May 9, 2007
Dear Prayer team,
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm the, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. " Ephesians 6:10-20a
On Monday night I ate dinner at Mama and Baba Vikki's with a couple from California. They are an amazing family: their kids have gentle spirits and are very well behaved. Their youngest is named Baraka, which means Blessing in Swahili. Mama Vikki made us pizza! She said she only makes it once a year, but she knows how much American's like it so she wanted to treat us to it! She doesn't have an oven so she made it on the stove! And it was amazing. After dinner we talked to Baba Vikki about marriage customs, and the Eastern African countries uniting to form one country (this is the topic for next week's debate in class, one I think is very interesting).
Yesterday we started a section on buying things, using words like expensive, cheap, cost, and so on. I told the class that our room was now a market, and appointed four people to sell things. We had a person selling oranges, one selling avocados, one selling shoes, and one selling cows. Then the rest of the class went through the market and bargained prices in English. One person got a cow for $5! Tonight I have a special guest lined up who is visiting from the Kilimanjaro base. She is South African and teaches DTS. I'm very excited for this, as she's a very good teacher. I am also praying about having a special guest talk about HIV/AIDS. Please pray for this with me; I think it would a meaningful use of our time together. I am considering two different speakers, so pray that God would appoint the best one for this setting.
On Friday I am planning on showing "The Last Holiday" with Queen Latifah! I thought of Anna's Bible study when I picked it, and how much fun you all had watching it! I'd like to show my class a movie with an African American actress: I think it would be interesting for them to see how these cultures have come together in the states.
Yesterday's debate was "Is tea or coffee better?" I picked an easy one because they didn't have a chance to prepare for it ahead of time. Afterwards I gave a lesson on tea and coffee culture, and eating customs, in Western countries. My students had never heard of a drive through, so they thought that sounded very unusual. In Africa eating out is a sign of having money, so it wouldn't make sense to pay for food that you don't sit down and eat. I told them that my family eats out maybe twice a week, and someone said I must have a lot of money. Most people in Africa live off one to five dollars a day, so being able to eat in a restaurant twice a week sounds pretty luxurious. Since we were on the coffee subject I gave them the history of Starbucks, and no one had heard of it before. I found that a bit refreshing (: Also in Africa we don't have dessert with meals. You can buy sweets in town but it's not customary to serve them after dinner. Baba George says they make up for it with all the sugar in their tea! In order to explain table manners, I told them that Mother's in America are always telling their kids to "take your elbows off the dinner table," "don't slurp your drink, sip it," and "Cut your food into smaller pieces so you don't gulp it!" They thought that was pretty funny. I asked them if their mom's said that to them and they said yes! Some things are universal! But they don't get told to eat their vegetables because they don't have courses with their meals; it's usually all combined in a dish. And you wouldn't have to tell a Maasai to drink their milk because they love it so much!!
Today the concept of pets came up in our book. So I gave them a cultural lesson on pets! This was pretty halarious, as animals are purely food and livelihood in Africa. They couldn't believe that I let my dog sleep on my bed! I tod them that my dog at home is my mom's "fourth child" and they all started laughing. I said that people can pay $500-1,000 for a dog, and then they take them home and feed them, wash them, brush them, and give them cookies. In East Africa it's hard enough to feed yourself let alone a dog! I also told them that some people even put clothes on their dogs, and this was just over the top! One of my student's asked if dog's have savings accounts! Another asked if once someone became a Christian if they tried to change this about our culture. I'm not sure what he meant by this, but i'm pretty sure he thought there was something wrong with our Western behavior. Dogs here are like dogs in Mexico, so you can imagine how strange this concept would be to my students. The main shocker though was that dogs sleep on people's beds sometimes.
So, we are moving along nicely. The book is starting to get more interesting and my student's are starting to get more confident. I arranged for English speakers on the base to be paired with one of my student's so they can have a conversation together once a week. I think this will be really effective because it will be an informal setting and give them a break from just hearing my voice all the time!
It's been raining on and off this week so we haven't had power, internet, or water all the time. Right now we have all three though so I'm very happy! It's beautiful when it rains because all the plants look greener and the air is still hot.
And now for a short story:
My friend Becka, who is the other teacher for ELS, was living in Australia with YWAM with her husband Chris. Because of where the base was located, a car was very neccessary. She felt like God told her not to ask for a car but to let Him take care of this need. She was also aware that as a missionary they couldn't afford anything but gas to maintain a car. So she and her husband prayed and very shortly after someone gave them a car! The insurance and everything was covered, all they had to do was pay for gas. This was also during their first year of marriage, and they had gone straight into full time ministry on the mission field. She felt like they needed a vacation to spend time together, and once again prayed about it. Then, someone gave them a key their house that was right on the beach, saying they could use it for some time because they wouldn't be there. Don't you love it when God meets our needs in such tangible ways?
love to you all and God bless,
Christina
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