On the right you see half of the church where Joel preached on Sun. afternoon--there were 24 present. On the right you see the outside of the church building and our "friend" illustrates perfectly what the brethren contend with at every service. There is a little store next door and most of their business is selling alcohol. The lady has her glass of beer(I presume) held high and she approached several of the brethren, including Ed, to buy her a beer. The music is coming out of the shop full blast, which makes it hard to hear the preaching--the singing will barely drown it out. Fortunately, there was only one radio going, not the 3-4 there sometimes is. The power was out so there were no fans and we began at 4 PM, probably the hottest hour of the day. The church meets at 4, so they can be done before dark, as the shop/bar brings out the worst elements.
The area around the church building used to be a quiet neighborhood but not anymore. Indeed, it doesn´t matter where you worship you must compete with at least one loud radio, sometimes 2 or 3 competing ones. Fortunately the power was off during the day, so they didn´t have to light the propane lamp to see. Yes brethren we have it way tooooo easy.
Tol
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