Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Battery Point Lighthouse

 

Battery Point Lighthouse – March 2021

Roberta & William Hayes

4th time keepers

3/2 – We love it here! Beautiful day, so sunny and warm (when the wind isn't biting into you). I sat on the picnic table out by the front porch for a couple hours, enjoying the sun, scene, and reading my book. So beautiful and delightful.

We arrived in town yesterday earlier than expected after having come down the 101. Beautiful drive. We met up with Karen at the museum not long after noon, did a quick check-in, then to the lighthouse parking lot to note the height of the tide. Still high, so we went to an overlooking point and had a picnic. We got back to the lighthouse beach some time after 2 and started picking through the rocks and talked with several people while there. Two couples I told a bit of story/history of the lighthouse and they were so excited about the place that when I was done, they were wanting to go sign up as volunteers!

Another person we spent quite a bit of time with was a homeless lady and her 6 & 8 year-old girl and boy. The girl was so very chatty and clingy that she was all over both William and I had to pick her up and hold her for a time – she was so needy for attention. It was a bit chilly and the kids had no coat or even warm enough clothes – they were obviously hungry as well. The mom kept volunteering to help us move in, but we basically let her know we got that handled. However, we did tell her then to come up on after the tide went down and I'd make them some sandwiches.

We managed to get to the lighthouse a bit after 4 pm – took 3 trips on the ATV to get everything. When William went back for his 3rd trip, I put things away and kept a watch out for those kids. I noted that the ATV was sitting beside the car loaded, but William was nowhere in sight – I noted this for quite some time before I got worried and went down to the parking lot. There, I found him talking with an old guy about the Lord – they were in quite an animated conversation. I stood there for awhile before William ended the conversation and I rode with him on the ATV back to the lighthouse. Soon after that, the kids and mom came up with their dog. I told them to take the dog down to the bottom of the hill and tie him to the bench down there. In the mean time, I made up a bunch of sandwiches, raisins, crackers, and took them out to the picnic table. They ate that right up! It was about sunset, the kids were cold and the girl had me hold her again, wrapped up in my coat. I ended up giving both kids a couple pair of gloves which they promptly put on. The mom was very thankful for everything and said they would come visit again.

I had been looking forward to a nice hot bath in the clawfoot bathtub (of which I experienced awesomeness 2 of our past 3 visits – first time the elements were bad which William replaced the last week we were here), but was sorely disappointed – the water started getting cold ½ way up – I got a better bath at home, and that's not saying much!

This place has had a lot of work done on it this past year – I never seen it quite so clean and nice – fresh paint in all the rooms it looks like – new flooring down stairs. A lot of things moved around or just gone – like the CB radio (which I think is a mistake) and the curtain in the chart room – all the heat goes out now, not too economical!

I love the paint color choices in the kitchen and especially – pale mint and bright white trim. Never seen that kitchen so bright and shiny! The upstairs bedroom seems to be a much brighter lemon yellow than before and the spare room looks so much more inviting now. The boat house has a new roof – I'm surprised they put shingles on it – very nice looking, but it would seem not too practical with the winds up here. Probably because of the historical restrictions. The bouy tree has more bouys, the flag pole looks fatter and shorter than when we were here in '18 – as I remember a storm had taken it out the February before and we had no flag pole the whole month we were here. The trees seem slimmer of fulliage than before as well. There was even new concrete in front of the garage – nice!

3/3 – Another beautiful day – so sunny and warm, when not in the direct wind. I was sitting out front reading. Several people on the island. One person came up and started talking with me – very chatty. Wanted to know the history of the place – I talked with her for some time.

I noticed the last couple days a lot of people walking out on the pier and jetty causeway, but the waves were almost non-existant – so not much problem. I was telling the lady it was not safe to walk out there due to the waves coming over it most of the time.

Very lazy day and I enjoyed it!

Was up in the tower enjoying the sites and noticed they have a camera hidden up there on the ledge, pointing toward the beach walkway.

