May 26. Warmer last night and this morning. A mixture of clouds and sunshine today, but no rain. It was 6:45 when I woke up this morning. Better hurry and get going. Pancakes to make for breakfast. Had a little time to read my Bible and pray in between cooking each pancake and while I was eating breakfast. Spent more time in prayer after breakfast. Then I turned on the computer to work on the new Bible lesson until lotu time, only to find out after a few minutes that the office clock was dying and needed a new battery. So it was later than I thought. People weren’t quite so late for lotu this morning. Daddy finished preaching the second lesson in the discipleship booklet, reviewing first the sections on what salvation is and what repentance is, and then covering the section on faith. Matthew preached the second meeting on having a consistent testimony by being the same person when you are away as you are at home, using as his text Luke 2:46-52. This afternoon, I wrote some math exercises on the chalkboard, made up a new math lesson, finished writing tomorrow’s lesson plans, and finished up the questions for thought in the new Bible lesson. This evening, I printed out the math lessons and prepared a copy of the first leadership lesson so each of the men can have a copy without the teacher’s notes. “12What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. 13His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth. 14The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.” Psalm 25:12-14 It is those sinners who fear the LORD whom the LORD will instruct, direct, point out the way, show the road. And He will teach them in the way that HE shall choose. Those who fear Him will be willing and pleased to accept God’s choice. His soul shall dwell at ease (fine, glad, good, joyful, pleasant, prosperity, sweet). The secret (intimacy, counsel) of the LORD is with those that fear Him also. And God will show (make known, teach, give understanding) His covenant to those who fear Him.
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May 24. Another cold morning, but very warm in the afternoon. Rain this evening, but broken clouds and visible stars by bedtime. I was thankful for quite a bit of computer time this morning as the students had a fair bit of independent work to do—math exercises to finish, spelling exercises to finish, study for science quiz and take quiz. Made up a Bible quiz as we will finish the current lesson on Monday. Worked on improving the leadership lessons which Daddy wants to start soon. After school, the men cut firewood and Anna Jean filled up the washing machine and buckets. Today is Judy Javin’s birthday, and I had prepared a little gift bag for her. Anna Jean said she would be going that way when she left, and she was willing to drop the gift off at Javin’s house for me. After nap, I made a popo crisp because there is lots of popo, and it goes bad quickly. Then I finished up the first leadership lesson and have that ready to print out. This evening, I printed several items and also wrote a Bible lesson for next week. I had hoped to start on the preaching lessons, but I need to wait until our white card stock comes with our shipment so I can print out pictures for the students to color to go with the chronological lessons. “4Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. 5Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” Psalm 25:4,5 A special prayer to make my own. How I need the LORD to show me His ways, to teach me His paths, to lead me in His truth. I need to wait on Him the whole day long, for He is the God of my salvation. May 25. Cold again over night. I guess it’s “winter” here. We’re thankful for the wood stove and for sunshine to warm up the morning. If we open the doors and windows somewhat early, that will draw more warm air inside too, as it warms up more quickly outside than it does in. Not very many in lotu this morning. Many people are still picking coffee and digging gardens. Only the faithful few were here—a baker’s dozen all together. After lotu, Mata swept the meeting room floor. It was quite dirty. Anna Jean did our laundry, cut up a pumpkin, and swept our floors. I wrote an e-mail to Christy and Connie, helped Anna Jean hang up the king-size bedsheet, washed the chalkboard, and started a music lesson for Monday’s class. Yunis came a little after 11:00 to pull weeds. I went out with her to show her where to work. My! Some of the weeds under the house were three feet high! We hadn’t even paid any attention to what was under the house until some of the girls asked to pull weeds. There are even two tomato plants growing under there. Yunis worked about 3 3/4 hours and earned K5, plus two lollipops and a chocolate wafer (a favorite of almost everyone). After lunch, Daddy and I went out and got the clothes down. We hung up shirts and blouses and things in the closet. Then we made the bed and lay down for a nice nap. After nap, I went out again to see how Yunis was doing and also to get a bit more sunshine. Spent most of the afternoon working on the music lesson. Just before supper, I took the trash out and burned it. After supper, I graded the math lessons while the dish water was heating. Then washed the dishes. Finished the music lesson this evening and got both teacher’s and students’ copies printed out. Also tried to write discussion questions for the new Bible lesson, but am having a hard time with this one. “8Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. 9The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.” Psalm 25:8,9 The LORD is good. That means He is bountiful, gracious, kind, loving, precious, and sweet. My wonderful LORD! And He is upright—just, impartial, exercising equity. Therefore He will show or point out to sinners (that’s me) the right road upon which to travel. He will give the meek (the humble, the lowly, the poor and needy) discretion to make the right decisions. And He will instruct the meek, that is, He will goad them so that they will stay on the right course in life.
