Now it is Wednesday AM about 9:00. Henpui (Moonstar Computer) agreed to open a little early today and let me send you the email. But at 9:00 AM I am supposed to be at the NLO [New Life Orphanage] for dedication service for the new hostel. I invited Dr. Lai Thuama please to come to our dedication. I have agreed to say a few words of encouragement for the children and guests. Also I will baptize the grandson of Rev. Moses Dawnga -- he is the son of Zuala, Moses' son. I told them I will baptize him as Solomon. I said that his name in Hebrew means "peace" or "peaceful." This is a good name because his father Zuala and grandfather Dawnga have fought the good fight and will subdue the enemies of God, but in Solomona's time, it will be a time of peace and prosperity for the gospel. This is a good blessing. Also, Solomon had much wisdom, so we will pray also that the wisdom of the Lord will be his because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Yesterday, after I sent the email, I went to the NLO. At the NLO I took pictures of the children and of the buildings. They have finished the new bath-house that was only begun last time I was here. They have also made great progress on the hostel, but it is not finished. In fact, it is in much the same state as the bath-houses were when I was here in the rainy season. But the bath-houses are finished and so too will the hostel be finished in the Lord's time. The downstairs will be dining hall and classroom. The upstairs will be dormitory and chapel. I took many pictures and will show them when I return from Myanmar. But I do not think it will be very easy to send attachments from here. After a tour of the compound, I had lunch with Dawnga and his family. Then in the afternoon, I took time to go to see Peka (Joseph Pek Thar, who gave Mrs. Bacon the torchlight last rainy season), Dr. Lai Thuama and Siang Hope's mama. She was not home, but her daughter was, so she went and got her mama. She said that Siang Hope's papa is in another village visiting sick people, but she will send a runner and he will come back to see me today. So I will go over to his house at 2:00 this afternoon to see him.
Peka is with me right now. He picked me up at the hotel, and we had breakfast together then we came over to the Moonstar. But the time I spent with Dr. Lai Thuama was very good. He has begun a new college called the Tahan Christian College. It will be a four year institution and will initially award a BACS (Bachelor of Arts in Christian Studies). But it will be basically a liberal arts degree. Anyway, I will be talking to him some more tomorrow at lunch (I'm teaching them about "doing lunch" so they can be businessmen). At that meeting I will discuss with him how we can send teachers here for English language "intensives" or perhaps even other courses for their students who already have English. I told him already that translating takes half the time and so it requires more than 48 classroom hours for a 3 hour course. But for 48 classroom hours we can conscientiously give the three semester hours. He likes the idea of intensives. You may recall that Dr. Lai Thuama has his degree from the United States. He has been very helpful in keeping NLO "under the radar" here.
I went back to the hotel and took a rest for a couple of hours at about 3:30 PM. By that time I had already been up for 36 straight hours so it was pretty easy for me to go to sleep. What was less easy was to be awakened by Peka at 6:00 to take me to dinner. I went back to the NLO and ate supper with Dawnga's family. Sanpuii did most of the cooking. She was at Kale University classes during the day when I was there, but after classes she came back and fixed supper for us. Then after supper we sat in the living room of the main house and Moses' father in law, Lal Chung Nunga, came by for a chat. I told them about how cold it was in the car and that I will go by the store to get a scarf to cover my face and ears because I fear getting an ear infection. I don't know what they will get me, but they wanted Engi to get something for me. So they will give me that when they send me off tomorrow, but I do not know yet what they have in mind. Then I went back to the hotel at about 8:00. Once again I had little trouble falling asleep and I slept with only one brief interruption until early this AM.
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