GLORY to His Name!

The Lanier family has truly been blessed yet again! We went up to Chicago on Friday and had a blast. We started by getting to the church on the north-east side a few hours early to beat the rush hour, and just walking along the lake. There was a little park nearby so we were able to play with Ashley for a while too. We had a small supper and finally had church that evening with a very ethnically diverse group of people. I preached and we had a great time. I preached too fast, though, as far as my talking-speed was concerned. Many of the people don't speak any English and needed a translator, but I just couldn't get on the same page. It was my lack of ability, but God still worked in the invitation. Afterwards, we ate at a church-members house. They cooked a fabulous meal--we ate and ate. It was Burmese food, I think! We drove up to Wisconsin (almost 2 hours) that night to sleep at a farm. On Saturday, the folks from Chicago came up to the farm for a family day of shooting, fishing, and horse-back riding. We had some more AWESOME food again, but I don't remember which "ethnicity" it was. We went visiting afterwards, and we met a lot of good people from all over the world. We went to a Pakistani restaurant to eat that night and I loved it. Erika was a bit leary, so I ate for her too!

Sunday was a FAST day. We rushed out of the hotel to get to church on time (it was an hour away, in heavy traffic) and Erika and I did SS for everyone. We showed our DVD, then gave testimonies, and Erika spent a while giving the testimony about how we met and then got married. She spoke in Spanish and I translated, then all of the other translators. If I remember correctly, there were 6 different languages represented and translated into! The good pastor preached the morning service. During the service, the pastor had asked my wife beforehand to counsel with one of the Spanish ladies, and the lady received Christ outside where we met. GLORY!

RIGHT after the service, we packed up and sped south to Indianapolis for our evening meeting. We made it about 45 minutes early and it turned out perfect. We set up and got to meet the people coming in. Everyone was so kind and friendly. The pastor really is doing a great job and his people are too. They had only guitars for the song service and it reminded me so much of Mexico. I preached and afterwards the altar was filled and one lady got born again. God's so good...we are always amazed. After the service we had a marshmallow and hotdog roast. It was a great time of food, fun, and fellowship.

Tomorrow is a little while on the phone for me, and then we're all heading to the Zoo. The pastor tonight offered to treat us to tickets there, and we eagerly agreed!

Erika Update:
She's doing very well. By Wednesday we'll know for sure she's out of any danger of infection and positively will NOT require a D&C.

TRIP UPDATE:
3,500 miles to go and we've only been on the road for 3 weeks, with 5 weeks to go (including going from northern-Ohio to southeastern-Florida)
2 Saved! (and many serious decisions about being a witness for Christ)
8 church visits, with promises of support from 6
11 more churches to go, including 5 missions conferences

Praise The LORD!