May 22. The clothes got washed twice today—once in the washing machine and once by the rain. Judy had barely gotten the clothes hung out when the rain started, and it rained much of the morning. The sun only peeked out for about a half hour in the early afternoon; but, surprisingly, the clothes got mostly dry by the end of the afternoon. Probably because of the rain, not very many showed up for lotu. Matthew preached a good message this morning from Ephesians 2:13-17, showing how the blood of Christ had reconciled us to God and reconciled Jews and Gentiles together in one body. It was about 9:30 when we started school. More division practice today in math class, learning new things like short division and crossing out zeroes. In English class, we reviewed regular principle parts again, having them give the rules for making the past form. Then each one read to the class the story they had written. Then we reviewed the spelling words from the first lesson and went on to the second lesson. In science class, they wrote the answers to the study questions we went over yesterday. I didn’t expect it to take the whole class time, but it took most of it so there wasn’t time to go over them together and make sure they were correct. Judy was done way ahead of the others and helped Sunny. Then I had the two girls clean the erasers and the chalkboard and then the erasers again. Dallas finally finished and he started helping Mike. When the two girls finished cleaning the erasers, they also helped Mike. I heated up dinner; and as soon as the students left, we sat down to eat. We actually got to nap a little after 1:00 today. After nap, I washed my hair, got some little things together for a gift packet for Judy Javin for her birthday coming up on Friday, started on lesson plans for tomorrow, wrote some math exercises on the chalkboard, hung up a few clothes that Daddy brought in. We were very thankful that many of them were dry. This evening, I had an early bath again before the evening got too chilly. Finished writing tomorrow’s lesson plans. Worked on Bible lessons for school. Wrote a couple e-mails. “The LORD is my shepherd.” Psalm 23:1a The LORD (the self-Existent, eternal Jehovah God) is my shepherd. The LORD is (now, present tense, not will be, not may be, not perhaps; but constantly) my shepherd. The LORD is my (belonging to me, my very own) shepherd. The LORD is my shepherd (the one who takes care of me, protects me, feeds me, leads me, guards me, guides me). May 23. The night was clear and there were many stars and a very bright planet. The waning moon didn’t disappear until long after sunrise. The clouds began forming after morning arrived, and there wasn’t much sunshine today. Mike and Dallas are still dealing with a difficult situation in the family. At recess time, Mike asked for advice in dealing with the problem, and we were able to help him with some Biblical principles. Then Daddy took time to pray for him and his family before we went back to class. After nap, I finished erasing the chalkboard and cleaned the erasers, finished up tomorrow’s lesson plans, and had just a little time at the computer before starting work in the kitchen. There was a small bundle of greens that needed to be prepared as they were getting dried up, and a few spring onions that needed to be used up, so I sorted, trimmed, and washed all those and put them in the colander to drain. Then I got busy making spaghetti for supper. After supper, I cut up the greens and onions into the pressure cooker, seasoned them, added water, and put them on to cook. I also put water on to heat for dishes and worked on Bible study lessons for school while the water was heating. After washing dishes, I spent more time working on Bible study lessons. Then I checked over I Peter chapter 1 for spelling and grammar. “1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3 Dead, but alive. Dead to the things of the earth. Risen with Christ. A life hid with Christ in God. The person who is risen and has life in Christ seeks those things which are above, and has his affections set on those things. He is dead to all the things on the earth.
