God's Grade School — Otto Koning

Surrendering Time After Giving Possessions to God

After I gave my possessions to God in the pineapple story, I had real joy because, man, I'm free. When you don't own anything, you don't have to worry about anything. You can sleep at night, my nervous system restored.

What a neat thing. It's not worth it. It's not worth it, folks. And so I'm having this joy, and then these natives got on me again. Well, my wife had this broken saucepan, and she says, can you fix it?

I said, I haven't got time. Throw it out. She had a new one in her missionary barrel, so she did. And next day, the native at my office door, and he got my attention, and he said, go on, fix my pot for me.

He found the broken pot that my wife had thrown out. I said, look, I didn't fix it for my wife. I'm not fixing it for you. He said, you don't love us. You always fix your own stuff. You don't. That's the problem with you.

You're long-nosed. You're always so stingy. Now, I'd overcome stinginess. As a matter of fact, I was giving testimony of how I'd overcome stinginess. Don't start these testimonies too quick. Wait about 15 years, you know, until that thing is seasoned.

Hey, I'm, I see, for a Dutchman to overcome stinginess is a big, big thing. And now this guy has a nerve to say you're stingy, and he meant stingy with your time. You fix all your own stuff, you won't fix my stuff.

You use all your time for yourself, but you won't use it for me. And I didn't know you could be stingy more than one way. He said, you're long-nosed. I said, look, man, don't say that. I'm not stingy.

I'm, I just, hey, I've got translation to do. I've got to, well, he didn't know what that meant. And I've got, I've got the language to learn. He said, I said, there's only, I can't start this kind of thing, fixing your junk, because, I mean, there's so many of you and only one of me.

Just, hey, just say this after me. The missionary, well, he said this. He says, you don't love me. You only love yourself. Probably more truth in that, and I'd hate to, I want to admit. But he says, I said, no, look, I love you.

What do you think I came to this jungle for? Just for the good of my health? Look, I'm here because I love you. He says, you don't. I said, no, say this after me. Say it all the way home. The missionary loves me.

He just hasn't got time, that's about it. He wouldn't say it. And he went to the village, turned the whole village against me. He did me so much damage, folks. He says, that guy is no good. He fixes his own stuff.

He loves himself. Why, why do we let him live here? I mean, he turned the whole business against me. I felt so bad. I wish I'd fixed that pot so bad. I could hardly sleep that night. And trying to sleep, I thought, man, how am I going to win this guy?

Hey, how are you going to win a guy that you've turned off? And that's just about, I thought, this guy is doomed forever. He's lost. And God gets in on this, you know? You know how God gets on your conscience?

Hey, how are you going to win him to Christ, you know? I mean, oh, brother, hey, I'm miserable. I can't sleep. God shows me his face. I can still see his face. There he stood, you know, angry at me. You won't fix my stuff.

And man, and I can literally see this guy lost forever in the fire. And oh, man, am I in trouble. And I said, God, if I don't get some sleep tonight, I'll waste all tomorrow, you know, because of tropical heat there.

And I said, God, please let me sleep. I promise you, I'll fix the pot in the morning. So that's, and God, that's all God wanted to hear, me make it right. And so I fell asleep, and the first thing he reminded me in the morning, I called for the man.

He's all confused. You know, yesterday I scolded him, told him to get going. Now I beg him to bring the pot back. Unpredictable white man. They judged the whole race on my behavior. I'm sorry about that.

What a mess I'm in. And now I make him stand to hold it and try to get the bracket somehow, get that handle back. And my wife came by. Now I've got a bigger problem. Yeah, you'll do it for you. You'll do it for them.

You won't do it for me. I said, honey, hold everything. You slept last night. This thing has ruined half of my day and the whole night already. And I said, hey, the Lord's on me for this thing. Well, she understood.

And she went away saying, well, I'm glad you're listening to the Lord. The native was happy now, and he had his pot fixed. And I put his name on my prayer list. I thought I'm one up on him. Now I can win him.

Because I'd said to him, now I did this for you. You do something for me. And he said, what do I do for you? I said, you come to church. You bring your whole family. You sit still and listen. And I thought I might as well get some mileage spiritually out of this miserable situation.

The Burden of Repairing Everyone's Broken Tools

I put his name on my prayer list. I thought I'm one up on him. Maybe now I can win him. He owes me something. Interesting way of winning souls is getting people in debt to you. Anyway, next morning, there stood a whole line of people.

