Sunday, June 22

"When you went out before your people, O God, when you marched through the wasteland, Selah, the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain....You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance."  Psalm 68-7-9

Katherine would say that I've been down in the dumps lately.  That is her favorite idiom lately.  Now that we have enough water in the rain tanks, we're having trouble getting enough sunshine on our solar panels to keep our batteries charged up.  I finding myself holed up day after day, checking math problems, monitoring science experiments, and listening to Katherine read to me, which I love!  But those things don't leave much time or energy to pour into my neighbors or to learn their language.  So, I try to be faithful with the small things.  Encouragement came today in the form of this... 

A big red snapper!  When I got up this morning, Aaron said that one of my friends had just delivered this beauty to my family.  Wow, maybe I'm not forgotten, even though I can't be out spending time with my friends and neighbors all day every day.

So, when I walked down to share lelenga this morning after church, the village chairman caught me and asked if we had donated money to the soccer team which was leaving for a tournament in Yandina that day.  I panicked and wondered if we had done the right thing, but I told him that, yes, we had donated money toward the cost of petrol.  He just grinned and said that everybody in the village was pleased with us and would we make sure that we let him know next time so that he could keep a record of contributions?  Nothing is a secret for long around here!  Maybe we are making a difference, even though the translation project is only creeping forward.

And then, when I went to deliver some food and check on a friend who lost her son a few weeks ago, more encouraging words.  She noticed (and was delighted!) that we bought local food and enjoyed eating it.  I had taken some papaya coffee cake to the "catechist of the month" earlier in the day, and she ended up with a piece (no secrets, remember?).  She loved the food, loved that we shared, loved that we cook with a combination of cultures, loved that my kids play with the other kids in the village, loved that I walked to different places in the village to visit with friends each day.  She just flowed with the encouraging words that the Lord knew I needed to hear.

And my refilling day all started with a big, red fish!