Swahili Sunday School Lesson

I had the opportunity to teach the Sunday School lesson this week to the new members in our ward. I translated the basics of the lesson into Swahili and taught a simple lesson about Jesus as the chosen person to be the Savior of the world. It was a basic discussion of the "war" in heaven although I didn't ever use the word. The Basheri family has known too much of war already. I called on Brother Basheri to read in the English copy of the Book of Mormon and he did very well. He also read in the Swahili version so that his wife could understand. I called on Brother Basheri to give the opening prayer and Sister Basheri to give the closing prayer -- one of the highlights of the week.

Kate and I visited the Basheri family today and took them a birthday cake. The ward newsletter indicated the entire family celebrates a birthday on January 1st, so we taught them how to celebrate American style. We lit up candles on the cake and sang happy birthday. Then Fienes blew out the candles. We then relit the candles and continued singing and blowing out the candles until they all had a turn. As they waited for their turn, little fingers sampled the frosting. We have a photo I will post later. We then played a word game with the whole family. They are getting pretty quick to read the word and do the appropriate action. We then taught them their telephone number. Each child learned it (down to Nelson) and then we gave them practice in dialing it on my cell phone. They were all so delighted when they were successful in making their own phone ring. Barashaza even begin speaking to Jeneseri over the phone in English...so we are getting somewhere with the daily dose. I plan to quiz them on the phone number often, and will teach them their address as well. They should know their own emergency numbers.

The last several times I have been there, Basheri had his sewing machine out and he was working on a project. He was using the sewing kit that we bought for his Sub for Santa gift. I have instructed him to tell his boss that he has sewing skills as there might be a job for him in this area. Today, I asked him if he told his boss and he said yes. Just the way he said yes made me doubt that he understood, but I think if we help him communicate this to his boss, he might be able to get a placement in a sewing job.

I always have a lot of fun during the daily dose and leave feeling good about my efforts. We are all lucky to have a life with purpose.
Happy New Year to all!