June 30. Last day of June. The Lord gave us a clear, starry night, and a mostly sunny day. The afternoon was very warm—80º in the house. Daddy and I both slept a little later, but it was pancake morning so couldn’t be too lazy. Had to get up and get started on breakfast. Always try to make a few extra pancakes, too, so Daddy has something for snacks during the week. After breakfast, Daddy turned on the generator and ran it for an hour. I worked on a Bible lesson for school until lotu time. Mike did teach Sunday school this morning, but he is still not feeling well. His symptoms are quite strange, and it is a mystery what his stomach problem could be. Lotu was late getting started, and Daddy discovered after the song time that the church clock had stopped. Daddy preached this morning, again from the discipleship booklet, teaching on assurance of salvation. Tomas preached the afternoon lotu, teaching that a believer is going to face trouble with sin, but God has a remedy for cleansing. After lotu, we stood around and talked for a while. Then we had a nap. It was after 2:30 when we lay down, and I slept about an hour so didn’t have much afternoon time left to accomplish a whole lot. All of my time before and after supper was spent in the kitchen. I washed a popo and cut a slice out for Daddy to have for snack. Then I sorted and washed the bunch of greens that Nuandauro brought yesterday. They wouldn’t have been any good by tomorrow. Set those aside to drain and cut a slice of popo for myself which I ate with banana. That was the first course of my supper. It was already going on 5:00 so after I finished that course, I set the table and we ate the rest of our supper. After supper, I cut up, seeded, and peeled the rest of the popo and put it away in the fridge. Then I cut up the greens and a couple onions into the pressure cooker, added salt and water, and put that on to cook. Also put the dish water on to heat. Then I emptied and refilled the filter pitcher. While the dish water was heating, I actually did a small job out of the kitchen—wrote a few sentences on the chalkboard for tomorrow’s English class. Was thankful for sit-down time most of the rest of the evening after washing dishes. Praise the Lord for His help in finishing up the Bible lesson. There was a lot of deep teaching and food for thought in this particular portion.
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June 28. The Lord sent us a little rain yesterday evening and a little during the night. Woke up to cloudy skies this morning, but it was perfect weather here for the plane flight. The clouds were somewhat low, but were above the mountain ridges. The only fog I could see was on the other side of the long ridge that goes up to the approach; and it didn’t seem to be moving this way, but rather down river. Also there was no wind that I could detect. Daddy called between 7:00 and 7:30 as he had said he would. As soon as I gave the weather report, they loaded up the plane. The empty diesel drum had to be at the airstrip to go out on the back flight. There were no men around, but when I went down to the fence, there were several young ladies in Amos’s yard. Bonita and Magaret T offered to take the drum up to the airstrip. I was thankful for their help. The plane arrived here a little after 8:00, just as we finished praying at the start of school. The students took off for the airstrip to help. After all the cargo was brought to the house, the students came back to class. They had their Bible quiz and then their music quiz back-to-back. There were about fifteen minutes left before recess time, so we sang “Olgeta Promis” (“Every Promise”) and “Olgeta Promis Em I Tru” (“Every Promise of the Bible Is True”). Dallas finished his math early so went to help Daddy tie down the new generator and get it ready for use. When Mike finished, he went to help too. The ladies finished shortly afterward; and when the men came back, we started looking at the next math lesson. While the students were doing independent work, I loaded up the freezer and helped put supplies away. Nap was a bit late, as after school the two men helped Daddy finish getting the generator ready for use and Sunny filled the washing machine so she can wash clothes tomorrow. Most of my time after nap until supper time was spent working on next Monday’s lesson plans. After supper, I transferred files from ACER back to LENOVO, did the dishes, took a quick bath (because it is cold this evening), and wrote journal notes. Most of the day was damp and chilly. For a while there were very strong winds, and there was a little rain. We also enjoyed a few moments of sunshine. The generator shut down twice this evening during the four hours that it was on. It was supposed to go for another hour, but it was too dark for Daddy to look for the problem tonight. “1To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God….” Psalm 42:1,2a June 29. Slept in a little extra this morning as I was awake for a while during the night. Had gotten up to the sound of a rat chewing behind the kitchen cupboards. I certainly wouldn’t sleep to the sound of that noise, and certainly don’t want the rat chewing up my cupboard either. So I got out the moth balls and dropped them one by one into the small space that goes behind the cupboard, until the rat ran up the pole behind the plywood and across the cross pole to the outside. Praise the Lord, the rest of the night was quiet, except for Daddy moving around restlessly; but he said he never heard the rat nor did he hear me get up. There was no one around to ring the lotu bell this morning so Daddy finally