We haven't watched TV much in years and we were appauled and astounded at the level of depravity and stupidity that the shows and commercials portray. No wonder this country has fallen to the state of evil it has become – those false prophets fed violence and evil to the masses for far too long now. Society has become the nightmare Hollywood portrayed it in the 70's and 80's. We've been fairly insulated from much of this since we just watch old 40's – 60's movies mostly. It's such a shock every time we see what's on now.

Later in the day, William had to chase off another dog/dog owner – the guy claimed that yes, he saw the sign and thought it said, “no dog bathrooms.” Wow!

3/4 – 9 am Harlan was here updating William on the latest work in progress and what needed to be done – William will be sanding main beams in the basement in preparation for re-sealing and spraying/killing some invasive bugs – some type of beetle.

Very relaxing day – more clouds coming in, wind picking up, not as warm as lately. Storm looks to be coming – the barameter is up.

3/5 – Last night it started getting pretty blustery and by the middle of the night, full-blown storm. I had noted earlier in the day that the barameter was pretty normal, but later afternoon, the spout was pretty full. I knew it was going to hit. We didn't put the flag out due to the high winds yesterday or today.

Dottie called us about dinnertime and warned us to batten down the hatches! It was nice talking with her, but boy sue sure has a lot of issues to deal with now, her son being paralized and all.

This morning, I had to chase a crazy lady off the isle due to her dog running wildly about – I tried to get out the door and the dog tried to get in! She as totally unconcerned that her dog was not allowed here, but they ran off when I said go.

William went out to look for damage – some red shingles were on the ground, not sure where they came from. I saw one of the orange cones blowing down the pathway, caught it, put it with the others out of the wind. We had taken the little table and bench from out front and put it in the garage last night. William noted this morning one of the flower pots had fallen off the front porch and broke, so he set the others out of the wind. Pretty minimal damage over all.

Like I said to Dottie last night, we've taken this first week and have been pretty lazy – having a real vacation!

3/6 – Such a beautiful day! Sunny, warm, yet wind a bit cold. We had gotten 2 calls this past week: one Katie, a photographer and two Alexandrea, a blogger – I had told them that this weekend, Saturday especially, would be a great day to come out, we would talk with them, give them a tour, etc. They said they would call prior to arriving so we expected them all day! They never called or came by, that we knew of. I was rather irrited because we got the place all cleaned up, we were mentally prepped with our tour knowledge and I even got the cash register ready. So, William put the sign out saying he would give talks, but people didn't seem interested in waiting around for a group, so William and I went out and about talking with people. One person did want to buy something, so we let her in – a whole $7.35! We checked the outdoor donation box and found $17. in there. We probably talked with a dozen or so people and there were more than triple that out and about all day. Again, we had to chase people off with dogs! They were totally unconcerned that there are rules!!

3/7 – had a very lazy day, enjoyed a bit of sun. We've been in the Word every morning – usually about 9 -12, going through the “New Man” series by Curry Blake – awesome study.

3/8 – this morning started off sunny, but we watched 2 separate walls of rain come toward us. It was rather rainy and blustery today – colder too. Only a few people came out here – again, I had to chase a lady off with a big dog – she tried to ignore me. I told her several times, getting closer and closer, then when I was about upon her, she finally acknowledged me and said in a flippant way, “Oh, I didn't know dogs wern't allowed.” I could tell she did too know! She and the dog took their own sweet time getting off – only when I went down the path toward her, then she picked up her speed, giving me 'the look' over her shoulder.

3/9 – blustery, rainy day. Very cold out – very few people out and about. We haven't put the flag out these last 2 days due to the winds. Early afternoon, William set off the fire alarm while working in the basement. I was trying to type in the code into the alarm when William came upstairs and then the fire department called. I guess they had already set out at that point. At the end of the day, he couldn't re-set it due to multiple issues, it was saying, so he called the alarm company and they didn't have an answer! It sounded like someone was thumbing through a manual trying to figure it out and in the end they didn't know what to tell us! What good is such a company! What has happened to good, old-fashioned customer service with people that know what they are talking about??!

3/10 – Beautiful day! This morning we took our coffee outside in the sun and spotted not only the feeding seals, but at least 1 whale just past the big rock. He was obviously feeding as well.

