This week our challenge was all about bugs
- Household bug…With the rains this week our bug population exploded. Thousands of flies, hundreds of mosquito, a few spiders, roaches, beetles and millipedes
- Food Bugs…for some reason there were an abnormally large number of bugs I had to sort out of our flour and sugar this week
- Fever Bugs… The boys decided to pass this one around between them.
- Stomach Bugs…These are a pretty regular part of life, but annoying none the less.
- Planning Bugs…The unexpected things that sneak up and make you rework your entire day
There were times when I was able to ignore the bugs that surrounded us and other times they consumed my energy. Yesterday was a holiday and I traveled out to a nearby village to spend the day with our host family. I traveled out by myself blindly following the directions I was given and praying I would end up at the right village. I traveled out the ways Africans would crammed in the back of a pick up with 25 other people. I spent the morning sorting bugs out of noodles with Cecil in a kitchen swimming with flies. We cooked a chicken, head, feet and all and prepared the meal together. We ate together on the floor, from the same bowl, with our hands. In the middle of the meal Cecil looked up at me and said, “My sister, today you are with me in my real home and experiencing life as I know it”. At that moment I knew that God had been using this week to prepare me for this moment. He used our normal life to make me familiar with things that I would not naturally be familiar. It was hot, bugs were everywhere, the food wasn’t clean, nothing was planned, and I had no idea how I was getting home, but I was there with her where she was most comfortable. Thank you God for preparing me to do things I would not normally be able or willing to do.
And…God is doing great things even when you don’t see it! Sometimes we are privileged to see what He is doing, sometimes not, that’s why this living takes faith. Sometimes it is our own weaknesses and failings that God can use the most. How wonderful God opened Cecil’s mouth and told you what a gift you had given her. Probably for every one time you will hear how you are being used, there are thousands of times you won’t even be aware of the impact you are making on your family, friends and all the people in the villages who are watching you. And all of us who read your blog. Not only is He shaping something lovely out of you, be He continues to do so with all of His children. What a wonderful reminder to not give up or despair.
You are loved…aunt elisabeth
Oh my word! Cecil’s words to you made me get all tear-y! What a beautiful gift she gave you, and all because of the beautiful gift YOU gave her!
There is no doubt Who you love and Who you serve! What a bright and shining light you are, Andi! May God fill you with all comfort and joy in His presence – even amidst this broken down world. Hope the screens have been put up in your home and the bugs will be controlled.
God is surely doing amazing things in your heart!
Hi Andy.
Enjoy your blog a lot, as it gives us all a glimpse in on the challenges you are facing but also on what God is doing and preparing you to be a relevant tool in the african culture for His Glory. Hope that you will not feel like a wood that is being chopped on all the time, but that there will be some time of rest and only small polishing to be done, that is not so hard to take. 🙂
I’m so glad you made it okay to the village and back. And I’m glad God blessed you with that moment with Cecil. Those things are precious. I love you and I am so amazed and grateful for the beautiful workmanship God is doing in you.