Unwelcome Visitors

The following three unwelcome creatures paid me a visit during the past month.

1.  Scorpion. I've had many visits from these during the past few years. They typically appear in the evening. I usually find them when I've been out, then come in and turn on the light.

I spotted this one on the wall after I turned on my desk lamp.

There are over 1,500 species of scorpions in the world and they all have a venomous stinger, but fortunately only about 25 are known to have venom capable of killing a human being.

The stings of the ones we have here are not dangerous, but they hurt like crazy!! I was stung for the first time a few months ago, on the foot, and it was like getting stabbed by a red-hot knife.

 
I've found that most of the time, scorpions don't move too quickly. They wait to see what will happen.

I debated on how to kill this one. I often use the "spray and smash" method for a scorpion on the wall. I spray it with insecticide, then when it drops onto the floor I smash it with the sole of my shoe.

This one, however, would have dropped onto the floor in the corner behind my desk--not the greatest place for me to squish it.

I know this will sound gruesome, but I ended up pinning it in the middle with a big knife and sawing it in two.







2.  Bat. One Saturday morning, as I sat at my kitchen table, I looked up and saw a bat crawling down the wall.


It's not very common to see bats during the day time. However, I have had a problem at times with bats "hanging out" during daylight hours behind a shelf unit in the corner of my counter.

They come in through small openings between my corrugated tin roof and the top of my wall.

You might think I would be happy to have a bat in my house because they eat things like mosquitos. However, they are a nuisance because they produce an incredible number of tiny droppings that quickly make a mess on the counter.


I got rid of this one by taking a broom, putting the handle end right below its head, and gently pushing up. It was rather comical because the bat clumsily backed right up and out.

3.  Snake.  I've never found a snake inside my house, and had only once seen one on my porch, until a month ago. Early one evening, as I was in my house getting something for a friend who was on my porch, she began shouting, "Snake, snake!" I went out and saw one lying a few feet from the door. 

My friend had seen the snake slither out from the crack between my doorframe and the wall (on the left side of the door). When it saw her, it started to go back in, but she jumped up and bonked it on the head with her flip flop and stunned it.

I grabbed a small shovel that was in a corner of the porch, pinned the snake down with the blade a few inches behind the head, and cut it in two. Yeah!! My first time to kill a snake.

The snake was a night forest adder, which is venomous, about 18" long. It must have tried to get in the house through that crack, but fortunately the crack is blocked on the inside. I'm very grateful that it didn't get inside under my door or that I didn't come upon it on my porch in the dark.

This photo was staged later that evening. I had initially thrown the dead snake into some grasses under a bush, but later realized that I hadn't taken a picture. So I got a flashlight and looked for it, but only found the body, not the head. 

Awut at Ten Months

Little Awut, whom I first introduced on my blog back in November, is now ten months old. Her mother died a few hours after she was born and she is being cared for by her paternal grandma, Nyibol. Nyibol and Awut recently came by for a visit, along with Luka, Nyibol's four-year-old grandson whom she is also raising. His mother,  Nyibol's daughter, died in December. 

Awut loves to smile and giggle. She is growing and developing well. She now weighs almost 7 kilos (15 lbs), a little on the petite side for her age but within the normal range.

Nyibol is visibly proud of both Awut and Luka. And with good reason. She works hard to take care of them and is a loving grandma/mother.

Nyibol's joy in God is easy to see. She is a thankful person, quick to acknowledge how God has helped her and provided for her. She faithfully attends church with the two children.

Many thanks to those of you reading this who have prayed for Awut and Nyibol during the past months. Please continue to pray for good health for Awut and that God would provide Nyibol with all that is necessary to take good care of Awut (and Luka).

Sesame Field in Bloom

The sesame plants have been growing well and blossoming like crazy. The other morning on the walk to school I enjoyed seeing the fields of white, bell-shaped flowers in the morning light.

Reading Practice

Every Saturday morning there's a prayer meeting at the Parot Church that ends around 9:00. Then a few of the women who were at the prayer meeting usually come by my house to say hi and/or have a little visit and tea. Now that I teach and am not at home on weekdays, this is often my only opportunity to catch up with some of these women, and I enjoy this little tradition we've now established.

Yesterday, two of my Saturday morning "regulars," Abuk M. and Achol D., brought a Dinka literacy book and were practicing reading. They and about 20 other women from the church are part of a literacy class being held at the church each weekday afternoon, courtesy of the NGO Samaritan's Purse (SP). The class is taught by two young men from the church who were trained by SP.

I'm thrilled that these dear friends and others are having the opportunity to learn to read!

Another one of the "regulars," Abuk A., who is a good reader, gave Abuk M. and Achol a little help.

I should give a shout-out here to SP because they have done a wonderful work in our state during the past few years training literacy teachers and offering classes like this in dozens (perhaps hundreds?) of churches. Those who finish the literacy program are given a Dinka New Testament and then are offered a discipleship program that helps them practice reading and grow in their faith. My team has had the privilege of partnering with SP in this program as SP uses our discipleship materials.

New Parot Church Building: Part 3

The roof of the new Parot Church building is almost finished. I don't have any pictures of the church women tying on the bundles of grass for the roof thatching because this was done in late May when I was in Nairobi.

The picture above was taken at the end of the service this past Sunday as people were leaving. The children on the right are carrying chairs they brought to sit on. There isn't much "seating" provided in the church at this point--just a few logs on the ground.

The picture below was taken before the service started, when people were still coming in. You can see the opening at the top of the roof that still needs some additional thatching to be completely closed. The church hopes to soon have the funds necessary to do that.

It's great to worship in the new building. I love looking up at the pattern of the roof supports and thatching, which to me is quite a work of art. Plus the roof is much higher than that of the old building--the latter was so low that unless I sat right on the centre aisle, where the roof was highest, I couldn't stand up completely! And there's lots more room.

Parts 1 and 2 of this series are here and here.

Parable of the Sower Pictures

In their daily Bible lesson, my class has been going through the gospel of Mark. They've also been memorizing Bible verses, including the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4 and Jesus' explanation of its meaning. I had them draw pictures of the four places/soils where the seed is sown. They really enjoyed drawing, colouring and showing off their pictures.

New Parot Church Building: Part 2

Here is the (somewhat belated--sorry!) next post in my series on the construction of the new Parot church building. You can find Part 1 here.  The pictures in this post were taken in late April before the rains had started, so things were still very brown and dry.

As you can see in the picture above, at this point, large centre posts had been set in the ground to support the roof and posts laid horizontally between the tops of them. Other smaller supporting posts had also been set in the ground. Beams had been installed between the perimeter support posts and the cross-posts at the peak of the roof.  

The picture below shows in inside view of the various roof support posts and beams. Two men were working on the roof to attach the bundles of small sticks on which the roof thatching would be laid.

A helper passes up a bundle of sticks.

The sticks are laid in place and then tied together and to the support posts with strips of palm leaf.

The fellow below was making the palm leaf ties.