Hope you are all having a great weekend! We had quite an eventful one. For those of you who knew our plans, we visited suicide rock today. We returned almost in the same condition we left in. It was about a two mile walk/mud slosh/hop over ditch/climb, from our house, and yes, we took Caleb along with us. I was impressed with Ben- as he ended up carrying Caleb the whole way. "Suicide Rock" is basically a waterfall and at the base there is a deep area that you can jump down into. The current then takes you about 10 feet to a place where you can pull yourself out of the water. The water was moving pretty fast, so I had determined I wouldn't jump, but after the 10 year old son of the missionaries jumped- I knew I had to do it. Ben and I both survived, but the verdict is still out on our new camera. I was taking a picture of someone else jumping from the top with their camera when I turned and accidently knocked our camera off the cliff. One of the missionary kids, Sam, and Ben were already down stream, so they were able to retrieve it. We are praying for a miraculous recovery. :) (This is why I can't attach any cool pictures of the beautiful walk and waterfall)
Friday evening we had a game and dessert night with all of the missionaries. We had such an amazing time, and the more time we spend with these people (sorry to say this mom) the more we realize that we could do this sometime down the road. (Although I'm not sure Ben will bring me next time after losing money and ruining our camera. It seems I may be more of a risk then benefit.) Life is just so much simpler- not necessarily easier- just simpler. Families spend time together and really enjoy each other. The teenagers and kids were all right in there playing games with the adults. It just felt like the way things should be!
The native children have been hanging around a bit more lately. I gave some cookies out a couple of weeks ago and I think the word has spread. We don't really have much candy left, so I gave them a pack of gum the other day. I hope they know what to do with it. :) Oh well, I'm sure they will come up with something creative if they don't know. One of the little girls we have met, Lilly, came to our door the other night when I was trying to fix dinner. I sent Ben to answer it because I was tired, hungry, and frankly a little annoyed because I was not in the mood to hand out candy. Anyway, she asked Ben if she could see me so I begrudgingly washed my hands and went to the door...only to find her standing there with a bouqet of beautiful flowers that she had picked for me. Talk about a hit in the gut. When I was working in social work in the United States, I got really tired of the "gimme gimme, I'm entitled to everything I can get" attitude. This just reminded me how different the feeling is here.
I have also had time to sit and talk and make friends with a woman named Meti. She works in the garden behind our house and cleans many of the missionaries homes. (for about $0.66/hour) She is a wonderful Christian woman and, like a group of Nazarene nationals here, is trying to raise enough money to go come with the missionaries for general assembly in Orlando. (I don't really know how this is possible- but I'm guessing the Nazarene church has some kind of matching fund, or the missionaries are supplementing in some way.) She is incredibly excited about the opportunity to come to the U.S. Anyway, it started raining the other day, so we had the opportunity to just sit and talk on the front porch. She started telling me a little bit about her story. She has three teenagers at home and her husband left her last December and married another woman. She's having trouble supporting her family, and completing both his and her responsibilities, but then she said, amidst the tears, "but I know that God is with me." She literally has nothing. Yeah, just makes you think.
Ben had the opportunity this week to pray with a family that had lost a child. Basically the one-year-old girl, who was a twin, fell out of her bed (a bilam hooked like a hammock onto the wall) and died instantly. The mother went into shock and they brought her to the hospital. I'll let him tell more about it in his blog if he wants, but I know he thought it was a pretty amazing experience to be able to comfort them with prayer right there in the hospital. No questions asked.
To end on a positive note, Caleb has learned an awsome trick- he can throw up the "people's eyebrow" on command. Everyone is pretty amused by it here, so we look forward to being able to show off his newfound skill when we return. There is a picture on Ben's blog, but it just doesn't do it justice!
Alright, enough from me. I hope this finds everyone well. We sure are having a great time here, but we love hearing from you all!
1 comment:
Great work.
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