went out to ring it. Several young children came running up from Amos’s house, and Daddy had no trouble getting a volunteer to ring the bell. It was around 8:00, I think, before lotu started. Philemon looked after lotu. There were a good number of folks there this morning. It was good to see Steve and Thania afterward and talk with them a few minutes. They are home from school for a couple weeks’ holiday. Daddy and several others went down to the generator shed to see what they could do about the generator, but there was nothing they could do. They reinstalled the old generator; and at first, it didn’t want to start. Finally one of the men pulled really hard and we heard the wonderful roar of the generator. Praise the Lord! We were then able to wash clothes. I sorted out the clothes and put the first load in the machine. Sunny had been sweeping the floors and was just about done so she was ready to handle the laundry. Praise the Lord for giving us a nice clothes-drying day too. I started writing an e-mail to C&C after Sunny started washing clothes, but there were lots of interruptions, mostly with Daddy and I discussing different things that came up; and I still hadn’t finished the e-mail before the battery went low after the power was off. So I turned off the computer and set it to charge on the inverter. Then I went and started dinner—a pot of rice with chicken sausages, and some pumpkin. After dinner, Daddy started getting the clothes in while I cleaned up the kitchen. Then I went out and helped him. A few clothes were left on the line to finish drying. After we got clean clothes hung up in the closet, we made the bed and lay down for a nap. I was pretty tired after losing some sleep last night so had a somewhat long nap. After nap, I finished the e-mail and, with what time was left on the battery, Daddy tried to send it, but no go. I suddenly remembered that I didn’t have any tortillas left for supper, but it was too late to start tortillas then. So I made some quick flat bread and stuck it in the oven. It didn’t take long to cook and was ready to eat in time for supper. Washed dishes right after supper, with a short interruption to buy some greens from Nuandauro. Tomas came just when I was finishing up the dishes, and Daddy and I searched for some Bible verses he was looking for. Then bath water was ready so I went to take a bath, and Daddy went to try again to send the e-mail. After trying a number of times, he decided to check and see if we still had time on our modem. No time left. So he added K20 worth of time, and soon was able to send and receive e-mails. After bath, I had a snack, read the e-mails, continued writing in my journal, and worked on the next Bible lesson for school. June 26. Rained again off and on through the night. Still cool and mostly cloudy all day today, but so far no rain to speak of. I went to bed somewhat early last night (about 9:45), but I hadn’t had an evening snack so I woke up around 3:30 in the morning hungry. Tried to go back to sleep, but couldn’t. So finally, an hour later, I got up and had a bowl of cereal. After that, I was able to relax better although it took a little while to get back to sleep. Too soon it was time to get up and start the day. The lotu bell didn’t get rung until after 7:00, and it was after 7:30 before the meeting started. Gibson preached this morning and did well speaking on the Holy Spirit and the fruit He produces in our lives. He used several Scripture passages to present his message. After lotu, “A” and “M” came and talked for a few minutes. I was thankful they did as my mind was eased quite a bit more after that, and it helped the day to be much less stressful than yesterday. The school students waited patiently in the meeting room until we were done talking. The talk with “A” and “M” didn’t take very long, but it was a profitable talk, and I was able to share a Scripture verse with them to help them. It was around 9:15 when we started school so not too late. We did a bit more chalkboard review in math, and then they started their lesson. The chalkboard review took quite a while even though there were only a few problems. They are having a little struggle grasping the conversion of weights and measures . So they only had about 20 minutes left to start their written lesson. While they were working on that, I had a snack. Then I went back to give them a break before they started English class. They already had a written assignment to do so while they were working on that, I gathered up a bucketful of clothes and washed them. Went back several times to check on the students and see how they were doing. Then I went and hung out the clothes. By then they had mostly finished the rough draft of their stories; and, one by one, they brought them to me so I could help them make spelling and grammar corrections. But then it was time for history class—study for their test coming up tomorrow. While they were studying, I looked over their stories and called them up one by one to go over the corrections with them. Then I gave them good paper so they could start making a good copy whenever they have a chance. Will have them finish their stories in class tomorrow; and if time, they can read them to the class. After school, the girls put some more time on my phone; and Mike and Dallas emptied out the diesel drum to be taken up to the airplane when Daddy comes on Friday. They also untied the generator so the new one can be “installed” when it comes on Friday. Then I had my lunch, cleaned the chalkboard, and had a little nap. The first thing I did after nap was get the clothes in. As I was