Monday, January 24, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Greetings from the group in Lassin!
Steve here. Thought you would like to know how things are progressing from my perspective. (I sure am thankful when Carol can update the blog too)
Title: Christmas, cement, tires, and termites.
Christmas break was the time to kick off the major school improvement project. With the students out of the classrooms, we began to work in 'high gear'. At the school, Gregory began putting a concrete floor in Carol's first grade room. He was using about 6 sacks of concrete a day. I began to purchase and haul the concrete from Kumbo to Lassin.
Monday before Christmas, I bought 20 sacks of concrete and carried 10 home. The taxi that had agreed to carry the other 10 sacks became too busy with the Christmas rush and the high fares that luggage brought.
So, Tuesday I returned for the remaining 10 sacks.
It is good to know your limits, and those of your little car. You can hear it coming. I bought an extra 2 sacks, and picked up 4 boxes of sugar cubes for Shey John. This brought the load to 12 x 50kg (1320#) plus 4 x 25kg (220#). That's about 1540 lbs behind the driver's seat.
Well, it can be done, but it turns out that the small bulge in the back right tire was more significant than the moderate tread. The sidewall blew out about 30 km from Kumbo. We inflated the spare and headed down the road. The spare looked fair, but when leaving the road briefly to make room for a laden motorcycle proved too much for it. Now, to find a 3rd sacrificial tire. My riding companion, our church landlord, had an idea. He commendeered a motorcycle taxi out from under its customer. Off to Lassin. He found a car just like ours, but he did not find the owner. No problem, the spare was removed and he motored back to me. This time, the issue was a borrowed tire with bulges again. Can you imagine how gingerly I drove the last couple miles to our house?
The next day, Wednesday, I delivered the cement in two loads to the school.
Thursday, off to Kumbo by taxi to buy 4 tires. The fronts had threads showing, the spares were in shreds, and the stolen tire still had the bulges. This leaves the back right in pretty good shape. Hey, life should be exciting. In Kumbo, no used tires looked encouraging, and the new Chinese stuff looked little better. A fellow at a really nice tire shop assured me that he could get good Firestone tires for a reasonable price and have them delivered on Friday. It takes faith to live this way, but I paid him and went home.
Friday afternoon, Gerald the very responsible taxi driver pulled up with 4 of the most beautiful tires tied to his car. Sunday, Emanuel put them on. I returned the stolen spare and included the 2 badly worn tires as spare spares; Frank was grateful. I confessed and he said 'no problem'.
Since then, the little red car has kept up with the cement demands.
Classroom 2, Jessica's room is completed. Carol's room has a new floor and the inside plastering is coming.
Termites... Well, it seems that Jessica was harboring the little bugs under the front right seats. This is a problem as the dirt floor can eventually give way, leading to the loss of students and their desks.
It's hard to replace those desks. Gregory has exposed their nest and poisoned them.
Our consumption of cement is about 1/2 complete and the funds are holding out well- thank you so much!
This next Sunday we plan to mark the boundaries of the school officially and record it with the government. This is really exciting. Note- only about 1/3rd of ALL SCHOOLS in this region have their boundaries marked. Amazing.
Soon, really soon, we'll have high speed, pay as you go Internet at the house. This will allow us to send photos and perhaps short movies. We can hardly wait to show you the progress.
We're still looking for new project leaders for next year. Contact Babi at GMI if you have or have become a lead.
God bless,
Steve & Carol Rose
Title: Christmas, cement, tires, and termites.
Christmas break was the time to kick off the major school improvement project. With the students out of the classrooms, we began to work in 'high gear'. At the school, Gregory began putting a concrete floor in Carol's first grade room. He was using about 6 sacks of concrete a day. I began to purchase and haul the concrete from Kumbo to Lassin.
Monday before Christmas, I bought 20 sacks of concrete and carried 10 home. The taxi that had agreed to carry the other 10 sacks became too busy with the Christmas rush and the high fares that luggage brought.
So, Tuesday I returned for the remaining 10 sacks.
It is good to know your limits, and those of your little car. You can hear it coming. I bought an extra 2 sacks, and picked up 4 boxes of sugar cubes for Shey John. This brought the load to 12 x 50kg (1320#) plus 4 x 25kg (220#). That's about 1540 lbs behind the driver's seat.
