Oct. -- Josh's Journal

October 10, 2007
Hello Everyone,

Grace turns two tomorrow. We do not have much of a party planned since we had a party when Mandy’s parents were here. She is getting to be a big girl and communicates with lots of expression. Her new favorite song is “The wise man built his house upon the rock.” She wants to sing it as often as possible after every meal. We are getting pretty good at singing it with a very quick beat. She loves it, but she is consistently one line behind when doing the motions. She sings about the last word of each line with us, but is smiling the whole time.
Lydia is doing well too. She has gotten over her infatuation with the pet monkey. She still goes over to see it every day, but does not spend the whole day with it like she did the first few days. She is getting pretty good at recognizing letters and the sounds she makes – she will be ready for school too soon.
Mandy is starting her Bible Study tonight with ten girls from the hostel across the street. If she tells you that I am making her do it, she is lying to you; although, she was tempted to back out. She is nervous about it, but it was her idea. Every Wednesday night (about the time you eat lunch) she will be leading Bible study so you can pray for her.
Yesterday, Tim and I went with Pastor Francis and a man named Jorem to do an evangelism outing near our church. We visited with a family that Jorem had been witnessing to. Tim and I each gave them a presentation from the Bible, then we invited them to follow Jesus. Five adults and eight children prayed to renounce sin and follow Jesus. Being a part of something like that is a privilege. We invited them to church this Sunday, so we will see if they are ready when I get there to pick them up. They live close enough to walk, but I thought it would encourage them a little bit if I offered to pick them up this time.
I know you are still wondering about my white-water rafting experience: fun!!! I like water a lot so I really enjoyed it, but if you only a mild fan of water (and being under water or being thrown around by water) you would probably not like it. We went rafting with Nile River Explorers down what is possibly some of the best rafting in the world. We covered 20 miles of river and passed through 8 class 5 rapids, plus a number of smaller rapids as well. Our raft flipped over 4 times. The first time I panicked a little because I did not know what to expect or how long it would take me to get my lips above water again. The second time we flipped I ended up under Tim, under the boat. At that point I decided to abandon my paddle and the idea of staying with the boat and just swim for oxygen. By the third time I felt like a pro at flipping over: forget about everything else and just hang on to the rope that is connected to the side of the raft. The river is deep enough that with all this I never hit a rock. However, Mandy’s promise that “kayakers will be there to help you” was a farse. The only kayaker I came in contact with did not see me so as he came over a wave to help someone else he his kayak landed right square on top of me. The next time I was dunked one just told me, “keep swimming.” The last one said, “Don’t grab my kayak, go that way” (where nothing but water awaited…the food raft finally picked me up).
While in Kampala we visited Didi’s World, the amusement park. We each had to pay $3 to get in. Most of the rides were working. The girls loved the Merry-go-rounds and other little rides. There were even two water slides. They were a blast, but unregulated. People were going down in big groups. Some figured out how to slow to a stop and walk down. My last time down I passed two people. The first one was going real slow so he leaned to the inside and I passed him on the outside – thankfully we were on a curve. The second one I passed was walking down the slide (you have to walk with your legs apart so your feet are on the dry part), I went right between his legs and heard a loud “thump” then “HEY” but by then I was long gone. We will certainly have to go back there some day.
Now back here in Soroti, I am working hard on lesson plans and on language learning. We are not teaching right now because the students have gone home for Christmas. A little early, yes, but the schedule got messed up. The floods have closed the roads out of town, so there is not much else to do. The internet got hit by lightning again yesterday. That is the forth time since we came (twice at the main office, twice it was our own modem) so I am not sure when you will get to read this.
The girls are awake now, so I have to go. See you all in less than 2 months.

October 21, 2007

We still do not have our internet up and running, so I thought I might as well add on to the last letter. I have been enjoying the break from teaching. I have spent many hours preparing lesson plans. I finished the course on Titus and should finish 2 Timothy this week without any problem. We still have not received any of our books (don’t ever send things via Mbag) so I only have my electronic library. As a result, I can’t do quite as much research as I might like, but that is only because I get a headache reading from a computer screen. There are actually more resources on my electronic library than the physical books I own. After I finish 2 Timothy I think I will be planning a course on Christian Doctrine, unless one of the other teachers has done that since I last talked to Francis.
I have also increased the intensity of my Ateso language study. I have actually held a few short conversations with people this week. At the neighbors’ house the other day I talked with an older lady who did not know English. Yesterday I went to the village of Obalanga, I spoke a little Ateso in front of the church and talked a little with people outside as well. Conversations are short, but it is further than I was two weeks ago. I am also encouraged people can understand what I am saying. I am not sure if it is just because people in Mahula spoke no English, but it certainly seems to me that Ateso is much more difficult that Tsuva’di was (or I just forgot how hard Tsuva’di was at first). The sounds of Tsuva’di were more difficult, but Ateso has a very complicated verb system, a remarkably irregular system for making nouns plural, and a sentence structure that puts the verb before the subject. For example, instead of saying, “I went to the market” they say, “went I to market.” With a three word sentence it is not so difficult, but with a more complicated sentence (and with words in a foreign language) it is a lot to think about.

October 26, 2007
Hello everyone,

Even though it has not been that long since I last wrote, I have a few minutes before bed so I thought I’d write. Grace has been much less defiant this last month; actually, she is a joy to have around. She plays well with Moses; she has a tender heart as well. She is getting very sweet.

I started preparing my “Systematic Theology” course for BBC. “Christian Doctrine” would probably be a more accurate name, but I will stick with the name pastor Francis gave it. I have completed the introduction and am currently studying the doctrine of the Bible – it’s authority as God’s word, inerrancy, sufficiency, clarity, and necessity. I find doing this type of course much more challenging than courses on specific books of the Bible. Thankfully I have three doctrine books to help me with this process.

I have also been studying Ateso five days a week. Some days I feel good about it; today I was in a complete fog by the time the lesson got done – so much so that I ended it early. However, I am making progress. Mandy wrote Maryamu a letter which she needed me to translate (she lives in Nigeria). I found that while translating I kept wanting to think in Ateso. Ateso has certainly replaced any Hausa in the forefront of my mind; it is even crowding out the Tsuva’di. Part of me is sad about that, but I suppose it is also progress in the current situation.

I went to see Awoja swamp today because we hoped to go to Mbale for the day tomorrow. Police have barricaded the road – I guess the bridge needs repair so it will be a long time before we are able to pass that route.

We have been without water for 10 days, without internet for 3 weeks, and were without electricity for 48 hours. I was so tempted to complain. However, I am reading Secret Believers, a book about Muslim Background Believers in the Middle East; I have nothing to complain about. They pay such a price for their faith. Compared to them, we have it so easy here. I encourage all of you to read it, not just because it keeps you on the edge of your seat, but because every Christian should read it.