Today is the winter solstice and is the shortest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere. As I write this I’m sitting in the African Bible College student center watching the Swiss-Chile World Cup match with several Africans. I’m wearing my Brasil soccer shorts I bought when Beth and I visited Brasil together a few years ago. I’m not necessarily rooting for Brasil in the World Cup but my soccer apparel options are pretty limited (I do also have a Brasil shirt which I’m not sure fits me anymore plus a shirt from a Honduran soccer club who used to use the exact same logo as the Denver Broncos but with a different color scheme). So, while this is the shortest day of the year and while it is much cooler than it was when we arrived in the midst of the summer, it still is not cold. I can easily walk around outside with my shorts and a short-sleeved shirt without a jacket and I’m fine.
Beth and the kids finished up regular school at the ABC Christian Academy last week and Beth has spent some time since the end of school taking care of things in her classroom and stuff. When we arrived in January the school year was already underway and of course there were lots of things to adjust to with the new school, new teachers, new environment, new climate (hot and humid!), and new culture but we survived in one piece (more or less) and we are glad for that. God has sustained us wonderfully through these first 5 months here in Africa.
Near the end of the school year there was a chapel where some parents got up to honor certain teachers and one of the parents of a child in Beth’s class said this (or very nearly this…I’ve tried to transcribe it from the video I took with our digital camera).
I want to convey many, many profound thanks to Mrs. Beth(check out the video of the parent sharing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1WKU7zfvdI ...the young man in the video with the U.S. flag draped over his shoulders and “USA” carved into the back of his hair was departing later that day for South Africa where he attended some World Cup games, including the first two U.S. games which were both draws).
Trumble for filling in
the shoes of Mrs. B [Mrs. Breuninger, the teacher
Beth replaced] who left…Under
normal circumstances when a good teacher
leaves there is always anxiety – will
we find a good one?—and I want to
assure you that Mrs. Trumble has proved to be
the best teacher in Mrs. B’s
shoes. My kid, for example, has transformed to be
honest….I think every door
in our house is stuck with Accelerated Reader,
Accelerated Reader and this
was not the case before and I want to say thank you
very much to Mrs.
Trumble. I wish and hope that Mrs. Trumble will be with us for
a long time
to come. On behalf of all the parents in grade Two-1 I want to say
thank you
very much.
It had been many years since Beth had taught regularly in the classroom but from this man’s testimony, you can see that her return to the classroom has gone pretty well.
Jim has struggled some with the adjustment but the other kids have done pretty well. Please do keep Jim in your prayers. You might remember how it was for you when you were 13 years old and if you throw in a school and country change on top of everything else, that can be a real challenge. Please pray for a close friend for him and that he would be able to see the positive aspects of being in Africa.
June 6th was graduation for the 16th graduating class of the African Bible College in Malawi. A representative of the President of Malawi as well as the United States Ambassador and several others spoke at the commencement. The President’s representative said that he would recommend to the President that he (the President) attend the graduation in the future. ABC graduates from prior years have already found their way into prominent positions in one of the major church denominations in Malawi as well as in the communications industry. God is using ABC as part of the preparation for many future Malawian leaders and it’s kind of neat to be a part of that. To see pictures of the Senior Banquet (which was held the night before graduation) and graduation, follow this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=177518&id=650243390&l=c90232407f
Shortly before graduation we had the main computer from the Finance office stolen. The computer wasn’t much of a computer but it did have quite a lot of historical financial information on it. Happily, we had a backup. Unhappily it was from about 2 months prior and thus a lot of information had to be re-entered. However, it was good that most of the data was restored.
I have gotten more involved with the ABC Community Clinic as one of the clinic’s main finance people has left and I have a good working relationship with Becky, the lady who has been charged with improving some of the processes at the clinic. Hopefully before long we’ll have some good budget processes implemented at both the Clinic and the College and that will help us be better stewards of the resources that God has provided to this ministry.
The game has ended and Chile won 1-0 over Switzerland. Truly soccer is not a high scoring sport.
Praise Items
- For a successful end to the school year.
- That all of our family is currently in pretty good health
- Food, Skype, House, TV,
Requests
- That the school break would be refreshing for Beth and the kids
- Good friends for the kids, especially for Jim
- The recent graduates of ABC who are out finding where God will use them.
Graduation
Beth & Dan at the Senior Banquet
Peter Bodde, the United States Ambassador to Malawi, and Dan. Don’t you think the Ambassador has a funny smile (if that’s what you call that grimace)?
No comments:
Post a Comment