April 16. Rained most of yesterday evening, but I didn’t hear any rain during the night. The Lord gave us a warm, dry day today.
We are thankful that there is one less rat around. They are getting wise now to the rat poison as well as the glue traps so it is hard to catch or kill them anymore. The rat last night was eating the bait (rice kernels) that was in the little dish of poison, when his tail got caught on the glue trap. He jumped around and dragged the trap around trying to get loose. Daddy got up and finished him off. That was about 4:45 this morning.
Smoke from the wood stove drove me out of bed before 6:00 this morning. After breakfast and quiet time, I worked on the posters for the anniversary meetings until lotu started. Once again the message Amos taught on from the second half of Acts chapter 7 was very applicable to life here and helped to strengthen and encourage those who were in the meeting. After Amos taught, Matthew made further applications, sharing other things that were going on. No one here has faced death as Stephen did, but the religious crowd continues to stir up others to cause us trouble, to spread false witness about the believers (especially the leaders), and to talk against the truth. Matthew encouraged people to let these men and other unbelievers see Christ in our faces as those who are at peace with Him, just as the religious crowd saw the face of Stephen as it had been the face of an angel.
Because of the extra time taken up with extra teaching, school started a few minutes late. But the fellowship and encouragement from the Word was far more important. We still finished both the reading workbook and worksheets in Phonics class today so Phonics lessons are finished until next term. I plan to have them work on their writing tomorrow and print a little verse plaque to take home.
They also finished up their lesson in social studies today so really all that is left for tomorrow is to finish their math lesson. I plan to use some of the other time to work on music with them to be sung during the special meetings next week.
I was tired this afternoon, and took a bit longer nap today. Then I got the social studies’ lessons graded, today’s grades recorded, and grades averaged up that hadn’t been done yet.
We had an early supper, and I had hoped to get the dishes done early, but the gas ran out before the water finished heating. Daddy got the LP changed, but by then it was almost 6:00 and getting dark so I waited until he turned on the generator before I did dishes. We also ran out of water this evening. Something apparently happened at the dam. Thankfully we have backup supply in buckets.
After doing dishes, I started filling in the students’ report cards so they will be ready to give to them on Friday.
Now David and some of the youth are here for their first youth meeting.
“But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled….” I Peter 3:14
April 17. Almost 9:30 p.m. I am finally getting to sit down and write a few lines in my journal. It has been quite a day. I am thankful that I let the students out of school early. Today was our last day of classes. We didn’t really have a whole lot to do. Reviewed a couple memory verses in Bible class and then practiced the songs for the special meetings. In phonics class, I had them practice writing the capital letters. Then I let them write a Bible verse (Philippians 4:6) in all capital letters on a fancy piece of lined card paper. After recess, they finished up their math lesson. Then I let them go home as soon as they had done their jobs. Esau, Bethuel and Sosthenes stayed and finished cutting the firewood that they had started cutting yesterday.
I had about a half hour before lunch to finish correcting their math lessons and get the math grades averaged up. Then we had our dinner and our nap. I was hoping for a good nap since I was awake quite a while during the night last night. But there was no good nap. I was hurting too much to be comfortable. After resting about an hour, I got up and started getting ready to wash my hair. The boys were about done chopping firewood so I was going to wait a little bit until we took care of paying them. In the mean time, there was a knock on the door. Daddy went to the door, and lo, and behold, David’s mother was there. I was really shocked that she had come all the way up here. She has been really sick since the end of last year and almost died. She is on TB medicine now and is starting to gain a little strength, but she is nothing but skin and bones. I don’t know how she ever walked up here. I sat and visited with her a little bit. When the boys came in from their work, they visited with her a little bit. She stayed for a little while until she felt like she could go out and walk again. I gave her a bag with some goodies to take home. After she left, I finally got my hair washed.
A good part of the rest of the afternoon, I spent finishing up the report cards. About 4:30, I headed to the kitchen. Had to make biscuits for myself and banana bread for the party tomorrow. Put eggs on to boil for supper. After I got the biscuits and banana bread in the oven, I peeled and mashed the eggs. Then we had our supper. Afterward, I sorted the laundry while the dishwater was heating. Daddy went and turned on the generator, but within a short time, it turned itself off. Oh, oh! Same thing the last one had done, and within the same amount of time - two months. So once again, we are using the old Hyundai. The extreme surges aren’t good for our lights and appliances, but we have nothing else. We will pray that the Lord will bring a good affordable generator to Goroka.
Worked on washing dishes and washing clothes at the same time. Then the blouses and things had to be hung up in the house, and I had to get the schoolroom set up for funday tomorrow and make sure everything was ready for that. After that, I had my snack and took a bath. I am very happy to be off my feet now. I thank the Lord for His strength for today.
“Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.” I Peter 3:16