Random Stuff

I think it has been awhile since we have posted anything.  Tonight I am writing not because I have any interesting story of mine or someone else’s to tell but because I am not in the shower and I can’t sleep.  I don’t know why I can’t sleep but I’m not in the shower because the water is out.  Alicia had hers before that happened and is asleep now.  I’m not and there’s no water.  This has happened before, once for a couple days- some guys dug a hole to bury some trash from the hospital in the wrong place and hit the water line.  That time I had forgone a shower the night before to find no water in the morning (36 hrs post shower).  The next day there was still no water and I was supposed to meet with the chief (60+ hours post shower).  I was getting fairly nasty by that time so I had to at least double up the deodorant and get in the shower with some water buckets from outside to wash my hair.  I pulled it off okay but then the meeting was cancelled so no worries anyway!
Anymore this is not so much a problem as I shaved my head awhile back and it is amazing.  You don’t look so greasy and your hair looks the same in the morning.  I have grown out my goatee and really just have not shaved at all in a month or so and kinda have what beard I can manage.  I look a lot different I think and maybe not really good.  But this is okay because I wear a hat most of the time and we only have one tiny mirror in our house which I never look in unless checking out a bug bite or sunburn I cannot see otherwise.  That sounds terrible, but really it is great!  No one here cares much what you look like and even if we dress funny one day people just think it is normal American stuff.  They don’t know we’re not cool Americans, just American.  The kids wear whatever, doesn’t have to match, and they fit right in.  Everything is accepted, kinda nice.  Even crew-cut-bad-facial-hair-smelly guys.
So, I hope the water is back soon because tomorrow we go to Livingstone to pick up my Dad, my Sister, and Alicia’s Mom.  I also pick up new parts for the bathroom sink (we actually have 2 sinks), the shower, and the toilet (we do not have 2 of these).  All three of which decided to have decently big issues a few days before they arrive and all 3 cannot be fixed from here but require parts from Livingstone.  Seriously, I can’t make that up.
We have finished up the AI program and bred about 175 cows or so.  Hoping for good conception rates in a couple months.  Been doing a few dog surgeries on the dining table here and there.  Seeing sick cattle in between and treating various random things in dogs, offering management ideas for pigs, etc.  Lost a wheel on our trailer we use to haul the head gate for the AI.  It came off in the bush thankfully, the bearing went out.  Made for a crazy day with the head gate in the back of the truck again and people on top.  After a week I finally was able to get out there with the parts to fix it (not easy to find especially with my mechanical knowledge of bearing repair).  Now I am working on finding some replacement wiring for the lights that was clipped out at some point as it sat out there.  Another errand for Livingstone.
The kids are super excited about seeing Alicia’s mom (sorry Dad and Megan).  They are sure she is going to buy them a coke every day in Mwandi and can’t wait to go out to eat with her in Livingstone.  More than one night they have stayed up talking about which places they will take her during our 2 nights there when they first arrive.  It will be big stuff tomorrow!  Rachel remains tougher than ever (to parent and in real life).  She is working on being kind and not getting in fights with other kids during church so she can get her knife back.  She lost whittling privileges for 2 weeks after hitting a kid who did something (?) at church.  Trying to get her to focus on the issue of loving people but she is focused on whittling again.  I think we are pretty good parents most of the time…?
All 3 kids are loving life really and enjoy doing so much here.  Isaac has a friend now, Moses, who hangs out with our family all the time and that has been really good for him.  Ethan gets along with everyone (even Rachel often!) and is always in such a good mood (except homeschool).  He loves shopping in the market and buying things for others.  I was having a bad day once and he came back with Alicia and had bought me a Coke to cheer me up.
Alicia is super excited to see her mom and we have been fixing up the house a little more these last couple days in preparation (hopefully this will make up for having no working utilities nor water possibly).  She loves Africa and hopes her Mom will like it too.
Hopefully this blog entry can make someone laugh, life is good and we are doing well here.  The things above are not complaints, just funny things about life here that we didn’t have to deal with before.  Each time Alicia and I laugh (most times I should say) and it seems to be okay anyway.  There is a sense of purpose about being and a joy in overcoming challenges and meeting the people they put in your life when they happen.  God can give us our purposes (Eph 2:10) wherever He chooses in this life but for some reason we have found it easier to see from here.  I don’t know how long until He calls us to another vantage point, but for now it is a good view.

-paul

James 1:22- Kids memory verse the last couple weeks.

Isaac helping out in the bush, drawing up injections.

Calves in the yard

Ethan playing at church

Mission Community- Austrailia, USA, Bangladesh at church

Dead puff adder in the road

The Least of These

In Africa we have a trash pit. Each night one of the kids has the chore of taking out the garbage and every few nights they have they joy of setting it on fire. It is about 4 feet by 4 feet by 6 feet deep in the back corner of our yard.

We have kids that come to play on the swing the boys and I made in front of our house. They come from the village and many of them are orphans or vulnerable children that are looking for entertainment on the swing or from the odd white people who built it. They are kids, sometimes sweet, sometimes mean, they play with things, things break, they are kids.

I am not a kid person, things break and I get frustrated. Kids do things they should not and I get irritated. I love, but it is so conditional that kids have a hard time living up to the conditions.

A few days ago the kids were in the trash pit. I yelled out, “Uh-uh! Get out of there!” They laughed and ran away from me to the swing in the front. I knew they were just playing around and I was frustrated as they caused the side of the pit to collapse, allowing dogs and other critters to get in and out. Thinking it was time to seriously limit kids access to us and our home I went out front.

One boy stuffed something in his pocket quickly, another under his shirt. They laughed.

“What do you have? Show me.” I said. If they thought they did something wrong we were going to correct it and I did not like them running from me.

“I won’t be mad,” I said, not totally honest.

After several minutes of denial I resorted to patting down the smallest boy, I had to let them know they could not come into our home and take what they liked or damage things that I had to fix. I pulled an apple core out of his pocket.

I asked the next boy what he had. “Nothing.” he said.

I tapped his shirt, “Show me, I won’t be mad,” with a new tone of sincerity now. He produce an empty open peanut butter jar he had been licking out.

“What are your names?” I asked.

I spent the next 10 minutes finding our their names, where their homes were, who had moms and who didn’t. Then I went and brought them a bag of dates and a package of Ramen noodles each. Then they asked my name.

Now when they see me today in the market they smile and call out, “Paul, Paul!” and they come back to our house to play. They have not asked for food again, but we will give them things as we can.

When I came in that day to relate the story to Alicia I could not tell it without tears. I struggle to find a big job for me to do for God. Lord do they need me here? Is poverty here? What can I do? I was punched with the reality that these kids will pick through my trash to get food.

I do not love as I should. I have my big cattle AI project to do, plans to make. No time for kids in the trash pit.

I can be so blind and so not what I want to be. God reminds me to focus on Him and what He brings each day. When I focus on Him and not my projects He shows me such simple ways to love the least of these in my own yard. They become to me the people they are to Him with their names and homes and stories. When I love I become a person to them and relationships form and that is the most beautiful thing of all.

I guess I tell this story because it was a big learning point for me and those are good to share. Maybe God has put something right in front of you but you are so busy with the big stuff that you just get annoyed. The ‘least of these’ Jesus talked about often get treated this way in our world.

Lord, give us your heart and eyes to see…Matthew 25:31-40