Spiders, Computers and Other Stuff

Lynne buying tomatoes in Choma Yesterday

          It is a bright, sunny partly cloudy day here in Mapanza.  Lunch for the staff is 12-2 PM.  Gives you time to eat lunch and take a power nap if you like.  The pace of life here is comfortable (some might say slow, but you start to enjoy it once you get settled into your Zambian skin.  Morning devotion is 7:30 am or whenever most of the staff is there.  You can wait for everybody because people trickle into the gathering and quietly take their seats.  It is a short work day here below the equator because it is winter.  June 21^st is our shortest day of the year.  The some rises at 6:30 a.m. and sets at precisely 6 a.m. daily.  The school schedule for the children runs by a precise schedule, but little else does.  Tonight is praise and worship in the dining hall.  We will be praying for the Rosemont team, as the staff here has since they found out you are coming to visit.  Tomorrow is the Kavanga Village Bible study.  I think I am going to stick with Genesis 12.  Teaching chapters 12-15 leaves little time for questions from Charles.  Please to continue to pray for his salvation.

          I just finished my second computer class for six of the adult staff.  Next time you sit down at a computer and start using a mouse, or tracball or touchpad to move your cursor, remember that not everybody in the world knows how to use MS Windows or a mouse/touch pad.  We are learning the basics of Windows while practicing our mouse skills.  I have some Glencoe typing skills books we may use to learn finger position.  The Zambian keyboards are the same as our when it comes to letters, but the symbol keys are in different places.  Fortunately we are using American Lenovo ThinkPads, so the books will work fine.  The staff are loving the computer classes, and would meet for an hour every day if we had time.  On Saturdays during Kid’s club we will have a two hour computer class.

          My friend Blu left his guitar in the dining hall on Monday with all of his music.   I have been using it and his music to play when I have free time.  Kulanga the cook, who is also the musician for praise and worship, has become spoiled with me serenading him while he prepares meals.  I have to admit my guitar playing is rusty.  The last time I really played was when Stephen and Maribeth were in the children’s department downstairs in the church and I played music for the children.  If you start singing, or playing and singing here at NDO you will probably find the staff close by singing along with you.

          For the yogurt lovers out there, I tried a  new flavor today.  Lynne wasn’t sure she liked the texture, but she liked the flavor of my Pineapple & Carrot yogurt.   I think it is awesome!!!  I had a lot of choices of flavors that we don’t have in the US, such as Peach & Mango.  I would love to find some bacon & chocolate flavored yogurt . . .anybody with me on this.  The Spar store had bacon flavored Pringles, but $4 is too much to pay for a can of Pringles. 

He is a little bigger than a quarter.

          You might be wondering if we have bugs in our hut.  Yes and know.    We sleep under a mosquito net just in case.  However we have several sentries on patrol whose sole purpose is to eat mosquitoes and other insects. They are very territorial and seem to do a pretty good job of keeping the mosquitoes under control.  I will grant you it was unnerving at first to have flat brown spiders sitting around on the wall, but they eat mosquitoes.  What happens if they come down off the wall?  My friend Darbi Tidwell, answered that question, “If it is supposed to be a wall spider and it is on the floor, it is fair game to be stepped on!”  I empathize with her position.  However, I tried to step on one about the size of a coffee cup top and he was so fast I missed.  So it seems they have little to fear about us stepping on them.