getting them down, a few drops of rain fell but the rain didn’t last long. I took the clothes inside anyway and hung them around the house. Since there was no sunshine and hardly any wind outside, I figured they would dry just as quickly inside. Most of them were still pretty wet after three hours plus out of doors. That job done, I put a kettle of water on to heat for washing my hair and put some eggs on to boil for my supper sandwiches. After washing my hair, I fixed a snack of popo, bananas and dates. Took the computer into the schoolroom and ate my snack while Digicel was trying to send/receive e-mails. Praise the Lord for better weather today and that we were able to get a connection. A few minutes later it was time for Daddy to call. He called early today because he was to go out to the Venters for supper this evening. We spent almost another half hour talking today. Before getting my supper, I got out the pretty blue bulletin board paper so I could cut a piece to cover the school bullletin board. Opened it up to measure and cut. Phew, did it stink! And one edge was all chewed up. So that’s what the rat had been chewing on! I was thankful that there was a section that was still good and was large enough to cover the bulletin board. After cutting out the good section, I threw away the stinky parts and washed my hands thoroughly. Started getting supper when Amanda and her two younger daughters came with ten eggs. Amanda bought salt and soap and divided the rest of the money up among the two girls. They bought chocolate wafers, coffee candy, and bubble gum with all their money. After supper, I stapled the paper onto the bulletin board, glued a flower border down one edge to cover up a bad area, and tacked the students’ stories back up. Then I turned the computer on and started writing in my journal. Time ran out before I was done so while the computer was recharging I started reading unit 2 in the science text book. Had a hard time keeping my eyes open. “39And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Hebrews 11:39,40 I’m so glad that God had me in mind way back in ages past, and had already provided some better thing for us so that we too could receive the benefit of His promises. June 27. The temperature dropped quite a bit last night, but I heard no sound of rain; and when I woke up at 2:30 a.m. and gazed out the bathroom window, I saw stars. Oh, thank you , Lord! The first stars to be seen in many nights. And then to wake up this morning to a lovely, clear blue sky day, what a blessing! Praise the Lord for answering prayer, helping the river to go down so people could start on their trek to town. All the village was a bustle as people were getting ready to leave for town for the special meetings at Rambo Baptist Church. The students came for school as usual, and the day went well. Mike is still not feeling very well, and it is showing in his work. Dallas put the diesel drum out in the sun just before school and put it away afterward. He and the two young ladies put the firewood under the house after school, and Judy emptied the bowl of ashes from the wood stove. I just discovered it under the wood stove this morning. After dinner, I graded the students’ history tests. Then I had nap. After nap, I worked at the computer until the battery ran low and then finished writing lesson plans for tomorrow. I had hoped to get more house cleaning done today, but the door kept me quite busy. Matthew came early to get some soap to take on the road. Misaina brought me some greens to buy. Wenke brought a popo. This afternoon, Wenke and his wife and daughter stopped in on their way back from their garden. Mrs. Wenke wanted to buy some Maggi with the popo money I had given Wenke in the morning. And Wenke and his daughter asked for a drink of water as they had been working all day in the hot sun. I was happy to give them water in the name of Christ. Also gave Wenke a tract. Just before supper, I was pleasantly surprised by a visit from Esau, Jaydine, and Howard with the new baby, Lorraine. I was excited to see them. I also got to hold the baby. She is two weeks old today, but nobody had said anything about the baby being born. Esau said that, when Daddy is in town, he sometimes comes around during the night to check and see if everything is okay outside around the house. I shared Psalm 34:7 with him--”The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” Told him that verse is a comfort and help to me when I am alone. I smiled and said, “Maybe you are one of the angels that God sends.” It was about 5:30 when they left. Then I had my supper and put water on for bath so I could bathe right after supper because the air was already getting chilly. The skies were cloudy late this afternoon, and a little bit of rain fell this evening. If it stays cloudy, the temperature may not drop much lower. While bath water was heating, I wrote some exercises on the chalkboard for tomorrow’s math and English classes. Wanted to get that done before it got too dark in the schoolroom. Daddy called at 7:00, and I was happy to talk with him. Afterward I wrote in my journal. Then put water on to heat for dishes and had a snack while it was heating. By the time I had finished washing the dishes, the computer was recharged so I started getting journal notes ready to send to Connie. “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:” Hebrews 12:14 This verse tells me that a person who truly knows the Lord is going to run after peace, seeking it eagerly, earnestly endeavoring to acquire it; and not only peace, but holiness. What a beautiful verse! And what a challenge!
