12/06/09 from Steve

News from Lassin

Church:

Friday the 4th, a neighbor came by and after visiting a while he said, 'I heard that you worship down the road'. Getting a nudge from 'Above', I asked him if he would like to join us for worship the next day. Yes he would like to come, and yes he came. His name is Emanuel and he works at the Baptist medical clinic between our house and the church. He turned out to be quite the bible student. He commented after the program that he really appreciated the Sabbath school lesson's bible study format and that the sermon was based on a series of scriptures. Hey, Franklin came to church again and also came for the afternoon singing and It Is Written 'New Beginnings' 'film' as they call it. Note: this is a really big deal since he is a very busy carpenter with many mouths to feed and all work is done by hand. (try planing eucalyptus by hand until it shines like it has been through a power planer- not easy.) I roped him into coming up front with me to give the scripture reading for the church service. He did fine.
Naphtali presented the Sabbath school lesson. I realize that technically a member should perform this task, but 'he who teaches learns best'. His presentation was excellent- well prepared with smooth transitions through the topics. His teaching skills well utilized at church.

School:

It's dry season. When the rain is away the people make hay. Gregory, who lives very near the school, has two sons attending, and enjoys weekly bible studies has been really busy lately. He has made 500 mud bricks- they lie in the final stages of drying in the unused 3rd classroom and offices. He has hauled about 5 cubic yards or 350 'hail pans' (whatever that is) of clean sand from the stream bed below the school to classrooms 2 and 3. I asked him to prepare a bid for the work to restore the 2 walls of classroom 2. He broke the project down by tasks with the fee for each task. We discussed it Friday and I accepted it as presented. The work will be done during the 2 weeks of Christmas break.

Next phases:

revised roof rafter system, plastered walls and concrete floor.
Next year- repeat all this stuff in classroom 3 and the offices.
Note: Carol and I are considering combining the square footage of classroom
3 and the offices and producing two classrooms. This will give us 2 smaller, yet good size rooms for grades 1 and 2, and two large classrooms that can combine grades 3 & 4, and 5 & 6. In this way we will have an entire elementary or primary school under one roof. See how soon we will need more teachers! Won't be long.

Home:

Our home has been the site of much activity! All the outer and bathroom walls have been plastered. There are no more dirt floors in the house- all rooms have concrete floors; between 3 and 5 inches thick.
The electric lights are up, and outlets work. We hardly ever use the romantic kerosene lanterns any more.
We're planning to install bathroom plumbing next. Carol really wants a
toilet- kind of fussy don't you think. Someday, indoor running water.

Adventist Medical (not) Aviation-
You probably know that we are working under the name 'Adventist Medical Aviation'. Yes, we have no airplane. As of today, 12/06/09, the 1989 4WD Toyota Tercell will probably be able to drive 24 miles without the engine dying. After installing a new fuel filter the mysterious stalling 'feature'
should fade from memory. So, why tell about our mighty Toyota in the aviation section? We plan to use the car to perform some level of medical transportation service for the people of Lassin, instead of an airplane as originally planned. This Thursday we hope to transport a woman with cancer to visit a physician at the hospital in Kumbo, 24 miles away. A few days ago, I heard that she had opted for a 'natural' home remedy of hot and cold water and massage treatments to try to shrink the tumor; because she hadn't the funds to get to the hospital for consultation and surgery. My heart revolted. I could just see metastases forming while she waited for funds to ride to the hospital. So, 'Adventist Medical Transportation' begins.

Pigeon coop:

It's about time I learn some local form of communication. Likely Pigeon.
We were given a beautiful copy of the New Testament in Pigeon English- 'GUD NYUS FO OL PIPUL' (Good News For All People). It is fun to read and pronounce and decode. Here's a sample. If you like it, let us know via SMS.
Decoding tips: 'a' is short, 'e' is long, 'I' is a long 'e', 'o' is long, 'u ' is short or 'oo'. Sometimes you have to listen to yourself read. By hearing, you may recognize a word. Frequently, the last letter or sound is left off of a word. Have fun.

Title: Jesus e sen yi twef lanboi dem-

Jesus e bin tok meik yi twef lanboi dem kam si yi. Tam weh dem bin don kam fo wan pleis, e giv pawa fo dem fo draiv ol devul dem an fo meik sik pipul dem fo wel fo dem sik. 2) Den e sen dem for go tok de gud nyus abaut God yi rul an e meik pipul dem wel fo ol kain bai kain sik dem. 3) E bin tok fo dem sei, <>

Hint: Luke 9: 1-6

A little more help-
Wuna- pleural form of 'you'.
Lanboi- hear 'learn boy', think 'student' (disciple).
Tam- time
Weh- when
e- neutral gender of 'he' / 'she' (the person)
bin- been
meik- make
chop- food
na- is (how are you? Na fine.)
waka- walk (waka fine- have a good walk)
fo- for
dem- them
don kom- done come, came (frequently heard here- ya don kom. You came.)
sei- say
eni pleis- any place

6) Time when he finish for talk, the learn boy them come out and them walka for all village them, and them talk the good news and them make people where them been the sick for well.

Come out and walka for all village! Steve & Carol