Well, it can be done, but it turns out that the small bulge in the back right tire was more significant than the moderate tread. The sidewall blew out about 30 km from Kumbo. We inflated the spare and headed down the road. The spare looked fair, but when leaving the road briefly to make room for a laden motorcycle proved too much for it. Now, to find a 3rd sacrificial tire. My riding companion, our church landlord, had an idea. He commendeered a motorcycle taxi out from under its customer. Off to Lassin. He found a car just like ours, but he did not find the owner. No problem, the spare was removed and he motored back to me. This time, the issue was a borrowed tire with bulges again. Can you imagine how gingerly I drove the last couple miles to our house?
The next day, Wednesday, I delivered the cement in two loads to the school.
Thursday, off to Kumbo by taxi to buy 4 tires. The fronts had threads showing, the spares were in shreds, and the stolen tire still had the bulges. This leaves the back right in pretty good shape. Hey, life should be exciting. In Kumbo, no used tires looked encouraging, and the new Chinese stuff looked little better. A fellow at a really nice tire shop assured me that he could get good Firestone tires for a reasonable price and have them delivered on Friday. It takes faith to live this way, but I paid him and went home.
Friday afternoon, Gerald the very responsible taxi driver pulled up with 4 of the most beautiful tires tied to his car. Sunday, Emanuel put them on. I returned the stolen spare and included the 2 badly worn tires as spare spares; Frank was grateful. I confessed and he said 'no problem'.
Since then, the little red car has kept up with the cement demands.
Classroom 2, Jessica's room is completed. Carol's room has a new floor and the inside plastering is coming.
Termites... Well, it seems that Jessica was harboring the little bugs under the front right seats. This is a problem as the dirt floor can eventually give way, leading to the loss of students and their desks.
It's hard to replace those desks. Gregory has exposed their nest and poisoned them.
Our consumption of cement is about 1/2 complete and the funds are holding out well- thank you so much!
This next Sunday we plan to mark the boundaries of the school officially and record it with the government. This is really exciting. Note- only about 1/3rd of ALL SCHOOLS in this region have their boundaries marked. Amazing.
Soon, really soon, we'll have high speed, pay as you go Internet at the house. This will allow us to send photos and perhaps short movies. We can hardly wait to show you the progress.
We're still looking for new project leaders for next year. Contact Babi at GMI if you have or have become a lead.
God bless,
Steve & Carol Rose
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Merry Christmas from Lassin, Cameroon!
What a privilege to celebrate again how God gave us His Son! Amazing love!
It will be so good to be re-united with our heavenly family someday soon!
In the meantime we are looking forward to seeing our earthly families again soon-less than five months.
We had a very interesting day today. Since school is out for the holidays, I enjoyed sleeping in a bit. We ate a leisurely breakfast of Steve's three-grain cereal (ground corn, soy, and whole rice). OK, ok, so I don't have to tell everything! Vivian, one of our teachers, came by to say goodbye. She is from a nearby town, and she and her son were planning to travel home today. She is such a sweetheart; always thinking about others and has a very positive outlook. Anyway, as she was leaving she mentioned that she was going to condole a friend across the street from our house. We had heard that the family's 5-year-old girl had died about a week ago, but I had not visited them yet. Because I had not gone over yet, I decided to go with Vivian to visit the family. Only the mother and a small child were home, and we enjoyed talking with them in pidgin. The mother does not speak the local dialect because she is from another town called Ncambe. We gave the mother "Steps to Jesus" and a Glow tract "Does God Care When I Am Hurting." The mother said she had seen that very book in a neighbor's house and had started reading it. She was thinking about that book that very morning and was very grateful to have her own copy. She told Vivian the circumstances of her daughter's death. She herself left town to visit her village. The next day the girl complained of stomach pain, but was playing around. That night the child had diarrhea and complained of stomach pain. The father carried the child to the local Health Center, and the child died there. Life is too fragile.
