DAY ONE

We have found our stride.

We began yesterday with a time of worship which for me was so refreshing and renewed my physical strength. It reminded me once again that we will worship before the throne of God with all tribes and nations and peoples of the world and we will not weary of it. Looking forward to that.

I found it difficult at first in class to communicate to the students what was in my notes. It took awhile for the class and I to get used to each other but by the end of the day Samuel (who is co-teaching with me) and I found our stride. We now know at what pace to move forward and more on how to communicate with the students. I look forward to this morning’s classes. I am also giving the devotional in our opening session today so pray for me.

There is a woman in my class, Shanta, who was a housemaid in Saudi Arabia for 5 years and that is where, as she says "in the dessert" God called her to full time service. She has been a pastor for 5 years now. Our host Pastor Levi, who has been in ministry for 45 years, has built up his church which is now also a training center for Pastors. As a young man he ministered in the mountains among the Muslims, had his house and church burnt down, saw two other churches burnt down, and loss three children shortly after their birth. We talked about times like these where God is silent and how Pastor Levi moved forward knowing that the sun would shine the next morning. Pastor Nestor in my class is working among the Muslims in the mountains and has three pioneer teams working with him. He has been a pastor for 5 years. These are not young people. Vivian who has been a pastor for 10 years is a sweet woman in her 60’s. I have 13 students. I hope to show you a picture tomorrow.

Teaching and the time change is very draining. Yesterday I was up at 4 am and came down to the lobby for my devotions and to review my notes and found a fellow teacher there doing the same thing. We enjoyed coffee and studied and chatted. (Glad I brought my own coffee. We are both enjoying that). This morning I am up at 2:30 for coffee, my devotions, writing this blog and will then review my notes and message for later today. I tried to study and write this blog last night but was so tired I had to go to bed by 6:30. So continue to pray for stamina and a functioning brain.

It was a delight to see the class “catch” what we were trying to teach them about how to interpret a Bible passage according to the author’s intention and in context. It took a lot of explanation and repetition and examples but by the end of the afternoon I was rejoicing with the realization that they were getting it, so I look forward to building on that insight today.

Thank you for your faithful support in prayer.