Broken shovels. You won't believe this. Broken machete handles. One guy had broken pots. One guy with a little harmonica. Man, fix my toto for me, he says. Toto. I says, your toto is so rusted, it won't even play.

Go work in my pineapple garden. Weed it for the next month, and I'll buy you a new one that will really play. He says, this one will really play to him. I said, no, it won't play. It's no way that thing.

I don't know what. He hadn't stolen it from me. I don't know where they got this junk. These shovels and all. And I looked at it then. I said, no, that's no. He blew with all his might. And God rigged that thing so one note would squeal.

And it played. And he says to him, I don't want to work in your garden. That'd be so much sweat. He said, just fix the one I got. The cover had come off, OK? Now, I thought about the night before. And I'm going through another night like that.

And I thought, oh, man, this junk. These shovels. Oh, I didn't even know they ever had them. The blades were real short. They were worn back. They were curled on the end. They were so thin. Some of them split.

They couldn't get the rivets out. They could burn the stick out, the broken handle out. So here I'm sitting there with my hacksaw. Can you see it now? Sitting there cutting old rivets out of junk shovels that weren't worth a thing.

Not worth anybody's time. But I'm afraid not to do it. Because I don't want to have another night like that and see these guys. So I'm saying, God, I don't understand. But I don't want another. If you want me to fix their junk, I'm going to fix their junk.

And oh, man, I'm saying, you guys, why don't you fix your own junk? We don't have any tools. Yeah, give us the tools. I said, no way will I give you. See, I'd loaned them a file before. I said, no. I'd give them 24 hours for a file.

And I said, no using it on axe heads. Just machetes and knives. And they used it on axe heads. That file, you won't believe this. They take turns sleeping, you know. And they used that file all. I'm sure the whole night that thing never got cold.

And the next day, that thing was smoother than that ballpoint pen. You won't believe this. I can't in 24 hours. And he's complaining. He's saying, this thing doesn't work. I said, hey, you can have it now.

And he says, I don't want it now. Oh, brother. So, no, no more loaning tools. So, I'm sitting there fixing their junk. Next day, they came back. Some others came back. There was pots. There was more junk.

I can't believe this. Does God want me to fix? I've got translation to do. I don't even know the language. I've got to report to the mission how much language study I accomplish each week. You know, and how much, how I do them.

And, man, all these people with their junk. And it's so hot. So, you wear yourself out. And I'm doing this grudgingly and saying, you guys quit wasting my time. Fix your own junk, too. And we can't get those rivets out.

And, oh, I try to teach some of these guys. They broke my tools. What a mess they made out of it. And so, I'm sitting there fussing at them. And the language reports, the plane comes every three weeks.

And there are not many language hours getting done. I was supposed to do 20 hours a week at that time. And that was a rule. If you don't do that, then you can't be a missionary. If you can't learn the language, there's no use living back with a tribe.

And so, that was a rule that if you don't do it, you're gone. I mean, you can't stay. And so, I was in trouble. I was hurting. And they're wasting all my time. And we go to annual conference. And this had gone on many months now, this fixing this junk.

I didn't dare not to do it. Finally, I did give them my tool. And I said, okay, you learn to do this now. And I showed them how to run the hacksaw. And I showed them how to use this drill. You know that little drill that, you know how the bits break on them if you tip them?

Well, I taught them. They were bringing hardwood sticks to put in them so they wouldn't break so quick. So, they give us that drill thing. And so, I taught a few guys how to do it. And they could do it.

I said, now teach the other guys. They didn't teach the other guys. That was a problem. You know, they got their stuff fixed. Off they go to the jungle and let the other guys break all the tools, see?

And that's what happened. The only thing they taught them, sometimes they carried that hacksaw all the way to the jungle so they could put a new blade in there. And then they'd break that one too. Well, they didn't.

They broke them. They never wore them out. They were twisted. They were beat up. Oh, terrible what they did to those tools. And after several weeks, they came and says, Thuan, have you got any more of these?

I said, well, they're in the box. And they had messed up all the hacksaw blades and all the drill bits. And they'd broken the handles off the hammers. And I don't know what all they did with it. And I saw that mess.

And I said, you guys, what did you do? Oh, Thuan, they don't work anymore. Have you got any more of these? I said, yeah, I got one more, but you're not getting it. I said, that's mine. I kept one hacksaw blade and drill bit, at least for myself.

And I see, I forgot that I'd given all my possessions to God and I had not included these things. You know how it goes. And so I kept that. And I said, God, can't I? They say, Thuan, give us that tool.

