It has now been a monh since we left the states to come here to Indonesia and I'd have to say this has been a pretty tough month for us in many ways. We are still adjusting to life here in Papua and feel so far away from being settled. We know it takes time, but we are realizing that it will be a long time before this place feels like home.
One thing that I think will help us in the adjustment is getting out of our house. Other than getting groceries we hadn't really gotten out at all until this weekend. On Friday, we went to a neighboring town where there are some decent stores to get supplies and things and another couple watched our kids for us. It was nice to get away for the day and get a lot of the basic things we've needed here at the house. Then that night, we got over to the international school to watch a volleyball game. Since the town we are in has a very large expat community, these Friday night games are a big social event. One of the high school classes cooks food, usually something western (sometimes they even have hotdogs brought all the way from the states!) to raise money for their class events and everyone turns out to see the games and catch up! It was our first time to go and we had a really good time. There has been so much to do at our house to get it set up that we really have become hermits. You know us, we love to socialize and so we were starting to feel the effects of a lack of interaction with other human beings!
Our house helper worked her last day last week on Thursday. That has been hard but good too. It was looking like perhaps she wasn't a good fit for us and I was feeling like perhaps we should be looking for someone else. that's a tough decision to make and I was having a hard time making it when she showed up on Friday morning and told us she got a call from her family on another island and she needed to return home. God went before us in that and worked it out so I didn't have to let her go! So now I am looking once again for someone who can help me here at the house so that I can focus on the ministry with my family and the guest house. I will interview another gal on Monday so I'd appreciate your prayers for discernment in that.
Some things I have begun to realize that I took advantage of at home are starting to really show!
· I made baby food for Jack cause it sounded good and was kind of fun to say I did it. Now, it's my only option. The baby cereal here comes with all kinds of interesting things in it like sugar, honey, coconut oil, and spices, you and I wouldn't even eat. And there is no jarred baby food to speak of so every couple of days, my kitchen smells like veggies central.
· Electricity at home is so dependable. It's rare when it goes out and usually for a really good reason like a tree falling on a line or ice storms. Here it's a daily part of life and usually for a reason like, well, there's not enough for everyone, so we all get to have periods of the day without it!
· Our phone companies at home are amazing! While we were at my mom's house, we had a problem with a phone line. That afternoon, a guy came over and fixed the problem. Even gave us his cell number should something else go wrong. Here, well, there was a big land slide this past spring and the bridges all got demolished so with them, somehow, the phone lines went down too! So amazingly enough, although the guesthouse next door has a working phone, ours is completely gone. No nothin. We are on the same property and are literally feet away but our phone line got knocked out at theirs didn't. It's no use to report it to the phone company, it'll be months before the bridges are up and thus, our phone line!
· Tap water. you know many of us are pretty picky about our tap water. If it has any sort of taste to it, well, yuck, can't drink it. It's clean mind you but it has a bit of a weird taste and we throw it out with the bath water. Oh, what I'd give for tap water that is clean. It could taste like the Mississippi for all I care. I can't even rinse my dishes in it here. I have to add bleach to the water and wash everything in that! No, the taste isn't the issue, typhoid is!
· Have you ever noticed that when you go to the store, say Walmart or Target or Dillons that everything is so clean? You don't usually say at the end of a trip to the store, "well, I'd better go shower – and use antibacterial soap". Here before you get two feet out the door, the antibacterial hand wipes come out and you attempt to wipe the grime off your hands before you touch anything else. Each carton of milk (ours comes in little cardboard boxes that sit on the shelf till you open them) has to be washed before you use it. Everything that gets stored in the fridge gets a good wiping down when you get home and yes, we take a shower to wipe off all the grime. Maybe that's why we do as much shopping for the month in one trip so we don't have to take our weekly, "I went to the store" shower!
Well those are just a few things that we are realizing we took for granted at home and let me just say it for those of you who are thinking it! YES, we know we are in major culture shock! No use denying it. It's like a thick soup around us right now. The thing is, time is the only thing that helps it go away. Well, no I'm wrong there. The Lord enables us each day to handle all the little shocks that come our way. Some days it's harder than others. Some days, getting up in the morning is hard and some days I hop out of bed eager to face the day. We know for sure that Satan doesn't want us here and he knows the areas where we are easily discouraged. Not a day goes by for each of us right now that we aren't faced with the thought of going home. Thankfully our God is bigger, stronger and more reliable than Satan, us or our weaknesses. He is our strength when we are weak, He is the treasure that we seek, He is our All in All!
In His Hands,
Bethany
No comments:
Post a Comment