Next on the day's agenda--marketing. Today is the last market day before Christmas, and the market was bustling even at 9:30 am. I went to the market to check for unusual items that might disappear quickly. I saw a couple large pineapples and tried to buy them but was told they were not for sale. I also looked for a student's mother to see if she had some corn that she had promised me (to trade for tuition). I bought 3.5 meters of school uniform fabric for one more girls' uniform shirt and two more shirts for two boys. The fabric man gave me 50 francs off since we didn't have the change. He said we are his good customers now; he doesn't mind being a bit generous. It's true, we have purchased a lot of fabric from him. Then I visited Juliana at her sales booth. She always has onions, ginger, magi seasoning, garlic, and nice fowl baskets made by Naphtali. It's funny that more people don't buy those nice baskets. Most of the time, we see women carrying a chicken tucked into their side with their hand firmly on the chicken's tied legs. I bought a bunch of bananas and some avocados from her sister-in-law beside her. As I was heading home, I spied one thing I had been looking for--green bell peppers! I know, it's not first on your list of exciting food, but these are the first we have seen this year. I'm trying to grow some, but it'll be a good while for those to come. The bell peppers made a great salad dressing later on. Steve went with me to the market later and we actually found three nice pineapples. Chances are good that we will get to eat pineapple on Christmas Day!
Later Naphtali came when Steve was burning trash. He told us that the Bofa
(subchief) who gave us the land where the school is located wanted to see us. God blessed our visit. The man was very kind and very upright. We were happy to meet him. He is very supportive of our school. He will be coming back in January with Charles to "pin" the school boundary. That will be a monumental day, a day we have been waiting for.
Somewhere in the day, I made flat bread. Instead of baking it, I fried it in the frying pan with just a little oil. It came in handy for the next day's adventures. (Steve to Kumbo for cement and me to Juliana's farm in Mbinon.)
Tonight as I write, Naphtali and Juliana just came. Naph will translate the next New Beginnings with Steve, and Juliana will practice on the keyboard here.
Love you all,
Carol (& Steve)
It will be so good to be re-united with our heavenly family someday soon!
In the meantime we are looking forward to seeing our earthly families again soon-less than five months.
We had a very interesting day today. Since school is out for the holidays, I enjoyed sleeping in a bit. We ate a leisurely breakfast of Steve's three-grain cereal (ground corn, soy, and whole rice). OK, ok, so I don't have to tell everything! Vivian, one of our teachers, came by to say goodbye. She is from a nearby town, and she and her son were planning to travel home today. She is such a sweetheart; always thinking about others and has a very positive outlook. Anyway, as she was leaving she mentioned that she was going to condole a friend across the street from our house. We had heard that the family's 5-year-old girl had died about a week ago, but I had not visited them yet. Because I had not gone over yet, I decided to go with Vivian to visit the family. Only the mother and a small child were home, and we enjoyed talking with them in pidgin. The mother does not speak the local dialect because she is from another town called Ncambe. We gave the mother "Steps to Jesus" and a Glow tract "Does God Care When I Am Hurting." The mother said she had seen that very book in a neighbor's house and had started reading it. She was thinking about that book that very morning and was very grateful to have her own copy. She told Vivian the circumstances of her daughter's death. She herself left town to visit her village. The next day the girl complained of stomach pain, but was playing around. That night the child had diarrhea and complained of stomach pain. The father carried the child to the local Health Center, and the child died there. Life is too fragile.
Next on the day's agenda--marketing. Today is the last market day before Christmas, and the market was bustling even at 9:30 am. I went to the market to check for unusual items that might disappear quickly. I saw a couple large pineapples and tried to buy them but was told they were not for sale. I also looked for a student's mother to see if she had some corn that she had promised me (to trade for tuition). I bought 3.5 meters of school uniform fabric for one more girls' uniform shirt and two more shirts for two boys. The fabric man gave me 50 francs off since we didn't have the change. He said we are his good customers now; he doesn't mind being a bit generous. It's true, we have purchased a lot of fabric from him. Then I visited Juliana at her sales booth. She always has onions, ginger, magi seasoning, garlic, and nice fowl baskets made by Naphtali. It's funny that more people don't buy those nice baskets. Most of the time, we see women carrying a chicken tucked into their side with their hand firmly on the chicken's tied legs. I bought a bunch of bananas and some avocados from her sister-in-law beside her. As I was heading home, I spied one thing I had been looking for--green bell peppers! I know, it's not first on your list of exciting food, but these are the first we have seen this year. I'm trying to grow some, but it'll be a good while for those to come. The bell peppers made a great salad dressing later on. Steve went with me to the market later and we actually found three nice pineapples. Chances are good that we will get to eat pineapple on Christmas Day!
Later Naphtali came when Steve was burning trash. He told us that the Bofa
(subchief) who gave us the land where the school is located wanted to see us. God blessed our visit. The man was very kind and very upright. We were happy to meet him. He is very supportive of our school. He will be coming back in January with Charles to "pin" the school boundary. That will be a monumental day, a day we have been waiting for.
