Panta Ethne: Daily Life

Time here seems to fly by so quickly. The days are so full that by evening you're just sure that 3 days have gone by and not one. How could so many events fit into 16 hours?!

Pastor Paul and Becky continually pour out to those around them. Other than the necessities to stay alive, I don't think they do a single thing for themselves! I'm humbled, because I know my life revolves around ME. Oh to be more selfless!

Just thought I'd add a little excerpt from a few emails I sent earlier this week. Maybe it will give you a better picture of my surroundings and life here.

I went for a nice walk this morning. It's a cool, foggy, misty morning. Even amidst the heavy clouds covering everything cannot hide the beauty of the tropic mountain. It's all so green after the fierce thunderstorm we received yesterday late afternoon. The birds and chickens are awake and singing their various tunes. Beth you would just love all the many birds here--there's the long-legged lanky ones and tiny, puffy yellow chested ones, doves, little robin red breast, hummingbirds, and hundred others I don't know the name of. (How fun it would be to have a bird book!) I opened my window this morning to such a delightful view of densely green plants weighed down and dripping with morning dew and fog veiling the forest behind--immediately I thought how much I am going to hate waking up to a swimming pool and apartments buildings in a few short weeks.

The Abel home is a never-ending center of activities. From kids losing and needing a new ping-pong ball to families dropping in for counsel--life never ceases to be exciting. Yesterday our lunch went from 3 to 16 people in just a few minutes. Throw a little extra rice and pasta on the table and, wah lah! ;-) Becky is absolutely amazing. I admire her in every way. She is a far less selfless person than I ever dream of being!

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I've become ever more grateful for the heritage the Lord blessed me with. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has a story. And their stories are so full of tragedy, evil, and pain. These first generation Christians are fighting such a battle to live a life they have never seen modeled. What a gift we were given. Thank the Lord for it!

I do love the scenery and, so far, the weather. Though, they tell me this is an unusually cool summer. I'm so grateful! ;-) The people seem warm and kind, it would help if I were able to converse with them. The food is good. The one complaint I have--way too much sugar and not enough salt! (I think I love salty food too much.)

So glad they're avid coffee drinkers here! Well, at least they enjoy some coffee with their milk and sugar. They like to boast that their coffee is so much better than American (which is apparently too weak). . . but I try to explain to them that we don't use 2/3 milk 1/6 sugar with 1/6 coffee! In the end, our black coffee is probably stronger than their doctored cup. ;-) I'm trying to continue with just black. Whew, but when I get back I'll have to be ordering shots of espresso until I can wean myself back down to "weak American coffee". Ahh. How I love coffee! I really do thank God for coffee. ;-)

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I'm organizing Becky's Sunday school materials, hundreds of papers and books! Some dating back to the 1950s! Haha. It's a big job but coming together slowly. I'm finding many materials I would like to somehow get a copy of.

This afternoon we went to town. OH!!! Yes, haha. We DID go to town. I nearly forgot HOW! Pastor needed to get his truck worked on, so he had me drive it and he followed in the bus. Not a big deal..... except that it was a standard and he threw me in the seat without so much as a 'standard for dummies' refresher course! Haha. Luckily, I'd just driven a standard about 4 months ago and it came back to me quickly. (Ok, so I killed it twice... but that's all!) Anyway, I can't help feeling proud of myself. ;-)

We went grocery shopping and ran a few errands in town. You wouldn't believe what 'running' to the bank entails. WOW. So, first you walk through a guarded, revolving door with a metal detector. Then, you stop at the first desk and they assign you a number and where to go (specific to whatever it is you're needing.) Then, you take a seat (among about about 40 chairs!) There were about 20 numbers ahead of us and we waited about 45 min I guess. . . and that was a GOOD day apparently! Can you imagine waiting that long every time you needed to make a deposit?! The banks also have electronic machines, like an ATM, where you can withdraw AND deposit $-- like 15 machines! Also, you're only allowed 20 checks at a time... so you order them right at that little machine there, it prints them right there, you tear them apart, put a cover paper on top, then staple them. The banks look nothing like American banks--the workers are wearing jeans and things are not very 'private'. Anyway, that was a little adventure I thought you would enjoy hearing about.

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A few answers to prayer:

1) The dryer is fixed! This is a huge blessing because it's never without rain long enough for clothes to dry on the line.

2) Joanna (Abel's daughter) is going to be able to rent the building adjacent to her school to use as a nursery. This is a prayer she's had for years.

3) "The boys" (Nathan and Jonathan) have been waiting for over 6 months for their visa. It appears some headway has been made and they should have their visas in the next couple weeks. Pray for a miracle! We would be so blessed to have them here in time for the teen Carnival Camp starting 2/12 (I believe). Keep ticket prices in your prayers too.

Well, that's about all the time I have to pull together an update. (And probably all you have time to read!) I'll try to get on later and post a few more prayer requests. I'm sorry this post was so random. I can never seem to find the time to get write a full update. Thank you for your patience.