June 24. The Lord is sending us lots of rain. There was more rain throughout the night, and the day has been mostly dark and dreary. I almost over-slept this morning, but was awakened right about 6:00 by a noisy rat. So I got up right away and turned the kitchen light on so it would leave the premises. I thought I heard it in the school room; and the next thing I knew, it came dashing out of the schoolroom and across the kitchen floor to the laundry room where it disappeared. Students would be back to school today so Daddy and I did not talk together this morning. Sunny and Bonita came early and they put extra time on the phone for me. Mike was late for class, but I was surprised he even showed up since he is still not feeling well. Dallas was even later. We did a lot of review today to keep their minds fresh on things they had learned before school break, and we also learned or started learning a number of new things. Matthew brought his tools this morning for work, but then he went back to his house to take care of some things and never came back until school was out. It was already 1:00 and I was going to eat and have a nap. So we decided the construction work can wait. After nap, it took me quite a while to clean the chalkboard, write math exercises for them to practice tomorrow, and write tomorrow’s lesson plans. By then it was 5:00; but since I had had a late dinner, I worked at the computer a while before having supper. “And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.” Psalm 40:3 Here is a wonderful promise. If I praise God with the new song that He has put in my mouth, then many shall see it and fear and trust in the LORD. June 25. Such a dreary day again—clouds and cool weather and rain. Nevertheless, SIL managed to get in and out (with a quick turn around) even though it was rainy and very cloudy when they came. And the helicopter managed to get in too. Apparently, there was another medical emergency. The school students didn’t know, but there was quite a crowd of people around the haus sik for a while before the helicopter arrived. It has been a very hard and upsetting day for me, too. “B” came early this morning to share something that happened last night to really discourage her. It discouraged me, too, when she told me about it. I was thankful for several hours of school, hours in which my mind could be on other things. But when school was over and the house was quiet, I had a hard time letting the peace of God rule in my heart. I didn’t get much rest at nap time because of the things that were troubling my mind. After nap, I tried to crochet and pray while the computer was charging, but even then, disheartening thoughts kept interrupting the other thoughts. Once the computer was charged, I was able to get my thoughts written down to share with Daddy later so they will be on “paper” and hopefully not continuously on my mind. Before supper, I took everything down off the closet shelf in the schoolroom, wiped things off, and put everything away in different places. It really stunk up there. There was no question about the rat having been there. After getting everything down and put away, I swept off the shelf, sprayed it with vinegar to cut down the horrible smell, and put moth balls up there to hopefully keep the rat away. The moth balls are losing their potency so we really need some fresh ones, but at least they still work a while if we put plenty of them out. I finally got back to my supper, and did the dishes immediately afterward. By then it was going on 7:00. I waited anxiously for the minutes to tick by and then called Daddy. Used up all the time on my phone during our long conversation, but I was thankful that he was there for me to unload today’s stresses and distresses. He called me back after my phone time ran out and we had gotten cut off, just for a few minutes so we could say good-bye and “I love you.” “But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.” Psalm 40:17 An encouraging and comforting verse for a hard day. I’m so thankful the Lord thinks upon me and is ready to help.
