How about some true statements for our house in Africa…
- 25 mosquitoes parked on one kitchen wall
- 100 mosquitoes trapped in our house by our living room window screen
- 50 mosquitoes waiting on the net hanging over our bed
- 10 mosquitoes flying up when I pick up my towel
- At least 5 mosquitoes flying out to greet us whenever we walk into a new room
How did this happen?
There is construction happening on the floor above us. To do this construction they took off the roof to the courtyard in the middle of our home. Then they ran out of money (very common here) and just stopped working. So now the mosquitoes park upstairs in the shade all day and visit us at night. Each night the number of mosquitoes increases more and more.
How does this effect our life?
Luckily there is little effect on us during the day, but the mornings and evenings can be pretty challenging.
- Last night we had dinner on our bed under the mosquito net because there were too many mosquitoes in our living room.
- Each time we or the boys get our of bed we have to go on a mosquito hunt in our nets for all those who came in with us.
- Our evening and morning productivity has been reduced to what must get done or what can be done in the safety of our nets.
- We all have multiple mosquito bites!
What can we do about it?
Well we are working with our landlord on a solution, but nothing happens quickly here. When the roof was on our situation was much more livable so there is hope of it returning to that state sometime in the future. The question is how long we will be waiting while this gets sorted out. Well there is no easy or sure answer to that. It is kind of like asking when the first snow fall of winter will happen in Portland: sometimes it happens early in winter, sometimes it takes a long time to come, and occasionally there are those winters of no snow at all.
Pray with us
- For wisdom as we deal with this issue with our landlord. We want to get something done, but also handle it in a culturally appropriate way
- For endurance as we will live here in the meantime
- For our light to shine even in a challenging situation
- For compassion as we have been experiencing a lot of the challenges that are a normal part of many people’s lives here. May we not forget what the struggle is like.
Other News
- Tyler’s arm seems to be healed although we are still keeping an eye on it
- We have another nanny coming to live with us who just purchased tickets to arrive mid September! We are very excited and will tell you more about this at another time.
- We continue to make progress and are praising God that he has allowed us to see some of the ways we are progressing
We praise God for all the ways he is working in our lives 
And for the Joy that serving him brings .
My favorite line of this post is that you are “praising God that he has allowed us to see some of the ways we are progressing.” It is a good reminder that sometimes we progress without seeing it and that other times it is a gift to see the progress in our journey. May you continue to see how He is working. I hope soon we are praising Him for what He’s done with the mosquitos just as we did for the water!
We just had a visit with the Kriens and they were talking about the same thing. How to get out for something in the middle of the night with all the mesquitoes hanging on the net outside.
On another note, looking at the pictures, I was struck once again by how beautiful my daughter is! Love you.
Dad
May God do an amazing miracle in ridding you of these mosquitos and get the roof back on. Can you find another place to live?
I will keep praying. Your attitude is confirmation of the power of God’s Spirit working in you!
Carolyn