At least a few things stay the same here in Jb! I had a really nice discussion over tea today with one of our colleagues here who is so committed to his work. He really knows, deep deep down that God has put him here to do his translation work. And he keeps at it, with such a beautiful attitude. He's an ordained priest in the Anglican church here, and has such a wonderful pastoral sort of heart. I always come away from my conversations with him feeling so encouraged. It's wonderful to know that I am working hand in hand with people like him, doing my small bit to help him in his ministry.
Plus, I was munching on a nice fresh piece of bread with freshly ground peanut butter while we were chatting, which always makes me happy :) Instead of frying up donuts every morning for tea break, Nadia has been selling bread with peanut butter, for which she roasts and grinds the peanuts herself. It is the most amazing peanut butter ever! And she sells a roll with a huge slathering of stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth goodness for about $0.25! That I can afford.
I was going to march over to the new market which has sprung up in the place of the old market after work with Sean today. But he got busy with something else, so we ended up wandering over a little later to the cafe on the corner instead. I was so happy to see that the folks who run the little cafe and one of the waitresses are still the same. And they still had fresh avocado juice for sale, too! Amazing. I know, it sounds gross - but the avocado juice so so creamy and delicious. I've been craving it since I left this place in December!
So at least a few things haven't changed.
Becka, our 12 year old neighbour, also came along with us. It's quite funny going anywhere with her, because the shopkeepers etc. always ask me if Becka is my "baby"! For one, a 12-year old girl would not, in my mind, be classified as a "baby"! And secondly, I don't feel old enough to have a 12 year old daughter of my own... though it is, of course, completely realistic that I could be the mother of a 12 year old... which then makes me feel really old! And of course, by African standards, I should probably have a 15 or 16 year old daughter, plus a whole string of younger ones in tow, by now. So the folks around here can't quite figure out what's wrong with me when I say she's not my "baby"! I think I'll just start calling Becka "my baby" and see how she likes it :D
Another thing that has not changed is our Tuesday night prayer time with my friends. Some friends have come and gone (actually, a lot have come and gone, but tonight one who had left has come back with a different organization!), but it's still just a really good time to get together with some friends and laugh and share together. So refreshing. It's nice that Tuesday nights haven't changed!
One exciting change is that we're going to get a smoke detector put into our generator shed! We sent out some prayer items to folks who pray for our organization. One of the items on the list was the recurring fires that we have in the generator shed, due to, well, various electrical reasons which I don't all understand. But it's really quite a miracle that the whole thing hasn't gone up in flames yet! Today, I got an email from one of our trusty wise advisors who is based in the UK, and he said, "Do you know if there's a smoke detector in the generator shed..."? And lightbulbs started going off all over the compound - I chatted with three others on the compound today about it and all three of us were like, "D'oh! Why didn't we think of that before?!" I think we've all been living in Africa for too long.
So I emailed back right away, and he's arranging to send us some smoke detectors (don't forget the batteries, Andy!), with someone who's coming our way from the UK. Funny how we need people who are living a bit "outside" of our situation to point out such obvious things to us once in a while. I appreciate those kinds of things, and for people pointing out what should be right in front of our eyes, but for whatever reason, we've missed it. And now a change, for the better, is a-coming! At least SOME things change once in a while :)
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