June 28. It is going on 10:00 p.m. already. Just finished washing the dishes. Had planned to do it earlier, but then Matthew came to talk about our leaving. Daddy asked him this morning about letting the church know after the meeting this morning, but he didn’t want Daddy to do that yet. Daddy told him that I would have to let the students know tomorrow. Matthew came tonight and was all worried that if we let people know, then the church will go down more and the believers will be weaker Christians. Daddy answered him that, if that is so, then they are following us and not God.* I told them that it is necessary for me to tell the school students tomorrow because this will be our last term of school, and a lot of changes will have to be made in preparation for graduation.
*(Please pray about this. It is so important that the people learn the word of God and learn to trust and follow Him on their own. Please pray for Mom and Dad to have wisdom in preparing them, and for the people to have tender and open hearts to learn from God and be ready to stand on their own. Thank you so much!)
Didn’t get started with breakfast until late this morning for some reason. At 8:15, I still had only a few pancakes made for myself, and I was getting pretty hungry. So decided to just go ahead and eat; and after eating, I added some flour to the rest of the dough to make it a little thicker and made the rest of it into muffins. Then I had my prayer time and, after that, a little bit of time to work on the computer before lotu.
Matthew did a really good job preaching this morning on Ephesians 2:11,12, showing how we used to be a long way from God, from His Word, from His promises, and from His people and had no hope of eternal life.
David preached this afternoon, continuing with the story of Noah, and did well in his presentation.
Tomorrow we’ll be back to school again so this afternoon I was busy making sure everything was ready for classes tomorrow. Then I played the keyboard a little while and got books together for songs I needed to scan this evening. After supper, I did the scanning, and then got the Pidgin words to one song put with the music. Printed that out as soon as it was ready so we can start learning that this Friday.
“32And we declare unto you glad tidings…. 38Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” Acts 13:32,383,9
June 29. After 9:30 already. It has been another busy day. Mostly chilly and cloudy again, with a few periods of sunshine. I was thankful to be able to get outside for a few minutes this afternoon when the sun was shining. Didn’t stay out too long because of the cool wind.
It was back to school today, but only for a short while. After prayer, we sang a couple songs - “Ephesians 6:1-3” and “Until Then.” Then the students translated Luke 14:27 for memorizing. After that, it was time for a heart-to-heart talk. As gently as I could, I broke the news to the students about our leaving. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and it was extremely difficult to keep my composure. Neither did I anticipate just how hard the students would take it. Before we had gone very far, the whole class was weeping. After I had gained a measure of composure and the weeping wasn’t quite as loud, I began to show them the verses that the Lord had used to help us determine His will about leaving. In the mean time, Amos came in for phonics class. He had heard some of what I was saying as he was standing outside the door. After more weeping, we took a short break. Matthew also came in during that time. After break, I went back in and asked them, “Are you able to concentrate on studying today?”
“We are not able.”
I didn’t think so. But they did want to hear what I had to say about the plans for this school term and graduation. We went over the schedule and ideas together and then dismissed school for the day. Amos, Matthew, and the students all stayed for a long time afterward and discussed some things, however.
It took me a while to get my thoughts settled down to doing something else. Wrote a couple e-mails and sent those off. Started getting the June progress report written.
This afternoon, I practiced the new song I had printed out last night so I can be ready to start teaching it on Friday. Sorted and washed a small bunch of greens that one of the children brought this morning. It was a small bunch, but there were lots of small leaves so it took me quite a while to get them all sorted. Then I put a pot of rice on to cook and worked on graduation songs while supper was cooking.
This evening Graham and Sunny came and washed the dishes and had their computer lesson. After they left, Matthew came and talked about some of the things he and Amos and the students had discussed this morning plus some other things he had discussed with his family.
After Matthew left, I had a bath before starting these journal notes. So it is late now, and I’ll be happy to go to bed soon.
“For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.” Acts 13:47