Last week

Our translation consultant, Pierre, was with us last week, and we were able to finish checking Isaiah and begin Jeremiah. The afternoons were hot - only once was the temperature under 40°C - but a real answer to prayer was that our cool mornings have continued until now! Beginning the day at 20°C is so much more pleasant than the 30°C we have at breakfast time when hot season really gets going.

Once again, I was very grateful for a good team where no one complains about the heat or gets irritable. Here they are (left to right: Philémon, Pastor Samuel, Pierre).



I was also grateful that the kids behaved themselves for Marc. He is used to having them all morning for school, but usually I look after them in the afternoons. So checking weeks are quite different for the family, since I work full-time for the week.

On Saturday evening we decided to have a rare treat, a meal out at a newish hotel the other side of Kandi, our nearest town. Despite their year in France, our kids do react like African village kids sometimes. As we went into the hotel, Benjy said, "Wow, it's so posh! They have tiles on the floor!" and after eating his meal glued to the Disney Channel on the television, Simon said, "It's as if we were in Cotonou!"

Clash of cultures

Each year our church welcomes students who have come to do a year-long
teacher training course in the village. Despite their short stay, some
of these students get quite involved with the church.

At the beginning of the school year, it was announced that the church
was going to start having official welcomers. "What a great idea!" I
thought.

Then the duties of these welcomers were explained. They would tell
people where to sit when they arrive at church, and then wake up anyone
who nods off to sleep during the service. With a stick.

In fact, just to make sure no one nods off, anyone leaning forward with
their elbows on their knees is told to sit up straight.

What I find even odder is that it is the recently-arrived students who
have been given this responsibility, and that no one seems to find it
strange that these newcomers end up telling people how to behave in
their own church!