Thank You Picnic

Watching over the food preparations

The month of fasting has begun, and that means some tough days ahead for our island friends and neighbors.  Going all day without food or drink in a hot climate is no easy task.  Not surprisingly, the days before the month begins are filled with parties and picnics—a last hurrah before the hard days arrive.

This year we took advantage of the festive spirit to organize a picnic of our own.  We invited all the administrators of the English programs where we teach and their families.  As English teachers we work with local organizations to teach our classes.  We leave all the administrative/organizational needs (registering students, providing a classroom, creating books and materials, etc.) in the hands of the administrators.  We simply come and teach.  This has been a great model and as a result, we’ve gotten to know the administrators of our programs pretty well.  This was a chance for us to enjoy them and their families and honor them for all the hard work they do to make our classes successful.

Megan & administrator

So we took them to our new favorite spot down by the river.  The kids swam and the men cooked —grilled beef kebabs, chicken wings, and fried breadfruit and green bananas.  The food was good.  The fellowship was better.  Afterwards we had a little ceremony where we honored each administrator.  We explained to them about service and how important it is.  Tom told the story of how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples in order to show them a model of how to serve one another, and then we presented each administrator with a gift and with some kind words from one of the teachers they work with most closely. 

It was a special time.  Everyone ate their fill and there was still quite a bit of food left over.  It’s a bit of a hike over to the river, so we didn’t really want to take the food home with us.  Just then a group of boys showed up—20 strong.  They were coming to swim in the river.  One of our teammates had an idea.  “Hey, you guys!  I’ve got some food for you.”  The boys were on the other side of the river.  He put the food in a big basin that had been holding cold drinks and floated it across the river.  One of the older boys took charge and brought the basin across.  He brought it to a flat place and set it down.  Suddenly it was like a pack of wild dogs.  The boys descended on the food in the basin grabbed a chicken wing or two, and ran off to eat it in peace.  The basin was emptied in a flash.  They left behind only some pieces of breadfruit and green bananas—the meat was gone.  So we ended up getting to bless two groups of people- our administrators and the roaming pack of boys.   It was a good day.

The boys descend on the food

PRAYERS ANSWERED
All of our exams finished well and our students did quite well.  We are happy to have finished before the month of fasting began.  The picnic with the English administrators went very well and was a good time for bonding and honoring them. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for one of our teammates who is traveling.  If you would like to pray with us during this coming month we’d be happy to send you the annual “month of fasting prayer guide for the islands.”  Just send us an email to our fastmail address. Pray that we would use the opportunities to share this month well. Pray for our little neighbor boy who has a bad burn on his leg— we are helping them care for it everyday. Pray for quick healing without infection.