Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Bougainville Update: Thursday, January 29, 2009

A full day.  The class went very well as I shared various types of preaching with the men.  Rev. Joe gave me a very good example in the devotion time and it was useful for tying things together.  The examples seemed to help the men connect, but it was not the only benefit; several times as I was sharing truth while sharing the example, the Spirit of the Lord settled down upon us.  They really connected when I shared the story style of preaching.  It was fun and lively and we are beginning to connect with one another.  

During my morning break, Rev. Joe came over and we talked at length.  It was a very good give and take.  He taught me much about the culture and students that was helpful to understanding.  He also shared several things with me about the struggles they face here and how he became national superintendent at such a young age.  He is very capable and is a tremendous asset here on Bougainville.  At the end of our time it was amazing to me how much our problems are alike though we have very different cultures.  

Most of the students had not made much progress on their inductive study, so in the afternoon study hour I spent 10 minutes with each of them.  It seemed to be good study and we shall see today if it made any difference.  Today begins the study of a proposition (big idea) statements.  

Jeff and I took another short walk after study and before dinner.
  It was a bit cooler (not cool) but considerably more comfortable today.  The jungle areas here are very dense.  Jeff says that if anything is left alone for a year or so, the jungle takes it back over.  When we got back, Alex and Lesly were working on the garden plot.  They are growing all kinds of interesting vegetables including broccoli and bok choi.  Lesly’s sister went to agricultural college and has passed her knowledge on.

Jonathan created another masterpiece of a meal last night.  We are eating far better than I imagined we would.  I took a picture of the meal just because it was so nicely presented and was quite tasty.  We had canned beef over rice (better than it sounds) kaukau - a sweet potato that is more white than ours and not as dry, various veggies as a garnish and the mystery spinach/asparagus bush that we have had most nights.  There was pineapple and mango for dessert - the tropical fruit here is amazing and will ruin me for ever eating mangos from Meijer.  

I decided not to use the message from Daniel on Sunday since Moses is using chapter one from Daniel for his sermon. So I will be writing a new one this week.  That will be better anyway.  So I worked on that for a while last night and then went to bed.  

Saw another cockroach last night when I got up to go to the toilet.  He was really fast.  And large.
  I had to be really careful where I stepped because even though I could see where he was, he moved so fast I almost had him run across my foot before I could pick it up for the next step.  GROSS!  Our friendly household gecko is getting more comfortable with us apparently, because he seems much more free to chatter in the middle of the night.  We have one large one as far as I can tell, and several really tiny ones.  It is more and more likely that the thing I had run across my neck the first night was one of these.  Jonathan saw one with a tail missing.  Could have been from being snatched up and thrown across the room.

lukim you behain  (see you later!)

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