May 20. The Lord sent us a hard rain right after we went to bed last night. This morning there was blue sky and cotton puff clouds; but this afternoon, the weather turned cool and cloudy, and there was some light rain. The students moved their desks and books out into the office this morning so Matthew could put linoleum down on the schoolroom floor. It was mid-morning or after when Matthew came. He and Daddy spent quite a bit of time putting down flattened cardboard boxes first to try to even out the floor. After they got the first piece of Linoleum cut, they needed help carrying it into the schoolroom. So I let Dallas and Mike take a few minutes to help them. When they were ready to measure and cut the second piece, however, they had to use the other whole roll as there wasn’t enough left on the first roll. The whole roll weighed 39 kilograms; and that was much too heavy for Matthew to handle alone, and Daddy couldn’t help him. So they would either have to leave it until another day or have Mike and Dallas help. The students were in the middle of writing a story for English class, but I let them off for the day so they could help get that room done. Since the students were off early, I had Judy prepare the uxai with a small pumpkin and a couple onions. I had made a meatloaf and washed some kaukau and put those into the oven to cook earlier while the students were working independently. Had also transferred a few pictures to the computer while they were doing their written exercises in math. This afternoon, I made sure everything was in order for classes tomorrow and wrote a few exercises on the chalkboard. Then I made up a music quiz for Thursday. Did the dishes right after supper, as I have been doing, and had an early bath too before the evening got too cold. While I was waiting for the bath water to heat, I photocopied a couple multiplication speed tests and printed the music quizzes. After bath, I worked on ladies’ Pidgin lessons. “1To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! 2Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. 3For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. 4He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. 5His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. 6For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. 7For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.” Psalm 21:1-7 A very heart-warming, comforting, and heart-stirring portion of Scripture. May 21. Mike and Dallas (Elias) were late for school this morning as they were trying to help the family settle a problem. We had a shorter Bible class today, just praying, going over the verses, and doing the quiz. However, it wasn’t as short as I hoped, due to the fact that the men were late. We went right to music class after math, finishing up yesterday’s lesson, doing a little review, students’ writing answers to a few questions, singing “Olsem Wanem?”, and starting to learn “Blut Bilong Jisas, Em Tasol” (“Nothing But the Blood”). After recess, they quickly finished up chapter 9 math lesson. We skipped chapter 10 because it was too complicated and really unnecessary. Started review for chapter 11, but it jumps right into long division with three, and even four-digit divisors. I asked the students how many digits they worked with in divisors in eighth grade, and they said “only one.” I was quite surprised as we had started working with two-digit divisors in the fifth grade math book. Well, they certainly wouldn’t get the material in chapter 11. So we did some review practice on the chalkboard, including practice with one-digit divisors and checking by multiplication. We didn’t use the whole class time, because I didn’t have a suitable lesson to give them. Had to make up a lesson this evening. In English class, after review of principal parts, they finished writing the rough draft of their stories, and then wrote a good copy with ink. And in science class, they reread the lesson we’ve been working on, and we went over the study exercises together. Then we stopped for the day so the students could sand down their desk tops and cut and glue pieces of linoleum on them. Afterward, Judy filled the washing machine and buckets with water, ready for doing laundry early in the morning. The two men helped Daddy pump diesel fuel for the generator, and then everyone went home, and we had our nap. After nap, I started making lesson plans, then started making up the math lesson. Finished the math lesson this evening, wrote some math exercises on the chalkboard, and then finished making lesson plans. After that, I read e-mails, wrote in journal, and took a wee bath. “….all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.” Psalm 22:29 Every knee shall bow. There is no one who can save his own soul. Oh, how men need Christ!