Somewhere in the day, I made flat bread. Instead of baking it, I fried it in the frying pan with just a little oil. It came in handy for the next day's adventures. (Steve to Kumbo for cement and me to Juliana's farm in Mbinon.)
Tonight as I write, Naphtali and Juliana just came. Naph will translate the next New Beginnings with Steve, and Juliana will practice on the keyboard here.
Love you all,
Carol (& Steve)
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Dear friends,
It's nearly Christmas again. Sure feels like it too. The skies are nearly continually blue, temps are warm in the day and cool at night. The roads are beginning to get dusty. All the signs of early dry season.
Carol, Jessica, and Kimberly have one more week of school before Christmas break. Perhaps they are more excited about the break than the kids are!
Jess and Kim are planning a guided expedition to visit some of the beautiful and interesting areas of Cameroon. The schedule is not firm, but will keep you posted. It may include a trip to the capitol city of Yaounde, then a train ride toward the Northeast to see a game park where elephants roam.
Then to the coast and Mt. Cameroon. Sounds nice. I'll stay home and eat pineapple with Carol.
Lesson 12 of the 'New Beginnings' Bible studies is done. It was finished in record time; Sunday evening recording, Monday sound editing, Monday evening recording completed, Tuesday the video was completed. I continue to learn about the recording and video editing software that makes the process more efficient. This is an amazing lesson. I can hardly wait to begin showing it. Keep keeping us in your prayers.
Speaking of prayers, it is probably time to mention a big need here.
Carol and I came to Cameroon to pursue the dual goal of 'mission pilot', and 'mission school'. Well, it became apparent last year that 'mission pilot'
was not going to be realized here. The roads are very exciting, but are functional. A plane is not required here. It is so expensive to purchase, transport, register, and operate a plane here; the cost / benefit ratio is disproportionate. On the other hand, the school idea was great. The school has grown from one class to four, grades 1 to 5. After trying to keep the kind folks at the local office of Basic Education happy, it is apparent that some school operations savvy is also required.
After spending one year here, I gave a one year notice of resignation to this project. We are spending the second year here to continue to develop the program in anticipation of handing it over to new leadership. So far, there have not been any volunteers to take the project. If you can help locate someone or be that someone, we would appreciate it. The potential is fantastic.
We would love to hear from you regarding this need. Use Iridium.com, 'free text message' feature (top center of home page), and send to our phone 881631672129; note 8816 is already entered for you.
Steve & Carol Rose
It's nearly Christmas again. Sure feels like it too. The skies are nearly continually blue, temps are warm in the day and cool at night. The roads are beginning to get dusty. All the signs of early dry season.
Carol, Jessica, and Kimberly have one more week of school before Christmas break. Perhaps they are more excited about the break than the kids are!
Jess and Kim are planning a guided expedition to visit some of the beautiful and interesting areas of Cameroon. The schedule is not firm, but will keep you posted. It may include a trip to the capitol city of Yaounde, then a train ride toward the Northeast to see a game park where elephants roam.
Then to the coast and Mt. Cameroon. Sounds nice. I'll stay home and eat pineapple with Carol.
Lesson 12 of the 'New Beginnings' Bible studies is done. It was finished in record time; Sunday evening recording, Monday sound editing, Monday evening recording completed, Tuesday the video was completed. I continue to learn about the recording and video editing software that makes the process more efficient. This is an amazing lesson. I can hardly wait to begin showing it. Keep keeping us in your prayers.
Speaking of prayers, it is probably time to mention a big need here.
Carol and I came to Cameroon to pursue the dual goal of 'mission pilot', and 'mission school'. Well, it became apparent last year that 'mission pilot'
was not going to be realized here. The roads are very exciting, but are functional. A plane is not required here. It is so expensive to purchase, transport, register, and operate a plane here; the cost / benefit ratio is disproportionate. On the other hand, the school idea was great. The school has grown from one class to four, grades 1 to 5. After trying to keep the kind folks at the local office of Basic Education happy, it is apparent that some school operations savvy is also required.
After spending one year here, I gave a one year notice of resignation to this project. We are spending the second year here to continue to develop the program in anticipation of handing it over to new leadership. So far, there have not been any volunteers to take the project. If you can help locate someone or be that someone, we would appreciate it. The potential is fantastic.
We would love to hear from you regarding this need. Use Iridium.com, 'free text message' feature (top center of home page), and send to our phone 881631672129; note 8816 is already entered for you.
