Fifty good men have been chosen to be our students for the next three days. Zerihun explained that the men were selected from various regions of Ethiopia and because each has demonstrated that he is serious about teaching and preaching. The hope is that each man will return to his area and teach other preachers as well as being better equipped in his own local preaching work. Curtis and I discussed that it is humbling to think that the Ethiopians are counting on so much from our meager efforts. Nevertheless, all are here and we will get to work with them and do our best.
The fifty men were divided into two groups so we might have smaller classes and be as personal as possible. Both classes will be taught with a translator, either Zerihun or Alemu. My class met in what I might call an out-building on the Heme Hotel compound. We walked out the back of the hotel and down a path that cuts through the working area of the compound. In the working area are piles of building materials such as rocks, logs, and lumber. One area was equipped with a large table saw and what looked like a planer. In another area, workers did the laundry. It was interesting to notice that the laundry I left on my bed in the morning was later hanging on a clothes line to dry. Ah, that’s why my jeans are so stiff when they bring them back!
We taught our classes all day – from 9 AM to 5:30 PM. I taught The Big Picture of the Bible and Curtis taught How to Study the Bible. Each of us slightly modified our material the best we could to better suit countryside people. It is quite rigorous to teach all day long while crafting each sentence carefully to be suitable for translation and comprehension. By the end of the teaching day, we are ready for a little rest.
Wednesday, Curtis caught up on emails and I walked up onto the main street to see if I could find Ethiopian boys playing ping pong. A group was playing foosball, but not ping pong. I returned to the hotel and we had dinner, which included a lingering conversation with Alemu, Zerihun, and part of the time with Alemu’s brother Tesfaye (TESS fie). Curtis asked about a Canasta rematch. We played three hands and he won by 1,000 points.
Thursday was much the same. Curtis and I switched teaching sites, each teaching a different set of students. This day we planned a night session to run between 6:30 to 8 PM. We ordered supper at the hotel restaurant and then waited and waited. At 6:30, we decided to tell the serving staff that we would take our food at 8 PM. About that time, the food arrived, so we decided to eat it quickly and sent word to the men that we would be a few minutes late. We arrived just a little before 7 and had a conversation about preaching. Curtis and I talked about sermon preparation, planning preaching to cover all needed topics, the preacher’s approach to include himself in what he preaches, and using illustrations effectively. Zerihun told me afterwards that his was a useful and valuable session for the men. Curtis and I both checked email and I IMd Susan a few minutes. The clock inched toward 9 PM and we each decided to get some rest and be as fresh as possible for our final day of teaching.
