Entries for 'N. Nesbitt'

I am DONE with the exams. It was a grueling day, in a hard hard seat, listening to 13 sermons and grading them. But I am done at last!

Better yet, the students did better than expected - at least in some cases. And all seem to be truly learning. Well... maybe one exception. In other good news...

Our last day of regular classes. We had a good discussion about writing beginnings and endings for sermons. They seemed to understand this part more easily, I think because they're getting into the context of sermon writing and its purpose. It's coming more naturally now to think about the sermon's effect on the listener.

Then...

Here is a photo of the pastors at the funeral for Morris

Well, it's the big day, and the radio (Yambio, FM 90) says that the announcement of the winner will probably be delayed until tomorrow. So... here we go again.

We spent our first hour talking about how to find a Gospel “hook” in those Bible texts that do not seem to have Gospel in them. Looking for a picture of the Gospel that matches or fits with the Law. We used Peter's Denial – Judas' Suicide – and the Handwriting on the Wall in Daniel. It was an excellent exercise, at least for some of the students.

During the break...

A couple of people have emailed to ask why, if it's as hot as I have been complaining, am I wearing a jacket in that photograph. Well, there's a bit of a story in that. YES, it was still beastly hot and I was sweating like a pig. But a heavy thundershower had just ended, and that's my rain jacket. More than that, I had some things in the pockets I was trying not to draw attention to.

You see, as a wise precaution, I had taken a bottle of water along with me when we went. At our arrival I was presented, very graciously by a young girl who knelt on the ground in front of me, a bottle of Mango soda. I did not want to seem rude by refusing it, so I put my water in my jacket pocket. Then, when the meal came...

I thought I'd dip into the pictures from last week, my first few days in Yambio, to send you something new. They include a shot of my bedroom - a picture of the altar in the Yambio church with the light shining through the cross shaped holes in the wall - a picture of my meal at that "birthday" party - and a shot from the marketplace of some Obama gum I found....

Above: Termite paste which I have not tried... yet
(I'm waiting for a fresh batch, this one has been in the uncooled
fridge for almost 2 weeks and it looks like it's fermenting. How can you tell when termite paste has "gone bad"???)

We worship a great deal. I am humbled by this. Not only do we have morning and evening devotions, but the students very reverently lead them. We normally follow the morning prayer or Responsive Prayer 1 or 2 from the Lutheran Worship hymnal. We sing (very badly) some Lutheran hymns, or we sing (much more tunefully) an African hymn. But they faithfully dwell in God's Word and in prayer...

Daschi tells me that the Sudanese (like Edward and Nickolas) won't eat the popo fruit (shown in my picture) because they think it is for children. But in Kenya, where Daschi comes from, it would be very precious. They don't have so much fruit. Here there is a ton of popo and Daschi has 2 of them in the morning (and they are huge!) and often 2 in the evening.

I'm getting a lot more fruit than I normally get.

Had another great morning of classes. After I gave them back their papers yesterday and required them to do it again they were a bit discouraged. But they did MUCH better this time. Only 2 of them still had some problems and I will work with them individually...

I have eaten cassava in at least 4 forms now, and in more than one they call the recipe "gaddia" (pronounced GAH dia). It's not termites, but I think I should get some points for this. No more should I be accused of being a picky eater.

On Saturday I went with Pastor Daschi and two students to a party in
celebration of a new baby born to Morris. (They never mentioned the
mother, though she was there with a proud smile.) We were received
gravely and show to seats of honor among the grass roofed huts. Our
molded plastic seats faced several rows of others. Soon a young girl
came and knelt before us to offer us bottles of soft drinks, Mango and
Apple. Guests continued to arrive.

Finally, Morris stood and clapped his hands. Everyone gathered around. Pastor Daschi stood and introduced himself and us. Nelson translated because the pastor is from Kenya and does not speak Zande. (There are over 400 languages and dialects spoken in Sudan.) And then he preached a nice sermon about the treasure of children. When he was done he took the baby in his arms and prayed for her, and he called me forward to do the same...