The Village Part Two
I awoke with the first rays of light outside my window. Looked around, no bugs in sight! I jumped up, got dressed in my nice church dress, went outside and brushed my teeth, and came back in and braided my hair with my sticky hands. I knew I needed to put on sunscreen and insect repellent, so I did the best I could with the humidity and sweat that was already starting to present itself. Once I was ready, I grabbed my bible and a wicker chair and started to prepare for my sermon. How nervous I was! I had prepared on the flight over, for about 6 hours, and I still felt like I was not ready. I continued to pour myself over my studies until Sammy emerged from his guest house about an hour later. Obviously surprised that I was up early, he informed me that church didn’t start until “sometime after 10:30”. Sigh, I kept forgetting, TIA!
While I waited to go to church, I had a couple cups of tea and a stack of bread and butter while studying the Word. Soon after breakfast, Sammy and Betty decide to show their family how to plant Kale. With flop-flops on and plants in hand, they head to the small garden are and start digging a small trench for the plans to be placed. With each plant came great care, digging a hole, sprinkling goat droppings, inserting the plant and scooping the dirt around the base. Once the row was done, a bucket of water was emptied into the trench where it flowed up the entire row, providing water to the new food source. They made another row of plants, and also planted Kale in an extra grain bag that they had filled with dirt. As the morning went on, I wondered about church. Had they forgotten? It was after 10:15 and I didn’t want to be late. It wasn’t long before Sammy and Betty had washed their feet and changed into spotless dress clothes. It was hard to believe not 10 minutes ago they were playing in the dirt, and the next thing I knew Betty was in a beautiful green dress and Sammy in a smart (nice) vest suit. Betty had even sprayed some perfume, which surprised me as I thought it would surely attract the bugs in the entire village. I grabbed my bible and notes, and took off across the land with Sammy to church. Butterflies were having a picnic in my stomach as I knew it would soon be my turn to speak to a tiny village church packed with people, some that may have never seen a white woman – let alone one that would preach!
I sat in the front row, nervously clutching my bible in my lap. We were there early, as Sammy’s brother helped string curtains across the front of the church. People started to trickle in, and we started singing loudly to announce church was about to begin. Of course, there was a lot of singing, dancing, and talking before it was my turn. At one point I seriously thought that I might lose my breakfast… in the heat, I had already sucked down my bottle of water as I waiting anxiously to be called onto the stage. As I stood there, Sammy gave me the head nod and I was off…
It was over before I knew it. Sammy helped me close it up with a great meaning – my message was on forgiveness and he asked that if there was anyone that needed to forgive someone or someone that needed forgiveness to raise their hands up. There were so many. So many people that needed to hear that message. I was so moved that God had chosen to use ME! We finished up, participated in a fundraiser for the Women’s Fellowship, and headed home. Once home, we had to eat again, and were then off. Sammy had wanted to leave at least an hour earlier, so he was ready to go, with the classic veins showing in his forehead when he gets frustrated. Loaded into the little sturdy car, we set off home. However, one thing I have learned is that “leaving for home” doesn’t really mean that. It can mean many things… like starting in the direction home, but stopping to visit another family member, driving others to their destination, or even stopping to speak to friends on the side of the highway. It is not like here, where we get in the car and we get out where we intended as a final destination. After visiting his sister, we were finally really on our way. Taking a new (faster) route home, we headed over the bumps of the rough road through the village. We came to a large flooded area of road – in fact, I would have thought twice before taking the truck across it – but the little car pushed right on through. About 10 minutes on the other side, and 1 hour of driving, the car died, and would not even turn over.
Now, if this would happen at home, my dad would A: CUSS, B: Talk to himself about what a stupid car we have. C: Tell mom to call AAA, and D: Finally get out of the car and pop the hood, knowing he didn’t know how to fix anything. Now remember TIA – Sammy calmly parked the car, unsnapped his seatbelt and stepped out of the car (without even slamming the door!). He popped the hood, found the battery disconnected, connected it, calmly got back into the car and we were on our way again. No bad words, no yelling, nothing. IMPRESSIVE! To the dismay of the crowd of children outside of my window staring at the weird looking white person, we drove off and soon hit pavement. However, about 20 minutes on pavement, we came across a diversion on another street. As Sammy explained, this took us even longer to get around and back to the main road. I felt adventurous, in the backseat of the beast of a small car, like I could take on the world. I watched the landscape change from hot and dry to humid and green – the hills covered in a carpet of green. The green was all tea, and the sides of the hills were littered with women and men bending over harvesting the tea leaves that were ready. Banana trees, sugar cane, and other unknown plants were growing tall and made the drive feel like a lush foody forest. About halfway home, I turned on Missy Higgins and fell fast asleep. When I woke up we were stuck in a jam (not surprised) and about two hours from home. When we arrived home it was like a palace. I put everything away, took a shower, and had dinner. When I retired to bed, I fell fast asleep.
