Monday, October 13th
From the team
We’ve been here long enough now that things are seeming more
normal to us. Nothing unusual about a
canoe full of goats going by in the morning. No big deal to sit in a church service with
over 900 people for 4 hours. Crocodile
for dinner? No problem. A long “shower”
is five cups of water instead of two.
Generator’s on....plug your phones in!
Generators off….get out your flashlights. Welcome gift of sugar cane and “stunned”
chicken…we accept. Ants in the bed…just
roll over and get them out in the morning.
Long skirts and pants in equator heat…the norm (no shorts and tank tops
here). Air conditioning?....what is air
conditioning? It’s the breeze from the
river that we periodically get. Bats
in your room…just call Papa Jean and he’ll get it with a sugar cane stalk. Quiet nights of sleep…never! There are hundreds of people chanting and
singing all night long.
While touring the Bolenge hospital today we could look out
the open air windows and see men clearing the juggle with
machetes….normal. A woman walking down a
dirt road with loads of anything balanced on her head with a baby strapped to
her back….normal.
Normal is children coming up to us calling “Mondele” (pronounced mon deli). Their word for white skinned. Most of them enjoy their picture being taken
but some are scared of us. Today I had a
moment when I was talking with teenage girls while we were goofing off posing for
the camera. I would make a girly pose
and they would copy. The younger
children all around us burst out laughing.
This was at the drill site in a rural area and they were gathered around
to watch the drilling. This is all normal.
But as we become accustomed to these unusual sights and
sounds the people here are becoming ever more dear to us. We continue to see their situation as not
hopeless but difficult. As we adjust, we see that they are not unhappy but indeed joyful, we don’t feel sorry for them
but our desire to help them have a better life is increased.
And they can help us….help us become even more faithful to
God in all circumstances. Teach us to be
joyful and loving no matter what our living conditions. (Oh dear, the dishwasher broke, the air conditioning is
out, the car needs to go to the shop….we
have no idea how good we have it!) Could
you praise God for 4 hours every Sunday?
Can you give your last $5 dollars to the church? (translate…your last
paycheck that is needed to pay bills.)
Do you have this much faith in God?
We have much to learn to be….normal.
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