May 19. Praise the Lord, I was able to rest fairly well last night after taking ibuprofen again. After breakfast this morning, I started working on tomorrow’s music lesson. Amos went over to Marivo to do public preaching this morning. He saw Endru and asked him if he would mind if he preached there. Endru not only was willing to have Amos preach, but he told him to preach on the church property. A good crowd came and heard the gospel that was preached from John 14:6. At first, Amos had gone down to Wanyapeq to preach; but Nuanda was out and ready to preach and requested that he have that privilege. Amos was glad to let him do that. We were told later that one individual asked Nuanda to tell them which day is the day of rest. Nuanda said, “If I tell you, you will just argue. If you really want to know, there are two Jewish men coming to preach soon at Bethel Baptist Church. Go and ask them.” Nobody rang lotu bells for GIBC meetings this morning, and there didn’t seem to be anyone around to ring them. Finally someone rang one bell. When Mike came to teach Sunday school, there was hardly anyone around; and by the time more children showed up, it had gotten to be too late to start Sunday school. It was almost church time. One of the children was asked to go ring the bell again so people wouldn’t be too late for church. Daddy preached this morning on salvation and repentance, reminding the believers of what salvation is and how it is obtained. He didn’t have time to cover the section on faith. Amos was scheduled to preach this afternoon, but he had forgotten and wasn’t prepared. Daddy was going to do the rest of the salvation lesson, but suddenly felt too weak and came back to bed. The people sang songs for a while and then went home. A good number of people had gone home after the first meeting, and they really need to hear the rest of the preaching so perhaps the Lord allowed Daddy to be weak so he can do that preaching next Sunday morning when more people are there. This afternoon and evening, I wrote discussion questions for the next Bible lesson, got the student copy set up, finished writing the music lesson, set up a science quiz to be printed, looked for a song sheet for “Nothing but the Blood”, and printed out all of the above plus a Bible quiz for the lesson we’ll be finishing up tomorrow. Matthew came and started the generator for Daddy at 5:00 because Daddy was feeling too weak to pull the rope today
May 17. The Lord sent us some rain during the night and a mixture of sunshine and clouds today. The Lord also enabled us to receive and send e-mails once again. We are thankful for His grace and mercy. Today was a different sort of day. - - - I left out the details, but a difficult situation came up among some of the young people in the village. Attempts were made to solve the problem, but it was not solved completely satisfactorily. Please pray for the young people to walk wisely and to have wisdom in all situations. - - - Quite a bit of class time was missed due to all the goings on, but the students finally got settled back down to studying. After school, Sunny filled the washing machine, ready for doing laundry after lotu tomorrow; and the two men chopped firewood. This afternoon, I cut up a small popo that Apekio had brought us a couple days ago, had a fruit snack, erased and washed the chalkboard, wrote Monday’s lesson plans. Mata brought us a big stalk of bananas, too, and helped us hang them up. This evening I worked on the next Bible lesson for school. There is a lot of food for thought in it so it will take a while longer to finish. “The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.” Psalm 18:46 Amen! May 18. Praise the Lord for His goodness and help today. There was just a small group of people in lotu as many people are still off picking coffee and doing other garden work. After lotu, Anna Jean stayed to do the laundry. I got out the laundry basket and blue bucket for her. When I picked up the basket of dirty clothes to take to the laundry room, I must have turned too quickly or twisted wrong somehow, and I felt my back go out. Oh, oh! That was the end of my work for today, physical work that is. The men decided they would come today and help put down the floor mat (linoleum) in the kitchen. (See Pictures) All I could do to help was supervise. They started around 9:15 and didn’t finish until around 3:00. It was quite a job, but they did it well, and we are very thankful to have it done. The old torn-up floor looked so horrible, and it was torn up so much that we couldn’t wash it. We are very grateful for a new floor. It took less than a whole roll to do the kitchen and office areas. So we have a whole roll left plus more, maybe enough to finish the rest of the house. How grateful we are for the help of Matthew, Gibson, Erick, and Tomas. And I am very grateful for Daddy’s help with that job plus the help he needs to give me since my back is out of place. I did do a little computer work while everyone was working as I needed to get the next Bible lesson done. Praise the Lord for helping me finish that after nap. Now I need to proofread it, write some discussion questions, prepare the student copy, and print out both teacher’s and students’ copies. I did the dishes right after supper, thankful that there weren’t very many. Wrote an e-mail to Pat K to wish her a happy spiritual birthday. Had my bath before the evening got too cold. And the rest of the evening, I worked on Monday’s music lesson. “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:10 What could be more precious and more sweet than God’s word? Not gold and not honey or the honeycomb.
