One Down, Two to Go...

A great night of music, bicycle jumping, soccer ball dribbling, and message. We had about 600-700 by the time we started playing, but it's hard to tell because of the open setup: a big soccer field and a road with a community right on the other side.

The opening act is a band called "New Generation", a group made up entirely of pastors kids. Pretty good group, with a lead singer named "pastor", who sang a few songs with us as well. The guitar players, of which there where 5, had obviously studied Van Halen a bunch. Two of them totally shredded some awesome solos. One played only on five strings. He had removed the D string from his guitar for some reason. Maybe he grew up learning to play without the string and never changed. And the singers, the drummer, bass, and keys all did a great job.

The bike guys did their stuff and wowed the crowd. They were signing autographs for quite a while after the evening was done. The band did a good job, although the on stage sound was a bit of a challenge. The subs (speakers the produce the bass) are extremely loud and one is right under the stage. It caused a significant vibration and roaring sound. People wonder why I'm loosing my hearing: just stand up on that stage for an hour and listen to the volume of music. You'd be loosing your hearing, too.

Need to talk to Mark about doing a little preventive maintenance on the stage as well. Was doing a little jumping (yes, the old guy does like to bounce) and jumped right on a soft spot on the stage - felt like it gave about 5 inches, but it was probably only two or three. Image how it would look: bass player jumps up on a big crescendo and goes right through the floor of the stage! Now that would be funny!

Marvin gave an excellent message and several came forward during the alter call. Great stuff. His story is such an inspiration. Kim met him at the age of 15, a skinny young boy that was not on the right track. What a change God has made in his life. He is so driven and passionate. Nothing is impossible to Marvin and he will go anywhere to witness and bring the love of Jesus to others.

A late dinner of the most interesting club sandwich in the world. They took a slice of cheese, a slice of what we would call bologna, and a piece of fried chicken all sandwiched between three slices of bread. It was odd looking but delicious. And no rice and beans... amazing.

Friday we are heading into town to see the church and then walking around a bit to the shops, etc. Then another sound check and a bigger concert tonight: we should be seeing a larger group. Based on the size of the crowd last night I expect we will see around 1500 or so tonight.