Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are doing as good as I am! I was just reading a couple emails and had a good laugh over one of them, so I'm in good spirits right now:).

GUESS WHAT?!?!?! Nanse had her baby!!!! It's a boy!!!!! He's really, really tiny. Angie and I are guessing a four pounder. We hiked down to Mibu on Monday, and about halfway down we met Jehupe (sp??) who told us. So we got to see the baby less than 24 hours after he was born. We didn't do any language study while we were down there because of that, but it was really cool anyway.

We went to someone's house sat around the fire pit talked, ate cucumbers, and bananas. A boy gave me the cucumber, which we shared with everyone. Then this guy who had spent most of the Church service staring at me stopped by and gave me an orange too :P. I mentioned that to Angie and Chris, and they said if we're talking about the same guy, he's already married. Nice fella huh?? Maybe it was someone else... I hope.

Angie asked if they had any string around so I could see how they twist it for a belum. So they showed me that, and then the woman who owned the house brought out a grass skirt (which is actually made of string not grass), and all these cockroaches started jumping out. So she started shaking it...HORRORS! There were probably about twenty or so, and they were everywhere! When they started heading towards Angie and me we of course, moved back. So one of the women grabbed a stick and started squishing them. When they were all dead, burnt or buried in the ashes, she started making fun of us. She was pretending her hand was a cockroach, and she touched my hand. I knew what she was doing, even though I couldn't understand her, so I went along with it and jerked back and pretended to scream. It was fun. Even if you don't speak the same language, you can still laugh together!

Right after the hike back up, it started raining (perfect timing!), which meant that my cabin was really dark when I went to take a shower. The bathroom has only two windows, that are really high up and covered (thank goodness), so they don't let very much light in. So I lit the candle in the big room, and hung my flashlight from the shower head. It worked pretty good. There was more light in the shower than there ever has been before! Just some more of the "bush" initiation!

Tuesday night Chris made it back in! He actually made the hike that normally takes about twelve and a half hours in a little over ten. The kids and Angie are happy to have him back. While he was out he bought some chickens. So we've been hearing a lot about chickens ever since he got here :).

This morning I got some more of the printing done. We have been using a copier since it's a lot easier than on the computers. So I made 34 copies of some of the new Romans lessons that have just been finished. At the same time I was also helping Angie, who was doing what they call a kernel check on their translations. So I held the English Bible, and read when she told me to, while she did all the computer work. I never realized how much goes into those translations! I'm not sure who all does what or in what order, but it gets translated into Ma, and there is a comprehension check, where they have a Mibu person read it over and makes sure it's understandable. There is also a BTE (back to English) check, where it's translated from Ma back into English. The kernel check is where Angie goes through verse by verse, and makes sure there aren't any changes in the meaning. Then the guys have to go over it again make any necessary changes, and after all that it has to be brought in and a language consultant goes over it with someone from here again, and they make any more changes that are needed. So far as I know after that it's done, but I'm not sure on that one. It's a lot of work and it takes a LONG time. Angie and I spent about three hours on it this morning, and only got through about twelve verses.

I think I'm going to go take it easy for a while. I have a book waiting for me :). Oh by the way... All of the posting that is done on here is all because of Andrew and Abby :). I don't have internet access here, so I send all of my posts to Andrew. So that is why I never reply to any of the comments that you guys post. Thanks Abby and Andrew :). You guys are the greatest!