May 15. Early to rise and get things ready for Judy to do laundry. Daddy turned the generator on at 6:00, and Judy arrived a few minutes later. It turned out to be a very hot day today—in the 80’s inside and maybe around 90º outside. It was almost too hot to sleep at nap time. Good weather for a storm. Late afternoon, the skies grew dark, and we could hear thunder off in the distance and see heavy rain on the other side of the mountain ridges. But the rain never came here I didn’t notice what time lotu started, but Matthew preached this morning on “knowing the ways of the heathen” from Ephesians 2:11,12. Most of school time today was independent work so I had time to do more praying and to work at the computer so started a lesson on “preaching.” The students had a math lesson to finish up. Anna Jean was done somewhat early so I had her cut up a couple sheets of memory verses for the Sunday school class while she was waiting for the others. The two men didn’t finish until after school. They had a short quiz in English, and then we started a lesson on principal parts of regular verbs. The second half of the class, they worked on the written exercises. Then they had written exercises to do for science as well. Matthew came this morning and started working on the bathroom, putting up plywood behind the toilet (where there was no inside wall) so we can try to block off all avenues where the rats get in behind the pitpit * wall. He still has a bit left to finish. He was still working when I went for nap, and Daddy came for nap after Matthew left, about a half hour later. *Pitpit – a reed, can be used somewhat like bamboo but is smaller Anna Jean stayed after school and prepared some greens and onions which I cooked this evening after washing out the small pressure cooker. I did not want to use the big pressure cooker for a small amount of food. Most of my computer time this evening was spent working on a supplementary lesson for English. The book is not clear enough or thorough enough on how to use the present form of verbs. It just has one lesson on regular principal parts and then goes right on to irregular parts. I would like the students to get a good grasp of the regular principal parts first and how to use them. Took a break to get a snack and then later to have a bath. Then I came back and printed the supplementary lesson and also photocopied a worksheet on regular principal parts. Praise the Lord for another e-mail going out today! “1Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” Ephesians 5:1,2 We are dear children of God. Oh, how wonderful! Therefore we are to follow, be imitators of, Him. One way in which to imitate him is to walk in love, just like Christ loved us. And how much did He love us? He gave himself as an offering in our place. He gave Himself as a sacrifice to God, a sweetsmelling fragrance. We also should be willing to give ourselves as an offering, acceptable to God, to help someone else and to show God’s love to them. May 16. We are so thankful for Matthew’s coming this morning to finish the work in the bathroom. He came about the middle of Bible class (our first class) and didn’t finish until around 1:15. He and Daddy said they enjoyed hearing the students sing during music class. The students were really enjoying their math class today as we learned some new ways to do multiplication. They all let out a groan of disappointment when I said that class time was over. Our English lesson was one that I made up for teaching them the uses of the present form of the principal parts of verbs. There was nothing in their textbook to teach that, and the text just jumped right into irregular principal parts after just one lesson on regular principal parts. In science class, we reviewed unit 1-D; the students had a short quiz; and then they read unit 1-E before going home. Since it was late when Matthew and Daddy finished the work in the bathroom, and dinner was also late, it was 2:00 before we lay down for nap. The house was very hot when we lay down, but a cool wind and clouds soon came up and cooled things down quite a bit. This afternoon, I finished erasing the chalkboard (had started it this morning while Daddy and Matthew were still working). Then I cut up some watermelon for Daddy and me for snack. Afterwards, I was sitting and working on lesson plans in the schoolroom when someone came to the door with cucumbers. Daddy answered the door and then brought the cucumbers in for me to look at. I didn’t hear his first sentence, but heard him say that it was near my chair leg and looked like it was dying. I thought it was a cockroach or some little creature and looked around to the side that was facing Daddy but didn’t see anything. Then he said, it is right by your foot on the other side of the chair. So I turned at looked beside my left foot. Yikes! A rat! I got up from the chair softly so it wouldn’t run away, but it didn’t look like it had enough life left to go anywhere. Daddy brought a piece of firewood and put the creature out of its misery. Then he picked it up in a plastic bag, cleaned up the blood that it left behind, and took it out to the garbage hole. I went back and finished up tomorrow’s lesson plans. Had just a few minutes at the computer before getting supper on the table. “1To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said, I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. 