October Newsletter from Lois

Dear Family and Friends,

I read this poem by Amy Carmichael and thought it was a good beginning for my newsletter:

Hillcrest School had a week and a half vacation so we made a trip to Ali Fopa, the village where Wally and Betty had their ministry.  Wally and Betty were held in very high esteem there.  The Rasches and Mays (Dist. Pres. from Ind. Dist, were in Nigeria for Retreat which was cancelled because of political problems in Jos) went with us. I got to see Betty's (Lois' sister) house.  We didn't get to go inside because someone was living there.  I had seen pictures but it was special to actually see it.  We saw the big cirle of cement (15 ft. in diameter) over the cistern.  Ivan said they rode their tricycles round and round.  They also put their desks out there to do there lessons.  Ivan would mention here was a tree and here another one that we climbed and played tree tag. He showed us a water hole where he said he got into trouble for swimming in it. We walked a short distance to Rev Ottomueller's house(June Meier's uncle) .  From the back of his house was a beautiful view of a large deep valley.  We saw the teak forest that Wally started and encouraged the people to plant to make money for the church.  We saw three churches in the 5 villages in the same language group.  These villages were not far apart.  We were hosted by Simeon, A man who was Walley's helper in his Bible translation for the Ikpari Language there.  He and his family treated us to the very best they had.  We slept in his brother Moses' house.  It was primitive compared to the houses our family enjoy in the States.  We have so many THINGS compared to the village people.Everywhere we went the people were so hospitable and happy to see us. We

were even honored with the "Queens Dance"  She dances only on very special occasions.  A 2 yr, old old girl is chosen, she is taken from her home and raised by "queen mothers" and trained to dance.  She is queen until she is married.  This child was 8-10 years old.  Her head was covered with a head piece of strings of colorfull beads.  Her face was painted with white dots and her body with while stripes.  She wore croqueted shorts with bells around her waist and on her ankles.  She was brought to the circle standing on the shoulders of a man.  He lifted her down and she began to dance.  Each dance she performed represented some meaning in the villages.  A man interpreted them for us for example a lion stalking, a duck etc.  She was to chose someone who would be a representative of the man she would marry.  She chose Ivan.  He did a litlle moving .  Then all the former queen or queen mothers began to dance and had us ladies join the dance.  One lady I thought was showing me how to do the dance so I tried.  Jennifer later told me she was challenging me to see who get get down the farest in the dance, of course I didn't win.  We passed the "cola nut"  and each person took a bite.  It was a very bitter tasting nut.  They served us palm wine.  It was new wine so it wasn't as fermented as it becomes by evening but it continues to ferment in your stomach so you could think you didn't have much but be a little tipsy later.  I only took a small drink and gave the rest to Nathaniel.We watched Simeon's sister make palm oil.  It is a long process of pounding the nuts, boiling , pounding some more, boiling and seperating the oil. It is a long process and very labor intensive. It is red in color and mixed with rice to make a red stew which is very tasty. We went to Dinah's village, a nigerian lady who was Kendra best friend as a child.  She served us freshly roasted ground nuts (peanuts). When we were introduced to the villagers they shook my hand and would look at me intently and shake my hand again and I knew I reminded them of Betty.  Sometimes if they spoke English they would say they could see the resemblance.  I tried to learn the greetings, I could get the "nobe" and reply "nobebietsy" but then I would get nervous and forget the "e ooma heh" and all the rest.  The Dist Pres and Judy were very happy to get to see the village and the sem at Obed Idom, the high school where Wally taught and the high school where Betty taught.  The high school where Wally taught is still Lutheran but the school where Betty taught is now a Gov. run school. There was a middle school very near Simeon's home, we could see the children in their uniforms outside.  The vice principal came over to greet us.  I asked him how many students they had and he said he couldn't give me a number because it varies so much from day to day.The Mays were dissappointed not to get to Jos.  We have 19 LCMS people in Jos (including the 7 children).   We have Wed. night devotions and sometimes communion when Rev. David Erber is there.

At Mashiah, where I teach quilting we are now working on Christmas items.My classjust finished a wall hanging " Snow Buddy".  It had several trees, checkerboard, pioneer points and a snow man with cap, and scarf.  It was too hard for my beginners.  I really agonized over that one.  A volunteer from the States for 2 weeks started it when I missed a week because of my back so of course I had to help them finish it.  It was fun thought to tell them about snow and making a snow man in Nebr.

So much for this time.  We are all fine here, the political violence is over and was not at all like it was in 2001,  which was between the Christians and Muslims.  This was an upraising against polical personel and the muslims were not going to retaliate because they didn't like the corruption either. Heb. 13; 5b and 6

I will never forsake you.  So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not fear: what can man do to me."

In His name, Lois Watt

Address :  Hillcrest School

13 Old Bukuru Road

Jos, Nigeria, West Africa

e-mail

Lois.Watt @gmail.com 
 

--
Lois Watt.