Late morning, I was standing out back of the house looking for whales, when a guy came up and started asking me questions. I started talking about the history of the place, giving him a few cool stories. Then somehow we got to talking about spiritual things and one thing led to another; by then William came out and started adding to the conversation. The guy was almost in tears and kept saying, you have helped me so much, I want to give you a hug. I found that he was really listening to William so I went inside and let them to themselves. I guess William really impacted the guy, he started weeping, they prayed together, then the guy went down to the beach and got his wife. We ended up giving them a tour of the place (Tom and Kelly from Rogue River), they absolutely loved it and now want to be keepers as well. We exchanged phone numbers. Tom ended up calling William later in the evening thanking him again for the wonderful conversation.

I ended up chasing off 2 different people due to dogs – 1 had 2 little dogs on leashes but the other had a big dog not on a leash. They all acted put out like, “whats the big deal, we didn't see any signs!!” I can't believe how many people just don't care about others or about rules. William ended up chasing someone off later in the day – same thing. Not too many people out here today overall.

3/11 – several, maybe 2 – 3 dozen people out here today – very beautiful day, many stayed till sunset, watching the beauty. Again, had to chase off another dog person.

The enemy really attacked William last night spiritually, due to the witnessing we've done lately. Methias called last night, had a great conversation until William started talking about what's 'really' going on (we are at war (truth vs lies), undergound cities, etc.) and when he got to the fact of 2,000 a day, American children/women are disappearing into the sex traffiking, etc., he hung up. William tried to call him back, then I did, and his phone was off.

Methias has always been one to stick his head in the sand and hide out in the country somewhere – isolates himself from all news. We realized that William overloaded him with too much 'truth' and he couldn't handle it.

3/12 – the most beautiful, warmest day of all! The water is almost flat. Most of the day under (8 – 2 maybe) high tide. William is finishing up downstairs with the sanding/painting, while I've been painting (watercolors) almost every day since I've been here – I've been doing Skillshare lessons. William washed all the downstairs windows and the fireplace window today. He kicked someone else off who had 2 big dogs – the guy told him, “I saw no sign.” Either the 2 large signs aren't big enough or people are just liars!

Afternoon, Williams brothers and Jen got here. We were walking around the lighthouse and I twisted my ankle, it was so painful and just got worse as the night wore on.

3/13 – water was even more flat than yesterday, not a ripple; however, no sun all day – cloudy, chilly, but no rain. Terry ended up staying in their van, but Jen and Jon stayed the night, but they left at 8 am this morning for the Redwoods – I had been looking forward to such an outing, I haven't been off this isle since we got here.

I had a miserable night on the chartroom loveseat, I couldn't even walk. William prayed over it again, we went through our bible study and he prayed again. I took a nap half of the day – just dozing in and out, still on the loveseat, but after I got up in the afternoon, my foot was better and I could hobble a little better.

3/14 – stormy day; the chartroom window leaks bad, had to mop water up off the window sill all day. The window in the stairwell in the tower leaks too – had to mop it up – left a towel there. The brothers left today – Terry never said much the whole time here, just sat with his phone/tv gadget and watched movies – pretty much stayed isolated. We had an awesome time last night playing spades with the 4 of us. The night before, Jen and I played only 2 games of Yatzee – she didn't seem too into it.

3/15 – beautiful, yet cold day. Sunny, but too cold to stand outside to enjoy it.

3/16 – Harlan came out about 9 am, checked over the work William's done thus far, instructed for whats more, etc. and chatted. Quite a nice time. Last 2 nights, we've had corned beef and cabbage and this morning he made potatoes, corned beef and egg – awesome.

absolutely beautiful day – started off cold (about 40 deg. or so), but by early afternoon, I was out on the front picnic table, sunbathing and reading and whale watching – I saw at least 6 or so and more way out in the distance – there had to be a large pod spread about the area. Up very close I saw at least 2 moms and their calves – it was such a warm, flat watered, beautiful day, I think they were playing out there – I saw several tails – small ones and larger ones – just no huge ones. I saw larger sprays and backs out further. We both spent a very lazy day, no bible study today (we did yesterday), nor the day before. It seems odd – we had gotten into such a great habit of bible study every day and I was liking it. We're already to video 9 of the “New Man Series”. I just finished reading an awesome book I found here: “My Old Man and the Sea”: A Father and Son Sail Around Cape Horn, by David Hays and Daniel Hays published in '95 of a trip they took in '84. Totally awesome read – hallerious journaling – bits of it were so very well written, it had me laughing I could so visualize it.

