The village of Arau from the plane

When school is over, they come back to the village to work on their farms. It makes it very difficult for them to travel back and forth, walking for days. There are no roads for cars. They have reivers, but the rivers have lots of rapids and waterfalls, so one can't treavel far that way.

That is why they would like to have a teacher in their village, a teacher who loves the Lord and who is willing to help them start a school. My father asked by radio if I would be willing to see the village and I agreed.

Quickly I packed my hammock, sleeping bag (it gets cold at night), a change of clothes, and some story and song books. Then I ran up to the runway to meet my Dad. Only a few days before, the runway for that village had been officially

The villagers were waiting for me at the airstrip

opened. It usually takes 7 or 8 hours to walk there from our village. It was so nice to fly there in only 7 minutes.

Several of the villagers and children were waiting for me at the airstrip. I could see in their faces the joy, happiness and excitement to have a teacher. They helped me carry my things down to the village. The village is located at the foot of a mountain that looks like a loaf of bread. There are only about 10 houses altogether, but they are spread apart. One of the huts is really unique. It is round. Some of the men from our village are building them a little church, but it is not finished yet. Their main source of water are several creeks, with water that looks like Coca-Cola.

I was glad to be with them, also. They welcomed me to their huts. I called all the children to the house where I was to stay and read them stories and taught them several songs. When I was telling stories, they were all listening very attentively, their big eyes staring at me.

After that one of the ladies took me down to the river to bathe. There was a nice little pool to bathe in and the water was quite warm.

After that I went to visit the different homes in the village. They served me a lovely supper of peanuts, eddo (a root), calaloo (greens) mixed with scrammbled eggs and water to drink. Then we went to Prayer Meeting in the little church. It starts at 5 o'clock so the people can get home before dark. They asked me to give my testimony.

It was a nice experience to sleep in a hammock, which I hadn't done for many, many years! The house I slept in only has two walls. Two of the girls slept with me. Every time I turned over I thought I was going to fall out of the hammock.

The next day I walked an hour and a half back up to the airstrip, where my Daddy came to pick me up. The villagers

Daniel, too young to die

were sad to see me go, and told me they hoped I would come back soon to teach their children. I would like to teach them, but I can't do it by myself. If we could find another teacher to come, I would be happy be the assistant. So, if any of you are interested, or know of someone who is interested, please contact us. We are praying, along with the villagers, that a student or volunteer teacher will be found soon.

The day after I left Arao, one of the little boys that I had met was bit by a snake. I felt so sad to hear about it. If you would like to hear what happened to this little boy named Daniel, you can read about it in my Daddy's story "Too Young to Die".

We ask that you will help us pray for these dear people, as we help them, and try to share God's love with them.

Thank you.

You may write to Katie at: gates@andrews.edu

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