December 22. It was already 9:30 before I had a chance to sit down at the computer and do anything this morning. Was able to have some quiet time while pancakes were cooking and afterward. When I was done eating breakfast and had cleaned up the kitchen, I blew the chaff off the pan of dried corn kernels and put the kernels away. Then I husked three more ears of corn and set them to dry. After that I sorted and washed the pumpkin greens that Ema had brought yesterday afternoon. Made the bed. Put some cucumbers and a popo out by the pulpit for the offering. Cut up half of the pumpkin greens (the top half that had already dried off) and an onion into the pressure cooker. Put away the cooled pancakes, my popo topping, and a little dab of syrup. Cut up the rest of the greens, seasoned them, and put them on to cook. Then I started making a file of the verses that Daddy needs printed out to use during the special meetings next week. Worked on that until church time. There were a lot of people here for the meeting this morning. Matthew preached on taking care of the pastors and missionaries. This afternoon Amos continued preaching on marriage, emphasizing that marriage between a Christian and non-Christian is out of the question. After that, I finished the list of verses for Daddy and then worked on the notes on “Music — Good or Bad” so the students can have copies of what Daddy taught them. This evening, the students came to talk about special music for the special meetings, choose some songs, and then practice a little, which was a bit hard since I don’t have music printed with the Pidgin words.
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December 20. We were surprised to see blue sky when we got up this morning as it had rained quite a bit during the night. The first project this morning was to get acknowledgments written on the December updates for mailing and get that file into the outbox ready to go to Christy. Extra time was taken up doing some reformatting after switching the file to the old computer. Then I measured a piece of board to add to the back of a shelf in the school room, and Lewis cut the board for me. The shelf was several inches away from the wall, and I wanted to add enough for it to meet the wall. Later in the morning, we checked Revelation chapter 7, and there was still a little time after that for me to do more proofreading of Matyu. David finished cutting the pathway to the airstrip today and also trimmed up some firewood that was too hard to be sawn up for firewood and has gotten that ready to use for more fence posts. He still needs to get a little more wood for fence posts, level out the trail to the airstrip, and build a bridge across the ditch. This afternoon, I proofread more of Matyu, and Daddy and I also checked Revelation chapters 8 and 9. Once again we praise the Lord for His wisdom and guidance in this awesome task. Nuanda, Amos, and Matthew came this evening, and we worked together going through Matyu. There were several mistakes they found that we over-looked so it was a profitable time together. We finished through chapter six so will need to get together again several more times in order to finish. December 21. After lotu, I did various jobs — looking for shirts for Amos’s two boys, changing the bed sheets (except I got side-tracked when Daddy came in with diesel spilled all over his trousers so didn’t get the bed put back together until after dinner), putting together and putting away the grist mill I had washed yesterday evening, etc. Sunny came and made Daddy’s coffee and swept the floors. Then I spent a good amount of time searching for the picture file I had made for the MTP outreach class. Looked through every one of my flash drives, and some of them two or three times. Finally found a second MTP folder on the school flash drive; and, praise the Lord, the picture file was in that folder. Don’t know why it wasn’t in the main folder that I’ve been using. After that, I went to the kitchen and put a pot of rice on to cook for dinner. Then prepared uxai and onions to cook. And while things were cooking, I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. After nap, I washed my hair. Then looked for songs that the school quartet may want to sing for the special meetings. Shortly after we started eating supper, Asenat came. I finished eating my rye crackers with egg salad and then went and spent some time with her. After she left, I finished my supper and then had a bath. Please note: I share this part of the journal notes so that people can be prayed for and so that those who read can see that trials and temptations and difficulties are the same on the other side of the world as they are here. We all need a close relationship with Jesus to help us keep us pure and right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- December 18. Didn’t get much sleep last night. The first rat that has been around in weeks (praise the Lord for a lengthy break from those persistent creatures) made constant noise chewing on something — chew, chew, chew, chew, chew. I got up several times, but couldn’t pinpoint where it was. Strangely, it didn’t run away. It just kept on chewing. Then Daddy got up several times; and, after the second time when he moved something around in the storage closet, we didn’t hear it anymore. A while after that, I finally was able to get some sleep. Matthew preached in lotu this morning on the role of the father in the home, seeking to encourage fathers to better rule their homes as there are so many problems among the youth these days. Interestingly, he asked his children where they thought the problem lies, and they said “with the fathers.” He also hit the nail on the head when he said, “Since we’ve been sending our children to town to school, they have been bringing back a lot of evil things.” We had told them several years ago that these things