3/17 – the most beautiful day yet! It started off a bit cloudy, but it is sunny, water is flat, wind not so bad and warm enough to sit out and enjoy the day. I woke up to the sound of seals, sounding like they were just outside the house. I thought that unusual, went outside to investigate and there is a bird and seal feeding frenzy going on out in and beyond the kelp beds all around the isle. Hundreds of seals and birds, fighting each other for whatever it is they are catching. There were so many whales close by yesterday, that I think they must have pushed in several schools of fish to promote this feeding frenzy today.

Dozens of flowers are popping out now on the isle – the bigger yellow and pinkish ones from the bigger, banana like green/pink-tipped plants and then I just noticed a couple days ago the little pink flowers on the little succulants.

We slept in until 10:30 today! It was such a wonderful, lazy morning, thoroughly enjoyed it.

There have been a lot of people out here the past couple days – dozens – but, thankfully, no dogs to chase off! We've spent more time in the tower the past couple days watching whales – the water sparkles so beautifully, it was awesome watching it all.

I've been reading another book from here: Treasure at Battery Point by Helen Corbin – very good so far. Checked my bank account and there was $2800. in there! We were down to $1.91 – wow, God always provides in time!

3/18 – We went out to dinner last night – got off when the tide was still in a bit – went out over the pipe about 4:45 – went to Marios – a Greek/Italian restaurant. Decent, not the greatest.

While we were out last night, we stopped at Home Depot to get some brasso and a lightbulb for the nite lite. I had noticed in the 'store' that the brass plaques for sale (crews quarters, captain, etc.) were black from lack of polish. So I spent an hour polishing those and the front/inside of the Fresnel lense. My hands hurt, so I'll go at it all again later.

Woke up in the middle of the night hearing the serf real loud – a moderate size storm upon us today – the sea all a foamy, rolly mass, rain, cold .. we're inside with the fireplace going watching the seagalls pick over the debris from yesterday – hundreds of them still out there on the water. Fun to watch them ride the waves.

Collected $72. from the donation box outside today. There's been a lot of people up here lately!

3/19 – white, frothy water today. Lots of wind – we didn't put the flag out yesterday or today. Some breaks in the clouds, but off and on rain today.

The bug guy and Harlan came out here today. Very short lived – the guy came all the way from the Klamath area just to advise that a whole lot worse problem existed that expected and now William has to do a ton more sanding. I guess there's some type of beetle boring into the wood down there, much worse than expected. Harlan also brought out a new heater for the bathroom, one of those oil-filled ones.

I polished more brass – I've never seen those mirrors/brush set in the bathroom look so shiny! It's a lot of work!

3/20 – beautiful day today – so sunny and calm. Saw a whale. There were dozens and dozens of people out here, in big groups even, before 1 pm! So many dogs! People refuse to follow any sort of rules now on purpose. Had to send 3 dog/dog owners away – one just looked at me and took her own sweet time, making sure I noted that she was going to take her own sweet time.

We've been getting lot out of that bible study we're going through.

By the end of the day there were well over 100 people out here today and at least a dozen dogs to be run off!

3/21 – Beautiful day. Lots of whale sightings today real close – families, babies as well as very large ones. My family/grandkids came today so we gave them a tour (they didn't stay long). William was outside most of the day giving verbal tours, the some wanted to come in to buy from the store, then especially this group from Modesto, CA wanted a tour. Before you knew it, we gave partial tours today for 13 adults and 7 kids – indoor donations $30., outdoor donations $47., and over $300 in sales!

When William was putting out the flag this morning, he took his usual tour around the isle checking for garbage and such, found a plastic bag full of dog poop under the picnic table out front!! I couldn't believe the attitude of the people with dogs coming up here yesterday – acted like 'what's the big deal!' - dog poop is the big deal!