Steve & Carol Rose
Monday, December 6, 2010
The weeks are going by so quickly. We are making progress at the school and with the Bible Study translations. We are actually right on track; thanks to God's help and a wonderful translator. Naphtali is also very excited about the progress and is happy to be a part of both the school and the translation.
Now that dry season is here, we are making steps to begin the work on the concrete floors at the school. Special thanks to a very sweet lady in Porterville! It just dawned on us that once we have the new floors, we won't have to pour water on the floors every week or so! (That's how you keep a dirt floor under control.) It will be so nice to have concrete floors especially at the end of the dry season when everything is so very dusty.
Gregory is our main man for the floor project. He is still studying with Steve about twice a week and is planning to leave his Baptist church pulpit at the end of this year and join our church! What amazing things God has done!
Today and yesterday all of us teachers attended a Teacher Workshop in Nkor, a small town about 30 min. drive away. Nkor is the headquarters of the Noni subdivision. The District Officer (otherwise known as the D.O. or the "Dew") and the IBE (Inspector of Basic Education) have offices there. It was a change of pace for us as we had to close school for the two days. The point of the seminar was to teach teachers how to write test questions. It sounds like the IBE will be asking us to submit test questions to accumulate in a test question bank at the national level in order to formulate standardized tests. It was mostly interesting. We were "invited" (required) to be in Nkor yesterday by "8 am (prompt)." I was a bit nervous as we arrived at
8:35 am. Anyway, the meeting did not begin until 12:45 pm! We heard that the administrators/teachers who were giving the workshop did not arrive until about noon, instead of the previous day as planned. Oh, well! Delays can and do happen. We actually had a nice time hanging out at the Nkor Literacy Center (similar to a library) and reading books for hours! It was quite funny-all of us Americans must be starving for books, because within a few minutes all five of us were deep into one book or another! One really neat thing at the workshop was when the teachers sang the national anthem-it was really beautiful! There was some wonderful bass harmony, etc. I wish I had a recording of it!
Well, bye for now. Love to all. We are missing you!
Carol (and Steve)
Now that dry season is here, we are making steps to begin the work on the concrete floors at the school. Special thanks to a very sweet lady in Porterville! It just dawned on us that once we have the new floors, we won't have to pour water on the floors every week or so! (That's how you keep a dirt floor under control.) It will be so nice to have concrete floors especially at the end of the dry season when everything is so very dusty.
Gregory is our main man for the floor project. He is still studying with Steve about twice a week and is planning to leave his Baptist church pulpit at the end of this year and join our church! What amazing things God has done!
Today and yesterday all of us teachers attended a Teacher Workshop in Nkor, a small town about 30 min. drive away. Nkor is the headquarters of the Noni subdivision. The District Officer (otherwise known as the D.O. or the "Dew") and the IBE (Inspector of Basic Education) have offices there. It was a change of pace for us as we had to close school for the two days. The point of the seminar was to teach teachers how to write test questions. It sounds like the IBE will be asking us to submit test questions to accumulate in a test question bank at the national level in order to formulate standardized tests. It was mostly interesting. We were "invited" (required) to be in Nkor yesterday by "8 am (prompt)." I was a bit nervous as we arrived at
8:35 am. Anyway, the meeting did not begin until 12:45 pm! We heard that the administrators/teachers who were giving the workshop did not arrive until about noon, instead of the previous day as planned. Oh, well! Delays can and do happen. We actually had a nice time hanging out at the Nkor Literacy Center (similar to a library) and reading books for hours! It was quite funny-all of us Americans must be starving for books, because within a few minutes all five of us were deep into one book or another! One really neat thing at the workshop was when the teachers sang the national anthem-it was really beautiful! There was some wonderful bass harmony, etc. I wish I had a recording of it!
Well, bye for now. Love to all. We are missing you!
Carol (and Steve)
Friday, November 19, 2010
Greetings from Lassin! We're all alive and well.
Dear friends and family,
Here's the news from Steve's perspective. Producing "It Is Written, New Beginnings" Bible videos in the Noone language for the Noni people is going great. Today, 'we' completed number 9 on 'facing the judgment'. The other lessons have been on the soon coming of Jesus, creation, the validity of the Bible, the origin of sin, Jesus as our savior, salvation through Jesus, and now the good news that Jesus is our defense attorney at the judgment.
I still need to prepare tomorrow's sermon, but the house is clean, and have taken a HOT shower!!