And I said, no way. They said, you're so stingy. I thought, I've given them everything but one and they call me stingy yet. And finally, oh, man. I said, God, do you want me to, can't I own one measly little drill bit myself?

Do you want me to give that to him? Well, the Lord didn't even answer. He knew I knew the answer. And so he, well, I didn't exactly give it to him. I threw it at him. And I said, why don't you just break it and we'll be all done with this business.

You don't have any tools. You don't, I mean, you get frustrated. Well, I wasn't having my devotions. Don't look at me like that. They're wasting all my time. See what I mean? And the mission is down on me.

So now I think back. I think back of after I gave my possessions to God, after the pineapple story and the joy I had when I gave it all away. And I was off to tranquilizers. You know what I mean? And my health is restored.

And I really believe now I can win this tribe to Christ. Now God can use me. I've not only given my life to be a missionary. I've given all my things to God. I didn't know there was anything else. And so can you imagine God looking down and seeing this missionary and saying, wow, look at that.

God's Grade School and the Surrender of Time

Look how happy this guy is. He's finally able to sleep at night without tranquilizers. He has such joy. He's got confidence. He believes now that he can reach the tribe. The Lord says, you know, I hate to do this to him.

But you know, he took eight years in first grade. And he's already 39 years old. And if he takes that long in all the other grades, he'll never graduate from my school. So I hate to do this to him, but I'm going to have to now.

See, God knows how I work. He knows when I hit the end of my rope, I'll surrender. Maybe some of you are like me. Some people seem to never surrender, it seems. But most of us do when the pressure gets high enough.

He sends enough people to steal our stuff. We finally give our stuff away. I mean, he's no fool that gives what he can't keep. And so now God says, no, he is a fool that hangs on to the stuff he can't keep.

But you know, now God wants me to... See, God wants to control my possessions. He wants to control my time. So now God says, I've got another mammoth problem, which is the area of time I'm fussing with.

And so God says, if I send enough natives to take his time, he'll surrender that too. And that's what God wants. He wants to control me. He wants to control all areas of my life. And God says, the only way I'm going to get any headway with this Dutchman is through numbers.

So he sends all the natives. And I think back, I'm frustrated. I'm trying to study language at night. And I'm trying to please the mission and trying to please the Lord. And I'm on tranquilizer again.

I think back to joy I had after that pineapple story. And I thought, I'm so backslidden. I was so happy back then. Can you think of a time in your life when you were happier than you are now, when you had more joy?

Maybe before you were married or something. And now added complications have come into your life. And you look back, wish it was like that again. I could have my devotions every morning back then. But then when the kids start screaming, oh brother.

And I thought back, you know, really, the truth of the matter is, I'm not backslidden. I'm in second grade. Okay. I'm struggling on a higher level. So don't get down on yourself. Hey, you're making progress.

Soon as you lay it down, you'll be in third grade. You didn't know that. But we struggle. All right. So I didn't know that. And I think back, oh man, I mess up. And I'm crying out to God and say, God, get these guys out of my hair.

Get these guys, you know, intercept them on the way so I can do my missionary work. You know what I mean? And so God help me. They're wasting all my time. God help me. And I'm crying out to God. God, you got to help me.

There's too many of them. I'm all alone here. I'm trying to do the work. I'm, oh man. And God isn't helping me at all. I don't know what he's even listening to me. I'm not getting an answer. I mean, he's sending more junk to fix.

I think that's what he's doing because the crowd's getting, other villages come now. Oh man, who told you this? I mean, fix our things. I mean, the workload increases. And I'm, the more I cry out to God for help and relief from this thing, the worse it gets.

Have you ever been, have you ever had something like that? And, and so now comes annual conference. And we have to give language study report. There's, we have spiritual meetings, but we have report on how the ministry.

And so we sit in a circle and, and this, this guy that's a real good linguist, he loves language study, man. That's all he does, you know? And so he, he stands up there and he's got his paper and, and, and we're all, there was about 40 of us.

And we were sitting in this meeting with our wives and he's got this paper, all the tabulations of the reports we send in. And he asks every man, you know, how are you doing on language study? And, you know, and all these glowing reports.

And my wife looks at me and says, you know what? And she whispers at me, what are you going to say? See, I mean, she's hurting. She's married to a dummy. You know, this, this should have been a one-on-one, one-on-one thing, but it was a public meeting.