3/22 – Wow, are the 4 signs below that say “No Dogs” just not big enough?! 2 big dogs first thing this morning even! “Oh, I didn't see the sign,” they say. Really? By the end of the day, there were 8 dogs, mostly big, run off AND William picked up 2 large piles of poop! One had already been stepped in! I have never seen such blatant disrespect for someone's property before – the attitudes AND flat out disrespect! I don't ever remember it being this bad the other 3 times we've been here.

Overcast day, flat water! Cold, not much wind and no waves most of the day, just a few small ones at the end of the day. Lots of people today.

3/23 – very cold, windy, but not a cloud in the sky - not even the usual along the horizon. A lot of white caps due to wind, but not too many waves. What is really funny to watch are the antics of the male seagull that rules this isle – hell sit outside the window trying to get our attention, then he'll start pulling up tufts of grass, look at us with his mouth full, then spit it out and get another if we didn't rise and feed him right away. What gets me is that he'll do all that, we feed them, then they fly away before they even finish eating it all! He's not hungry, just spoiled!

This morning's walk around the place revealed a banana peel left on the walkway, small bits of garbage and a glass bottle. People are so rude!

William didn't put the flag out today since the gusts of wind are to get to 30+ mph. Harlan came here to work in the basement with William today.

Late afternoon, a father and a maybe 5 year-old girl were out here, the girl was only wearing a skimpy, sleeveless sundress, arms hugging self, shivering, and the man looked like he wasn't paying any attention. I went out there, was wearing my turquoise sweater, and I offered it to the girl. She wasn't sure at first, and I said, “its warm and you look cold.” She finally came over and took it and the man said they were from Brookings and that she insisted to wear what she was wearing. I just answered with that it was bothering me to see her so cold and that she could keep the sweater. “Maybe next time she'll remember to dress properly.” I said that more for the man in that he is responsible to teach the kid how to dress appropriately! It was extremely windy and very cold, even though it was very sunny all day. I would say the wind was more than 30 mph by that point, with gusts about to blow one over.

Considering how cold and windy it was, I was surprised to see how many people (and dogs!) were out here – at least 50 +.

3/24 – wind looks to be coming from the west, off and on some whitecaps, but mostly calm sea, partially sunny, a bit overcast. Not as chilly as yesterday, but a bit windy.

Harlan came up to work in the basement; however, William couldn't do anythng today. Sanding yesterday really made him bad off – his lungs were really hurting him last night and he had to use his breathing machine several times yesterday and so far several times this morning. He was coughing up white globs all day. Harlan came with proper masks with filters in them.

As the day went on, the wind really picked up. Our favorite time of the day is between 7 – 8, right after sunset, we like to sit up in the bathroom window, enjoying the scene, and just sit and unwind.

3/25 – Harlan came by again this morning about 11 and while he carried old windows out of the basement to the boat house, William got to sanding again – this time with the filtered mask and proper goggles, he was able to do the work for a few hours. He came up once with something in his eye, but he was much better than yesterday.

I polished more brass – especially in the tower – I've never seen it so shiny! Last couple days the winds have been at least 40mph plus! Very strong, out of the north one day – very cold. Haven't been flying the flag for a few days. It is fun to watch the gulls, the way they love to just soar – when the winds are strongest, they look as if they are playing, soaring between each other. What's funny is to watch when they get out of balance and the gulls start 'peddling' their feet like crazy – they get their balance back with that.

3/26 – I met a lady outside this afternoon, whom I started talking with, telling stories of this place etc. She said she was from Lima, Peru, but right now lives in Oregon, but will be going back to Mexico to live in Cabo San Lucas. Anyway, we started then talking about God, but I soon realized that after she said her friends who were Muslam and Hindu also believe in the same God, she was one of those universilist type believers. I kept saying 'thank you Jesus,' or the only way to God is through Jesus, and such, but then she said she prays for the devil that he may be saved. And I said, no way, he's condemned and that was why hell was made, etc. Anyway, I'm praying she finds the truth.

