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Remember the old movie Groundhog Day? The visiting weatherman goes to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the Groundhog Day events on February 2 and wakes up each day living the same experiences over and over again. Maybe you feel like you have been living a similar experience this past year as the COVID-19 pandemic has cancelled vacations, ball games, in-person church services, conferences, parties, going out to eat, having people over, and so many other activities. So many days seem the same that we can hardly remember what day of the week it is! It has been difficult to adjust to the sameness of the days.
Giving certificate for completion of CBR apprenticeship.
On the other hand, there is something comforting about routine (when it isn’t so extreme like this past year). In cultural anthropology we talk about “calendrical rituals,” celebrations or rituals that happen each year (or month) following the calendar. When I was thinking of what we’ve been doing this past couple of weeks, I immediately thought of our new residents’ White Coat Ceremony last week and last Sunday’s World Leprosy Day and the Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR) apprenticeship graduation. Later I looked up our February 2020 newsletter and found that we
Eight new surgery and internal medicine residents reciting the Christian physicians’ oath at their White Coat Ceremony.
wrote you about these same celebrations, along with the Baptist World Alliance’s Women’s Day of Prayer (which will be next week). It was somehow comforting to be reminded that even when so many things have been postponed or cancelled, some of our celebrations have continued, and there is some stability and comfort in this repetition.
We are thankful for the continued progress on the hydroelectric project. The deep foundation will soon be completed for the turbine building, which will house the turbine, flywheel, and alternator and generate the electrical power.
Work has begun to dig the deep trench through a hill for the installation of a three-foot culvert, which will divert some water from an adjacent watershed to the stream feeding the lake above our hydro intake dam. This photo shows the initial trench, dug by a front-end loader. The center of the trench will be dug six feet deeper with our Bobcat to a total depth of about twenty-five feet.
In His service,
Dennis & Nancy
Prayer
- For completion of the hydroelectric project (target date: April 14).
- For those in our community who are grieving the loss of family members and friends.
Praises
- Safety and good health.
- Calendrical rituals and holidays.
Be careful then how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.
EPHESIANS 5:15–16 (NIV)
Dennis & Nancy Palmer
Mbingo Baptist Hospital, PMB 42, Bamenda, Cameroon