January in Zambia is typically amid the “rainy season,” but this year, like so many other places, the rains have been scarce. The temperatures here were staying in the high 80s to low 90s, which wasn’t bad and would cool down as soon as a shower would come through. However, just like in Arkansas, the humidity would hit as soon as the shower was over.
We had a visit scheduled with Johnmichael Poulin and had given him advance notice of what the weather had been like up until he arrived. It rained daily that week, and the temperature dropped to the mid-60s and 70s. On occasion, it almost felt a little chilly. He swore when he left he would never believe that Africa is hot. We had a great visit with Bro. Johnmichael the week he was here and got to spend a lot of time in the car with him taking him from and to Lusaka for his flights. Since we are still in the middle of language acquisition, most of our time with him was spent talking about how the language works, what things will look like when we finish language school and just getting some much-needed encouragement.
Since we are in the middle of learning the language we thought it would be neat to explain a little of what we’ve learned and what makes it difficult. In English, we have subjects, objects, nouns, verbs, pronouns, etc. and all the tenses rest on the verb. In ChiNyanja, the sentence structure is subject, tense, object, verb; and it all combines into one word. For example:
• “I am praying” is “Nipempela”
• “I have prayed” is “Napempela”
• “I will pray” is “Nizapempela”
• “I was praying” is “Ninali kupempela”
This week, we were working on verb extensions. So instead of saying I am praying we added “for you.”
• “I am praying for you” is “Nikupempelela”
• “I have prayed for you” is “Nakupempelela”
• “I will pray for you” is “Nizakupempelela”
• “I was praying for you” is “Ninali kukupempelele”
Say that last one three times fast. We struggle with just saying it once! If you would like to see a little more of our language homework, check out the poem we had to translate on the Pastor Quill Facebook page at facebook.com/PastorQuillJohn94.
Our land cruiser has been in the shop this week, getting the gearbox replaced so we can get back into the villages when the roads are bad. We will get back to Bible studies and discipleship while we learn the language this next week.
Prayer Requests
• Headman of Chibinga village as he is being discipled as a new believer,
• Discipleship of all the new believers,
• Salvation of all unbelievers in Chibinga,
• The gospel to continue into the surrounding villages and
• Our language acquisition classes.
Needs
• Bibles in Tonga and Lozi language,
• Shoes for the children in Chibinga,
• Tires and a new gearbox for our 4×4. (This money has been pulled from our work fund as the need was immediate, but we pray the funds will be replenished.)
(pastorquill@gmail.com)
