Watch the Walk

I'd had a busy week. I both hosted and participated in a workshop, as well as continuing normal life in the evenings (studies, meetings, check-ins, meals with others). By the time Saturday came, my list of things to catch up on was feeling a bit overwhelming. Laundry needed to be folded. Other laundry needed hand washing. Dishes. Straightening. Finance paperwork. Reports. And I had a doctor's appointment too.  As I expressed to Mitch the overwhelming list that was awaiting us after going to the doctor, his response caught me by surprise. "After the doctor, let's go to the beach." The beach?! How could I relax on a beach when the disaster of a house was awaiting my return? But something in my spirit prompted me to agree. We could go to the beach, then when we got home, tackle the work together. And you know what? It was exactly what I needed. We descended to the rocky beach, settled on a couple of benches, listened to the waves, read the Word together and prayed. A...

Recently, my husband and I were taking some new colleagues through a set of orientation materials, including some culture "Do's and Don'ts". Many of the items we could rate as True or False, some of them, as with many other parts of life, were distinct gray areas.  Don't talk while in the bathroom: true Avoid religious conversations except with close friends: false (good luck trying to avoid that!) But one of the items always makes me laugh a bit: Don't expect events to start late or take a long time. FALSE One key to happiness is accurate expectations. And if residents of this island expect things to start on time and end quickly, well, that's a recipe for unhappiness! For example: we were invited for a ceremony celebrating the end of an English class in a nearby village. They said it would start after the evening prayer. So... if prayer is at 7:15... then we'll start at 7:30? Our little delegation didn't even bother coming until after 8pm, and...

The other day we were expecting some guys to come over and help on a project. Since it was starting in the morning, I made a thermos of tea and a double batch of waffles for them to enjoy before starting work. I was feeling fresh and prepared, ready for the first event of the day. This group of guys typically shows up hungry and demolishes anything set before them. Well, the time arrived and one guy showed up... with a snack in hand! And when we asked about the whereabouts of the others, we discovered they weren't coming. Oh well, the one guy ate what he needed, and the leftover waffles went into the freezer for our breakfasts. The previous week I ran into a friend on the path who said he would drop by that afternoon to say hi. I let my husband know that his friend would be coming over, and we intentional stayed around the house in the late afternoon so we wouldn't miss him. He didn't show up that afternoon, but then came the next day in the evening, wanting dinner! How cou...

The islands recently held an election, which brought me back to a topic which I ponder from time to time, especially because of my English classes. Independence: freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, of the like, of others. (dictionary.com) Independence is a myth. It's a nice myth, but still a myth. Since when was anyone truly free from the influence of others? Only a world filled with sociopaths could say that they weren't influenced by others, and a world filled with sociopaths wouldn't last very long.   One of my old English classes had a unit on patriotism, which included a discussion on independence. I always found it fascinating to hear my students' thoughts on the subject, especially as, for a few of them, their country's independence from colonialism happened in their lifetime. For many of them it was in their parents' lifetime. Is independence only about a country being independent from another country? Or a child from a parent?  Many peop...

See the "0" in the center? My husband and I enjoy hosting. A couple of times a week we normally have people over, and especially on Tuesdays. We know that Tuesday night is free for hosting, so that's the safe time to invite people over. We often issue an invitation for Tuesday, make a meal and enjoy the evening of fellowship. There are also the times when people just show up, and they get what they get. This happens especially with single men who come visit. They're coming through the neighborhood and drop by, and if it's dinner time they benefit from the coincidence. And we love that they feel comfortable dropping by, for sure. We welcome them, feed them, tell stories and share life situations, pray, and generally all feel encouraged by the conversation. But sometimes we end up with incompatible guests. Not so much in temperament, although I suppose that's possible, but in language. We speak a few languages apiece, and those visiting typically speak at least ...

I woke up in the early morning* to an awful stench. It was a little bit chilly, so I covered myself better with my blanket and started to roll over. But that smell was horrendous. What was it? B.O? Something else too? I needed to lay eyes on the source. I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight, shining it around my room... and laid eyes on the round shape of a head at the foot of my bed. "SCRAM!" I yelled, with barely a voice, as the man exploded up from his crouch and dashed out of the room. I followed quickly, yelling "SCRAM!" while holding my blanket, only to find him stuck in my back hallway trying desperately to unlatch all the latches and escape out the back door.  "SCRAM!" I insisted as I stood at the doorway of my bedroom and he stood at the door to the outside. I was worried he'd change course and come at me, but thankfully he didn't. He finally got out the door and I followed, yelling again "SCRAM THIEF!"  My housemate ca...

Have you ever had an experience where you thought that someone was listening to you, but then it became apparent that somewhere along the line your attempts at communication were failing? I dealt with this in relation to my wedding dress for the event in Kenya. There aren't any wedding dress shops on Clove Island, and I wasn't sure that it would work to get a wedding dress in Nairobi in our two weeks there immediately before the wedding, so getting a dress sewn on Clove was the best option I could come up with. How many tailors on Clove Island have seen a western-style wedding dress up close? How many would be brave enough to sew one from scratch? Well, I talked with a tailor friend in my neighborhood, showed him a sample picture, and he confidently agreed that he could sew it, and it would be beautiful ! The picture: The first catch? I needed to find the material. I took a couple of tours of town looking for material, not finding something that really fit with my vision. Next ...