A few months ago, one of our friends and fellow missionaries, Kevin Green, shared something in an email that has stuck with me. I could not possibly state it as eloquently as the person he quoted, but I’ll tell you what I got out of it. Basically, when we are Christ followers we have to look at each day as it belongs to the Lord. We have to remain open to whatever God might bring across our path that day and be flexible enough to change our plans to accommodate whatever God has planned. When something comes up our attitude will determine whether we can be used by God or not. If God brings an interruption and we are frustrated or angry, we won’t have the impact that we could have had if our attitude was more positive. You never know what God’s intention was when he brought the interruption, but I’d hate to miss out because of my attitude. If I really think about it, I’d say that we have an interruption at least 4 out of 7 days.
Let me share with you about the interruptions we experienced over a recent few day
On Sunday we were supposed to leave our house at 10am to take Madame Grace to the city for Visitation Day at her children’s school. When she came to the car about 10:30, she had Madame Cook with her (everyone just calls her Cook because that’s her role and her name is too hard to pronounce). :)
Apparently, Madame Cook’s mother was ill. The youngest brother went to get medicine but never made it back. Upon looking for him, another relative found him on the road with his bicycle and the medicines. He had fallen ill and collapsed on the road. They put him on a boda and went to the clinic. That clinic had forwarded him on to a hospital. Madame Cook needed a ride to go to him at the hospital.
We all loaded into the car. We reached the hospital thinking that we were just dropping off Madame Cook; however, she requested that Grace and I accompany her into the hospital and pray for him. No problem.
We walked up to the hospital, which was run by a Catholic ministry. The brother was not there. Apparently, after testing him for many illnesses, they determined that he did not have any disease. They “chased him away,” meaning they discharged him. They told him that he had been “bewitched” and to have his pastor pray for him. The family had failed to call Madame Cook and tell her that she didn’t need to come to the hospital. We drove her back to the round-a-bout in Kapeeka and dropped her off to take a boda back to the property. Then we continued to the school in the city.
Once we greeted the children and all the necessary social norms were met, Grace remained and Floyd and I headed further into the city to run errands. Many hours later, we returned to pick up Grace. We did a few other things that required Grace’s help in translating and got home just after dark.
On Monday morning we got up and started our day as usual. We had workers all over the yard by 7 am and I had already cooked breakfast. The boys and I were starting our home school work when Madame Grace arrived. Apparently the young man that had fallen sick was worse. Grace came to the house telling me that the demon that had bewitched him was trying to kill him and we needed to come pray for him.
So, we gave the kids some instructions and left with Grace. We traipsed through the bush following a narrow path that led from our property into the nearby village behind us. When we got close, we saw the small hut surrounded by women. I could see the elderly mother outside crying and praying. A few younger women were also crying and others were just gathered around. The hut was very dark, but I could see in the doorway. The young man was lying on the ground, sort of convulsing. A few men were gathered around holding him down and some women were also there. They were all praying quite loudly. I remained outside and just began praying internally. Madame Grace went in the hut and joined in the praying. Floyd was in the doorway, but the hut was quite full at that point.
We were only there a short time when everything stopped. The young boy had become still and after a few minutes, he sat up. Everyone began to straighten things up and move outside. Then the young boy also came outside. After a few more minutes, Grace said, “ok, let’s go.” Floyd told her to ask the parents to send for him if anything were to occur again. Then we traipsed back along the same path toward our house.
That Monday was actually the day of the well incident and the day we struck water which I already shared about here. On Tuesday, I saw the young man and asked how he was doing. He had not had any more episodes and was feeling great.
On Wednesday, I was at the school doing some various activities and Floyd came looking for me. He had been working in his office and opened the door to see feathers all over the floor. He followed the trail of feathers and blood to find Tezi (the bigger of our two dogs) eating a chicken that she had caught. I asked Madame Grace to come to the house to identify who the chicken belonged to. I learned that it belonged to Makline, the matron of our boarding students, so I went to tell her what happened. She took the news very well and I told her that we wanted to replace the chicken. She refused to accept a replacement, telling me that accidents happened. She explained that if an accident happened that she was responsible for, she would not have the means to take care of it; therefore, she could not ask someone to repay her when an accident occurred. Madame Grace also confirmed that this was their culture. They could not expect each other to make up for accidents that happened.
Needless to say, the dogs are no longer allowed outside without supervision.
On Thursday, Tyler and I had decided to ride our bikes to Kifampa (a small village a few kilometers from our house). Just as we pulled up to our destination, it started sprinkling. We bought some chipati (flat bread) and decided to ride back home rather than wait for the rain to pass. We had no idea that this would be the biggest storm we’ve had in months. We rode as quickly as we could but the rain got heavier and made it very difficult to see. As we finally approached the property, we could hear our car coming from ahead.
