Busy, Busy, Busy

Dear Friends,

Busy weeks and even busier weekends make for a very tired Tracy, but the good news is I can see more calm weekends in the near future and all the activities equal so many great memories.

Last week I started teaching English to the primary classes. So far the classes have been going really well. The children really enjoy learning English, everyday there are many children asking me if I am coming to their class today. Each day I go into a different class and work with them for about an hour.

Over the weekend there were several activities. Saturday morning was a seminar for Sunday school teachers and youth leaders. It was good to see many people that I know from different churches around Brazzaville, but unfortunately I don’t think I really got much out of the seminar. Of course this could be because not long after the seminar started it started raining and it was raining hard. When it rains here it is very loud and it makes it very difficult to hear anything.

In the afternoon we left the seminar for a youth concert. The Youth Choir in Mansimou was having a concert and they invited the junior timbrel group from Nzoko to play. The concert was a lot of fun. The children all sang really well. When I listen to the children sing I often wish I could bring them all to the US to put on a concert there. Perhaps the most exciting thing about the concert though was when the power went out in the middle. It got very dark, like I couldn’t see the person next to me dark. It also got really loud because when the power went out everyone at the concert started singing and dancing. It was like a big party.

On Sunday I got the chance to visit another village with the Chief Secretaries. I thought the last village I went to was difficult to get to but the road to this village was way more rough. From the time we pulled off the main road to when we arrived at the church, we had to stop about 4 times to put more water in the engine because it was overheating. We were driving on a very narrow dirt road. At times there were lots of trees on both sides and it felt like we were really in the jungle, and at other times there were specular views on both sides. During the service there was a time when they allowed the children to ask me questions. Unfortunately this didn’t quite work out as planned. We were thinking the kids would probably ask questions about where I am from and how life is different there. But instead I got questions like: Our women’s group doesn’t have a flag, what can you do about that? and Our school doesn’t have desks, what can you do about that? and We want to learn English too, why don’t you come and teach here?

Thank You again for your continued prayers and support.

Tracy Pilewski