June 23. Rain off and on during the night. Another day like yesterday, as far as weather goes, but with even less sunshine, and with more afternoon rain. Late afternoon, it rained and rained and rained and kept on raining into the evening. Woke up a little before 6:00 to the sound of a rat chewing on something. Couldn’t get back to sleep after that so just got up and ready to start the day. Got pancake mix all made and cut up the rest of the popo to cook to put on my breakfast pancakes. Then just before 7:00, I called Daddy. He said he had tried to call me several times, but my phone never rang. After a nice chat with him, I started cooking breakfast. After breakfast, I started looking through the leadership lessons and didn’t find anything clearly laid out about how to handle situations with pastors or their family members who sin (or are overtaken in faults) and keep short accounts with God and with those who may have been wronged. After the computer battery ran low, I washed up the small bunch of greens that Misaina brought yesterday and also a pumpkin so I could cut them up later and put them into a soup. I tried charging the computer while I was working in the kitchen, but the inverter just wanted to go beep, beep, beep. There probably wasn’t enough sunshine yet for the inverter to work properly. When I finished in the kitchen, I was able to finish charging the battery. While it was charging, I crocheted until church time. Mike never showed up for Sunday school, and we learned later that he is sick. A group of young people were there early, and they spent an hour or more singing through the song book. Church didn’t start until around 10:40, and then Matthew had to start because the song leader wasn’t there. It was a little after 12:00 before the preaching even started. It was about 12:45 before the morning service ended. Then they had a break, and afterward Matthew just shared a few verses and then they had a business meeting for something. I had sandwiches for lunch because my soup wasn’t made yet. Had a nap and worked on some notes with thoughts from the Word regarding recent events. Then I started preparing the soup. It took a lot longer than I expected. (I was glad I had already washed the greens and pumpkin in the morning.) It was 4:30 before I had everything in the pot and the pot on the stove for the soup to cook. Used up a lot of boiled water too so had to put a pot of drinking/cooking water on to boil. I knew the soup wouldn’t be ready in time for supper so warmed up a pancake which I ate topped with butter and a mixture of honey and mangosteen powder. So thankful that my small batch of pancake batter produced a few extra pancakes. While the soup was cooking, I sat down to write in my journal. After the battery ran low and was recharging, I put water on to heat for dishes and sat down to eat a bowlful of soup. Just what was needed for a rainy day. So refreshing to the taste. By the time dishes were done, the battery was recharged. I looked through some old song files to find a song I had translated that is not in the printed book. During the next recharge, I put water on to heat for bath, crocheted until the bath water was ready, and then had bath. When I finished, the computer was recharged. I didn’t really feel like doing anything on the computer right away though so just did more crocheting and some praying. Then I opened up the computer, did a couple jigsaw puzzles, and then finished writing in my journal. “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” Psalm 40:1 If I but wait patiently for the LORD, He will surely reach out to me and hear my cry for help.
June 21. Woke up to a very foggy morning, and it would be mid-morning before the fog would lift enough for a flight. After breakfast and quiet time, I busied myself at the computer for a while, spending more time getting Matthew set up for printing. When the computer battery ran low, I made the bed and did some other little jobs around the house while it was charging back up. Then I worked on Matthew some more until it ran low again. The plane came about that time (going on 11:30), and it was going on 12:00 before the plane left the ground here. I had forgotten all about the drum of diesel and the gas bottle that were to come in on the plane, until Amos knocked on the back door. He brought the gas bottle inside and got the key to the generator shed, and George and Topias rolled the drum of diesel down into the shed. Amos brought the key back, and George and Topias each got a Maggi (noodles) for their work. Then I warmed up lunch and ate, cleaned up the kitchen, and had a nap. This afternoon, I wrote an e-mail to Martha, and it sent right away and a few e-mails came in. Praise the Lord! While the computer was recharging, I cleaned Daddy’s wash basin, the bathroom sink and little shelves above the sink, and the toilet; and photo-copied a map page out of the history book. Answered the door a few times too—Timothy came to get his phone that he had forgotten for a couple days; Erovi came to get yarn for Elsa; Tonka came with a pumpkin and a very small, wilted bunch of pumpkin greens; Wenke came to get noodles; George came and said his wife wanted soap but he doesn’t have any more money so I gave him a bar of soap and a tract.. Right after supper, I turned on the computer to work more on Matthew before doing dishes so, after that, I could give the computer one more charge for the evening. Shortly after I got started, Bonita came to share some things with me. With what time was left on the computer after Bonita left, I worked more on Matthew. Then I put water on to heat for dishes. The dish water was just about hot when the computer battery ran low. I put the computer on to charge and started the dishes. Put bath water on to heat while I was washing dishes. By the time I finished bath, the computer was recharged and ready to use; and this evening, I finished getting Matthew ready to print. I’ll have to wait until Daddy gets home as I can’t run the laser printer on the inverter. It takes too much power. And I can’t connect it to this computer either. June 22. It was 6:15 when I woke up this morning. Hurried to get dressed as it was lotu morning. Another very foggy morning. It was well after 10:00 before the fog lifted; and even then, there were still lots of clouds. Praise the Lord for just enough sunshine and some wind to get most of the clothes dry that I hand-washed. Just had a few small items to hang in the bathroom. Not long after I got them in, the rain came. It was dark and dreary the rest of the