Our Tuesday baptismal classes have a consistent attendance of about 22 people. Today I will hand out lesson nine, which I printed last night at about 10:30 on our old laser printer. Why was I printing so last-minute? It wasn’t printer troubles—our black toner cartridge indicates it is empty, but the printer continues to print. Our layout artist, Johanna, wasn’t tardy with her work, nor did I have to wait for our illustrator, Laurie, who already had the felt-board pictures prepared. The reason for my intemperance last night is that it takes me a long time to write lessons. Even though I started writing the 1,500-word lesson last week, I was still rushed at the end.

There is more to it than just putting words on a page. I feel the challenge for me is like the one Philip faced when God sent him to the Ethiopian—to explain the scriptures. The Ethiopian had the scriptures and was reading the prophecies of Isaiah, but he did not understand them. After Philip explained the story of Jesus and His fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies, the Ethiopian accepted the truth, was baptized and “went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:39).

Right now, there is a spiritual hunger among the Gogodala like I have never seen before. They have churches, and many people have Bibles, but they don’t know God. Thank you for your prayers.

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