It took an hour for our taxi driver to navigate the choked streets to the Catholic retreat center outside of town.  Choked is a very descriptive term for roads that could not have accommodated even one more vehicle.  That hour was filled with eager anticipation, because at the end of the trip I would reunited with the fifteen students I’d taught back in October. 

We arrived to hear spirited singing from the meeting room.  As Luana and I entered and were ushered to the front, later to be joined there by Bill and Kim, I spotted the guys.  They looked smart, all dressed in dark slacks, white shirts, and matching ties.  All fifteen of them had stuck it out.

I made eye contact with each of them from the seat I occupied on the platform.  Their smiles were contagious, and their obvious delight warmed my heart. 

This convention was a sharp contrast to the first place we visited in that everything was planned, every detail had been taken into consideration. 

Several folks came to the front and presented us and the rest of the “dignitaries” with beautiful flower leis.  A couple of songs were sung by the crowd of 48 pastors, wives, and children.  (It appears that every pastor from this state is present, including the man named Joseph for whom our church family has been praying.  He and his flock have been threatened with beatings by radical idol-worshippers, you may remember.)  Two members of the class gave testimonies about how God had used them in ministry in the last nine months, with people being healed and brought to faith in Jesus.  And a pastor played his guitar and sang beautifully in English with his equally beautiful wife.

Then Itte introduced me and asked me to deliver the commencement address.  It was a real thrill to make John 13:1-17 personal for these guys, challenging them about what they should expect as they went out as church-planting Berean pastors as opposed to what they might expect.  Bill and I then both prayed prayers of dedication over these fellows before the meeting was dismissed for supper at 7:30 p.m. 

We ate with the pastors and their families.  It was a thrill to meet the wives of the five married students, and to also make the acquaintance of their tiny children.  I wandered through the dining room taking pictures of families, creating quite a bit of laughter when I paired up two folks who weren’t married to each other for a photo.

Then, though I’d tried to avoid it with the picture-taking, I was practically forced to eat by well-meaning ladies.  But the rice and curd was good, and I satisfied my hosts by partaking. 

Tomorrow Bill preaches on John 14, we and the ILA trainers conduct personal interviews with the graduates, and I preach in the evening on John 15:1-17.  It will be a long and tiring day that I am sure will be rewarding as well. 

The reunion with these men has blessed me immensely, and I am so glad I was able to return.

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