Yikes! Snake!

Hello!

(FYI, I dated this for the morning it happened instead of for when I am writing it.)

Life is certainly interesting here in Turkana. I woke up this morning and stepped out of my bedroom door to find a dead snake in the hallway. My cat - Chewy - short for Chushanrishathaim (look it up in the Bible) - managed to kill the said snake sometime the night before. I heard him making noise in the hall around 10 pm Thursday night. When I went out to check and found the rug outside the door was all in a bunch. I stepped over it and proceeded to check on the cat. He seemed fine and wasn't in any way following anything - but he was laying in the hall. So, I again stepped over the rug and went back into my bedroom and went to bed.

The next morning the rug was still messed up. Just a few inches away was the remains of a snake. I admit that I stopped and stared in shock for a little bit before I proceeded to think - chewy! I spent about 10 minutes trying to locate him fearing that he had been bitten and crawled off to some hidden place to lick his wounds or die. I must say that my imagination was running away with me at that point and I was really quite anxious for my kitty! Thankfully I found him sleeping and he didn't appear to have been hurt. He just looked at me like he was thinking -"why did you wake me up I was having such a nice dream!"

A little later, after I made a lot of Chewy and praised him for his fine warrior kitty abilities, I went and examined the remains of the snake. It was in two pieces. Maybe cats have heard you need to separate the head from the body too - who knows. I think one of the smaller pieces was the head, but it was all mangled so I couldn't really tell. I was a biology major in college and found it quite interesting (only because I knew it was dead and couldn't hurt me!). Anyway, I swept it all up into my dustpan and took it outside to show my guard. He proceeded to tell me that it was an "areal" (are-ray-al - like short for Albert). Translated that is a puff adder - a very poisonous snake.

So, I experienced the creeps at the sight of a dead snake in my house, anxiety for my cat who had killed it and then praises for God's protection all in the space of a few minutes after waking up. Life isn't always so interesting here. I must say I am glad about that!

So, how was your day???

Clothing class

Hello again!

I promised an update on my last class in March but my vacation postponed that update. So, my last English class was all about clothing. The students learned a lot of nouns and some adjectives to describe clothes. I brought in samples of most of the things they were learning. It was a little hard to find pantyhose here in the desert so they had to imagine those :).

We played some games to help them learn the words. In one game, a student had to tell his partner where on a grid to place the picture of the clothing item. Then his partner did the same until the grid was filled. The students enjoyed this game and it gave them a chance to say the words in a non-threatening game. We also had a fashion show day. I let each student go through the items I brought and pick out an outfit and put it on. The other students then had to describe what they were wearing. These guys were fearless! They picked out the most outlandish things they could find and matched them together. It was quite comical and we all had a good time trying to describe them.

For their final project they worked in groups. This is the first time they have done something like this. They had to go to town and find out the prices of clothing items. Then, they came back to class and worked in groups to come up with the name of a clothing shop, decide what they would sell and make a flyer advertising the prices of their clothes. They had some initial problems understanding what they were to do, but once they did, I got some very nice looking flyers. I think they will be even better if I try this again in the future.

Part of our class time we spent looking at some Scripture talking about the clothing Christians should wear. I had them draw the armor of the Lord. That was interesting to see their idea of what armor looks like. I am hunting for a book on armor so I can show them some of these things for our next class. We talked about what it might mean to put on Christ. They stuggled for the english words, but they were able to give some pretty good answers.

Our next class is May 10th. We will continue some of the clothing theme and move on to some accessories and body parts. I haven't got the lesson all planned out yet, but I am hoping to include some more Scriptures on things we are to put on as Christians. I am also working to find some Kenyan volunteers to host my students for two nights of this week of class. I need 12 people or families that would be willing to host them and speak with them in English. You can be in prayer that I am able to find some people willing to help them practice what they know.

Clothing class

Hello again!

I promised an update on my last class in March but my vacation postponed that update. So, my last English class was all about clothing. The students learned a lot of nouns and some adjectives to describe clothes. I brought in samples of most of the things they were learning. It was a little hard to find pantyhose here in the desert so they had to imagine those :).

We played some games to help them learn the words. In one game, a student had to tell his partner where on a grid to place the picture of the clothing item. Then his partner did the same until the grid was filled. The students enjoyed this game and it gave them a chance to say the words in a non-threatening game. We also had a fashion show day. I let each student go through the items I brought and pick out an outfit and put it on. The other students then had to describe what they were wearing. These guys were fearless! They picked out the most outlandish things they could find and matched them together. It was quite comical and we all had a good time trying to describe them.

For their final project they worked in groups. This is the first time they have done something like this. They had to go to town and find out the prices of clothing items. Then, they came back to class and worked in groups to come up with the name of a clothing shop, decide what they would sell and make a flyer advertising the prices of their clothes. They had some initial problems understanding what they were to do, but once they did, I got some very nice looking flyers. I think they will be even better if I try this again in the future.

Part of our class time we spent looking at some Scripture talking about the clothing Christians should wear. I had them draw the armor of the Lord. That was interesting to see their idea of what armor looks like. I am hunting for a book on armor so I can show them some of these things for our next class. We talked about what it might mean to put on Christ. They struggled for the english words, but they were able to give some pretty good answers.

Our next class is May 10th. We will continue some of the clothing theme and move on to some accessories and body parts. I haven't got the lesson all planned out yet, but I am hoping to include some more Scriptures on things we are to put on as Christians. I am also working to find some Kenyan volunteers to host my students for two nights of this week of class. I need 12 people or families that would be willing to host them and speak with them in English. You can be in prayer that I am able to find some people willing to help them practice what they know.

Happy Birthday to me!

Hello!

Sorry for the long delay in getting back to my blog. In short, I have been on vacation. My birthday is in early April. So, I decided to take a week long vacation at the beach. I went for a retreat with some other missionaries and took a few extra days to enjoy the beauty of God's creativity with the ocean. I was able to go snorkeling one day and really enjoyed the variety and blazing colors of the fish and sea life. The Indian ocean is nice and clear and has a white sandy beach. It is a beautiful place to relax and contemplate God's goodness!

After my week at the beach, I was going to shop in Nairobi for a day or two and then fly home to Turkana. Alas, there were no flights until the end of the next week. So, I had to spend some time enjoying the sights and sounds of Nairobi. Visiting with fellow missionaries, eating out, eating in some meals I didn't cook, seeing some movies, window shopping, and just generally enjoying my time there. It was a nice unexpected little holiday added on to the planned one.

So, now I am home and ready to jump back into normal life. It was good to be away, but I am happy to be home, to catch up with friends and to get back to work. Oh, I forgot to say that I enjoyed a special blessing while in Nairobi. I found canned Dr. Pepper! I haven't seen it in the stores since the end of 2008. So, this was a real treat! God is really good to his children - a nice vacation, extra time in Nairobi and Dr. Pepper. Happy Birthday Lynn :).