Busy schedule, lifting restrictions, missionaries

Last week I taught three classes. This week I have taught two and am attending a practice class today getting an additional instructor ready to teach for our company. It has been a busy schedule to maintain. Not because the classes are difficult to teach, but because there is a significant amount of prework before each class is presented and several hours of follow-up administrative work for each class. Next week I have three classes to teach and the following week I have two classes to teach and one to attend as an auditor. Mama is not enjoying the schedule too much. She has gotten used to me helping her with the morning feeding while I have been working from home. I have enjoyed that routine as well, but all that is about to change as our governor had declared an end to the COVID impositions starting next Wednesday.

I am anxious to see how the populous in general responds to the lifting of the mask mandate and the restriction of maintaining a 6-foot distance from others. Some have gotten so used to the masking and distancing that there will be a good deal of discomfort on their part to go back to the way things were before the panic drove us to submission through largely unfounded fear mongering. I watched an awkward moment in church last night as a missionary wife offered to shake hands with someone in our church and was demonstrably refused. The refusal was verbally apologetic, but the refusal was shouted out through body language.

I have come to the conclusion that the person refusing to shake hands had never liked the custom (they are very cleanly) and now have a “valid” reason to avoid the gesture of friendship altogether. Based on how much people were willing to shame others for not wearing a mask, I am wondering how they will handle the lack of legal requirement to do so. Time will tell but it should prove very interesting to those of us who are willing to look for the signs of awkwardness from those not quite willing to give up the isolation – or the empowerment of shaming their fellow Americans. Also, it will be interesting to see just how many at our church will begin attending the services in person now that the restrictions are abolished.

The missionary we had at church last night is headed to the Philippines. He has been the children’s ministry director at his church for over twenty-five years. His presentation was superb. He had a short video presentation followed by a long series of slides which he used as a topical guide for the work he has done and plans to continue to do in the Philippines. There are over 1.8 million street children on the main island in the Philippines and he is going to try to reach some of those abandoned children. What a ministry! He did a couple of tricks for the congregation and he called them tricks. Not magic tricks. He said he is careful to do so because he uses the idea of tricks to tell how the Devil tries to trick each of us into not believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. The kids at the service last night were all ears. So were the adults. His wife, who is Filipino, was a gem. Mama and I will keep up with the two of them as they are quickly progressing in their support to get onto the field fulltime.  

One of the young ladies at church has been very faithful to set aside money for us to get to Nate and Cori for their ministry and their home. So far, Nate has been able to buy a nice weed eater and is gaining the money to buy a power washer. Both will be tools for use in the ministry as they help families in the church to clean up their homes and properties from the flooding caused by the two hurricanes that struck Honduras last year. Just this one person’s sacrifice has made an enormous difference for the mission’s work being done in Honduras.

It is amazing to see that happen.