Yup, a hot shower. Not hot water from a bucket. No sir-ee. Ya see, we (ALL of us- story to follow) went to Kumbo last Tuesday. While in the big city, I just couldn't resist the desire to buy 36 meters of 25mm PVC pipe, and 40 elbows (a bit more than 100 feet of ¾ inch pipe). Wednesday, I assembled it into a series of 'U' turns that resemble the road to Kumbo, and put it up in our rafters above the bathroom. After a small modification so that the water could actually flow through the thing, we are now taking hot showers! Being a missionary in the remote mountains of Cameroon is now a luxury experience.
"ALL of us". If the news gets out that we're going to be driving to Kumbo, the car fills to capacity in no time. Now "capacity" is a matter of opinion. If you are from Cameroon, then 8 adults and 1 youngster was nearing capacity; room for 2 more. But if you are from 'the states', then sitting in the back of the little red station wagon for 2 hours while riding over roads that bring back memories of roller coasters may be a push; never mind the scenery is absolutely beautiful. Coming home, we sat aside 18, 2 meter pipes, 3 jugs of gasoline (for cooking or driving), several boxes of supermarket treasures like 'noodles', a few pineapple (season's about over),
5 back-packs, and each other. No break-downs, no flats, and only light rain. Would we do it again? Sure, but we may be more quiet about 'when'
(December 20).
Speaking of dates, Carol is about to turn a year older and enter a new decade on November 25.
So. Remember how so many of you sent her 'Birthday text messages' last year? I'm sure that she would love it again! By November 24, use Iridium.com, 'send free text message' (top center of the home page), and send to 8816 (filled in already) 31672129. Put your name in the 'return email' box, type in a greeting or condolence, and make her day! Thanks!
Again, thanks for keeping us in your prayers. We love occasional text messages too.
Steve & Carol Rose
Here's the news from Steve's perspective. Producing "It Is Written, New Beginnings" Bible videos in the Noone language for the Noni people is going great. Today, 'we' completed number 9 on 'facing the judgment'. The other lessons have been on the soon coming of Jesus, creation, the validity of the Bible, the origin of sin, Jesus as our savior, salvation through Jesus, and now the good news that Jesus is our defense attorney at the judgment.
I still need to prepare tomorrow's sermon, but the house is clean, and have taken a HOT shower!!
Yup, a hot shower. Not hot water from a bucket. No sir-ee. Ya see, we (ALL of us- story to follow) went to Kumbo last Tuesday. While in the big city, I just couldn't resist the desire to buy 36 meters of 25mm PVC pipe, and 40 elbows (a bit more than 100 feet of ¾ inch pipe). Wednesday, I assembled it into a series of 'U' turns that resemble the road to Kumbo, and put it up in our rafters above the bathroom. After a small modification so that the water could actually flow through the thing, we are now taking hot showers! Being a missionary in the remote mountains of Cameroon is now a luxury experience.
"ALL of us". If the news gets out that we're going to be driving to Kumbo, the car fills to capacity in no time. Now "capacity" is a matter of opinion. If you are from Cameroon, then 8 adults and 1 youngster was nearing capacity; room for 2 more. But if you are from 'the states', then sitting in the back of the little red station wagon for 2 hours while riding over roads that bring back memories of roller coasters may be a push; never mind the scenery is absolutely beautiful. Coming home, we sat aside 18, 2 meter pipes, 3 jugs of gasoline (for cooking or driving), several boxes of supermarket treasures like 'noodles', a few pineapple (season's about over),
5 back-packs, and each other. No break-downs, no flats, and only light rain. Would we do it again? Sure, but we may be more quiet about 'when'
(December 20).
Speaking of dates, Carol is about to turn a year older and enter a new decade on November 25.
So. Remember how so many of you sent her 'Birthday text messages' last year? I'm sure that she would love it again! By November 24, use Iridium.com, 'send free text message' (top center of the home page), and send to 8816 (filled in already) 31672129. Put your name in the 'return email' box, type in a greeting or condolence, and make her day! Thanks!
Again, thanks for keeping us in your prayers. We love occasional text messages too.
Steve & Carol Rose
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Lassin Update - Rated B (for bugs)
Tonight seems to be the night for critters in the house! First of all, Jessica was washing dishes, put her hand in the pre-rinse bucket,
and almost pulled out a HUGE drowned cockroach! Did I mention Huge?
