3 out of 4 Semesters Done

Today was our last day in the live language practibum and we had to say goodbye to Khady. We really became attached to her and will definately plan on visting her next semester.
This is khady in the middle and Darcy, our teacher for this practicum to the left.



I made a cake for the occasion. It says 'thank-you' in Wolof with the senegal flag. It was actually a lot of fun!


We ushered in December with our new tradition (oxymoron) of Gingerbread house making.


Tomorrow we drive to London for the weekend with Nate's sister and then fly to Saskatchewan on Sunday morning!!!!!! Hello -36

Dreaming of a White Christmas

It has definately been a busy few months, but I'll try and be better at updating on here. That is if anyone is interested. We are... well Nate is more faithful in putting together the monthly 'prayer letters' so if you're not getting one of those and would like to it's definately more frequent =)
We had our first snow today and it stayed for most of the day, but now is gone and no more is coming for a few days. I never fully understood the song 'i'm DREAMING of a white Christmas.

Anyway, we have begun a language and culture learning practicum. For the first two weeks we were in class, with lectures about how to do “Culture and Language Acquisition”. Basically how to live in such a way that you are involved in people’s lives, building relationships, sharing experiences with them, and using those shared experiences to learn language and culture.



This is our language helper Khady and her family as we eat in the traditional senegalese way. Khady is teaching us Wolof which is a trade language in senegal. We've had a blast with here and will miss her when this course is done in a couple weeks.

We are also getting ready to head home to Saskatchewan for Christmas!!! We are quite excited and counting down the days. We also will get to see Steve and Penny (Nate's brother and sister in law) who are in Indonesia as they come back for a short break.

Canoe trip in fall.



Mom & Dad visit! We went to a corn maze and it was much better than you would think! ( sorry mom & Dad, that's the only pic I could find =)

Summer is still holdin on

It feels almost lucky to be feeling like 31 degrees outside right now.

Since the Tornado we spent about a week cleaning up the campus and also helping out in town to get it back to near the way it was. Since then our work detail group has been working on rebuilding the bridge at the entrance to New Tribes, which has to be done by the end of September, the extent of our building permit.

In class we are now 3/4 done sounds & symbols or Phonetics. It is a study on different sounds the mouth can make, how we make those sounds, and symbols to represent them. This will be helpful in language learning in a tribe that does not have literacy and therefore we have to make an alphabet for them. It is a difficult but also enjoyable class. Nate and I now know we are not tone deaf!

Next week we will be starting our CLAware (Culture Language Aquisition) program orientation where we learn how to use this software to help us better record the culture and, you guessed it, language of the tribe we will be in.

Next week is also the annual canoe trip for us students. It's an afternoon going down the Saugeen River which is beatiful and really fun.

The latest news about Indonesia for us is that we have started contact with the field. This is the application stage where we send them the evaluations of us from the staff last year and they decide if we fit their field. After some papers are passed around our status will be changed to 'enroute' to Indonesia. They have 3 openings during the year for people to come and start language study, which are April, July, or November. This is an exciting step for us but also a bit scary. Please be praying for us as we move forward, to find our strength and courage in Christ and also for the field to accept us.

I do apologize about the lack of pictures in this one. I will take more for the next update.

We love to hear from you guys, so email us! nateandtash@hotmail.com

A windy day in Durham!

On Thursday a tornado came through Southern ontario and the North end of NTMC and the East Side of Durham. Damage on Campus was great, but the town got the worst of it with stores and houses that lost roofs, walls, etc. One boy in town was killed and many injured in that area. But I can only tell what I've heard from others about what has happened in town as we have not been allowed to go into town which is the only way out of campus. (FIRST PHOTO BEFORE STORM)On Campus the academy got it worst with all the shingles ripped off the roof and siding on parts taken off. It poured shortly after the tornado came through so they couldn't get much of the roof covered with tarp before which caused damage. Before we weren't able to see into durham from our property but as you can see above the trees between us are down and there are buildings visible in the background. One count was 36 trees down on Campus.


We spent all of Friday cleaning up but were greatly blessed with many who came from the surrounding churches and communities to help. We also had a large work group from ohio who had come for the week to do some maintenance and decided to stay longer to help. We wouldn't be half as far without them. They also supplied us with lunch and another couple from a church nearby supplied supper.




Although there was one staff member's car fallen on, the trees fell every which way but not on people, and only one home slightly damaged. God still had his hand in this disaster.



Baby Birds found scattered along the ground. To the right a building in town.

Summer Break

For summer my (Tash) parents flew

us home which saved us 34 hours of driving! We spent the first week at a cabin at Emma Lake with my parents and brother, sister-in-law and nephew. My brother Ryan and I were the only ones to catch fish that week.

The next week we went to Nate's parents place for almost a week and then went up with them to Nipawin Bible College's 75th

Anniversary. Nate and his dad went gopher hunting a couple days and nate seemed to be confused what a gopher is =) ... He came back with a jack Rabbit and so we cooked it up for supper. It was quite good. The last two weeks were spent in warman and were pretty full with visiting with friends and family in the area.

Alive after jungle Camp!