2The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 3I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.” Psalm 18:1,2,3 David purposed in His heart that He would love the LORD. The LORD was everything to David—his strength, his rock, his fortress, his deliverer, his God, his buckler (a shield of protection), the horn (a symbol of power) of his salvation, his high tower (a lofty place of refuge). David purposed to call on the LORD because the LORD is worthy to be praised. The LORD is all this for me as well and I want to love Him and praise Him, for HE is worthy. May 13. Praise the Lord for some rain during the night and sunshine again today. This morning it was back to school. Dallas was late because he overslept, and then took time to fix himself some breakfast (I don’t blame him) before coming up to school. In Bible class, we reviewed John 7:38, and then started learning it in Pidgin. Finished the lesson we had started last week and had a little time for questions. They had some good questions about keeping the law and the sabbath. They will have a quiz tomorrow. The new music lesson was on pitch. Wish the keyboard were working so they could get some experience learning to play. But maybe sometime. When we finished the lesson, we had time to sing “Olsem Wanem?” twice. Math class was pretty much entirely review. English class was review too with a worksheet to do. We did review in science also, and they had a quiz, and afterward started reading the next part of unit 1. After school, Dallas chopped up some small pieces of firewood for kindling; and then he went home, and we had our nap. After nap, I put eggs on to boil for egg salad sandwiches this evening. Erased the chalkboard and wrote some sentences on it for English practice tomorrow. Then I transferred some photos to the computer, photos that I took while Daddy was gone and had almost forgotten about them. Daddy took the computer into the schoolroom, got a good connection which brought in eleven junk e-mails plus two other e-mails and also sent out the pictures that I had in the outbox. Praise the Lord for answered prayer in getting better connections these days. We certainly don’t need all those junk e-mails though. I wonder why we are getting so many. The evening was busy, and my feet are hurting. Right after supper, I got busy making soup. Broke up dried mushrooms and put them in the pressure cooker, along with some water so they could start soaking. Added a half cup red lentils. Scrubbed, peeled, and cut up four kaukau and added that to the pot. Peeled, cut up, and added the rest of the giant pumpkin that we had been using in portions. Added more water, as well as butter, herbs, and seasoning, lit the burner, and set the pot on the burner. Then I lit another burner and set the kettle of water on it to heat for washing dishes. Had a few minutes to sit down before the dish water got hot, and started working on the April progress report. After doing the dishes, there was printing to do. In the middle of one printing project, I had to change the ink cartridge on the laser printer. Then the bath water was hot so took my bath. Thankful for a warm evening which made the bath more enjoyable. After bath, I had a snack, and then got back to work on the progress report, and worked on it for the rest of the evening. May 14. Not as much sunshine today. Cool and rainy in the afternoon. Skies cleared off in the evening, and the house cooled down quickly. This morning, there was time for me to finish the progress report while the students were doing independent work. Also had time to plan tomorrow’s lessons. In the afternoon, I erased the chalkboard and wrote math review and teaching exercises on it. Typed out an English quiz and a science quiz, ready to be printed out in the evening. After supper, I pureed and bottled the soup, and even enjoyed drinking a cupful that was leftover in the blender. Put water on to heat for washing dishes. Then I printed the English and science quizzes. While I was doing dishes, Daddy got in e-mails, and another e-mail with pictures went off to Christy and Connie. Praise the Lord! When the dishes were done, I read the e-mails that came in. Then I put the progress report in an e-mail, wrote a short note to Pastor Ogle, and put that e-mail in the outbox to be sent next time. Proofread and printed a Sunday school lesson and a couple pages of memory verses to go with it. Then had a sponge bath. “I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel….” Psalm 16:7a
