Raising Support and Teaching Online

Thank you for your continued prayer and support as we prepare to move to Zambia to join the work at African Christian University (ACU). Currently we are still working on raising funds to move to Lusaka. In the meantime, I am teaching online at ACU while we continue to work on a variety of projects here in Moscow, ID.

ACU is in the third week of classes, and while we wish to be there in person we are thankful for the technology that allows me to teach online. I am teaching one course on soil fertility and plant nutrition. The class time is at 2:30 PM Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in Lusaka which is at4:30 AM for me in Moscow, ID. Typically Monday and Wednesday are lecture format and Friday is a recitation. Online teaching is something I am familiar with from my time at WSU, and while the technology is amazing, video calls are an insufficient substitute for in person conversations. Additionally, supervising laboratory exercises at a distance is not something that we have yet perfected. Last term the students simply recorded themselves completing various laboratory tasks and sent them to me via WhatsApp. One of the most difficult skills to instill in developing agronomists is the keen observational ability required to notice and diagnose anomalies in the field.

In the meantime we are very thankful for the time God has given us to spend here in Moscow. We are continuing working on developing our support network, fixing up the upper unit of our duplex, and doing a variety of odd jobs. When we move to Zambia we hope to be able to keep our duplex as a short term rental in the hopes that we can use it as a home base when we come back to the US on furlough. The odd jobs I have picked up mostly consist of agronomy related research on a contract basis, although I have been doing some drywall as well.

Parenting, as always, is exciting, enjoyable, and tiring. The kiddos are growing and asking more interesting questions every day. Earlier this week Korinne (5) asked me why there are so many countries on earth. If any of you have good answers, please feel free to let me know. Dietrich (3) mostly wants to roughhouse and Esther (1.5) generally likes climbing on things and being held at a safe distance from her boisterous brother. Thank you all for your prayers and support. We are continuing to wait for Esther’s passport so please pray that the State department would see fit to send us the passport soon.