afternoon and got dark early this evening. The evening brought even more rain. After making more salt water, emptying the filter pitcher and refilling it, unlocking the front doors, fixing a lemon-soda drink, and answering the door once, Daddy called. He had lots of things to talk about, including that he had forgotten to take adapters to be able to insert the American plugs into the power outlets at CRMF. By the time I finished my vitamin drink, people were starting to come for lotu. I made a small portion of oatmeal (enough for my breakfast) but only got to eat a few bites before lotu started. After lotu, I heated up the rest and ate it. After lotu, the pastors and deacons met to talk about some things. The other church folks were outside splitting and flattening bamboo to make a section of floor to replace the old floor mat that was taken up. Then the men came inside to weave and get it all put together. (See pictures) I moved a few more things around in the bedroom because Matthew said he was going to come and start putting up plywood later. Turned on the inverter to charge the computer. Strained and bottled the boiled water that Daddy didn’t get time to take care of before he left. Put a few eggs on to boil. Washed out a large bucket-full of clothes by hand and hung them out. It was going on 11:00 before I finally got to sit down at the computer. Even though I finished setting up Matthew last night, I wanted to look through it and make sure everything was done well. It was quite late morning before Matthew finally came to work. Misaina was a big help to him. He got plywood up on a big portion of the east wall, and it was after 3:30 before he and Misaina finally left. The men working on the meeting room floor had only left about a half hour before that. While they were working, I wrote a couple e-mails and tried to send them, but the weather had gotten too bad by then, I guess. Got a connection a couple times, but it didn’t stay connected long enough to send even a couple short e-mails. By the time Matthew and Misaina left, I was very tired, and was hungry too. Cut up some popo and enjoyed that with a few dates and a little cream. Then I lay down for a late afternoon nap. “To the chief Musician, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.” Psalm 39:1 How easy it is to sin with our tongue. It is an unruly evil. May our resolve be like that of the Psalmist David.
June 19. Another cool and mostly cloudy day with rain early this morning and attempts at rain early afternoon. We were thankful for a little sunshine late afternoon. Made a few pancakes this morning so Daddy could have something for snack the next couple days. It made a couple more than I expected so I ate a couple of them for breakfast. Tomas preached in lotu this morning, continuing his teaching on Abraham and Isaac and the various ways in which they pictured God and Christ. He has done a good job on that teaching. After lotu, Bonita washed clothes, and I finished prayer time, made the students’ copy of the history test, and made a chart to print out with English measures. The students will need that for their first few math lessons when the new school term begins. Afterward, Daddy and I spent a couple hours checking Hebrews. Praise the Lord for His help in completing both chapters 4 and 5. After dinner, we got the clothes in, made up the bed, hung up a few dry clothes in the closet, and hung up a few damp clothes on the lines in the schoolroom. Then we enjoyed our nap. This afternoon, I wrote a couple e-mails. Wanted to get the corrections made for Hebrews too, but didn’t get to do much else as there were interruptions with people who came to see us, and the computer battery ran down before I could get back to work. Then I took down the clothes that had been drying in the schoolroom; and Daddy and I took all the suitcases out from under the bed, dusted them off, and put them on top of the closet. Pulled a couple boxes out, too, and put them in the bottom of the closet. Now if Matthew comes next week when the school kids are here, he can put plywood up in the bedroom without having to move all that stuff around. Daddy sent and received e-mail while we were eating supper. Praise the Lord for a good connection. Did dishes and had bath right after supper as the air was getting chilly already. Then I finally got the corrections made in Hebrews and wrote in my journal. Brad called while Daddy was washing and said that the only day next week they could come get him would be Tuesday, but the only day they could bring him back would be the same week Friday. Well, that wouldn’t do—only 2 1/2 days to shop. But, he said, they could come get him this Friday and bring him home next Friday. So looks like day after tomorrow, Daddy will go out. He will need to find out now if he can get housing starting on Friday rather than next Monday. This evening, I did quite a stack of printing—Bible lessons and quizzes, music lessons and a quiz, history test, new attendance sheet and grading sheets, tables of English measures, and shopping list. Then I worked on Matthew until lights out time so I can get it ready for printing. “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Psalm 37:25 Yes, truly, according to His promise, God has never forsaken us, and we have never had to beg for bread. What a caring and faithful God we serve. June 20. A chilly, mostly cloudy day again with bits of sunshine now and then. After breakfast and quiet time, I helped Daddy a bit with packing, wrote a short letter to Kathy B and put it in an e-mail to be sent off later to C&C. Wrote some math problems on the chalkboard for the students’ first math lesson coming up on Monday. This afternoon, I cut up half of a popo. Didn’t want to cut up the whole thing because there won’t be any fridge running to keep it cold after today. Daddy and I had some for snack with banana and dates after we had checked Hebrews chapter 6 together. We are thankful for the Lord’s help once again. After snack, I made the corrections in the Hebrews computer file. Also worked on the Matthew file, trying to get that set up so we can print copies for all those who will be working on checking it. This evening, I set up another song to print for the students to learn and printed them plus a couple songs, and printed another Sunday school lesson with memory verse reminders in case Mike needs another before Daddy gets back from town. While I was washing up, Daddy took the computer into the schoolroom and got a good connection for sending and receiving e-mails. Praise the Lord!
