pray over night.  We’ll see.  You pray also will ya?  I don’t want the extension for any reason other that God’s plan.  They’re desire is the same so your prayers along side us would be much appreciated.

John

Well, I know you’ve been keeping up with us and we appreciate it so much.  It turned out we received 12 inches of snow with drifts to 18 inches.  With both services cancelled today the pastor along with the deacons are deciding how long to go this week.  We are due in northeast MS, Saturday afternoon so it is conceivable that we would go through Friday but the pastor is saying that most likely we would just do Monday through Wednesday. 

Things are slowly melting but with colder temps tonight there can always be icing.  Thank you for keeping up with us.  You are a real blessing,

John 

Well, here we are.  Yesterday around 2 p.m. the weather began with a mix of sleet and snow.  Within the hour it turned more to snow.  Lots of snow.  Lots of snow.  When we went to bed last night it was still snowing and the last measurement was 11 inches.

 Needless to say, services have been cancelled for the day.  Continue to pray that God’s will is done.  It is obvious this is the right decision just not sure what God is doing.  The last time this area had a snow like this was…………when I was here last year.  How bout that?

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

John