would happen, but education is such a priority in their thinking, that they are willing to let spiritual things suffer. Also the teachers of the community school here introduce all kinds of vices and wrong thinking and actions into the lives of these children. They didn’t want to pay for their children to go to Christian school when they had the opportunity so now they are paying in the spiritual and moral depravity of the young people. It is very sad. We praise the Lord for the few youth who have taken a stand and seek to live for Christ in the midst of a heathen world. They need much prayer to continue to stand and let their light shine before men. After lotu, we met with Philemon and Lynn who are planning a New Year’s Eve event for the youth. And after snack, the Lord helped Daddy and me to check Revelation chapter 3. Several of the church men were hear later this morning replacing the rest of the rotten foundation posts on the front side of the house. We are very thankful for their work and to know that is done. I was also very thankful to get a good sleep at nap time after not getting much sleep last night. This afternoon, Daddy and I checked Revelation chapters 4 and 5. Praise the Lord for His help in completing that. This evening, I spent time finding verses to go with the next ladies’ meeting lesson I am working on and worked a while on the lesson. “20He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.” Romans 4:20-22 December 19. Right after breakfast this morning, we started the laundry. It looked like it was going to be a rainy day, but we still hung the clothes outside. It was a long time before the fog lifted, but we were thankful that it didn’t rain. And even though there wasn’t much sunshine, all the clothes were dry by nap time. This afternoon, the sun came out a bit, but there were still a lot of clouds. But no rain. Rain would be welcome as the weather is quite dry again. After hanging out the clothes, I worked on the monthly update for a while. Daddy shelled peas again, and later in the morning, I husked uxai and cut up some onion, putting both in the pan with the peas to cook for dinner. David had come early this morning and was busy clearing the trail across to the airstrip. It hadn’t been done for a long time, and the grass was tall and tough so it took him all morning. (He still needs to make a bridge so I can get across the ditch.) When he was done, we invited him to have dinner with us. We had plenty of leftover potatoes and yams and there was plenty of the uxai veggie medley. After nap, I finished up the December update. Then Daddy remembered that we needed to boil eggs for egg salad sandwiches so I picked out five eggs and set them on to boil. Then we sat down to work on checking Revelation. Now don’t forget, in five minutes I need to take the eggs off the fire. We got busy checking Revelation, and five minutes went buy. Ten minutes went by. Fifteen minutes. Twenty, twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five. Sniff, sniff. What’s that smell. Oh, no! The eggs. All the water had evaporated out of the pan, and the eggs were about to pop. Hurry and turn them off. Dump them into the dish drainer to cool. Next time, wait five more minutes before starting to work on another project. :-) Went back and made corrections in the Revelation file. Then washed, peeled, and cut up a cucumber for supper before peeling the eggs and making them into egg salad. Enjoyed our supper, washed the dishes, wrote a couple e-mails, had a sponge bath, and then wrote in journal. After snack, I printed out a copy of the update so we could proofread it, and finished setting up the file with letters to be mailed. “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.” Song of Solomon 2:3
December 16. The dry season weather is still pretty much with us. We have had some rains during the past month, but not enough to keep the ground wet. There is still a lot of haze and/or smoke in the air. This morning, Daddy and I finished checking Revelation chapter one; and this afternoon, we were able to check chapter two so we praise the Lord for His enabling. We are going to try to do two chapters a day so we can get it finished in time to print out copies for the school students before school starts. After doing chapter 1 this morning, I gathered up all the trash, and we went outside so I could burn the trash and so we could also get some sunshine and fresh air. When we came back in, I worked on the 20/20 Bible lessons for the beginning of the new school year. Fixed a panful of uxai and onions for dinner, and we finished up the last two fish patties. David and his boys brought fence posts this morning; and David came this afternoon and did more work on the fence. This evening, I started setting up the book of Mark for proofreading. “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” Romans 2:13 December 17. We decided to wait until Thursday to do laundry since there wasn’t quite enough for two loads. So I used some of the morning time to work on the 20/20 Bible lessons for school. Another part of the time, I helped Daddy put the enamel paint on the kitchen wall. Praise the Lord, that job is done, and it makes such a big difference in the look of the wall! Also washed and peeled a few potatoes, a few kaukau, and a large yam to cook for our dinner. David came late morning and worked on the fence again. Amos came by and brought the copy of Matthew that he had finished. And Nuanda came by to talk with Daddy too. This afternoon, I worked on proofreading and revising MTP lessons (Missionary Training Program); we put the new curtains up in the kitchen; and I put some different curtains up in the laundry room too, which hopefully will keep out some of the late afternoon brightness. Worked more on 20/20 this evening. Daddy met with the pastors and Nuanda to decide on dates for end of year/New Year meetings.
