Time Change Ain't Got Nothin on Me.

Hello hello!

Today is Monday for those who are in denial. And yes, the time change did happen...not here in Africa, but at your house, SO GET UP!

I like you dread hearing that alarm clock going off at the crack of dawn. Sometimes I wish I could just sleep through a Monday, and feel no shame. Unfortunately, I have a large stack of lessons to edit, and coloring pages to sketch, so I am going to have to put off that sleep away a Monday when I am back in the States adjusting back to life there.

I thought I would take this Monday post to not whine and complain about Monday, but I thought I would take this time to really give all of you an update on my work that I have been doing here. I feel like many of my posts talk about all of the outings that I go out on, but rarely about my work. Many times when I look back at my blog I think to myself, it seems like I never work! All I talk about is we went here, we went there, we eat pizza and meet Peace Corps people.

So, I thought I would say, yes, oh yes, I do work. I work Monday-Friday starting around 10 am (We wake up early to do devotions, I do my personal devotions, and then I exercise Insanity and P90x style baby!) I work until 5 pm, or if I am on making dinner duty, I work until 4. Recently we have been busy during the weekends, but many weekends I spend three or four hours on work as well. Every Monday, today, the Jackson’s, Kathleen, and I sit down together and we work out the plan for the week ahead. We inform one another where we are on the lessons, and if there have been any new language groups interested in the Lessons.

About a few weeks ago I posted saying that I put all 52 lessons into the “template.” What this means is that I went through our “shared file” and found all of the pieces of the lessons, and typed them up into our LibreOffice document template. This took quite a lot of time because prior to coming to Africa, the lessons were all in several unorganized word documents. There was no established template. So when we first got here to Africa, we spent a good solid month and a half on really setting up a template that works and that flows. From there I went and transferred all of the lessons into the template. Many of the lessons had and some still have some missing holes, but we have filled many of them. I do some of the writing, but I always make sure to highlight what I write so Karen knows to look over and change if any of the words are too foreign for Cameroonians.

We are currently working with a well educated Cameroonian woman, Anne, who helps us with the definitions and wording. Anne edits and corrects our wording so that it can be understood by those living in remote villages. Anne comes over once a week, giving us a stack of edited lessons, and I go through and make any required changes. Karen continues to work on the writing and editing, while Chris really has taken over all of the template and layout tasks.

Currently, like I mentioned above, all of the lessons come with a coloring page for the kids to color. The coloring page has the weekly memory verse on it, the truth that applies for the lesson and picture for them to color in. The pictures that we are currently using are only available in grey scale, so I create the line art (My art teacher at CBU would be proud!) I have to go through all of the lessons, find the picture that matches the memory verse, and trace it over on a light table. From there, I outline the entire picture with a black pen, and Chris then does his magic on the computer to create the coloring page.

Kathleen, when not doing her own school, has been putting together the “Flip book,” which is a wide book that has all of the grey scale pictures for the Bible story, blown up big, so that the teacher can walk around the classroom telling the story, while showing the pictures to the children. The flipbook also has the truth of the day, the memory verse, and the definitions for the lesson as well.

This week I should finish all of the coloring pages, and then I am going right into Publication. Yes, as much as I wish we can just put the lessons out there and let anyone access the material, we do have to publish the lessons under Cabtal. Cabtal is a branch of SIL, which is a branch of Wycliffe. I am not sure all of the specifics for publication, but I will be finding out shortly. I will be partnering with Carol to accomplish this.

By the rate that we are going, I firmly believe that we will have the lessons finished by the time I leave in May. There still is much to do, but we all just have to stay focused, and get it done! (Or I could quote Shaun T from Insanity and say we all have to DIG DEEPER!!! Sorry, I am slightly obsessed with Insanity and Shaun T, if you do not know what Insanity is, Google, or try it out…you will die…I am not joking…they are the workouts from the pits of…well…you know..)

On top of the Lessons, Kathleen and I help Katelyn and Lum with school. Kathleen is the main go to person for school, but, I help the girls out with their schedules. Yes, I am a type A freak…I am not going to lie here; I get pleasure from controlling people and from telling them what to do. (You should look at my resume…it is manager position after manager position…) So, every weekend I map out the week ahead for the girls so that they stay on track. Kathleen then looks over them, and sees what the week ahead will look like. We look over English papers, we help out with Science, and Kathleen helps out with Math.

A week in the Jackson Village consists of hard work and long hours. Maybe that is why on the weekends we go on adventures and outings. Well, that is pretty much the update that really needed to happen. I am sorry if I just confused you more about the project I am working on, but overall…it is a MASSIVE project that really requires a team of ten plus people working on it, but we are the happy little team of four, and sometimes five, who are plugging away and gettin it done!

These Lessons are going to reach out to hundreds of people all over Cameroon. It is so encouraging to see so many churches interested in the program, and it is great that the churches around here are realizing how important it is to have a solid Sunday school program for children.

Please, continue to pray for us over here, and pray that we will complete all the lessons by the time I leave for the States.

Hope you all have a good Monday; try not to be in denial that it is in fact Monday.

-Sarah