Sunday, Monday 19 &20

Sunday 19th uneditted
The day started with breakfast and we were planning to walk to a church a couple of blocks away. The rains of the night before left the dirt/clay roads muddy and slippery. By the time the van was parked the tires had a couple of inches of extra red clay tread on them. The church was very small seating maybe 200. The only reason it came that close was the fact that the backless benches were filled to the maximum by very diligent ushers. The music was led by a women’s duet and was just unbelievable as were the special presentations. The drums were particularly awesome no cymbals just bongo type instruments played by the hand or with a stick. The message was about the Prodigal Son and was presented by a young man who was just learning to preach. It was both humorous and touching even though some of the English phrases were hard to catch. Another young man translated it into French. We were all introduced as guests.
Upon leaving the church we went down town to a Vietnamese restaurant. It is run by his son, a native Californian. We were greeted warmly by him and enjoyed our meal very much. A tour of the embassy district followed along with a drive by the presidential palace. After a quick stop back here we proceeded to a missionary home for another round of Dirty Rotten Thief. The missionaries were parents of some of our kids and another family joined us whose kids we have been working with. The teams were made up of kids, parents and us. Laughter is a integral part of any game playing and we had some great ones. I went to take a picture of the table and found I had no camera. As we walked back we passed the van parked at Mickey’s house. Rather than bother him I noticed the back window was open a crack so I opened it the rest of the way and started to climb in. One of the kids appeared with a water pistol and cameras appeared from everywhere. The camera was not there but I found it on the desk when we got back.
After a few minutes planning for our new schedule we were off to the Sunday night service where we were given a farewell gift. I was at the head of the line for introductions and the last to receive a parting gift except I got none. Charleen one of the card playing parents tried to straighten it out after we sat down. The missionary passing them out said it was given to my wife. That brought some good laughs also.
Monday 4/20
Today was the first day of FES. That meant that my work schedule along with most of the team’s schedules changed. I am giving a Bible lesson to the K-2 kids which take a lot more thought than the bigger kids. I have decided to teach the beatitudes from Matthew five. Some of them do not relate well to little guys but it went well today. We did not have the old classrooms so I met with my kids in the boukarou (round thatched shelter). We also joined the others in a dining room on the compound. The afternoon was modeled after our plans for Friday AM if that makes any sense. At any rate the VBS program we have been presenting is about over and a new program has begun called Field Education Session. Five out of the nine members are leaving tomorrow night. The remaining members will work with the pre-school and I will keep working with the k-2 and 5-6 in bible and perhaps the 4-5 in Science. After lunch we had our opening exercises and then I did my last lesson on the apostle Peter. . We did not have the old classrooms so I met with my kids in the boukarou (round thatched shelter). We also joined the others in a dining room on the compound where we had a craft time before some outdoor games. The kids are so great. They cooperate with everything we do and the parents can’t thank us enough for all we do.
Tonight was a special vender night when some of the local carvers set up their displays in the Commons and everyone on the compound was invited to shop. The carvings were unbelievable but I do not need any more things to display and I bought my gifts at the potter’s last week. After supper I dumped most of the camera chips into this computer. Paul, one of the members here came by with an additional room mate Eric tonight and said he would get all the pictures tomorrow and make disks for everyone.
Well it is after 11:00 on Monday night. I tried to type last night but was very tired. Just as I was about to start a terrible storm blew up. I got the matches immediately and lit a candle in a spot guarded from the wind. Sure enough the lights went out. I got a flashlight using my cell phone but just about the time I got back the lights came on. The storm hit with no warning. We heard no thunder at all until a mighty roaring gust hit the building. After a few minutes the rain came and the thunder and lightning began. Not wanting to chance a power surge I turned in early.