November 29. Warm all night, and dry and hot today. Up to 81º in the house this afternoon. The air has been extremely hazy, making us wonder if we may be going to have a period of drought. On the other hand, a lot of dark clouds have built up this evening. Will they bring rain, or will they be clouds without rain? We finished a lesson in Bible class today and the students will have a quiz on Monday. There is one more lesson left in John chapter 9. That should see us through if we finish early. Otherwise, I will need to decide on a short Bible lesson to teach after that. They had their science test today which finishes the science course for the year, and there is not time to do another unit in history. So I plan to use that extra class time to finish the spelling unit they have started. “Free” time this morning was spent getting dry ingredients together for lemon pancakes (using a lemon muffin recipe, but I don’t have muffin pans); getting lesson plans made for Monday; grading math lessons and science tests; proofreading Matyu. This afternoon, I did more proofreading of Matyu, got the students’ copy made for the next Bible lesson, and cooked the lemon pancakes. Enjoyed a couple of those with my supper. After supper, while dish water was heating, I printed the Bible lessons and the game plan for fun day. Later in the evening I worked on the studies in Revelation. November 30. Wow! Where has the year gone. Only one month left. The Lord gave us another dry day and a hot afternoon — up to 86º. But He did give us some wind today, which we hadn’t had for the past couple days, and also sent some sprinkles of rain this evening. Amos rang the bell early (6:00) for lotu, and people came early, and we finished early too. Tomas had charge of lotu this morning. The rest of the day, the village was pretty much deserted. David had said he was going to try to finish the fence today, but didn’t show up. This evening, he sent his boys up to get his tools and sent a note saying that his body was hurting too much today so he wasn’t able to come. Sunny did laundry after lotu Also swept the floors and burned the trash. I wrote a couple e-mails and looked for the book on good foods for the body that Connie had made up. Amos and Mata had asked after lotu for a list of what to eat to help their bodies be fit for the Lord’s service. I found the “book” in the file cabinet. It had all loose pages as it had not been bound into book form. There were too many pages to staple, but later I found a small ring binder that was just the right thickness, punched holes in the pages, and now we have a “book.” To go with leftovers for dinner, I cooked up one of the bunches of carrots Daddy had brought home from town. Thank the Lord for carrots. It was nice to have carrots for a change. We hadn’t been able to get any good carrots for a while. After lunch, we went out and brought the clothes in. Then I put a clean sheet on the bed, and we had our nap. Right after nap, I washed my hair. Then I had a fruit snack; practiced keyboard as the students want to sing tomorrow, and Daddy wants me to play a few songs with different moods when he teaches my music class on Monday; cleaned the keyboard as it was quite dusty; cut up a popo, cut up a couple tomatoes for supper; worked a bit on the studies in Revelation for next year’s Bible class. After supper and washing dishes, I worked more on Revelation while bath water was heating. Wrote in journal after bath and then continued with studies in Revelation. “5Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. 6Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” Proverbs 30:5,6 December 1. Very clear skies today. Hot and dry still and very little wind. An orange crescent moon this evening. Praise the Lord for His help today in playing for the students and for the students singing well. Thank the Lord too for helping Daddy with preaching too, and also Amos in the second meeting. “7Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8
November 27. Sun was up bright and early and so were we. It was another cold night, but not as cold as the night before — another degree warmer. :-) And the day was soon to warm up. There is still a lot of smoke around, even more than there has been, and it is really doing a number on my eyes. Judy came early to wash clothes. I went out to help her so she wouldn’t be too late for lotu. I was happy to get out in the sunshine too. Daddy got out some notes that he had preached on before and did the preaching. My heart was blessed as I listened to Daniel “mmming” agreement and even saying “Amen.” I pray that, as Daniel continues to mature, God will use him to do a great work for His glory. After lotu, I gave Yanahdo a box which she asked for to keep her clothes in, and also gave her a shawl to keep her warm on these cold mornings. She was delighted. Then we started school. Did some review exercises in math first. Then the students finished the review exercises in their books. Then we started looking at solving reading problems with fractions and did some class practice. We’ll go over that again