Update from Steve, Oct 22, 2009

I have been studying with my Muslim friends, each named Abduli; one is the teacher of the new Islamic Primary School of Lassin, the other is a tailor, motorcycle driver, and all-round great guy. Yesterday, after walking home from school (3 miles), I stopped in town and visited Abduli the teacher first.

As we entered his ‘study’, an austere room with a book case, chair, bench, door and small window, he mentioned that his left arm really hurt him from the top of his shoulder to his elbow. I explained my other career (not the school teacher, as everyone knows me here), and asked if he would permit me to ‘work’ on his shoulder. Before beginning to work, I asked if he would offer prayer. Holding his hands cupped in front of him, he prayed. I need to hear this prayer again; how interesting is his relationship with God. Now, with his verbal permission given (no lawyers here!), I began to work on a widely inflamed left shoulder and stiffening elbow. We did what we could without any pain medication (STM & TFM). I gave him a simple home exercise program; within the limits of pain (Codman’s). Then we began the second lesson of the Housa “house a” language; used by many of the Muslims / Falani people in this area.

He stopped teaching after presenting about 8 words & phrases, and we called it a day. He also sent me home with 4 small avocados; my favorites and an important part of getting enough calories here.

Well, today I was passing near his home on my way to market; today is the big Lassin Market day. I met a beaming Abduli. “Look at my shoulder! See how much better it moves.” He was very pleased. Progress was significant, but only about 20% of normal, up from 5%. How happy I was to be able to contribute something of worth to him. I can see how this is another in a series of steps to something of eternal worth.

Dear family & friends! Oct 16, 2009

Thank you for the SMS messages to us since October 6! I really want to tell you collectively that each mail has brought so much joy to our home. I told Carol that this must represent some kind of mental illness to record each note in an expanding Word file on our laptop, but who cares, we have each of them! Communication has taken a giant leap this week! (Have you noticed the abundance of exclamation points, this must be a hot topic). Once again, I connected the sat phone to the old Dell laptop. Wonder of wonders, the configuration worked and we got our first e-mail at our home in Lassin since arriving Sept 1. It was so exciting that Carol took a picture of me seated on a ‘bamboo’ stool under the banana trees, laptop on lap and sat phone in hand.
Here’s our communication ‘protocol’. We ask that you send your messages to us in the same way, via internet using Iridium.com to our number 8816 936 72129. We’ll answer them if you have a direct question for us, otherwise we’ll just ENJOY them. We’ll send short replies via SMS to your e-mail, and send large replies over our PC/sat phone; weekly if possible. I’m really cutting back on voice communication because I can go through minutes like crazy. At 78.3 cents a minute, I have to be frugal. But, it is SO good to hear you!
Okay, so how’s life here?

School: enrollment has increased by one to 14 this week. The teachers (Carol & I, and our dear friend Naphtali) and the students have settled into the routine and discipline has settled down to a pretty low key. It seemed like each student had to establish their rung on the social ladder. We had to defend our rungs at the top too.
The day begins with the 3+ mile walk to school, a brief play period while the window shudders are opened and back-packs stowed, and then singing. What a joy to hear these children singing songs about Jesus! Really, their happy voices and faces make this whole adventure worthwhile. The children sit on rock hard eucalyptus benches and write on hand hewn 1 meter by 12 inch desk tops (we really mix metric and inches here). Subjects include learning the alphabet, numbers, spoken English (American Yankee style vs. the somewhat Caribbean / British), handwriting, PE, math, bible (thanks BW for the wonderful felt set. Thanks Mom and the ‘quilting ladies’ for cutting it out! It’s used every school day. The children pay amazing attention, and they love it!)
The other day Carol remarked that she felt as if she had no time for evangelism. I reminded her that she was a full time evangelist at the school. Honestly, I have noticed such a marked change in the children! They are happier, ‘scrap’ less, sing well, and they are learning like sponges. You all can remain as proud as can be of her!

