Traci’s Tracks <e-mail edition>
Issue #4 Tue, 17 Nov 1998

Enjoy.
charley.

Dear friends and family,

This has been quite a week. I'm going to try to fill you in on it without getting too lengthy.

The week's excitement began just after I finished writing last week's newsletter. I received a call and had to go down to the far end of campus because I had gotten that call on the cell phone. (We use cell phones because they are much more reliable. Our land lines work sometimes at best. It just means that you have to run across campus when you get a phone call.)

I received my call and was standing outside talking on the phone. It was just about dusk so I was watching all of the frogs come jumping out. There were enough frogs to almost make you think we were getting ready to experience the 10 plagues again. The guardian was coming through campus turning on all of the lights. He was just getting ready to turn one on in front of me when I saw some thing black sticking up out of the ground. I couldn't figure out what it was, just about that time it hooded. I realized it was a spitting cobra only about a foot and a half from the guard's leg. I yelled, "Serpent!" He jumped out of the way and the snake disappeared. He tried to find it but it went down into the drainage ditches, which are covered. I was still on the phone the entire time. So far the snake has not reappeared again, but the people who live down their are watching out for it.

On Tuesday, Dieudonne', our African worker who is in charge of all of the African workers on campus, collapsed in front of one of the dorms. The nurses were on the scene immediately and CPR was begun. He was rushed to town to the hospital, but he didn't make it. He either had a heart attack or an aneurysm. He leaves behind a wife and six children (ages 6-14). They are all Christians. Please pray for the family during this time. Dieudonne's brother, Pascal, also works at the school. They had lost the oldest brother just the week before. Pray for the African workers as they adjust to Dieudonne' being gone. Also pray for the kids who were around when he collapsed. Most of the 4th&5th graders were there when it happened because they were coming back from music.

On Friday, one of my girls comes rushing into to class, "I just got chased by a snake!" There were a group of kids around where it was because they were all on their way back to class from lunch. It was hiding in a drainage ditch. The high school science teacher sent down word not to kill it because he wanted to catch it alive, and that is exactly what they did. The chased it out where they could catch it, and the science teacher grab it just below its head and carried it back to the science lab and froze it. I thought he was crazy. He likes to try to find out what they are. Last I heard he still hadn't figured out what this one was, but he didn't think it was poisonous. I think it is the same snake Brenda and I had had an encounter with a few weeks earlier in that same area.

Friday night was the First Trimester Banquet. This is a really big deal because everyone gets to dress up and of course the high school kids get to have their "dates." I was covering one of the high school dorms because the dorm parents were on the committee to do the banquet. It was fun to be at the dorm while all of the girls were getting ready and then they guys coming all dressed up with a flower to get the girls. Of course I enjoyed the evening sitting at the banquet with a group of 3rd and 4th graders that had asked me to sit with them.

On Saturday, the elementary hosted a Christmas party for the African worker's kids. They did a program for them, passed out gifts, and had cookies and kool-aid. It was a lot of fun.

This morning was my last Sunday School for the trimester, so we had our Christmas party. We had a Christmas story and snacks, and of course we had to have presents. One of the things I really enjoy about the kids here is that you give them something small and they really appreciate it. I had just made them up little presents of a pencil, eraser, and some American candy and they thought it was wonderful. Of course anytime you can bring out American candy, it is guaranteed to be a hit.

This afternoon we had outreach. We loaded up almost 60 high school and middle school students and adults and went to a residential area on the other side of town. The entire group sang songs in French and several local tribal language. One of the high school guys told an African story. Then the kids that are trained in Evangelism Explosion went out in groups to witness to people in the neighborhoods. The rest stayed around while a local African pastor preached. I hope to come up with a children's program soon for these.

There were probably 125 kids around watching and listening today. I haven't heard a report today if there were any conversions.

We only have a week and a half left of school. The kids and teachers as well are getting very ready for the break. I'm sure the time will fly by though.

In Christ,
Traci