Floyd had been trying to call me but I had left my phone at the house. He was trying to warn us that a storm was coming. When the rain started and we weren’t back yet, he decided to come get us. Unfortunately, we were on the last curve when he found us, so we just rode the rest of the way home. Everyone was laughing when they saw us dripping wet and splattered with mud. That storm actually lasted for several hours, so Tyler and I were glad we hadn’t tried to wait it out in Kifampa.
In the midst of all that, we did the normal things as well: school work, laundry, cooking, cleaning, playing outside with the kids, Bible study, and other day to day activities- they just don’t always happen at the planned time.
Let me share with you about the interruptions we experienced over a recent few day
On Sunday we were supposed to leave our house at 10am to take Madame Grace to the city for Visitation Day at her children’s school. When she came to the car about 10:30, she had Madame Cook with her (everyone just calls her Cook because that’s her role and her name is too hard to pronounce). :)
Apparently, Madame Cook’s mother was ill. The youngest brother went to get medicine but never made it back. Upon looking for him, another relative found him on the road with his bicycle and the medicines. He had fallen ill and collapsed on the road. They put him on a boda and went to the clinic. That clinic had forwarded him on to a hospital. Madame Cook needed a ride to go to him at the hospital.
We all loaded into the car. We reached the hospital thinking that we were just dropping off Madame Cook; however, she requested that Grace and I accompany her into the hospital and pray for him. No problem.
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| Little Edgar, the youngest of Grace's children, slept in the car. |
Once we greeted the children and all the necessary social norms were met, Grace remained and Floyd and I headed further into the city to run errands. Many hours later, we returned to pick up Grace. We did a few other things that required Grace’s help in translating and got home just after dark.
On Monday morning we got up and started our day as usual. We had workers all over the yard by 7 am and I had already cooked breakfast. The boys and I were starting our home school work when Madame Grace arrived. Apparently the young man that had fallen sick was worse. Grace came to the house telling me that the demon that had bewitched him was trying to kill him and we needed to come pray for him.
So, we gave the kids some instructions and left with Grace. We traipsed through the bush following a narrow path that led from our property into the nearby village behind us. When we got close, we saw the small hut surrounded by women. I could see the elderly mother outside crying and praying. A few younger women were also crying and others were just gathered around. The hut was very dark, but I could see in the doorway. The young man was lying on the ground, sort of convulsing. A few men were gathered around holding him down and some women were also there. They were all praying quite loudly. I remained outside and just began praying internally. Madame Grace went in the hut and joined in the praying. Floyd was in the doorway, but the hut was quite full at that point.
We were only there a short time when everything stopped. The young boy had become still and after a few minutes, he sat up. Everyone began to straighten things up and move outside. Then the young boy also came outside. After a few more minutes, Grace said, “ok, let’s go.” Floyd told her to ask the parents to send for him if anything were to occur again. Then we traipsed back along the same path toward our house.
That Monday was actually the day of the well incident and the day we struck water which I already shared about here. On Tuesday, I saw the young man and asked how he was doing. He had not had any more episodes and was feeling great.
On Wednesday, I was at the school doing some various activities and Floyd came looking for me. He had been working in his office and opened the door to see feathers all over the floor. He followed the trail of feathers and blood to find Tezi (the bigger of our two dogs) eating a chicken that she had caught. I asked Madame Grace to come to the house to identify who the chicken belonged to. I learned that it belonged to Makline, the matron of our boarding students, so I went to tell her what happened. She took the news very well and I told her that we wanted to replace the chicken. She refused to accept a replacement, telling me that accidents happened. She explained that if an accident happened that she was responsible for, she would not have the means to take care of it; therefore, she could not ask someone to repay her when an accident occurred. Madame Grace also confirmed that this was their culture. They could not expect each other to make up for accidents that happened.
Needless to say, the dogs are no longer allowed outside without supervision.
On Thursday, Tyler and I had decided to ride our bikes to Kifampa (a small village a few kilometers from our house). Just as we pulled up to our destination, it started sprinkling. We bought some chipati (flat bread) and decided to ride back home rather than wait for the rain to pass. We had no idea that this would be the biggest storm we’ve had in months. We rode as quickly as we could but the rain got heavier and made it very difficult to see. As we finally approached the property, we could hear our car coming from ahead.
Floyd had been trying to call me but I had left my phone at the house. He was trying to warn us that a storm was coming. When the rain started and we weren’t back yet, he decided to come get us. Unfortunately, we were on the last curve when he found us, so we just rode the rest of the way home. Everyone was laughing when they saw us dripping wet and splattered with mud. That storm actually lasted for several hours, so Tyler and I were glad we hadn’t tried to wait it out in Kifampa.
In the midst of all that, we did the normal things as well: school work, laundry, cooking, cleaning, playing outside with the kids, Bible study, and other day to day activities- they just don’t always happen at the planned time.
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