The teams power washed a dorm, cleaned out a storage unit, worked in Casa Anthony while Thom and Jeff installed new computers for the administration offices.

An Arkansas team arrived.

One team gave the boys hotdogs and then I spoke to the visitors.

Soon, at Centerville Baptist Church, I needed some back ground on the Bible. I went to New Orleans to enroll at the seminary but their first year of classes did not include even one Bible book. So I decided I would go to Christ for the Nations in Dallas, Texas. I would preach Sunday morning and evening and we would drive from central Louisiana to Dallas arriving there between 3 and 4 am. Then after my last class on Friday we would drive back to Louisiana.

But the experience was tremendous as the teachers as well as special guest speakers filled me with the Word and taught me how to study. We made that trip for a year and then it was just too difficult on my family.

There was an independent Bible college called a teaching center in Lafayette so I checked it out. It was there a group of men would shape my life. Melvin, who recently passed away, became a pastor to me. Francis and Elbert taught me so much from the Word of God. It did not take long for me to resign in Centerville and move to Louisiana where I was actually on staff teaching courses.

The teaching center became so popular that different teachers there would take two evenings a week and teach in nearby towns. Lake Charles became the city where I ministered. These people were so hungry for the Word of God. It became a highlight of our spiritual life to teach and especially fellowship with the Lake Charles students.

Our miracle daughter died in Lafayette after living for 9 ½ years. My wife, Dottie, lost 3 children and I never once heard her complain or question God. She had the total assurance that she would see the three children in heaven someday.