December 16. .2” rain last night. Rained quite heavily this evening, and still raining now.
Today was the last day of classes for OCS. Manila finished most of his classes yesterday. Today we just practiced for tomorrow, finished up the English lesson, and Manila finished the gift for his dad. We finished school around 10:30. After Manila left, I did some cleaning up in the schoolroom and started getting things ready for tomorrow. Then I got the cake made and heated up dinner.
Took a long nap today. Guess I was pretty tired. After nap and our prayer time, I finished getting things ready for tomorrow, except for a couple last minute things which I will have to do tomorrow morning. Then I worked a bit at the computer, played the keyboard a few minutes, then got supper.
Daddy went today and made a booking for our next trip to town. He found out that someone had broken into the hangar and smashed all the windows in the 206. Also that Richard Abel has a broken rib so MAF is short on pilots right now.
After he came back from the radio, he called the New Tribes Clinic. He had a message about a voice message on the phone yesterday, but it doesn’t record. But NTM was the ones who had put a voice message message on before, so he figured it must be from them. He had tried to call them yesterday, but no one was in the office in the morning. Dr. Morton had tried to call him. The results of the biopsy had already come back from Australia. The good news is that there is no t-cell lymphoma, but he does have a very bad case of a rare type of psoriasis. Prasie the Lord for this answer to prayer! It is good to know what we are treating too.
Devit and Luke were here for Bible school. Max is studying for a test. Luke made an interesting observation from his homework on lesson 9 of the Firm Foundations notebook. He noted that God gave Eve to Adam as a gift, that Adam did not have to pay for her.
George cut firewood today.
"Come unto me." Matthew 11:28 The cry of the Christian religion is the gentle word, "Come." The Jewish law harshly said, "Go, take heed unto thy steps as to the path in which thou shalt walk. Break the commandments, and thou shalt perish; keep them, and thou shalt live." The law was a dispensation of terror, which drove men before it as with a scourge; the gospel draws with bands of love. Jesus is the good Shepherd going before His sheep, bidding them follow Him, and ever leading them onwards with the sweet word, "Come." The law repels, the gospel attracts. The law shows the distance which there is between God and man; the gospel bridges that awful chasm, and brings the sinner across it.
From the first moment of your spiritual life until you are ushered into glory, the language of Christ to you will be, "Come, come unto me." As a mother puts out her finger to her little child and woos it to walk by saying, "Come," even so does Jesus. He will always be ahead of you, bidding you follow Him as the soldier follows his captain. He will always go before you to pave your way, and clear your path, and you shall hear His animating voice calling you after Him all through life; while in the solemn hour of death, His sweet words with which He shall usher you into the heavenly world shall be—"Come, ye blessed of my Father."
Nay, further, this is not only Christ's cry to you, but, if you be a believer, this is your cry to Christ—"Come! come!" You will be longing for His second advent; you will be saying, "Come quickly, even so come Lord Jesus." You will be panting for nearer and closer communion with Him. As His voice to you is "Come," your response to Him will be, "Come, Lord, and abide with me. Come, and occupy alone the throne of my heart; reign there without a rival, and consecrate me entirely to Thy service." —Morning and Evening
“1But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. 2When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. 3For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. 4Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.” Isaiah 43:1–4
December 17. 1.7 inches rain all together last night. It was quite a drencher. Praise the Lord for keeping us supplied with water!
At 6:30 this morning, I started laundry, and finished hanging clothes out around 8:00. Got things ready for the school closing program and ate breakfast while clothes were washing. After hanging things out, I walked and prayed.
Manila and family arrived about 10 minutes past 9:00. The whole family was here this time, including Christy. Our program was not very long — Manila recited the three verses he had learned this little term, and we sang them. Then he recited Genesis 15:6 which he had learned a while back in Owena, but learned this term in English. And last of all, he read John 6:57-69 in Owena. Then I had him give his progress report card to his dad and also the gift he had made for him. After that, I gave Manila his gift. Then we had refreshments and talked.
After snack, I cleaned up a little more in the schoolroom to get it ready for this evening. Started working on some thoughts for a schedule for the coming weeks. Fixed a rice casserole for dinner and put it in the oven. Organized all the blacklines papers from school and got those notebooks ready to put away.