3/28 – yesterday was such an amazing day! Saturday, the most beautiful, warmest, sunniest, day possible and we left the lighthouse for the day. Tide was starting to cover at 8:15 am when we left. We went out to breakfast, my 2nd outing since we got here. We stuffed ourselves and enjoyed the leasurly breakfast very thoroughly. We then went to Walmart to get the lighthouse shopping out of the way, we then headed out to St. George point, viewed for a bit at the most beautiful, sun-diamond-sparkling sea-spot, then decided to go back into town because we forgot to bring something to drink. I went into Dollar Tree, and went a little too crazy buying candy (I came home later to make a goodie bag out of it all), and $17 later I finally came out with the needed drinks. We went back out, this time all the way out to the point, found a sitting spot and had the most wonderful time viewing the white caps coming ashore, where behind were snow-covered mountain peaks popping out from purple-cast foreground foothills. There was a purplish-haze covering the horizon in all directions, but we could see quite clearly, St. George Lighthouse. Beautiful time. We drove back into town sometime afternoon, looking for a Subway (or the like), gave up after awhile and went to the printers to print out the previous portion of this lighthouse journal (x 2 for the board and for the lighthouse binder). We then headed out the backway to the Jedidiah Smith State Park to see the redwoods. It seems as though the whole countryside was outside and at the beach or in town or in the Redwoods today. We did finally find a quiet spot to hang a bit. We never did eat lunch.

We got back to the lighthouse about 2:30, tide was just down by say maybe 20 min or so, but we just sat on a bench, looking over the beach, awaiting a parking spot at the front where we could view our car from the lighthouse. However, after quite awhile waiting, it didn't look as if that would happen in the near future. While waiting, I was eating my chex mix snack and several ground squirrels came over and actually crawled up on me! However, they would not eat the chex mix – shows what poisions are really in those things – however, I did find a baggie in my pocket of the choc.chip cookies I made the other day. They were all over me for that! Then, I found a small amount of sunflower seeds in a baggie and one squirrel was on my lap, head inside the baggie stuffing his pouches full, which were already full from the cookie! I patted them, they were soft, even though they were obviously moulting. Fun time, indeed!

Anyway, we finally get up to the lighthouse, William went to take a nap, and I took my book outside, sat at the picnic table out front, about 3:30, thinking I could keep an eye out for the visiters we were expecting. The evening of the 26th, maybe around 5 or so, this family was walking by the chart-room window (along with dozens of others – it was very beautiful out; however, very chilly due to the strong, cold winds), our sun-shade was down (and when the sun shines directly on it, like it was doing then, you can't see through it), and we were just sitting there, William on the computer and me playing a pen-and-paper Suduko game, and she walks up to the window to peer in, saying, “I see someone in there writing or something,” so I lift the shade a bit, stick my face in the window about the time she got close, startling her when I made a face and said, “yes, someone's in here!” We both laughed and went about our business. However, God wouldn't leave me alone. He kept saying, “Go out and talk to her.” I was comfortable where I was and I didn't really want to, so I waited through a couple times Him saying that. I finally got up and said, “fine, I'll go”, I thought to myself, but William said, 'What?” and I just said, “I'm going outside to check around.” I go out there and start talking to the lady, who was standing at the picnic table along with some others laughing and talking. They were sooooo interested in talking with me, hearing some stories, I invited them in for a quick tour of the tower (man, boy, woman), then one thing led to another and I told her how God told me to go talk to her. She lit up and got all excited and said something like, “I knew it!” Anyway, they went on out and William and I went to the tower so they could take our pictures outside the tower. They were so excited about meeting us, even though I don't remember saying anything all that extraordinary, but as we were above, they shouted to us, “We want to give you a gift. $20.?” and I yelled back, we can't take $$ but you can put it in the donation box. Again, “he yelled up, we want to give YOU a gift. What do you like? Wine, beer? I know, I bet you're a Jack Daniels guy.” And William said, “No, not really, but we sometimes like wine – a German or a French wine.” So they agreed to come back the next evening to talk with us some more, bringing some wine.

