The Fifth Week....

of class is over. The topic was Bible Overview and Inductive Bible Study. It proved to be an impossible task to cover every book of the Bible, as the time was not enough. Even briefly touching on the major Old Testament stories and general history leading up to the birth of Christ was difficult. Our teacher taught in English so I was translating for her. I know my Portuguese is not perfect. It is actually quite rusty after 3 years in America but I felt like I was managing. But one student finally came and told me “I’m not understanding you. I think it is your accent.” I was quite discouraged.



MELISSA, THE TEACHER OF THE WEEK, AND ME TRANSLATING FOR HER

After 3 days of Bible overview, the teacher switched to introducing the inductive Bible study method. At this point, we divided the class up between the literate and illiterate students. I took the illiterate students (about 9 of them) and started over from the beginning, teaching them a few Old Testament stories. It seemed as if the Bible overview had not gone well because the students were not familiar with the characters and events we were referring too. So our task was redefined from teaching Bible overview to Bible literacy – basic characters, stories, and themes.
The literate students, many of them with a high school education, treaded deep waters with the teacher, diving into the book of Titus. It was hard work, digging up information about original audience, drawing out observations from the passage and deriving application for their lives. But they stuck with it and were richly rewarded! Light bulbs starting going on and excitement grew as the Word of God came alive to them! (By the way, Victor started translated for the teaching when I left with the illiterate group, and then the students realized and commented that the problem was not my Portuguese, but that so much of the material had been new, they had not be able to process a lot of it. That made me feel a bit better.) So the week finished well.

A couple of the students’ summaries: “Before the Bible had always seemed confusing to me. But now I know how to study it and can study it for myself!” Another student was challenged by God’s Word through Titus: “I’ve realized that I need to change my life and live a more faithful righteous life so that I do not bring dishonor to the name of Christ!” Praise the Lord!


HALF THE STUDENTS (THOSE WITH DIFFICULTY READING AND WRITING) AND I WORK ON LEARNING A FEW OLD TESTAMENT STORIES

One more testimony from one of the students: “When I go home, I’m going to return as a real Christian. I’m learning so much. And I just thank God for the change in my wife. She is from a Muslim family and has been reluctant to be a Christian. We had been staying in the home of her family (I think a sister) but when we left to come here, they made it clear that we were not welcome to return. But since coming here, my wife has changed. She now will not allow us to go to sleep without praying first. And first thing in the morning, she wants to pray. What a change!” Yeah! Praise God!

Colds and Vitamin C

The end of this past week, most of the children came down with colds...coughs and runny noses. The temperatures have dropped to mid 50s at night, which has felt cold here. "Lord, we need some vitamins for these children!" Fruits are not included in our food budget for the school. I try to buy bananas or sometimes oranges but it is not every day I can get to town to buy these things.

But then Friday morning, a pick up truck pulls up and a farmer hops out. His farm is over 70 kilometers from town but today he has stopped by to visit. He goes to the back of the truck, opens it, and pulls out two gunny sacks full of ....



ORANGES! Vitamin C sent for our children from our Heavenly Father! Thank you Lord! The children are all sucking on oranges now at snack times.

The past week went well. The teacher used stories from the Old and New Testament to illustrate the character and nature of our God! The students enjoyed the practical applications she brought to our lives as well. Next week the speaker will be giving an overview of the Bible and be teaching how to study the Bible inductively.

Our brother who had epileptic fights who had come for prayer last Frday continued to struggle with fits. They were occurring around dawn, 5:00, 5:30, or 6:00. So Victor loaded the car with students and went to his house one morning at 4:30 to pray with him. That morning, the fit happened 10 minutes before they arrived! However the fits were shorter in duration. We have continued to pray and now the last three nights/mornings he has not had a single fit. We are thanking God!

Off to the training center....

Fathers' flight, Kitchen Fights, All night

Fathers’ flight -- The speaker this week taught on finding our identity in Christ vs where we try to find our identity. What a joy that God has called us to be salt and light for Him, that we are a chosen people and a royal priesthood! For the illiterate mother from the village, her identity is first of all in Christ, and she can be about His work! The students were especially challenged one morning when the teacher touched on the deep feelings that reside in our hearts if our parents, especially the fathers, have abandoned or rejected us. The teacher invited those who had been affected in this way to come forward for prayer. Of our 20 students, about 16 of them went forward, most of them with heart breaking stories of one or both parents not present as they grew up. Tears flowed. DTS staff prayed one on one with them. We trust that a deep healing has begun in their lives. Later in the school, we will have a whole week devoted to God as our Father and we hope to see God do a great work in the lives of these students.



The third week of our DTS is over. This picture shows our cooking facilities.


Kitchen fights - As Victor says, the third week is always a challenging week as the “honey moon” phase of arriving, meeting, and starting is over. So we noticed the students coming late to class and complaints arising over this or that. Disagreements, sometimes strong disagreements, dare we call them fights, came from the kitchen as students from different regions of the country hotly discussed ways of preparing food. While we have a lady coming to cook lunch for the school every day, staff and students take turns preparing breakfast and supper. So it is in these situations where the discipleship will need to happen now. In the classroom, we have 20 saints. Out of the classroom, we have 20 students whose “paint is still wet.” Perhaps we will hang a sign in the kitchen “Jesus is Lord of the Kitchen.” For now, we appreciate your prayers for this discipleship process.

All Night -- Last night, our school passed all night in prayer and worship on behalf of a young man who has suffered years of epileptic fits. Medicine from the hospital has helped some but then the hospital ran out of the medication. The last three months he has not had one night of uninterrupted sleep. The fits always happen at night. So he came in the evening with his parents and brother, brought by a missionary who has been discipling him for several years. Most of our staff and students fasted during the day. Then we divided into three groups to take turns staying up all night with him in prayer and worship. We had mattresses on the floor for him and his family to sleep. By God’s mercy, he awoke this morning after a night of uninterrupted sleep – no epileptic fights all night long! His mother is praising God. They went back home today to burn some remaining witchcraft medicine they had there. Then they will return to town for a week to see how he does. Praise God with us, for His showing Himself strong in the life of this young man! Pray for his complete healing!

Praising the Lord

I'm trying to learn this technology. Hopefully, by following this link you will be able to see a clip of our worship time at our school's opening.


At the opening of our Discipleship Training School, we had a time of praising the Lord, together with friends and neighbors. This particular song is talking about how the peoples will gather before the Throne of the Lamb, each tribe with its particular language and dance to praise the Lord. The woman going forward to dance is a Brazilian, representing Brazil in the dance of praise.

Preschool

I am watching the 7 or so children of the DTS staff and students during the class times so that the mothers can take full advantage of the class. I say 7 or so students because the number changes as neighbor children come and go as well. This picture shows the children at the Lichinga airport, waiting for the airplane bringing one of our students. This was quite the field trip for some of the children who come from villages and have never seen an airplane up close (or heard it up close!) Pray for these little hearts to be touched by God's love as well during our times together every day.