There are three things that can frustrate the members of our
team in a split second. They are: kids in the trash pit, spoiled eggs and herds
of goats trying to destroy our compound. Let me explain…
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| Our "non-burn" trash pit with trash scattered all around from the kids who enter the pit |
We have a nice, simple (you should laugh at that, nothing is
simple here…) plan for getting rid of trash here in Mundri. Since there is no
trash system in this country, everyone has to deal with disposing of their own
trash. For the rest of that town, that seems to mean throwing the trash
wherever is most convenient. However, our former team members created a great
system for disposing of trash on our personal compound. We have a pit for
compost, and pits for burnable and non-burnable items. We use the compost pit
for farming and Will burns the trash in the “burnable” pit once a week. That
leaves our pit for non-burnable items. This is where we dispose of food
wrappers, and other useless plastic items. We eventually had to cover this with
wire fencing and a lock because children would crawl into the pit and go
through our trash. Well, that just made it more of a challenge to the children
because they eventually CUT the wire fencing and would enter the pit anyway.
Now, about once or twice a week, one of us will yell, “kids in the trash pit!!”
and whoever is closest will go out and see what is going on and try to get them
to leave. This situation is difficult for us because the kids could get really
hurt. They crawl down into a large pit that could easily have broken glass,
sharp metal or hidden creatures in it. We have told them over and over again
that we don’t want them to get hurt, but they hold out hope that they could
find something worth their while in the rubbage. The biggest challenge for us
is the realization that they are digging
through our trash. Meaning, they are desperate enough to do something
harmful in hopes of finding something good… in our trash. The whole situation
frustrates us because it seems helpless and it breaks our hearts for the
children. We try to respond in love, but we also want to communicate that they
could get very hurt in the pit. Also, the children don’t just enter the pit.
They bring out the items in the pit and then dump them all around the trash
area when they do not find anything they want. It makes the whole area messy.
I will spare you a picture of the “red eggs”, but this has
been a topic of frustration here on the Mundri team lately. Eggs are a
consistent source of protein here and, since it is difficult to get enough protein,
we are grateful that they are almost always available in the market. However,
in the past we have dealt with a lot of spoiled eggs (I would describe them to
you, but I might lose my lunch…). We have gotten in the habit of cracking eggs
individually into small bowls before adding them into the other food just in
case they are spoiled. Well, this week we have a new reason to remember to
crack the eggs separately. It seems like the eggs being sold in the market right now
are being fertilized before they are put in the market. We know this because we
can see membrane and red blood when we crack open the eggs. They also have a
very unpleasant smell. On Sunday, Heather was going to make an egg dish for
dinner and 20 out of her 24 eggs had blood inside of them. Yeah, this easily
frustrates us and makes cooking even more difficult than it already was.
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| A goat posse walking on our compound like they own the place |
Goats, wonderful goats. Goats are everywhere here. Many
people own them and, when it is not planting season, they are allowed to roam
freely. We have many “goat posses” (as I like to refer to them as to try to
make light of the frustration) that come through our compound each day. They
are loud and they will eat crops, trees, or whatever else they want to get
into. We often find them on our porch or roaming around the houses. They are
annoying because they seem to “take over” the compound when they are around.
Will said the other day that it is crazy how there could be
100 wonderful things that are a grateful for and appreciate and 2 or 3
difficult things and yet, somehow, we fixate on those 2 or 3 things. I think
this is the scheme of Satan. He makes a few things seem so frustrating that
they distract us from all of the wonderful things that are really good
blessings. That is what the above
examples are for us as a team. They are things that distract us from the fact
that we can actually thrive here (only by God’s grace) and that there are many
things to be grateful for in our lives as missionaries in Mundri. They are
small things that happen each day and we can choose to let them bring us to
anger or see them for what they really are- distractions from Satan. You know
the beautiful thing? God redeems all things! My prayer is that we would somehow
find God in kids in the trash pit, red eggs and goat posses. I’m not trying to over-spiritualize
these frustrating things, but simply to say that God sees our situation, He
knows what makes us angry, and He can give us the strength and grace to
overcome the big and simple challenges of life. He is able to do so much more
than we give him credit for! My prayer is that we would expect Him to show up
each day- even in the small annoyances and trust that He can give us the grace
that we need for each day.
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