Photos for Friday

Here are two pictures from the service for Charlie’s parents. We had about 50 of our students jammed into our living room. (Interestingly, they crowded around the perimeter of the room. I had envisioned them organizing into rows in the center of the room. Now that I think about it, this probably says more about me than about them. I remember how my family had a house-cleaner who would evenly distribute pillows in a straight line across couches. It drove my mom crazy; she preferred having them bunched together in the center. That’s how she always does it. And now, either through nature or through nurture, it may be my ideal formation as well. I always favored zone defense over man-to-man in basketball.) These pictures were taken before Wes, Charlie, and Charlie’s parents had arrived. When they did, everyone was on their feet, dancing to the drums, singing about how good God is. One of the traditional dances features the left arm crossed over the stomach and the right arm extended as if to pull a slot machine lever. In this position, one keeps the left arm stationary and rocks the right arm rhythmically to the beat. It’s fantastic. The program turned out to be one of our most memorable experiences here. We sincerely felt honored and loved by our students, as they gathered together with us to welcome Charlie’s parents. We’re going to miss this place.




These last two pictures show two of our younger friends, Victory and her little sister Favor. I think Favor was hoping the mango would have an enriching effect on her skin, seeing as she smeared it all over her face. I think Victory believed the mango’s exotic power to be most effective on dresses. In the picture, Victory had already polished off her fruit snack and moved on to her cookie. After they came over, I went up to the football field with them and their cousin, Glory (in the last picture), to watch the final CBTS football match of the year. Many students where there; intra-class football matches are probably the primary organized social activity among students. Afterwards, they handed out trophies to the top teams and to honored players.

Thank you all for praying. There’s one encouraging aspect of the past couple weeks I thought I’d share. In one of my classes, I’ve noticed that an older woman who is typically withdrawn throughout every period has begun to ask questions, both during class periods and after class. Today I met individually with groups of students to provide guidance for group projects, and I was blown away when this student confidently and naturally asked multiple insightful questions. It’s a small grace that has been a blessing. Thank you for praying.

--tg