While I waited to go to church, I had a couple cups of tea and a stack of bread and butter while studying the Word. Soon after breakfast, Sammy and Betty decide to show their family how to plant Kale. With flop-flops on and plants in hand, they head to the small garden are and start digging a small trench for the plans to be placed. With each plant came great care, digging a hole, sprinkling goat droppings, inserting the plant and scooping the dirt around the base. Once the row was done, a bucket of water was emptied into the trench where it flowed up the entire row, providing water to the new food source. They made another row of plants, and also planted Kale in an extra grain bag that they had filled with dirt. As the morning went on, I wondered about church. Had they forgotten? It was after 10:15 and I didn’t want to be late. It wasn’t long before Sammy and Betty had washed their feet and changed into spotless dress clothes. It was hard to believe not 10 minutes ago they were playing in the dirt, and the next thing I knew Betty was in a beautiful green dress and Sammy in a smart (nice) vest suit. Betty had even sprayed some perfume, which surprised me as I thought it would surely attract the bugs in the entire village. I grabbed my bible and notes, and took off across the land with Sammy to church. Butterflies were having a picnic in my stomach as I knew it would soon be my turn to speak to a tiny village church packed with people, some that may have never seen a white woman – let alone one that would preach!
I sat in the front row, nervously clutching my bible in my lap. We were there early, as Sammy’s brother helped string curtains across the front of the church. People started to trickle in, and we started singing loudly to announce church was about to begin. Of course, there was a lot of singing, dancing, and talking before it was my turn. At one point I seriously thought that I might lose my breakfast… in the heat, I had already sucked down my bottle of water as I waiting anxiously to be called onto the stage. As I stood there, Sammy gave me the head nod and I was off…
It was over before I knew it. Sammy helped me close it up with a great meaning – my message was on forgiveness and he asked that if there was anyone that needed to forgive someone or someone that needed forgiveness to raise their hands up. There were so many. So many people that needed to hear that message. I was so moved that God had chosen to use ME! We finished up, participated in a fundraiser for the Women’s Fellowship, and headed home. Once home, we had to eat again, and were then off. Sammy had wanted to leave at least an hour earlier, so he was ready to go, with the classic veins showing in his forehead when he gets frustrated. Loaded into the little sturdy car, we set off home. However, one thing I have learned is that “leaving for home” doesn’t really mean that. It can mean many things… like starting in the direction home, but stopping to visit another family member, driving others to their destination, or even stopping to speak to friends on the side of the highway. It is not like here, where we get in the car and we get out where we intended as a final destination. After visiting his sister, we were finally really on our way. Taking a new (faster) route home, we headed over the bumps of the rough road through the village. We came to a large flooded area of road – in fact, I would have thought twice before taking the truck across it – but the little car pushed right on through. About 10 minutes on the other side, and 1 hour of driving, the car died, and would not even turn over.
Now, if this would happen at home, my dad would A: CUSS, B: Talk to himself about what a stupid car we have. C: Tell mom to call AAA, and D: Finally get out of the car and pop the hood, knowing he didn’t know how to fix anything. Now remember TIA – Sammy calmly parked the car, unsnapped his seatbelt and stepped out of the car (without even slamming the door!). He popped the hood, found the battery disconnected, connected it, calmly got back into the car and we were on our way again. No bad words, no yelling, nothing. IMPRESSIVE! To the dismay of the crowd of children outside of my window staring at the weird looking white person, we drove off and soon hit pavement. However, about 20 minutes on pavement, we came across a diversion on another street. As Sammy explained, this took us even longer to get around and back to the main road. I felt adventurous, in the backseat of the beast of a small car, like I could take on the world. I watched the landscape change from hot and dry to humid and green – the hills covered in a carpet of green. The green was all tea, and the sides of the hills were littered with women and men bending over harvesting the tea leaves that were ready. Banana trees, sugar cane, and other unknown plants were growing tall and made the drive feel like a lush foody forest. About halfway home, I turned on Missy Higgins and fell fast asleep. When I woke up we were stuck in a jam (not surprised) and about two hours from home. When we arrived home it was like a palace. I put everything away, took a shower, and had dinner. When I retired to bed, I fell fast asleep.
posted by Nic at 3:31 PM
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