So, I had a feeling then yesterday, while sitting out and reading in the sun, that I may have missed seeing them being so engrossed in my book, that about 4 pm, I walked around and was about to come to the back door, when there they were, at the back door! They were so excited to see me, he says, “I bought my whole family (they had driven up from south of Reading, CA the day before, for an impromptu, last minute, not really planned trip to this lighthouse). The lady kept saying, “I knew God planned this trip.” Anyway, the family: man, boy, woman, 2 other woman (woman's sisters), 2 teen girls; we invited them in and they all just took seats in the chart-room, floor, couch, they gave me the wine and I passed around the goodie bag of candy for each a handful, and William stood in the entrance to the kitchen and we started talking. They were asking questions, William/and or I would answer, but in reality, it was like a surreal event: it was like sometimes I was aware and sometimes I wasn't, kind of like fading in and out, and I really don't remember much about the words I was speaking, but it was most obvious the words were making MAJOR impact on everyone in the room! The Holy Spirit really took over the conversation and it was SO obvious this was a major God-moment, healing and major revelations was taking place within these people. At one point, I was answering a question of, “how do you know what to say when casting out a demon?” this coming from one of the most inquisitive teens, and I don't remember thinking about this, but just saying, “in the name of Jesus, you be gone from here you spirit of depression!” and I pointed right between the two women. William continued to minister to them and many of them were in tears, and right then, someone knocked on the window, disrupting the moment and it was Michael and his wife (William's boss). I knew right then that the perverbal 'monkey' just threw in the 'wrench' to wreck this moment – an attack of the enemy! I was quite astounded (though shouldn't have been), realizing the timing of this intrusion. I left William to continue talking (by now, he was sitting on the floor, really intense, sometimes in tears himself), and I went out to say, “what the heck are you doing here?” to Mike and his wife. He informed me he 'got a whim' around 1 pm to come running down here to see us. He informed me that he had called William, left a message AND txt. William never got a single call today, that he was aware of! Anyway, I brought him into the already crowed room, I suggested everyone retire to the front room. I had inturrupted William in the middle of his intense story of meeting a demon for the first time, and the crowd was intensley awaiting the rest of the story, saying “what happened? What happened?” as we were moving. We quickly settled, then wanting to hear the story, William finished, they asked questions, William preaching, and I knew I had to get Michael and his wife up to the tower so as not to interrupt any longer (he kept whispering to me, we gotta get going soon), so I took them on up. Michael was especially amazed about the house/tower/history, I then took them into all the other rooms, then into the Parlor, seeing as we passed, William again was intense and they were all in tears. Michael especially loved all the stories. Then Michael's wife started asking some really searching, good questions in response to some of what William was saying (as she heard bits and pieces). I could tell she really wanted to go in and hear more (Michael was acting impatient, wanting to have William take him to the basement and talk with him.) I knew this was a direct attack from the enemy, but wanted to accomidate both events. I finally inturrupted William, they and the guys all went to the basement, William leaving me in charge of praying deliverance upon this one particular lady (fear, depression – her son in juvie for bad deeds, etc) she herself even questioned me about what I said earlier, and I told her that “God said that out of my mouth, for I had no intention of saying those words.” That really impacted her. We prayed over her (all the ladies laying hands on her) and I gave them an overview of how to keep your freedom/healing, how to stay in the word, praise/worship songs, etc. I took the women to the tower, spoke more, answered more questions. The guys came back, everyone left about the same time (around 7 or so). The bottom line: these people got a crash course of Christianity 101 – 110! Pretty much our stories AND what we had been learning from Curry Blake – for we ourselves have been having intense bible studies this past month, going through his “New Man” series.

We have found that God brought us down here with a whole other agenda – not to minister to the people we've met here before, but a new thing: fill us up with more wisdom, knowledge, and power and then to impart what we were learning to 'select' people he's led us to talk with here at the lighthouse. It has been a very powerful time!

3/31 – We had another awesome God encounter today. William was out walking about, talking with people while I was inside cleaning getting ready for move-out day tomorrow. He comes running in asking if I minded him bringing in a few people for a quick tour. Of course, when God shows someone to 'give a tour' to, He ends up doing a whole lot more! Sure enough, William brings in this family of 3 kids, parents, we give them a tour and intersperse a message from God at the same time – for well over an hour. But most powerful, by the time William led them all outside, they were asking questions and William spoke with them for quite some time – they were very impacted. Cool!