Two scorpions in our rooms, one Oklahoma Brown Tarantula on our porch and five sessions trying to get my ears used to the sounds of the Cherokee language- these were the main events this past week.
I found one scorpion by our suitcase (there’s not a whole lot of furniture in our rooms, so our dresser is our suitcase) and Alisha found one while sweeping. I don’t think any of us had ever seen a scorpion before, so it was pretty exciting. Then yesterday, our neighbor saw a huge spider climbing down a pole on the porch. Alisha looked it up online, and it turned out to be an Oklahoma Brown Tarantula. Apparently their bite is no worse than a bee sting, and the females can live up to 35 years.
Apart from the local animal kingdom, we started our regular schedule on Monday. Our first language session was right after lunch. We (Brian and Jordan are the other students I’m working with) drove 24 miles out to our language helper’s house. We met him Sunday at church. His name is Jerry. We spent two hours there talking to him and learning a few Cherokee words.
Now, each day, we meet with him from 1-3 and memorize, record and write down the words he teaches us. The main idea this week was to get familiar with the sounds of the language, i.e. phonetic warm-up. Next week, we’ll begin our analysis in earnest.
Everyone here helps buy groceries, cook the meals and clean up afterwards. Alisha has been able to help quite a bit with the planning and preparation of meals. Everyone helps, but Alisha and a couple other ladies tell us what to do. So far, the food has been excellent. In case you are wondering what the trip out here was like, I wrote about that last week, but forgot to email it. So you can read it at our blog:
blogs.ethnos360.org/lincoln-mcilroy
Praise:
-We’ve begun our study of Cherokee and it’s almost starting to make sense.
-The meal situation is working out. It took a lot of planning ahead of time and it takes a lot of work each day to make sure everyone is fed.
Prayer:
-That God will use the things we are learning now to prepare us for living in remote Asia-Pacific down the road.
-Finances
-Unity among all of us living here. We enjoy it overall, but there still be friction at times.
Thanks for your prayers!
The McIlroys