And he, some of these guys love language. They got degrees in linguistics and degrees in anthropology. I mean, they, you know, and, and I, I, I barely made it through school. And, and, and, and I thought if it takes all that, how in the world am I going to win my try?

One guy had so many degrees, we called him Fahrenheit. I mean, now, so he goes around this circle and he, and, and then he comes to me and he says, Brother Otto, have you done any better since your last report?

And I said, no, and it was terribly embarrassing. And he says, well, to save me embarrassment, he, next question, have you started translating the book Gospel of Mark? And I said, no, I don't know language well enough.

And he says to me, what are you doing back there? And that's one thing I was never going to tell. I had, I had for, I told my wife, don't you ever tell them I fixed junk. That's something they're not going to know.

If, if they're going to know, let me tell them myself. And I wasn't going to, but I said, if they're going to, you, you, she, she promised she would never tell. I told my natives. I said, don't ever tell people when, when there's a stranger comes in here, when another Tuan comes in here, when a pilot is here, when a, when a government official, anybody for anybody wears clothes.

If any, don't, don't bring any junk to fix. That's what I told them. I said, because I don't want anybody. That's a secret between you and me. We're the only ones to know that. And you know how they reacted to this?

They said, Tuan, you mean, you mean nobody knows what we do here? But just, and one guy says, you mean, Tuan, we're the only smart ones? I said, that's right. That's right. We know things here that nobody else knows.

That's what I said. They said, you mean, Tuan, the whole world is dumb and we're the only smart ones in the world? And I said, yeah, that's right. We know things, don't we? Yeah, man, they're dancing up and down.

They really like this. You know, we, we know things. And so I said, but now if any of you bring junk to fix when somebody's here, then they will get smart too. Yeah, no way, Tuan. I mean, we're going to be just, and they really believe that they're the smartest people in the world.

And that was a good self-image builder for them, I guess. And it was enjoyable for me. And so I, they weren't going to tell. They chase you. I said, if you violate that rule and bring something anyway, then I will never fix anything for your whole clan.

Put the group pressure on the individual. That's what they do. So I use it too. So, so now this missionary says, what are you doing back there at Albany? My wife isn't going to tell. My natives will never tell.

They'll never find out. Because I'm not going to tell. And so he says, what are you doing back there? And I thought quick. And I said, well, a little bit of everything. And I meant, you know, a few pots, a few harmonicas.

You know, I mean, it's the truth. And he says, well, brother, you ought to be making a list of priorities. You ought to be, and language study ought to be on the top of the list. And you don't leave the first one until, and you don't do, you know, this whole thing.

I heard that before. You've heard that before. But I acted as if I'd never heard it. And, and that translated into good attitude. Because, you know, I said, yeah, yeah, yeah. And because I had such a good attitude, he let me off and they didn't, they gave me another year.

They gave me another chance. And he says, well, we'll be praying for you, brother Coney. And I said, I really appreciate that. I do need prayer. I need prayer badly. And so I went along with the other.

And my wife was happy that things went so well. And we got back from conference. And the Kohler generator had arrived. And now I had three hours of light a night. We'd run the thing three hours and we had some lights.

But I'd also charge the batteries. And now I got power tools. I had a power drill. I could shoot those things. I mean, I'm saving time, big time. And I got a sander. And I mean, I can get this job done.

You know, so I can study language and do both. Okay. So I can satisfy the mission and satisfy the Lord both. And so I'm going at this, you know. And all the batteries are full every night. And I'm working on my work.

And then I prayed for a rainy day so they wouldn't come. And I fixed the workbench. I mean, I. And then it was a nice workshop. I was right proud of it. And then another missionary went home and he was a builder.

And I got all his tools. Wow. And I hung those tools up. You know how a real guy does it. And I mean, I had all this stuff, man. And I'm in business. And, you know, I'm solving this problem. It was just like that German shepherd dog in the pineapple store.

Remember how I solved the problem with that dog? And it got worse. Remember that? Everything I tried in that store, it got worse. And here it's all. But I never connected it. And here. And now. Can you imagine God looking down from heaven?

What's he doing now? He got himself. Look, he got himself power tools. Oh, man. Hey, we're going to compensate. More, more junk. All right. So now the Kaigar people and other tribe. Can you believe it?

Southeast. And they were a little shorter fellas. And they. I couldn't even talk to them when I'm fixing their junk. They came in and all your people would hide. I mean, they take over the village. My poor wife at the clinic at all these Kaigar.

