There was apparently some confusion about what time services would start today. When Osas dropped us off at the hotel last night Cody and I were both under the impression that services would begin at 11:00 am – and we understood that’s when the members were expecting to start. So we arranged for a taxi through the hotel that would come pick us up at 9:30 am. It should be only about a 30 minute drive on a Saturday morning (about double that during the week).

But about 8:30 this morning Osas called to let me know they intended to begin at 10 am instead. But by that time the taxi was already set, and there was not much we could do to change it. So I told him we’d leave as soon as the taxi arrived and we’d do our best. And we both had questions as to when services would actually begin.

As it turned out, traffic was even lighter than we thought, and we arrived a few minutes before 10 am – to find only a handful of people there. But we had the chance to talk with those who were there as the others came along. By the time most everyone was present we started services – promptly at 11:00 am.

The new building where we meet in Benin City is becoming quite small for our group. We had 37 people today, which is higher than usual, and it meant we were packed in tight! As usual, there was no electrical power, so they cranked up the small “gen” they have outside, and we had lights, a sound system and a couple of fans. The fans were important!

I had scheduled Cody and myself to give split sermons, and he went first. He gave a good message using the example of a long-distance swimmer who became the first person to complete the swim from Cuba to Florida – and she accomplished this task at the age of 64 after several failed attempts. He made the connection to us as Christians having an attitude of never giving up. I think it was well received.

During the announcements I gave greetings from several who had asked me to pass them along, and covered a few other announcements before going straight on into my split. I talked about integrity, and used four examples from the Old Testament, two of whom were good examples and two were negative.

After services and I was able to meet with the three men who are our speakers and songleaders. I wanted to encourage them for the job they are doing, and then we talked about a few points of speaking and songleading. But it was getting very hot in the small room we used, and including the heat in the main meeting room I was soaked with sweat by the time we were done.

We went back to the hotel with another member who needed to talk for a bit, and we enjoyed the a/c in the lobby while we talked for about an hour. After we said goodby, Cody and I went to our rooms to relax a bit before dinner.

Tomorrow Osas will come pick us up at the hotel about 10 am. We have one more family we want to visit with in the morning, and then we’ll return to the hotel with enough time to change into fresh clothes before heading to the airport to begin the long trip home.

We are trusting that our AirPeace flight to Lagos will be relatively on time, because if they cancel again we do not have time to take ground transportation to catch our Delta flights. Assuming it is, we both will leave a bit after 11 pm from the Lagos airport. He is on a flight connecting through Paris and then straight to Cincinnati. I was originally scheduled to fly direct to Atlanta, but it now appears I will fly to JFK in New York and then connect down to Atlanta before catching my final leg on back to Fort Smith.