June 17. A mostly cool, mostly cloudy day. I’m thankful that it was warm enough this evening to enjoy a bath right after doing dishes. Didn’t need to hurry to get up this morning. No school this week. I enjoy teaching, and I love my students; but it is nice to have a change in pace. After breakfast and quiet time, Daddy and I spent a couple hours checking Hebrews. Praise the Lord for helping us complete chapter 1 and a little over half of chapter 2. Afterward I spent a little time working on music lessons for the beginning of the new school term. Then Daddy and I started out for a walk up the airstrip. We hadn’t gone far, however, when the wind started picking up, and drops of rain started falling. So we headed back to the house. The rain had stopped before we got back, and sun started shining through the cloudy haze. But it was almost dinner time so I started making tortillas and then put the fish patties and pumpkin on to warm up for dinner. When dinner was hot, I covered up the handful of tortillas I had already rolled out and the little balls that were left to roll so they wouldn’t dry out before I could get back to them. After nap, I did computer work so I could have one more chance to charge up the computer afterward and use it in the early evening before the power was on. We are only running the generator two hours a night as the fuel is almost gone. There is pretty much nothing in the fridge that needs to be kept cold. When the computer battery ran low, I went back to the kitchen, put some eggs on to boil for sandwiches, rolled out the rest of the tortillas, and got them all cooked. By then it was going on time for supper so after cleaning up the kitchen a bit, I prepared a couple of the boiled eggs for our sandwiches, and we sat down to eat. This evening, I finished a music quiz for lessons 9 through 11 and then wrote one more music lesson. So I should have enough lessons ahead in Bible and music now until Daddy gets back from town. “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him….” Psalm 37:7a Rest—be still; be silent, be quiet—in the LORD. Wait patiently. Two things that are hard to do, but that we are commanded to do. June 18. A very cool, mostly cloudy day. We both went to bed a bit early last night and were awake early this morning. After breakfast and quiet time, we got right down to business checking Hebrews. Spent two hours (with interruptions) and finished the rest of chapter two and checked chapter three. Praise the Lord for His help. After a cup of coffee and a little snack, I made corrections in Hebrews in the computer. Then I looked for a lentil soup recipe in my recipe file in the other computer and was thankful to find one. I didn’t have much for ingredients for soup, but remembered during the night that I had lentils and also some nice, fresh, red bulb onions that Kaipo had brought to us. As I was looking for another bag of lentils this morning (since I didn’t have quite enough red lentils left), my eyes fell upon the bag of mushrooms (had forgotten about those) so I could add a few of those to the soup too. Also added carrot powder and kale powder besides lemon juice and a number of seasonings. It smelled so good while it was cooking, and I hoped it would taste as good as it smelled. It did! Thank you, Lord, for a nice soup. While the soup was cooking, I washed, peeled, and cut up five kaukau and then put those on to cook. Even though I cooked the kaukau in plenty of water, it was still a bit dry and hard for us to swallow. Adding our soup to the kaukau in our bowls, however, made it not only easier to eat, but tastier too. After nap, I finished setting up the students’ copy of the second music lesson I had written. Then I proofread the music lessons and started proofreading the Bible lessons as well. While the computer was recharging, I wrote a reply to Esau’s note. And, as soon as the computer was charged, I set up a new attendance sheet for the rest of the school year and now have that ready to print out. While we were eating supper, Bonita came to fill up the washing machine and buckets. She is going to wash clothes for us after lotu tomorrow. After supper, I wrote in journal, and then Daddy and I made the shopping list for his coming trip to town. Later I made up a history test for chapter 1, since the course only offers tests after three chapters, and that is a lot of information for them to grasp at once. “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.” Psalm 37:16 Thank you so much, LORD, for the little that we have. It seems so much to us, and is all that we need.
