September 24

We’ve had a bit of a dry spell here in Lassin; it hasn’t rained in two days. But it’s making up for it right now. The rain is pouring down in buckets! Reminds me of the showers of blessings we are receiving daily!

Our first blessing--We began school this week! We have 12 children, ranging in age from 5 to 13; all in the first grade. Most of the children do not speak English, even pidgin English. They speak the local dialect, Noni. One of our big blessings is our translator, friend, and advisor Naphtali. God brought this fine man to us, and we are so happy to have his help; we would be lost without him! God is so kind!

We feel blessed that we have a small class so far, though people say that more will come. If they do want to join, I hope it’s soon since we are now laying a good foundation for reading and math. The children are naturally quite musical and are enjoying the songs we sing. We even sing as we walk to and from school each day. It’s quite a trek, about three miles each way, and the little ones walk very slowly at times. At other times they are racing down the road! They love to hold our hands as we walk. That, in itself, is more than enough reward.

We have also started a Bible study series on DVD (Mark Finley’s New Beginnings series). We have been showing the series twice a week on a day they call “Country Sunday,” two days after market day. People don’t go to their farms to work but are encouraged to help with community projects on that day. (A town crier with a drum walked through the sleeping town at 5 am beating his drum and calling out to all villagers to help with the community project!) Meetings are often held that day, so it seemed a good day for our meetings. We had one program at our school and one later that night at the Adventist church in town not far from our home. The first was attended by a few, the second by about twenty people. It has been a blessing to us to see people so interested.

Another big blessing has been meeting the Bible Translators here, David & Cindy Lux. They came from California’s central valley about 20 years ago. They have learned the Noni dialect and are currently translating the New Testament into Noni. They hope to print it next year. They are wonderful people who have gone the second mile in helping us out. In fact, Cindy brought us some wonderful food at a time we were very low on food. She may not have realized what a help it was, but with the market day being only every eight days and the last one being on Sabbath, we did not have many fresh things to eat. She brought us salad fixings (lettuce, a tomato, cucumber) and fresh wheat rolls, among other things! The salad and bread were sooo good! We haven’t had bread since we were in Douala. Then one day last week they took us out to their “internet” site, a prominent hill near town. We were able to email Julie an update for our blog. Tomorrow David and Cindy are taking us there again and we hope to send this in.

Other blessings have been: furniture for our house! We now have a solid wood table with six chairs, a long raffia couch, two short raffia couches, a small raffia coffee table with five short raffia stools, and a long work bench with shelves for the kitchen. We also now have a closet clothes rod, thanks to Steve.

Another tremendous blessing has been our neighbors. Wow, they are so friendly! One neighbor has been helping us out by bringing food to us. Most of it has been good. These people would do almost anything for you; it’s amazing. Here’s a story to illustrate. I went to see this lady who has brought us food. We talked; she gave me some leafy green vegetables they call “jama jama.” When I came back a few minutes later, she noticed my big toe in my flip flop and said something like, “Jigger.” Several other people were sitting around her house cleaning vegetables, etc. This lady’s husband looked at my toe and confirmed her suspicion. He explained to me that I had a parasite living in my toe and that it must be removed. He offered to remove it for me. Someone said something about him working for the Health Clinic just down the road. A second later a child came out of the hut brandishing a long machete. My eyes grew round as saucers! The man said he would make a lance with the knife and pick out the parasite! I asked if I shouldn’t go to the Clinic. Everyone laughed and said they would charge me an exorbitant price; they made it sound as if it would be as silly as going to the doctor to have a pimple picked! Anyway, I asked a couple times if they were sure about the parasite. I tried to explain that I had had an ingrown toenail a couple weeks ago and that the small “wound” must be from that. No, I was assured, this was a “jigger” that must come out, and they would do it for me, free! Yikes! I asked if it would hurt; they all laughed again! Anyway, the man asked a young lady there who was a nurse at the Clinic to do the job for me. He probably sensed my apprehension when I asked if he was a doctor. Anyway, this gal poked and prodded out not one, but two, “jiggers” out of my toe! They were gross! The surgery only hurt a little. Wow, was I thankful that my friend noticed my problem and told me! Her husband came by tonight to see how I was doing. Wow, that was nice. Like David Lux said, “These people take personal responsibility for your welfare.”

Actually this experience has opened my eyes to a spiritual lesson. If a “sin” or “blindspot” of mine is pointed out, I am usually quick to defend it—oh, it’s only a little wound, or it doesn’t hurt much. I really do not want anyone pointing out my faults; it’s definitely not comfortable. But when I realize, by God’s grace, that this needs to go and submit myself, exposing my ugly sole/soul, God will pick out the dreadful parasite that would literally kill my flesh if not removed. Praise God for His work on our hearts! It is truly good “surgery.”