One of the things that has changed drastically for us when we moved to Africa was the amount of times our doorbell rings. When we were in the states we would go usually all day without hearing the doorbell. Those days here are rare for us.
How many times does our Doorbell ring (just an example)?
8:30 Doorbell – Garbage donkey here to get our trash
9:00 Doorbell – Three women coming with empty water buckets to fill
9:15 Doorbell – The man who lives next door who gets a bucket of water a day from us since his house has no water.
11:00 Doorbell – Abe stopping by to visit with Joel and stay for lunch
11:15 Doorbell – Boys from the neighborhood wanting their ball pumped up.
4:00 Doorbell – Girl from our church stopping by to say hi to our family
5:00 Doorbell – Man from our neighborhood who didn’t have anything to eat that day (I knew there was a reason we had leftovers that day).
8:30 Honk of the Car – Joel is home from church with two visitors who will now be staying for dinner. I already gave our leftovers away so it looks like I will be “throwing” together another meal at 8:30.
10:00 —-ALL VISITORS GONE—- a moment of silence and calm, or maybe we should just sleep!
When the Doorbell Ring…
Most often I find myself screaming on the inside. Who will I find at the door this time? How much of my time will it take up? Will I get anything done today? Yesterday as I was talking to Cecil about what makes missionaries effective here. This is what she told me, “It is the rare few who love the people here and who learn how to show their love in our way.”
If I could speak all the languages of the earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy and knowledge and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrifice my body, I could boast about it, but if I didn’t love others I would have gained nothing.
For me this was the message that I needed to hear. The most important thing for us is to love the people and how will we love them if we don’t take the time to interact with them. THAT IS WHY WE ARE HERE!!! It is easy to forget as we get easily wrapped up in other things or frustrated in our efforts to figure out how to love the people here. It is true that we are working of French and Wolof to be able to better communicate and that is important but NOT at the cost of our relationships. The writer of our language program says that it is not a language to learn, it is a people to love. Relationships are the key and the basis of ministry. SO…when the doorbell rings... it is true that my day will probably be completely rearranged, but the opportunities it might open up are more important anyway. God usually has a better arrangement for my day.
How You Can Pray This Week
We are in the hot miserable season and for the past few weeks there has been one of us sick at almost every moment. Fevers and heat don’t mix well…trust me. Pray for health and strength in the heat and humidity. This is always our hardest season of the year physically.
Praying for you now, as the sun has probably risen for u and a new day is beginning. Praying for good health for the whole family. Praising God for your doorbell outlook… Amazing how much we crave routine and getting things done when Gods design for us is so relational. It is such a struggle, and I don’t even know when the last time my actual doorbell rang! Love you guys!
This word is a good one for all of us. Its so easy to want me time….even if its doing the work God has for us…but being flexible and responding to his call…its priceless.
Thank you so much for reminding us that it’s the people and our relationships with them that are important not our planned schedule of the day. This is true whether we are here in our convenient and safe homes or like you and many others out on the Mission Field where every thing is a challenge. We need to remember that God plans our day and not ourselves.
Thank you too, for directing my prayers. You are in them most every day, you and the family, Abe and Paul, the children who were at camp and now the women who were at the retreat with you. But I never remember the daily struggles, like the heat and fevers. It’s those little things that are so monumental when you are dealing with them that I don’t think about because they aren’t a part of my life here. So keep telling us what you need. I love to pray for you and all your circumstances and needs.
Carolyn
I love this because it is a part of being a missionary that I struggled with as well. When we went to Czech there were no phone lines to our part of the city – so every message was brought by person to your door…often just saying “hi” from someone they met earlier in the day. When someone rang you had to offer tea & sit and hear the message. As a Mom of littles ones to have tea multiple times a day in order to hear these messages often threw my entire day out of whack. Often threw my spirits our of whack as well.
Then I heard some teachings about the life of Jesus and what events he “planned” like being in the synagogue on a certain day -versus- what events “interrupted” him. So much of the gospel is people he met on the way. People who ran up to him uninvited. People who brought others for help when he was doing something else. It happened so much that the disciples had issues with him…and he always addressed their hearts.
Your frustration is totally understood. Your heart for people is a gift of the Lord. Fan that gift into flame by smiling before you open the door and see who it is. Make yourself say, “Thank you, Jesus, for this gift” before you open the door…love for people will burn in your heart and it will make the inconvenience a little bit easier.
That and you need a vacation every now and then – preferrably in a place with no door bell!
Andrea
I love your posts as it reminds me of so many situations we have gone through ourselves, but encouraging to see you responding to those situations with an open mind to what God wants to accomplish through them. Bon Courage! May God make you all a real blessing to those your life will touch.