I did not sleep quite as well last night as the night before, but only in the sense that I awoke during the night more often, which is not that unusual for me. I woke up at 4:30 still feeling fairly well rested. I was happy to see I still had an Internet connection and got to visit with Noma some and Jessica for just a bit. Another happy change from the day before was I had hot water. Actually, I guess I had it before but didn’t fully understand how to access it. I learned that the hot water heater is about 50-60 yards away. The hotel owner said, “Just turn on the left faucet and wait.” So, that’s what I did this morning; I turned on the water and then returned to the computer until I could see steam. When I got out of the shower, the whole hotel room looked like a dense fog had moved in. There’s no heat in my room, so the hot shower was an extra good bonus. The temperature gets down into the low 50s here at night right now, which is not too cold, but with no heat in the room, it’s almost that inside and that IS cold to me.
I met missionary Mike Brooks who is staying at the hotel right next door to me, for breakfast this morning. He just finished a class here Saturday and will be leaving later this morning. His hotel has a nice breakfast buffet (I will be back to eat there, believe me). The taxi was here to pick me up at 8:15 and off we went to collect Jerry and head to the school. The class today went very well. The students did well and were attentive and asked good questions. After class this afternoon, we spent a little time (while one student went to get us another taxi) getting to know one another. One of the students comes from a congregation that is about 4 days travel away. I told him he lived farther away than I. Gajendra (the director of the school and my translator) told me that it was 4 days because you ride on a bus for one day and then you walk up into the mountains for 3 days. Jerry commented, “Do you remember the climb yesterday to worship? Well, imagine doing that for 3 days.” I have no plans to visit that congregation.
Tonight, the Golphenees will pick me up here at the hotel and we’ll eat dinner somewhere in this neighborhood (lots of good restaurants close by). It’s been a good day and I thank God for allowing me to do this job and be here right now. And I thank you for your support in helping me to come and your prayers that help me stay safe.
God bless,
Donnie Bates