September Update
Dear friends,
Those people on the commercials high-fiving as the school bus pulls away are definitely not teachers. The first two weeks of the semester are the busiest and hardest! Everything has to be STARTED! Plan the first meeting of the AIDS Action Committee. Plan how the sports program is going to be carried out. Meet with the CE Club. Break it to five classes of students that yes, you really do intend for them to do all the work in the syllabus. Meet individually with all 350+ students to review their health records to make sure they are up to date.
By God’s grace, we’ve weathered those first two weeks, and remembered why we love being here. Philemon has already had two chances to preach in chapel, and students are commenting, “It looks like all you need to do is read the text and explain what is there! But that is hard! How do you do that?” Which is exactly the place he wants them to be as he starts teaching.
Philemon is teaching Greek Exegesis of Galatians, Systematic Theology, New Testament Theology, Research Methods, and Romans (the work is indeed plentiful and the workers are few). Which is why I (Linda) am writing the prayer letter this month! He says he is enjoying teaching this year more than any other year. The students, especially the new classes, are bright, interested in the truth, no longer working so hard to test the new teacher on the block. They’ve heard he is tough, and they are ready for him. He is also unpredictable. Sometimes he puts on a video of Mr. Bean during break time. Sometimes he tells them their favorite verse (the one they’ve used all their lives in door-to-door evangelism) doesn’t mean what they want it to mean. If you are boasting in the clerical collar at your neck, or you think you’re the big man on campus because of the position you used to hold: your next meal is going to be humble pie. Philemon’s also the teacher who will be playing right forward at the next soccer game, and for a middle-aged guy, he can still run and score!
I have been registering students, and there’s a twist this year. For the first time, we are enrolling new students who are HIV positive. This requires some extra time, as I want to know each one, gain their trust, explain support groups available, the campus policies of confidentiality, and basic safety regulations for the classrooms and dorms. On other fronts, it has been satisfying to hand in a proposal for a full semester course on HIV/AIDS, make teaching posters, and put first aid kits with gloves around campus.
Home schooling is going much more smoothly this year, with a little experience behind me (and one less kid to teach.) Samuel said tonight “It is possible that I actually don’t hate math anymore.” YES! All those flashcards and explanations of long division are paying off. And it is hard to believe, but Anna is half way through her first chapter book.
All this to say that our period of adjustment seems to be giving way to a happier, better well-oiled machine! God has taught us much in those first disappointments and difficulties, and some have been ironed out. Now we are more able to do the work that gives us such pleasure and satisfaction. It helped, too, when a graduate (who was head-strong and argumentative as a student) came humbly this week to say “Thanks for putting up with me back then. You were right about x, y, AND z! Thanks for making me work so hard, too.”
And don’t forget Benjamin! He is very much enjoying Rain Forest International School in Yaounde (about 10 hours from here.) Except for a bout with malaria last week, he doesn’t seem to have skipped a beat. Friends at the hostel and friends at school, learning to lift weights, discovering foods he likes after all: he is in his element. Reports are that he is even studying. I am going down there to see for myself this weekend.
Here are things you can pray for us:
Continued good relationships with faculty and students. Tensions can easily arise with such a small, overworked team.
Academics, health, and contentment for Benjamin at boarding school.
Praise God for standing by us through the adjustments of being new here.
Wisdom in where to place our energies and resources. The needs are great.
Our support level has increased due to Benjamin’s enrollment at boarding school. We need to raise $285 more a month to cover the cost of his education.
You are vital. We are grateful for each of you. Thanks for being our friends, and for bringing us often before the throne, and for making it possible for us to be here.
With peace and gratitude,
Linda for the Yongs
Reminders: Mailing address: c/o CBTS Box 44, Ndu, North West Province, Cameroon, West Africa
Packages: small mailing envelopes only, please, and of limited value.
Email: always welcome at philyong@aol.com.
Blog: www.yongfam@blogspot.com.
Phone: 001-237-793-7826 (Philemon) and 001-237-723-2862 (Linda)
Contributions to our support: Baptist General Conference, 2002 S. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington
Heights, IL 60005 with our name on the memo line.
Gifts: same address, with clear notation that it is a gift above support, with our names.
