All of Life is Prettier Through Rose Colored Sunglasses

This was a short week out in the village, but really good! Monday was neat. We went down to the river in a close village to baptize a new believer! It was the 5 of us girls, our team leader who drove a couple of hours in town to baptize him, and the new believer. He was really excited about getting baptized and now that there is a baptized national believer in our area he will be baptizing all the new believers who come after him. Tuesday we had another “Bouki” to go to in our village. Ok there are these crazy African ants here and I’m going to sound ridiculous, but when one bites you it feels like stinging stabbing pain. No joke. So I got bit last week and ran in my hut and threw my shirt off and called my mom to come in and check it out and so my whole family gives me a hard time about these stupid ants, and we joke about how I want them to die. This is relevant… on Tuesday at the Bouki I’m sitting in this lady’s hut with about 8 or 10 other African ladies, Lauren, and our supervisor and I get bit by another one of these crazy ants! So I stand up and say “nui nui!” (ant ant!) and at least 3 of these sweet ladies stand up with me and start shaking my clothes! Like if I would have just lifted my arms up a little more the shirt would have been off, over my head! Usually this wouldn’t be THAT big of a deal, but in such a conservative culture, well, it was strange. Lauren and our supervisor are just sitting there at my feet laughing at me. Wednesday we went out with our supervisor and the 2 other girls on our team who live in a nearby village to do some mentoring and translating with local believers, then the two other girls came and stayed the night with me and Lauren with our family and we had a lot of fun together! That night my little boy was really sick and his body was just radiating heat like you could just feel the fever all over him. He just laid in my lap. If you knew this kid you would know that lethargic is not something that he does so I was real concerned for him. Of course silly cultural rules, mom can’t take care of him. So I take him in my hut and clean him up and try to get him to drink some water. He wouldn’t even drink anything he was so miserable. This little guy has my heart and it breaks for him. He slept with me a lot of the evening. In the morning he was a little more chipper and our supervisor came Thursday morning to pick us up and head to our team meeting! The 5 of us drove about 3 hours to meet with our team leader and his wife for the weekend and it has been a good restful weekend. We’re all recharged up and ready to get back out in the village Monday morning!
It’s been neat getting to be in Africa this time of year because so many things are changing around me right now. When I got here everything was nice and green. The people had just planted their crops, and rain was coming to keep everything looking fresh. Just like when I got here everything was new and fresh for me. I was excited about a new place and everything was fun, and an adventure. Since I’ve been here for a while the rain has stopped, harvesting has started. Crops are looking a little browner as grain is harvested and the plants die off. The newness and excitement has also worn off and my attitude got a little brown and complacent like the way the plants look as the wilt. But I have these big rose colored sunglasses, and when I look around in them everything is a little prettier. I’ve got a choice in the morning of whether or not I’m going to put those rose colored sunglasses on and look around at life through them; I can leave them in the hut in the morning and squint because of the sun and complain about all of the inconveniences of living in the bush, or I can put on my rose colored sunglasses and go out with a fresh attitude, an attitude of joy and of obedience to the Lord. I can smile up at the sun. So are you looking at life through your rose colored sunglasses, or are you squinting at the sun?