And the Kaigar came with their junk. And I said, who told you? See, I couldn't understand their language. But a few, a couple of them could. A little bit of Indonesian. And I knew a little. And so we communicated a little bit.

I said, what? I said, take your junk. You know, the Catholic priest. He's down on the other end of your territory. Take your junk to him. And he says to one. He doesn't have any tools. Smart guy. I mean, have you ever owned things?

Oh, man. And I. Oh, brother, enough. So I'm fixing junk for two tribes and I'm doing it faster. I got my tools, but it's taken more time. The workload increases. And I say, God, I'm trying to solve the problem.

I want to obey you. I want to obey. Isn't that sound good? I want to obey the mission, the language committee. I want to obey you. I'm trying to put this thing together. I got this cola generator. You provided it.

I've got the tools. And now there's more people. God, you got to help me. God says more, more, more, more junk. You know, you know, I'm not at the end of my. I'm still trying to solve my own life's problems.

And God is. God wants me. He wants me in control. He wants me Christ like. And I don't know anything about this. So the Yahi people, the other tribe from the southwest come along, tall guys. Now they had so much junk to fix because they lived near the government post.

They had access to stuff. Oh man, I'm fixing junk for three tribes and I knew the Sigiri people probably be next. And I didn't know what to do. And I said, God, I don't understand. But now what I'm doing is fixing junk all day long now.

Because the workload was so big. And I'm studying language at night. I keep the generator running, lights on. And I'm studying at night. My wife's worried about me. She says, you're going to break down this kind of hours.

I was so glad I'd kept some tranquilizers from Pineapple Story Days. You know, I was going to throw them away, but I'm so glad I kept them because I sure needed them now. And so I'm back on the tranquilizers.

And you know how the people said after the pineapple story, you know, you've become a Christian. You know what they're saying now? You're not a Christian anymore. Oh, that hurt. I'm trying to please God so bad and working so hard.

But I'm grouchy. You know what I mean? I'm telling him, hey, leave me alone. I mean, get out of here. I'm getting grouchy with my children and my wife. And I'm kicking the cat and different things. And I'm struggling.

Surrendering Time, Reputation, and Control

And man, I'm so miserable and convicted. And I don't get time to pray. I don't get time for the Word of God much. And I'm in a mess. And then I came to a place where I just had to quit. My health was breaking, just like after Pineapple Story.

And I got on my knees. And I'm saying, God, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. I think you're telling me to fix the junk. They want me to do something else. I can't do both. I'm not big enough.

And I'm praying and pleading with God and begging him and all this stuff and no answer. And finally, I'm exhausted. Do you ever get exhausted when you're praying and pleading? And finally, you're quiet.

And that's when God can get a word in edgewise and can say something to you. And the question came, what happened when you gave your possessions to me? I said, God, you blessed everything I ever gave to you.

I can't get away from pineapples now. I've lived a number of years. I can't get away from all this stuff. And now, I said, God, you blessed everything I ever gave you. And then I saw it. All of a sudden, the light came on.

God, I'm giving you my time, too. I'm in big trouble with time. I'm giving it to you. If you want me to fix junk the rest of my life, all right. The mission's going to send me home. I might have to fix junk at home.

You know? But God, I want to do what you want me to do. And I finally surrendered my time. And I said, God, I promise I'll go out there tomorrow with a happy heart. And do it with joy. And do it as unto you.

And if that's what you want, fine. And so I surrendered my time. I said, God, it doesn't matter what you want me to do the rest of my life. My time is yours, just like the possessions. And I fell asleep.

I got up the next morning, and there was people with the junk. And I stood there and smiled at them. And they couldn't believe it. They just stared. And I said, men, what do you got? Let's go to work.

Let's get this done. And they just looked at me as if something gone, you know. And after about two or three days like this, they said, Tuan, you've become a Christian again. That was hard on me because I happen to be one.

And, you know, we differ in theology. I happen to be one that believes you can't lose your salvation. And every grade I'm in, I'm losing it. I'm gaining it again. So, yeah, I mean, my life ministered.

I mean, what? Oh, it was a mess. Anyway, I'm fixing junk with a happy heart. Oh, things were going good. Now I'm teaching them as I fix it. I'm not grouching at them. I'm teaching them. And I would always say now, I want you to do something for me.

Come to church. Sit still. You know, be still. Bring your family. Listen. I thought, I've got to get some mileage out of this because I'm about to be sent home. If I can only get some churches going, then maybe I could, you know, stay because I don't want to go home.

