We are so proud of our boys! They have been working extra hard on their chores and many are memorizing extra verses.
A tradition that Claudia established long ago is daily Bible memorization and a chores schedule. Each boy is to memorize a verse of their choice from the daily Bible reading portion. When they recite it (well) at the evening family meeting, they are awarded 25 credits Completing their chore also earns them 25points. (If they fail to do those 2 tasks, there is not only lost opportunity, but a 25 point penalty.) If they choose to learn extra verses and do extra chores around the base, they can earn additional points, up to the maximum of 400 cfa/week pocket money. .It is s a great tradition!
Some weeks they are rather desultory with their tasks, but at other times there is a noticable fervor and competition. With Claudia being in the staes this month, we have not had her restaurant-&-grocery-shopping reward on Saturdays. I decided to add a unique challenge to them this month-- a special Sat morning breakfast at 'Mimi's Cafe' for the 3 top achievers. The competition has been fierce most of the month, and one week we had 5 young strivers to achieve the 400 cfa maximum.
In addition to this excellent effort, we have been delighted to see their school reports, which show their class rank for the period: Out of our 10 young resident scholars, we have 3- 1st place scholars, 1 second (bumped by his 'brother' from his usuaal 1st place rank) and 2 -3rd place rankings. WOW! That is a great achievement in an average class size of 30-35. All of our residents are in the top 1/2 of their classes !! Claudia had been doing some additional one-on-one tutoring with the youngest ones and it obviousy paid off.
Unfortunately, we have some non resident students who are not doing so well. They have also been invited to attend the homework sessions, but have not been participating, and it shows. They have regularly been at the bottom of their class rankings. That is sad, because the help is available, and they could do so much better. Pray that their parents would see the benefit to them and would encourage their studies.
We have also had some fun with them!-- well, Julie and Kadi have especially! One Sunday afternoon we had a royal water battle--guys against the girls. Besides the fact that there were 12 or so guys and only 2 girls, do you have any idea who won? They all got wet, the girls got drenched more than once, and a good time was had by allL They even washed up the floors for us when they were done.
Ray & I have taken a couple of exploratory excursions, which is one of our favorite forms of entertainment. Get in a car, or in this case, on a motorcycle, and go exploring undiscovered territory. In the process we found some wonderful mangoes at a roadside stand (5 large ones for 500cfa-YUMMM! We brought more than a dozen back and shared some of this luscious fruit with the boys), market gardens along the canal, beautiful sunsets, and a few more prayer requests.
We crossed the Niger River on the old, lower causeway, a low slung ribbon of crumbling concrete which provided crossing here only in the dry seasons of the year . This single lane piece of roadway lies under the shadow of the newest bridge in Bamako, a sweeping modern construction in sharp contrast to the rugged faces of the black, almost volcanic, riverbed rock, and the broken concrete of the old causeway. There, in the middle of the river, we found a worship structure- NOT dedicated to the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords that we know.
Pray for the coming of the glory of God in this place. Pray for us, that we might boldly be carriers of Jesus' light to places where it has not been known, and His hope where despair has reigned.
Pray for 'our' boys, that they might see The light, and so be aware of His shining brightness, that they too will want to carry Jesus whereever they go.
Blessings to you from us here in Bamako. Bless and be a blessing!
miminmali