It’s the size of cockroach that Shey John at the store in Lassin says will wake you up when it runs across your face in the night!
Aaargh!!! That’s also what Jessica said! (or something to that
effect!) Then a rat / mouse ran over my toes this evening as I was sitting doing more dishes! Yikes! Kataya thought it was so funny that she tried to trick me into thinking the mouse was close by again!
It was funny! Anyway, I got her good and she jumped at least 2 inches! So that was even funnier! Then Kataya discovered about a
million baby spiders on the bench/couch. They must have just
hatched! A little later we found a tiny frog on the floor not far from the door. Now he was cute. Where was Steve? Well, he ducked out of the house when the mouse was running about—something about a Bible study with Franklin—yeah, right!
Anyway, we’re having fun with the gang. School is going well. 78 students at my last count. I had to ask two students to stay home from Class 1; too young/ immature / just not ready for school I had a cool experience with one of my students lately. Julius is repeating Class 1 again, and this year he is doing so well. I don’t regret holding him back for a moment. Anyway, we were inspecting students for jiggers on their feet, and I noticed that Julius had a terrible case of athlete’s foot fungus between almost every toe! -- in addition to a few jiggers. Last year we found 10 jiggers on just one of his toes! Poor kid! No wonder he walks so slowly! So I brought some anti-fungal cream to school and began treating his toes. It was a bit painful for him to have me wash and dry his feet and then apply the cream, but he was a good sport. I also went to his house three times on weekends to continue the treatment. Now it has been two weeks tomorrow, and his fee t look sooo much better! What was so touching was that a few days into the treatment, Julius was carrying a picture poster of Jesus to my room to hang up (Up until a day ago I have had to remove all items from my room at the end of the day to store in the only lockable room.
The carpenter Franklin recently came and installed the window latches on the insides and with one of Eric’s old combo locks, I now have a lockable classroom!) As Julius was carrying the poster, he kissed the poster and started singing “Jesus loves me!” Wow, I don’t know if it had anything to do with the extra attention and care he was getting, but I like to think that it solidified in his mind what Jesus’ love looks like! Today Julius was running home like he had wings on his feet! I think he is enjoying more comfortable feet.
Love, Carol
and almost pulled out a HUGE drowned cockroach! Did I mention Huge?
It’s the size of cockroach that Shey John at the store in Lassin says will wake you up when it runs across your face in the night!
Aaargh!!! That’s also what Jessica said! (or something to that
effect!) Then a rat / mouse ran over my toes this evening as I was sitting doing more dishes! Yikes! Kataya thought it was so funny that she tried to trick me into thinking the mouse was close by again!
It was funny! Anyway, I got her good and she jumped at least 2 inches! So that was even funnier! Then Kataya discovered about a
million baby spiders on the bench/couch. They must have just
hatched! A little later we found a tiny frog on the floor not far from the door. Now he was cute. Where was Steve? Well, he ducked out of the house when the mouse was running about—something about a Bible study with Franklin—yeah, right!
Anyway, we’re having fun with the gang. School is going well. 78 students at my last count. I had to ask two students to stay home from Class 1; too young/ immature / just not ready for school I had a cool experience with one of my students lately. Julius is repeating Class 1 again, and this year he is doing so well. I don’t regret holding him back for a moment. Anyway, we were inspecting students for jiggers on their feet, and I noticed that Julius had a terrible case of athlete’s foot fungus between almost every toe! -- in addition to a few jiggers. Last year we found 10 jiggers on just one of his toes! Poor kid! No wonder he walks so slowly! So I brought some anti-fungal cream to school and began treating his toes. It was a bit painful for him to have me wash and dry his feet and then apply the cream, but he was a good sport. I also went to his house three times on weekends to continue the treatment. Now it has been two weeks tomorrow, and his fee t look sooo much better! What was so touching was that a few days into the treatment, Julius was carrying a picture poster of Jesus to my room to hang up (Up until a day ago I have had to remove all items from my room at the end of the day to store in the only lockable room.
The carpenter Franklin recently came and installed the window latches on the insides and with one of Eric’s old combo locks, I now have a lockable classroom!) As Julius was carrying the poster, he kissed the poster and started singing “Jesus loves me!” Wow, I don’t know if it had anything to do with the extra attention and care he was getting, but I like to think that it solidified in his mind what Jesus’ love looks like! Today Julius was running home like he had wings on his feet! I think he is enjoying more comfortable feet.
Love, Carol
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