We may often forget to meditate upon the perfections of our Lord, but He never ceases to remember us. Let us chide ourselves for past forgetfulness, and pray for grace ever to bear Him in fondest remembrance. Lord, paint upon the eyeballs of my soul the image of Thy Son.—Morning and Evening
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"I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." John 10:9 Jesus, the great I AM, is the entrance into the true church, and the way of access to God Himself. He gives to the man who comes to God by Him four choice privileges.
1. He shall be saved. The fugitive manslayer passed the gate of the city of refuge, and was safe. Noah entered the door of the ark, and was secure. None can be lost who take Jesus as the door of faith to their souls. Entrance through Jesus into peace is the guarantee of entrance by the same door into heaven. Jesus is the only door, an open door, a wide door, a safe door; and blessed is he who rests all his hope of admission to glory upon the crucified Redeemer.
2. He shall go in. He shall be privileged to go in among the divine family, sharing the children's bread, and participating in all their honours and enjoyments. He shall go in to the chambers of communion, to the banquets of love, to the treasures of the covenant, to the storehouses of the promises. He shall go in unto the King of kings in the power of the Holy Spirit, and the secret of the Lord shall be with him.
3. He shall go out. This blessing is much forgotten. We go out into the world to labour and suffer, but what a mercy to go in the name and power of Jesus! We are called to bear witness to the truth, to cheer the disconsolate, to warn the careless, to win souls, and to glorify God; and as the angel said to Gideon, "Go in this thy might," even thus the Lord would have us proceed as His messengers in His name and strength.
4. He shall find pasture. He who knows Jesus shall never want. Going in and out shall be alike helpful to him: in fellowship with God he shall grow, and in watering others he shall be watered. Having made Jesus his all, he shall find all in Jesus. His soul shall be as a watered garden, and as a well of water whose waters fail not. —Morning and Evening
December 18. No rain last night. But it was cloudy all day, and we had a little rain this morning and a good rain this afternoon.
It was going on 10:00 when we finished the meeting last night. All the men and their wives were there, except for Wan and Janet. Wan is still very sick. And Devit wasn’t there — he hasn’t gotten back from Gimi yet — but Silvia came. Apekio came also. And Josua came — we weren’t sure if he came in Erovi’s place or what. Quite a few of the young people from these families were there as well. We were thankful for the good response to the things that were brought out. Daddy didn’t exactly teach, but asked a lot of questions and read a lot of verses, many from the Old Testament, to provoke their thinking. Then he opened up for questions. At first there weren’t any, and he was getting ready to close the meeting, but then Silvia asked the first question and it went from there.
Even though we got to bed late, I was awake by 5:00 this morning. And my body was ready to get out of bed. Daddy said he was awake at 4:30. We got up around 5:45. Daddy went to prayer lotu around 7:00, but not too many got there on time. He said Luke preached on something from one of their homework assignments — John 5 about Jesus’ healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda. Said he did a pretty good job.
While Daddy was at lotu, I worked on peeling taters, peeling and cutting up pumpkin, cutting up onions, and getting all the other ingredients ready for our weekend soup. Finished that and got it on to cook, just when Daddy came back.
After Nuanda left, we went to sent Daniel. Apekio was here last night and said that Daniel was sick. So we figured he would be home this morning. We were thankful for an overcast morning for the walk over there. It was still quite warm though due to the humidity. When we got there, all the kids were there, but not Daniel or Apekio. We started to leave, and then heard Daniel call us. So we went back. Spent a good hour or more talking to Daniel. In the mean time, one of the girls went for Apekio and she came back. Had been off to the river washing clothes.
Apekio gave us some corn and wentida ( a type of bitter greens); Yunis walked back with us to get some salt and oil. It was starting to rain when we came home.
When we got back, I warmed up the soup and fixed the wentida. We had lunch and nap. Had a little bit long nap, and woke up with a bad headache. After nap, we had our prayer time. I cut up the little popo that a boy had brought yesterday. Then I played the keyboard a little while before cleaning the bathroom.
After cleaning the bathroom, I made peanut butter bars for Daddy, crackers for myself, and banana pudding for supper. My last batch of crackers was just about done baking when the gas ran out. Daddy went out and changed the tank. I cleaned up the kitchen and started the dishes.
Finished up the last lesson of the book of Acts for the Bible school students. Daddy wants to teach on the family next.
“29He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 30Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. 31Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 32Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders…. 43Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.” Psalm 107:29—32, 43
Below is a little photo gallery of Manila and his family on the last day of school. To see a picture larger or to read its caption, simply click on it. Enjoy!