Another long day that I decided to split up in between two posts...
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We slept in a little today because we weren't going to work on a Sunday and had a later breakfast. I knew that Chad was planning to come to preach at the church we were starting. Mid-morning he called and said "we are on our way." I got excited and told John, "call him back and find out who 'we' are!" Apparently the whole family was coming! I couldn't wait to see Robin and the kids... to have them join with me in what I was doing and how I had been living... if even for a day.
While we were waiting for them to arrive, we were talking and learning from Pastor Abdul more Themne words. As he was describing certain words, I guffawed a few times because they were clearly bad words in English. For example... house and tree. He was telling us how to say house (which sounds a whole lot like the four letter 's' word in English). I tried to repeat it the same as Pastor Abdul was saying it, but there must have been some slight nuance in the pronunciation that I was not picking up on and he was really trying to help me say it right. So he would say it, then I would say it and again and again we would go, but it all sounded like the 's' word to me. Both John and I couldn't keep a straight face. We told Pastor Abdul while we were laughing and he, too, thought it was funny.
My Krio has been improving a little bit as well (or in Krio... "I talk Krio bettha small small") while living with the well drillers day in and day out. I noticed something funny about the language... whenever there is a 'sk' or 'sc' sound at the end of an English word, in Krio it is switched in pronunciation. Ask becomes "aks, or axs" (like ebonics), mosque becomes "moks" and disc becomes "dics."
Right on time Chad and his family arrived. We all drove to Makelben for the service. There were a decent number of people that showed up... at least 40 adults and 60-70 kids. Some shared their testimonies. most were telling us how excited they were that we were there and they are with us now, etc., but there was one lady who talked about how her life has been changed by the messages and teaching that she had listened to. Those are the things we like to hear. Life changes when you accept Jesus.
Chad spoke on loving your enemy, blessing and praying for those who hate and curse you, and turning your cheek if someone hits you. The ideas Chad spoke on seemed somewhat revolutionary to these people as ways they can now respond to those they argue with. We have seen lots of fighting between people since we've been here and I hope and pray that this community really takes hold of these teachings of Jesus.
One funny thing to note was that in the middle of the service all of the kids started to get up and scream. We were wondering what was going on? Apparently there was a snake that had dropped down the tree that we were all getting shade from. The locals got rid of the serpent and church continued on as if nothing had happened.
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We slept in a little today because we weren't going to work on a Sunday and had a later breakfast. I knew that Chad was planning to come to preach at the church we were starting. Mid-morning he called and said "we are on our way." I got excited and told John, "call him back and find out who 'we' are!" Apparently the whole family was coming! I couldn't wait to see Robin and the kids... to have them join with me in what I was doing and how I had been living... if even for a day.
While we were waiting for them to arrive, we were talking and learning from Pastor Abdul more Themne words. As he was describing certain words, I guffawed a few times because they were clearly bad words in English. For example... house and tree. He was telling us how to say house (which sounds a whole lot like the four letter 's' word in English). I tried to repeat it the same as Pastor Abdul was saying it, but there must have been some slight nuance in the pronunciation that I was not picking up on and he was really trying to help me say it right. So he would say it, then I would say it and again and again we would go, but it all sounded like the 's' word to me. Both John and I couldn't keep a straight face. We told Pastor Abdul while we were laughing and he, too, thought it was funny.
My Krio has been improving a little bit as well (or in Krio... "I talk Krio bettha small small") while living with the well drillers day in and day out. I noticed something funny about the language... whenever there is a 'sk' or 'sc' sound at the end of an English word, in Krio it is switched in pronunciation. Ask becomes "aks, or axs" (like ebonics), mosque becomes "moks" and disc becomes "dics."
Right on time Chad and his family arrived. We all drove to Makelben for the service. There were a decent number of people that showed up... at least 40 adults and 60-70 kids. Some shared their testimonies. most were telling us how excited they were that we were there and they are with us now, etc., but there was one lady who talked about how her life has been changed by the messages and teaching that she had listened to. Those are the things we like to hear. Life changes when you accept Jesus.
Chad spoke on loving your enemy, blessing and praying for those who hate and curse you, and turning your cheek if someone hits you. The ideas Chad spoke on seemed somewhat revolutionary to these people as ways they can now respond to those they argue with. We have seen lots of fighting between people since we've been here and I hope and pray that this community really takes hold of these teachings of Jesus.
One funny thing to note was that in the middle of the service all of the kids started to get up and scream. We were wondering what was going on? Apparently there was a snake that had dropped down the tree that we were all getting shade from. The locals got rid of the serpent and church continued on as if nothing had happened.
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