April 26. Today was the seventh day of warm, sunny weather. This afternoon and evening, there were gray clouds across the sky, however. Perhaps we are building up to some rain again. We will be thankful for some rain as well as the sunshine. This was the last day of the first six-week period of school. We had a short Bible class, finishing up the discussion questions we started yesterday. Then they had their music quiz, and we sang a couple songs, closing those two classes at 9:00. After that, they finished up their math lesson they had started yesterday. They finished their spelling lesson next and then had a spelling test. And last of all, they finished section B of Unit 1 Science, writing the answers to the study exercises at the end of that section. Then we went over the answers together to make sure they had the correct answers because they will need to go back to them when studying for a quiz and, later, a test. They also glued the rest of the pressed leaves and flowers onto colored paper and added them to their bulletin board project. All that took up all of the usual amount of class time, and they barely even took a break between classes. But now they have a week’s holiday which, for some, will be spent picking coffee. After school Judy cleaned Daddy’s house shoes so they’ll be clean for him to take to town, and Anna Jean filled the washing machine and the buckets so they are ready for doing laundry in the morning after lotu. While the students were doing their independent work this morning, I was able to get more done on the Bible lesson for the week after next when school resumes. Worked more on the lessons after nap; and this evening, I got the student copy set up. Also finished the next music lesson this evening and got the student copy set up for that. I want to get them printed before Lewis leaves for town because he will be taking the two newer computers, and the printers are not set up in this old computer. “18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” II Corinthians 5:18,19 This is the ministry that we have received from the Lord, the ministry of reconciliation. April 27. A mostly cloudy day today, but warm. A little bit of rain this afternoon. Very few people in prayer lotu this morning. A lot of them are probably off to their coffee gardens or other places. Gibson had charge of lotu. Talked with Mailin quite a while after lotu. Her husband (unsaved) has taken a second wife, a young woman who became pregnant before he took her to wife. The new wife tries to pick fights with Mailin so Mailin comes and stays with her parents off and on when things get too difficult. She said the new wife came over here yesterday to the health centre to give birth to her child. Mailin needs much prayer. Mailin his three children now, all boys. The littlest one, Alfias, six months old, was with her and is a charmer with a sweet smile. He came right to me when I held my arms out to him. When I came back into the house area, Daddy had already turned on the generator, and Anna Jean was waiting to wash clothes. I hadn’t sorted out the clothes yet and she didn’t know how to sort them. I did that right away so she was able to get started. I then worked at the computer a while, making sure that a ladies’ lesson is ready to print out, and verse reminders to go with it. I also proofread a Sunday school lesson and made sure that it is ready to print. Finished grading the students’ spelling lessons. Washed the chalkboard. After dinner, Daddy and I went out and brought the clothes in. Then we had our nap, after which I cut up a popo, had some to eat, folded a few clothes while the computer was charging up. Then I started working on the next Bible lesson. I want to try to keep ahead if possible. When the computer battery ran low, I worked on lesson plans for the beginning of the new school term a week from Monday. This evening, I did some printing. I was not able to print the new Bible lesson because when I move that file from one computer to another, it changes the layout of the material so it is not lined up correctly. “For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.” Malachi 2:7 So important for a messenger of the Lord to remember these words. April 28. After breakfast this morning, I worked on e-mails until the computer battery ran low. Then I worked on lesson plans for the first day of the new school week to come on May 6. Then it was time for lotu. Daddy continued teaching this morning from the discipleship booklet, finishing the first chapter on the need to care for the babes in Christ. This afternoon, I continued working on e-mails in between discussing some things with Daddy. Completed e-mails this evening and got everything on flash drive for Daddy to take to town and try to send. “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” II Corinthians 7:1 Because God has promised to dwell in us, and walk in us; and to be our God, and to make us His people, to be a Father unto us, and to make us His sons and daughters, we should therefore consecrate ourselves to Him and cleanse ourselves from all that defiles both body and spirit, and should perfect holiness in the fear of God. God’s desire is for a holy people to fear Him and serve Him.