You see? Because my father's still alive. Now, there's a problem between me and my father. See, my father, I'm a second born, and compared me to my old brother who was real fast and I'm real slow. He could drive a truck and I couldn't even ride a bicycle.

In Holland, all the families ride bicycles. You know, that's our transportation. So we lived there in the early years during the war and so on. And he says, you're messing up the whole family. See, he had bought me this bicycle.

Now, for a stingy man, that was a great sacrifice. He bought me a nice bicycle. But I would crash that thing because I couldn't. See, they didn't have children's bicycles. They put the big wooden blocks on the pedals.

Have you ever seen that? So I could reach them. It was an adult bicycle. And I'm scared. He'd get me on the bicycle, give me a shove, and I was off. As long as I kept pumping, I'd go fine. But as soon as I stopped pumping, I'd fall over.

I mean, I'd crash. And I'm afraid to crash because I skin myself up every time. And so I couldn't balance. I just haven't got that. And so he says, look at your brother, Jim. Look at him. He's riding that bicycle.

And he says, you're messing up the family because he could take my two younger brothers, one on the front of his bike and one on the back. And my mother had a basket for my little sister. But the two big boys had to ride their own bicycles so we could be mobile as a family.

He says, you're messing up everything. We'd go to church on bicycles. He says, you've got to ride it. Now learn. And the more he threatened me, the more I'd go out and he'd get me going. I'd run forever until I was dead tired because I couldn't get off it.

I'd crash. And I'd hit whatever was in front of me. I couldn't turn. When I'd turn, I'd fall over. And so I'd always go straight. Whatever was in the way, I'd crash. I'd hit a bus. Oh, I nearly killed myself.

I landed under these carts. And I'd hit curbs. And I blew out the tire. Tires were hard to get during the war. And he'd get so mad he'd have to buy a new tire. I'd bust them all up. And he says, you'll never amount to anything.

So now, I lived with that. You'll never amount to anything. So I set out to prove that I was worth something. That's why I was the only one of the four boys that finished high school. See, I'm no smarter than the rest of them.

But I just was going to prove to my father. I finished college. University. I got to the mission field. I thought, I've got to succeed. And I'm still trying to prove that I'm worth something. So I can't be sent home because he's still alive.

Now, if he died, then I could go home. And he wouldn't say, I told you so. So I'm hurting, folks. So I don't want to be sent home. So I'm trying to get something going. Get these churches started to convince the mission that I'm a good missionary.

Building Churches Through Relationship and Service

So I'm trying. But the thing was, now that I fixed their junk. And I fixed junk for everybody. I had shovels come through the second time. I had stuff. So we started using wooden pegs instead of rivets.

Hey, man, that worked a whole lot better. They could burn them out along with the stick. That saved time. Anyway, I said, now I want you to come to church. All of them came to church. When I went to other villages, I'd fix their junk.

They came to church, too. Wherever I went, they came to church. Because I say, now, you know, I may not want to fix anything for you again if you don't do something for me. You know, now that's not God's way of evangelism.

That's not God's way of, you know, but I'm desperate to get something going. Now, one day I was fixing a rocking chair for my wife. And the man at the window, they're always looking in the window. He said, why don't you let me come in and help you fix your chair?

I said, please do. So he came in and we're trying to glue these sticks back. And I had to put wire around it, hold the thing together. And this guy helped me real nice. And I said, what do you want for your pay?

He says, I don't want anything. I said, gee, I mean, I nearly fell over. You don't want anything for your work? No, John. You fix my shovel. I fix your chair. Something was happening in their hearts. Love is reciprocal.

You know, love demands a response. And so they were coming to church and I was leading people to Christ now. I wasn't getting anywhere in language study. Hadn't even been at my desk. Didn't even have John 3 .16 translated.

And these people, I'm leading them to Christ. And all the men I put in class, I didn't even bother with the women and children. The men I put in class, I said, you're going to have to teach your wives and children.

And I taught them how to pray. Taught them how to pray in public. Taught them how to pray in private. And so on. So things were going good as far as, but I'm still in big trouble. My wife says to me, what are you going to tell them next summer?

It's four months now. I said, I don't know. I said, they'll probably pin me down. I can't lie about it. I said, we might be heading home. She says, no. Try to get out of it. Quit fixing the junk. I said, God won't let me.

I want to sleep at night. And she just shakes. You know how a wife can walk away just shaking her head. And then, when it was just about two months before conference, they send out a missionary check up on me.