I have had one of my ‘dreams’ realized. I have wanted to have some sort of bible study, but have been (my excuses) too busy, under prepared, and have had no opportunities (you know, people who beg me daily to study with them until I relent). So, I have shown the New Beginnings seminar by It Is Written on the new Toshiba laptop. The program comes with a booklet that gives suggestions for topic introduction, follow-up questions, and conclusion. (Can’t get any easier!) We show it to our congregation once each 8 days; they really need a refresher course as much as anybody. Then, I carry the laptop to the school once a week to present the same lesson to the father of two of our students. He is an amazing student of the Bible who really appreciates the studies. This is our 4th week. After the ‘formal’ portion of the ‘study’, we discuss other topics that he is interested in and search the bible on the laptop for answers, and then we confirm it with the paper version. This is my most exciting activity; immediately before e-mail.

Can we live here? Can we get the food we need, clean it, cook it, (I could really bore you with details). The short answer is “yes”. One example of the things that we have learned recently was, “who is our landlord, and what is our monthly rent?” About 5 weeks into our stay in the home, we met the guy and got the answers. We have made friends that have explained how folks here get the things that they need. One of the most fun examples of ‘getting things’ is our ‘market friend’ Mary. Carol asked her if she had any coconuts or ‘pears’ (avocados). She stated that these were ‘very hard’ to come by. About 2 days later, she showed up on our back porch carrying 2 beautiful coconuts in their husks. At the next market, she produced 8 beautiful avocados. Each of these fruits had been requested via ‘tell-a-woman’. The news had been carried 45km down to Kumbo. Somebody bought them at the market there, carried them back without a single bruise (you try that in a Toyota Corolla with 11 adults in it as it bounces down a rutted clay road for 3 or 4 hours), and she brought them to us. Seemingly effortlessly; we know that there was considerable effort! We felt it in the price though! Each avocado was 100F; the cost of a small hand of bananas (or about 22 cents).

The weather: rainy season is wrapping up. It has not rained hard since Monday morning, when it rained steadily for about 2 or 3 hours, completely soaking Carol and the children as they walked to school (I stayed home to meet the mason who was supposed to work on our new toilet pit. It’s Friday, and he still has not arrived. I have attended school yesterday and today.) The rain has kept the air fresh and our water buckets full. Note: our city water has been off for about 3 weeks. It came on again last night and has remained on today; one never knows how long this will last. The towering cumulous clouds outside are talking to us, but no rain. Dry season is only 4 weeks away, but already the signs of it are evident. I hope this does not mean an end of the myriad of flowers, butterflies and birds; some will stay. In all this weather we have never been uncomfortably cold or hot. The only real drawback to rainy season is the nearly impassable roads and the occasionally soggy shoes; fortunately, each dry out mostly within hours.

I’m making friends within the local Muslim community. What true fun. My latest friend is Abduli. He has taught me how to say, ‘shalom Ala coo’ (please forgive my spelling, then SMS me with the correct spelling). Then he taught me the standard reply; ‘amin (amen) Ala coo shalom’. Tonight as I was walking home, a small motorcycle with 3 men on it slowed as it came alongside me. A beaming Abduli, perched on back, called out to me, ‘shalom Ala coo’! We are becoming family. If you doubt the authenticity of this bold statement about ‘family’, ask your tailor sometime how much they paid for the cloth that you are purchasing. Abduli volunteered the information and smiled, pleased that the price was fair and that he was honest.
Again, thanks for your prayers and e-mails to our phone! Send comments about your life to us. We love to ‘keep up’. Receiving these is free for us, hopefully for you.

P.S. Does anybody know a Nadia that attended the ‘Arise’ institute? If so, please help her get in touch with us. Thank you.
Yours, Steve & Carol

satellite phone texting

This is Julie, Steve and Carol's favorite daughter. :) I just talked to my parents last night, and they told me that they can receive free text messages on their satellite phone when sent from this website- http://messaging.iridium.com/ The number to send to is 881631672129.
It is free for you to send, as well. I'm not sure if their reply is free, but they told me that they would love to get short notes from their friends and family here. It would really be a bright spot in their day!
They are doing well, and are looking forward to a trip to town on the 25th when they will be able to check their email and read the longer letters from you, which they love too!
God bless, please keep my folks and their work in your prayers. Thank!

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.”