It has been quite a ride since my last update. We were required to move up all we needed for a month on our backs and our time space for that was from midnight until 5 pm. So Nate and I started at midnight on Friday night and got 12 loads done before we were exhausted and went to bed around 4:30am. Below is Nate on our 2nd trip feeling what he figures is the pain of pregnancy. We woke up at 7:30am to get the last of laundry done and finished bringing up the loads at 11:30am. Our food shelf was very full but my nice shelves didnt fall and we had enough food to last the month.
Although everything done in the day takes longer we still had some time to play our beloved Carcassone. We also had a lot of time to connect more with our classmates. Jungle camp atmosphere is very relaxed and open. No email or phones for impersonal conversation. This was my favorite part of the experience. Since we couldnt leave we had our own church services in the bush. We took turns in groups leading in music and a messsage. This photo was of our group music team in the chapel.
We also did a chicken kill one day with a staff guy showing us how to skin it and had a potluck that night with, you guessed it, CHICKEN! ...but I wont show any pictures of that =)

Canada day was a day of festivities in Jungle Camp. Nate and I and a small group planned a morning of activities which included lumberjack contests, waterballon volleyball, and waterballoon catapult. It ended with a potluck where the staff brought ICE-CREAM!!! With no ice or anything cold for a few weeks there was a buzz through the camp.

A highlight of the experience for me was the ladies hike a few days before move down day. We took a two day 22km hike along the Bruce Trail. This photo is at the beginning of the hike and everyone made it to the end. We camped overnight at the cypress lake campground.

Our first day up there Nate and I did a tour for you who couldnt be there to see it. Its not working to upload right now, but I will keep trying.

Men's Hike

Here are just a couple photos of the Men's hike a couple days ago.

Nate is in the middle at the foot of the cave (below)

Now we go pack and move up at midnight!

Day 9 & 10

Yesterday was another long 14 hour day as I wanted to get as much done as I could before Nate got back from the hike. They got in at 9:00 pm and he has very cold and tired, and thoroughly enjoying a warm comfy bed. The first day for them was very wet and cold as was the night. The second day wasn't as wet and the trail was more enjoyable. By the third day it was quite warm. The trail was closed off near the end so they had to walk up highway six to get into tobermory which tires your feet out more with the repetative walking. We hope to have pictures of the hike for you tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from the last 2 days: This was the photo at the end of yesterday.

Our door was originally a hand-me-down from 3 previous years and therefore needed a bit of work. it was saging and wobbly so I rebuilt it while Nate was gone. I took it completely apart and braced it with the two bars across. Unfortunately I put the plastic on the wrong side of the door but it was a quick fix. Today nate remade the hinge with a dowel on either end stuck into holes hand drilled into the top and bottom of the door as well as into the threshold and door frame. It works quite well now and even has a scary squeak when we open it.

This is our shower floor. Luckily the grate was already made and so I just had to dig it into the ground a bit and put some tiles on top. In 3 hours I made this shelving unit. It is 3 shelves for toiletries, clothes, etc. and to the right

of it there is a hanging hanger bar.

So that was yesterday's progress and here are today's photos. We ended up staying until about 9:30 but I wanted to finish the clay on the oven so I was working by flashlight. And this is our prized possession that I found while looking around our lot for rocks. It is a raccoon skull we figure.

Nate did the electrical today and here is the light switch taped to the pole since we can't use nails or screws.

This is our table which is very handy to have somewhere flat to put stuff. Nate also did the chimney today and dug the slop pit. I got the counters fitted with cardboard and with covering and plastic. All we have left is a few small finishing touches so we are doing our fresh food shopping and a few odds and ends . Our last outing for a month! No more internet, phone music, or conveniences. So we won't be replying to emails after tomorrow. Good bye world!...

Day 8

Another long work day, although the hours seem to go by too quickly. Nate is gone on the men't hike until tomorrow night. Luckily everyone is in very close proximity so we don't get lonely. I realized yesterday that I didn't take pictures of a few of the jungle camp amenities. Above we have the washing machine. A blue barrel cut open at the top. The black handle is attached to bar going the length of the barrell to help stir up the soap and clothes. Next is the oven attached ontop and beside the stove unit. It's just a metal barrel cut into the main metal drum that is the firebox. On the other side of the unit is the hot water which works much the same as the oven only it is upward.

And last but not least, the fridge! A metal bucket in the ground with rocks all around and under it. The lid has styrofoam on the underside for added insulation. It's basically there for keeping food from not getting hot rather that cooling it right down, but it'll help.

And this is my masterpiece. I've been working on it for couple days and finally finished it today. Ok, so it's not straight but it'll hold food. I used a line level and everything. And the other huge project which Nate mostly worked on is the bench. Lots of tieing down and cutting. I also finished that today so it's ready for the foam and material over top.

And here is tomorrow's project. We got a door with the pile of wood on our lot, but it had been through 3 years so it was looking sad. Remembering that we can't use any hinges, nails, or screws, a door become very difficult. So I took it mosltly appart today and I'll rebuild it and keep the frame. Any ideas? =)

And so after today this is what I walked away looking at.

Day 6 & 7

Saturday or day 6 we worked very hard to get the plastic on the house. Sunday is 'day of rest' and today (monday) Nate went on the 3 day men's hike on the Bruce trail (Tobermory). So because of this we wanted plastic as it is a two person job. We worked until 9:30 when we could no longer see anything and had to quite. It was too dark to take pictures that day so I've got more today. It was a bit dark by today too. We only got 2 1/2 sides hung with plastic. So this morning I ended up finishing stapling the plastic on horizontal poles and finish hanging the rest of the plastic by myself. The picture above is of the kitchen; the stove is in the middle and too the right is counter and shelf space and to the left is the sink and counter space with shelving underneath. Below is the bedroom and storage room to the right in the background and in the foreground is the dinning room bench.

To the right is our house from the trail! It actually looks like a house! So the guys get back late Wednesday night and we have thursday friday to work on the table, bench cusions, counter tops, new door and shelving under the bed. Below is the front without the door =) it broke.