I am relaxing on a Saturday evening, so thought I would give you a flavor of some of the things I did today.
Normal tasks -
Sleep - This is the one morning I don't have to get up at a specific time to teach or get to church. So, this can be my chance to sleep in. However, I guess it is a sign of being over 50 that I don't sleep in very late anymore. The fact that dawn breaks and the birds start singing at 6 a.m. is another factor. However, I sometimes take a good nap in the afternoon.
Review a Sermon Manuscript - When someone in my Wasmeri (advisory) group is going to be giving a sermon at chapel, I am responsible for helping them prepare. This includes checking their exegesis and reviewing their sermon manuscript. I realize I don't give as accurate of feedback as someone who knows Tok Pisin better than I do, but feel like I am getting better. This time I did find some mistakes, it wasn't just that I couldn't understand what he was saying.
Laundry and dishes I often let both of these pile up during the week, so have a lot to clean up on Friday night and Saturday. I am very happy to have an automatic washing machine. Being from America, I grumble a bit that I don't have a drier and have to hang things on a clothes line. However, I get a reality check from the local wives who talk about the back pains they get from leaning over and washing things in a tub. If they take things down to the river to wash they have to lean over even more. Today I am washing all the sheet and towels for the guest house, so have more loads than usual.
Special Event -
Visitors from the Central States Synod - The ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) church is organized into regional synods. Some of these synods have partnerships with the regional districts here in ELC-PNG (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea). The seminary is located in the Kote district, so when 4 members of the Central States Synod (Kansas and Missouri) came to visit Kote as their partner synod, I was pleased that they came to tour the campus as part of their trip. I enjoyed talking with them and walking around campus with them. The main tour was given by Pr. Koesing, the assistant principal, who knew several of the people from when he was part of a partnership visit to the U.S.
I feel two special ties to the Central States Synod. One is that several churches from there are sponsors for me. Also, I did my second internship In the Central States Synod at Prairie Faith Shared Ministry. There I served two small congregations in the farm land of western Kansas. At the time it seemed very rural, now it seems quite urban. While I did live in the countryside I was on a paved road and it was only 10 minutes to a Dairy Queen. As I am running around Lae trying to find where specific items are sold, I sometime think longingly as the WalMart that was only 1 hour away. However, it was also very hard to hear singing in Kote and Yabim like I can here :-)
Normal tasks -
Sleep - This is the one morning I don't have to get up at a specific time to teach or get to church. So, this can be my chance to sleep in. However, I guess it is a sign of being over 50 that I don't sleep in very late anymore. The fact that dawn breaks and the birds start singing at 6 a.m. is another factor. However, I sometimes take a good nap in the afternoon.
Review a Sermon Manuscript - When someone in my Wasmeri (advisory) group is going to be giving a sermon at chapel, I am responsible for helping them prepare. This includes checking their exegesis and reviewing their sermon manuscript. I realize I don't give as accurate of feedback as someone who knows Tok Pisin better than I do, but feel like I am getting better. This time I did find some mistakes, it wasn't just that I couldn't understand what he was saying.
Laundry and dishes I often let both of these pile up during the week, so have a lot to clean up on Friday night and Saturday. I am very happy to have an automatic washing machine. Being from America, I grumble a bit that I don't have a drier and have to hang things on a clothes line. However, I get a reality check from the local wives who talk about the back pains they get from leaning over and washing things in a tub. If they take things down to the river to wash they have to lean over even more. Today I am washing all the sheet and towels for the guest house, so have more loads than usual.
Special Event -
Visitors from the Central States Synod - The ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) church is organized into regional synods. Some of these synods have partnerships with the regional districts here in ELC-PNG (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea). The seminary is located in the Kote district, so when 4 members of the Central States Synod (Kansas and Missouri) came to visit Kote as their partner synod, I was pleased that they came to tour the campus as part of their trip. I enjoyed talking with them and walking around campus with them. The main tour was given by Pr. Koesing, the assistant principal, who knew several of the people from when he was part of a partnership visit to the U.S.
I feel two special ties to the Central States Synod. One is that several churches from there are sponsors for me. Also, I did my second internship In the Central States Synod at Prairie Faith Shared Ministry. There I served two small congregations in the farm land of western Kansas. At the time it seemed very rural, now it seems quite urban. While I did live in the countryside I was on a paved road and it was only 10 minutes to a Dairy Queen. As I am running around Lae trying to find where specific items are sold, I sometime think longingly as the WalMart that was only 1 hour away. However, it was also very hard to hear singing in Kote and Yabim like I can here :-)
So interesting to read about a Saturday morning, especially the contrasts to life in the USA.
ReplyDelete