April 24. All of a sudden it’s dry season. Last night the sky was full of bright stars; and the waning, yet still large, moon shone amongst them. The Big Dipper, which can only be seen for several nights a couple times a year, was low on the northern horizon yesterday evening, while the Southern Cross twinkled in the southern sky. Today was the fifth dry, hot, sunny day in a row. The temperature was down to 53 this morning, but soon to warm up. People are burning off the mountainsides already. Smoke and ashes filled the air this afternoon, the ashes coming in through the open west windows and making a mess everywhere. Since it was Wednesday, we were up at 5:45 to get ready for Judy to come and wash clothes. Today also marked the eighth anniversary of Glory Independent Baptist Church. The morning meeting was at 8:00. Dallas led in a number of songs, and then Daddy preached on the marks of a thriving church from Acts 2:42-47. He challenged the church to determine what they could do more to reach those marks. The meeting was over around 9:30, and the students were ready for school around 10:00. They had math, English/spelling, and science. Today was Elias’s birthday too, and there were leftovers that needed to be eaten up at noon. As soon as the food was hot and on the table, I called the students from their science studies, and we all had lunch together. We sang “Happy Birthday” to Elias too. After we ate, Daddy went out and brought the clothes in, and the students went back and finished up what they were working on. Then they were dismissed for the day, but they didn’t go home. They stayed and practiced music so they could sing a special in the meeting this evening. It was a little after 2:00 when we finally settled down for nap. After nap, I washed my hair, got lesson plans ready for tomorrow, and put a few math problems on the chalkboard. I was hungry early since we don’t have much around for snacks. We haven’t had any bananas for a while, and not much popo. So I started fixing supper a little bit early—tuna salad sandwiches with cucumbers this evening. The evening meeting started at 7:00. Amos led the singing and did so with vitality and a fervent spirit. Philemon and Lynn sang a special, which was Scripture-based. The school students sang “Aleluya” (“Sing Hosana”). Apekio recited a Bible verse. Daddy preached on “Things that God has Given Us to Strengthen Our Christian Lives.” There was an excellent spirit in the meeting this evening. Mike and Dallas’s unsaved father was there so we trust that all that was heard and seen will bear fruit in his life. It was already going on 9:00 before the meeting was over and the people dispersed. Praise the Lord for a good day of fellowship together for God’s people. “5Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 6Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” II Corinthians 3:5,6 Praise the Lord for His enabling in our insufficiency. April 25. Thousands of stars lightened up the sky again last night. Very hot and sweaty day today. After school this afternoon, Anna Jean prepared some veggies before she went home. I had already put mushrooms in the pot and added water so they could soak; and Anna Jean cut up pumpkin and uxai. I’m not sure what time it was when we lay down for nap, but it was 3:15 when I woke up. Daddy had gotten up a short while before that and had put the computer on the inverter to finish charging. Then I worked on the next Bible lesson until the computer battery ran low again. I need to get a lesson done and possibly printed before Daddy leaves for town and takes the two other computers. He has to take both computers so he can verify our account with Microsoft. When the battery was down again, I shut down the computer and went to work in the kitchen. Added lentils to the other veggies that were in the pot; then added seasonings and a little more water and put all on to cook. Also put a pot of rice on to cook. When all was done, we had our supper—a bowl of rice and veggie soup for each of us, and plenty left for several days to come. While supper was cooking, I went outside to walk around in the sunshine for a while. This evening I spent more time getting the next Bible lesson in order. “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.” II Corinthians 4:1 Praise God for His mercy to keep us from fainting and to help us press on in this ministry. |
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