tomorrow and have them do the written exercises. After reading a portion of Matthew 13 together, they worked on the written exercises that they had started yesterday in English class. And the whole of science class they spent studying for their coming test. In art class, they started drawing a rooster. Most of the times when they were doing independent work, I was busy in the kitchen. Started preparing ingredients for a pot of soup, but didn’t get that done in time to have soup for my dinner so had lunch instead. Prepared spaghetti for Daddy’s dinner, and he will have his lunch this evening. While I was finishing lunch, Daddy went out and brought the clothes in. After my lunch, I cut up a couple more sweet potatoes for the soup. Then we had our nap. After nap, I added seasonings to the soup and put it on to cook. Wrote tomorrow’s lesson plans and corrected Dallas’s English paper. Wrote in journal. This evening, I wrote an e-mail, looked over the coming math test to see if it would need any revisions, and worked on a game plan for the end of school. November 28. There were more clouds last night and more fog this morning, but the weather was much warmer, and we still had a dry, warm, mostly sunny day. David came and did more work on the fence this morning. His boys helped him a while, and Silvia came later and helped. Then everyone went up to the top of the mountain to watch/play soccer with Aziana. Most of the afternoon and evening, I’ve worked on game plans and gathering things together for the games, decorations, prizes, gifts. Had everything together by a little after 9:00 so everything is ready for a day of fun, except for the decorations and food which won’t be done until the day before. I did also have an afternoon snack, eat supper, do the dishes, take a bath, write a couple e-mails, and have an evening snack. November 25. Another dry season day, but lots of smoke, and my eyes have been troubling me. It makes it really hard to do any computer work. The temperature this morning was a couple degrees higher than yesterday morning—48º—but still pretty cold. I went outside in the sunshine again for a while before school. The math lesson today was quite simple and short, so they finished in less than one class time. It was nice to be able to start English class a bit early and then go on to science, thus finishing school a little earlier today, and also having nap a bit earlier. After nap, there were lesson plans to finish for tomorrow, and math exercises to write on the chalkboard. Did a bit of computer work until supper time. After supper, while I was waiting for the dishwater to heat, I started writing an e-mail. Finished that after doing dishes and wrote another short one before having a sponge bath. After that there was a lot of printing to do — new Bible lessons and quizzes, science study notes, and science tests. November 26. Another very cold night — down to 49º this morning, a degree higher than yesterday. :-) The sky was still studded with stars at 5:00 this morning. The skies are clear again this evening so it looks like we may be in for another cold night. The morning was busy, not just with school, but with food preparation. Put eggs on to boil for egg salad sandwiches for supper. Worked on sorting and washing greens whenever the students were doing independent work. After I finally got them washed, I set them to dry in the colander until after dinner. At noon, while the students were working on an English lesson, I made root veggie/meat pancakes for dinner with the leftover root veggies and meat gravy. I cooked one pancake and warmed up the rest of the uxai/pumpkin medley so Daddy could have his dinner. After school was out (1:20), I cooked my pancake and rewarmed the veggies so I could eat my dinner. After dinner, I went out to say hello to Silvia and get a couple pictures of her and David working. David worked about six hours today, making a new gate for the back yard and starting to put in new fence posts. He is a hard worker and is doing a nice job. Made a really nice gate. Silvia helped him. His older boys helped bring the posts for the fence, and the two younger boys helped with little jobs like cleanup. After talking with Silvia a little bit, I came in and cleaned up the kitchen; put the greens, water, and seasonings in the pressure cooker and set them on the stove to cook later; and then lay down for a nap. After nap, I started the greens cooking; then washed and cut up a popo and made popo crisp. Had a snack. Started writing lesson plans for tomorrow. Put math review exercises on the chalkboard. Peeled and mashed the eggs and mixed them with mayonnaise for supper. Cut up a tomato. Then we had supper. Finished up the lesson plans while I was waiting for bath water to heat, and then had bath. Answered the door a couple times. Praise the Lord for the eight eggs that Teresa brought to sell us. Then Aggie brought his phone to be charged and I welcomed him beck to Owena. After doing dishes, I worked on some game ideas for the last day of school. |
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