Those people on the commercials high-fiving as the school bus pulls away are definitely not teachers. The first two weeks of the semester are the busiest and hardest! Everything has to be STARTED! Plan the first meeting of the AIDS Action Committee. Plan how the sports program is going to be carried out. Meet with the CE Club. Break it to five classes of students that yes, you really do intend for them to do all the work in the syllabus. Meet individually with all 350+ students to review their health records to make sure they are up to date.
By God’s grace, we’ve weathered those first two weeks, and remembered why we love being here. Philemon has already had two chances to preach in chapel, and students are commenting, “It looks like all you need to do is read the text and explain what is there! But that is hard! How do you do that?” Which is exactly the place he wants them to be as he starts teaching.
Philemon is teaching Greek Exegesis of Galatians, Systematic Theology, New Testament Theology, Research Methods, and Romans (the work is indeed plentiful and the workers are few). Which is why I (Linda) am writing the prayer letter this month! He says he is enjoying teaching this year more than any other year. The students, especially the new classes, are bright, interested in the truth, no longer working so hard to test the new teacher on the block. They’ve heard he is tough, and they are ready for him. He is also unpredictable. Sometimes he puts on a video of Mr. Bean during break time. Sometimes he tells them their favorite verse (the one they’ve used all their lives in door-to-door evangelism) doesn’t mean what they want it to mean. If you are boasting in the clerical collar at your neck, or you think you’re the big man on campus because of the position you used to hold: your next meal is going to be humble pie. Philemon’s also the teacher who will be playing right forward at the next soccer game, and for a middle-aged guy, he can still run and score!
I have been registering students, and there’s a twist this year. For the first time, we are enrolling new students who are HIV positive. This requires some extra time, as I want to know each one, gain their trust, explain support groups available, the campus policies of confidentiality, and basic safety regulations for the classrooms and dorms. On other fronts, it has been satisfying to hand in a proposal for a full semester course on HIV/AIDS, make teaching posters, and put first aid kits with gloves around campus.
Home schooling is going much more smoothly this year, with a little experience behind me (and one less kid to teach.) Samuel said tonight “It is possible that I actually don’t hate math anymore.” YES! All those flashcards and explanations of long division are paying off. And it is hard to believe, but Anna is half way through her first chapter book.
All this to say that our period of adjustment seems to be giving way to a happier, better well-oiled machine! God has taught us much in those first disappointments and difficulties, and some have been ironed out. Now we are more able to do the work that gives us such pleasure and satisfaction. It helped, too, when a graduate (who was head-strong and argumentative as a student) came humbly this week to say “Thanks for putting up with me back then. You were right about x, y, AND z! Thanks for making me work so hard, too.”
And don’t forget Benjamin! He is very much enjoying Rain Forest International School in Yaounde (about 10 hours from here.) Except for a bout with malaria last week, he doesn’t seem to have skipped a beat. Friends at the hostel and friends at school, learning to lift weights, discovering foods he likes after all: he is in his element. Reports are that he is even studying. I am going down there to see for myself this weekend.
Here are things you can pray for us:
Continued good relationships with faculty and students. Tensions can easily arise with such a small, overworked team.
Academics, health, and contentment for Benjamin at boarding school.
Praise God for standing by us through the adjustments of being new here.
Wisdom in where to place our energies and resources. The needs are great.
Our support level has increased due to Benjamin’s enrollment at boarding school. We need to raise $285 more a month to cover the cost of his education.
You are vital. We are grateful for each of you. Thanks for being our friends, and for bringing us often before the throne, and for making it possible for us to be here.
With peace and gratitude,
Linda for the Yongs
Reminders: Mailing address: c/o CBTS Box 44, Ndu, North West Province, Cameroon, West Africa
Packages: small mailing envelopes only, please, and of limited value.
Email: always welcome at philyong@aol.com.
Blog: www.yongfam@blogspot.com.
Phone: 001-237-793-7826 (Philemon) and 001-237-723-2862 (Linda)
Contributions to our support: Baptist General Conference, 2002 S. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington
Heights, IL 60005 with our name on the memo line.
Gifts: same address, with clear notation that it is a gift above support, with our names.
posted by Yong Family at 4:32 PM
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