June 2. While pancakes were cooking this morning, I cut up a popo (papaya) and cooked it too. Topped my pancakes with a small portion of the popo. This afternoon, I put another small portion away for tomorrow morning and made the rest into popo crisp. Read my Bible while I was eating breakfast and had prayer time after the kitchen was cleaned up. Also worked a bit on a baby blanket I’ve been crocheting for Esau and Jaydine’s new baby which is due this month or next. From the discipleship lessons, Daddy covered the chapter on baptism this morning. Tomas preached the afternoon meeting from Genesis 22:1-13, the story of Abraham’s test of faith. He did a very good job making comparisons to various aspects of our lives from each character in the story — Abraham, Isaac, and the ram. After lotu, we stood around and talked a short while with Tomas, Philemon, Mike, and Amos. Then we had a snack, and afterward I finished writing tomorrow’s lesson plans and made up another English worksheet on sentences and fragments. Also started getting journal notes ready to sent to Connie. This evening, I finished the journal notes, did quite a bit of printing, and set up the student copy of the new Bible lesson. “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.“ Psalm 28:7 Another like unto Psalm 23, “The LORD is….” The LORD (the self-Existent, eternal Jehovah God) is my strength and my shield. The LORD is (now, present tense, not will be, not may be, not perhaps, but constantly) my strength and my shield. The LORD is my (belonging to me, my very own) strength and my shield. The LORD is my strength (force, security, majesty, praise, boldness, might, power) and my shield. The LORD is my strength and my shield (protector, defence). When I trust Him, He helps me, and causes great rejoicing in my heart. And I purpose to praise Him with my song.
May 31. The students had a lot of independent work to do today in math, English, and science so I was able to get some computer work done this morning, except for times when I needed to grade papers. I was thankful for the extra time, especially to work on the next Bible lesson. For some reason, I was having a bit of struggle in getting this lesson written. Worked on that for most of my computer time throughout the day and evening. The students were late leaving school as they struggled too, trying to answer their science review questions. Then Sunny stayed to fill up the washing machine, and the two men stayed to cut firewood. So it was a little after 2:00 before we even got settled down to nap. The men were still working when we lay down, but were gone before we got up. “And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.” Psalm 27:6 No matter how difficult the circumstances around us, we too can determine to offer sacrifices of joy, singing praises unto the LORD. June 1. It’s the beginning of a new month. How fast the days and months speed by! It has been a busy day, and is going on 9:00 p.m. already. There were only three men in lotu this morning, besides Daddy, and maybe 10 or 12 women. Garden work still keeps a number of them away. I was thankful to have a good amount of prayer time after lotu while Anna Jean did the laundry. Then I washed the chalkboard, and afterward looked for verses to answer a couple questions asked by the students in yesterday’s Bible class. Anna Jean was still here working — washing and cutting up greens, and an onion to go with them, and cutting up a pumpkin and a couple more onions to go into another pot for soup. Then she swept the floor before going home. Yunis was here again, finishing the job of weeding the yard, particularly around the flowers today. She worked a little over three hours today. A little before 11:30, I went to the kitchen and made a small pizza for our dinner. Also peeled and started cutting up some kaukau to add to my soup. Finished cutting up the kaukau after lunch, and set the soup pot aside until after nap. Daddy went out and brought the clothes in, and then we put the clean sheet on the bed, got the bed all made up, and lay down for a welcome afternoon nap. After nap, I seasoned the soup and set the pot on the stove for the soup to cook. Also cooked the greens that Anna Jean had cut up in the morning. Finished finding the verses I need to answer the students’ questions and started adding some discussion questions to the next Bible lesson. Did the dishes right after supper. Apekio came while I was working, and she sat and visited a while. Shortly after she left, bath water was hot, and I enjoyed a nice bath. Afterward I wrote several e-mails before pureeing the soup and putting it into bottles. I saved out a cupful or so to warm up and have for my snack. Tasted so good. I am happy to have soup again. Thank you, Lord, for providing the ingredients for a tasty, healthy soup, and the blender to make it smooth and easy to digest, and for keeping the generator working so we have the necessary power. “13I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 14Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” Psalm 27:13,14 A wonderful promise to those who are willing to wait on the LORD. |
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