How do you motivate young children to learn computer? A real teacher could tell you, but I’m not a real teacher, so I have had to figure it out on my own. There are three principles that have worked for me:
Empathy. One of the cutest first grade girls of all time, Joy, came in to computer class last term and told me that she was sad because her parents would not be coming for mid term break. Then she started...
Continue ReadingUsually, the title of each week’s email is pretty easy to come up with. But this has been a wild week, so please vote for the following after you read this:
The worst Valentine ever written
God Knows
Matthew and I claimed the eyeball
I already got to touch the intestines
I put the eyeball in the fire
Redneck hunting in Africa
I will also put a disclaimer in this week. None of this is made up. None of it ever is, but this week I need...
Continue ReadingBefore we left for our trip this weekend, I was going to entitle this update, “Camping in a skirt”. To be culturally sensitive, as an older (!) Christian missionary I needed to wear a skirt when visiting the Masai village. It wasn’t a problem for me, just a first. But this weekend was so impacting, that I couldn’t give it that glib of a title. And I don’t think I can yet share all that I gained this weekend, but...
Continue ReadingLast Friday, when I finally had a chance to talk with Grace again. I asked her, knowing the answer, if she had told her family about my song. She just started laughing and laughing and finally got out a “yes”. I said, “Oh?” And she said, “Yes I told them. Then I sang it just the way you sang it!”
Then we both started laughing. She, remembering how funny it was, and me because the tables had been turned. How often...
Every evening we have devotions in the dorm. Our tradition is to invite different people in the community to come and share; where else could you have people do something like that? Last week, one of the single women came and brought a video that she made when she bungee jumped in Victoria Falls, Africa. The video was dramatic, and she gave a wonderful talk about trust and faith.
What did fifth grade boys get out of the talk? The next...
My Bible study with the women who sell vegetables is going pretty well. I’m not too sure what they think of what I present, but they enjoy getting together and each week there has been at least one new face! I thought I would give you a picture of what it’s like.
The women begin gathering outside our house around 1:00. They have been selling vegetables on campus since 7:30 or 8:00 and are very tired. Even the older women start...
One of the great things about second term is you know more of what to expect, so it allows you, in the words of my English colleagues, the opportunity to be a little cheeky. I have trained this term of driving students to always greet Nancy, no matter what time it is and no matter what she is wearing, with the following phrase, best delivered in a halting monotone:
Good morning Mrs. Peifer! My, what a lovely dress!
Mrs. Peifer is truly...
(Sorry for the delay; the kids are back and Nan’s been sick, and even with one night of my famous cooking, which in times past has always managed to revive her strength, she is coming out a sinus infection slowly, so I have been way behind)
All the kids are back, and like all kids, began to compare Christmas gifts. You know what the Christmas gift of choice is for missionary kids in Africa? Heinz catsup.
I am not making this up....