September Newsletter

September 2006
Nate and Teri Watt
Jos, Nigeria West Africa
In association with LCMS World Mission
www.lcmsworldmission.org
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?... O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:3-4,9
September was a busy month for us, as I m sure it was for all of you too. I miss going to the Nebraska State Fair and riding the rides on the midway. Eating cotton candy and funnel cakes. Hope some of you enjoyed that for us this year.
Well, we’ve had our own set of new experiences here, not quite up to the midway and cot ton candy standard, but ones that we’ll enjoy looking back on. We’ve had some interesting highway experiences that gave us that thrill of near death, but without the predictable quick and safe end to the ride you find on the midway. And some of the food here is good, but seriously lacking in the sugar content of my beloved cot ton candy. Of course, the Fair only lasts a short time and all the joy and excitement that goes with it fades. But the relationship we all have with Jesus is eternal, and that s why we’ve come so far away from our familiar settings. We want to see everyone get the chance to benefit from the joy and excitement of t hat experience, too.
Nate’s been a busy guy
...at least we don t see much of him, so I m guessing that means school is keeping him busy. Uncle Ivan had given Zachariah a Bible last year and he really enjoyed it. It is a youth version of ESV with very interesting maps and such. Well, I was getting worried. I hadn’t seen it around for some time and Zachariah didn’t seem to remember where it had gone to either. I finally, nervously, asked Nate if he had seen it anywhere. He said, yeah, that it was in his backpack. Apparently, he had swiped it and was using it in devotions in his first period Calculus class. He said it was a nice small size for him to carry around instead of his bigger one. Please pray for the students to hear the Word and follow the Truth.
As for t he rest of us
Lois s ladies finally got a very difficult wall hanging done. She was really concerned about it because it seemed to be a lit t le too challenging for the level that her ladies sew at . Her part is over and it has been handed off for the finishing touches. Sooo, now that that is finished she can work on what she s been planning for her students to do. Lois has come up with some really great ideas for her quilting ladies. Right now, she s teaching them how to make pastor s stoles. She already has several beautiful designs worked out . The ladies are learning a new one almost every week. Her goal is to make a bunch of them and take them to the 2007 LWML National Convention in Sioux Falls. She wants to sell them there for the Mashiah ladies. We always see her at the kitchen table with her graph paper and ruler working out another design ( or perfecting one ).
Zachariah, our son, is in the 5th grade this year. In Bible class, they’ve been studying the Psalms. They even got a chance to try and write a Psalm in their own words. I had a surprise today when the 5th grade lead chapel. They told about the different kinds of Psalms they learned about, recited some of their memory verses ( Psalm 8 and 23 ) and read some of the Psalms that they wrote. To my surprise Zachariah got up and read his Psalm! It received a few chuckles and I think he was smirking just a lit t le as he read it . But I thought that was a great way for the kids to really learn about how the author of the Psalms may have been feeling when he wrote them. And it provided a neat way to express yourself to God. Writing a letter to God is different than just praying whats on your mind or in your heart. Put t ing your words on paper seems to cement them just a lit t le bit more, makes you edit and re-edit your words and really think about what you re trying to express. It helps you to understand what God already sees in your heart . I finally finished teaching the vicar s kids in September. Not because they were experts already, but because they moved to Obot Idom. That s where the LCN (Lutheran Church of Nigeria) Seminary is located. Their dad is going to go back to finish his pastor s t raining. The kids were really doing very well. After only about 16 or 17 lessons, they were reading at about a first grade level. They showed real promise.
At the end of our lessons, we would sit and read books together. They did pretty good, struggling just a lit t le bit . Then I would leave the books we read so they could practice for the following day. When they would come back and read the same book again, they would sail right through it. This gave me great hope that they will be able to continue. I worry, because we had so few lessons. On the night before their last lesson I really had a hard time.
I was trying to decide which of the numerous things we hadn’t yet covered I should finish with; there was still so much they needed to learn. It’s in God s hands now. Lois and I were talking about it and she said it really was a miracle how well they picked it up. She never met anyone who learned to read so fast. God must really have plans for those kids. Please pray for them. I did have some discouraging news from their mom, though. It seems that the daughter probably won t be going to school after grade six due to school fees and the fact that girls are needed to help in the home. That really made me sad to hear, she really seemed to like learning. The bright side is that at least she can read now! And if you can read, you can learn anything. And most especially, the Bible. That s the most important studying they’ll do! The father has been out of school for 6 years now. We were pleased to be able to help him with some of his school fees. (He was sooo happy! He s praying we stay in Nigeria. He has three more years of school left ahead of him. ) Some of Everett s memorial money was designated to come here for missions and we are enjoying being able to help in ways we were unable to before!
Questions??? If you have any questions you’d like answered, or are curios about something you think should be in the Notes on Nigeria, let me know at mrsjpersec@yahoo.com. We’d like to hear from you! Please let us know how you are, too. I f you can, write to us at Nathaniel and Theresa Watt; c/o Hillcrest School; Box 652; 13 Old Bukuru Road; Jos, Nigeria, West Africa. Our email addresses are: f or Nate: jpersec@hotmail.com and for Teri: mrsjpersec@yahoo.com . We love to hear from you! Or if you’d like to add another email address to our list, please let us know.
Thank you! Wed like to thank everyone who helped us and encouraged us to come to Jos. We f eel that we are here to do Gods work and to help spread the Good News of Jesus, and that wouldn’t be possible without your support. We appreciate all your gifts and, especially, your prayers. Thank you so much! I f you would like to help support missions in Nigeria, you can send your gifts to: LCMS Mission Senders; 1333 S. Kirkwood Rd.; St. Louis, MO 63122. In the memo line: Watt/Nigeria. Thank you! I f you would like to stop getting this newsletter please email us at jpersec@hotmail.com or mrsjpersec@yahoo.com. I f you get it through the mail, please send a short note to the return address on the envelope.