laughing at us

to all who are praying...thank you so much. our group is doing great out here in wadupe. we are all healthy and strong. everyday is filled with a mixture of the unbearable bush life and the sweet chunks of love that make it all worth it. laughter is the greatest expression. it has become a common theme out here. we laugh at them, they laugh at us, and we all laugh at thomas (our video guy, and the team cut-up). we taught pastor rufus how to say, "what's up" and give a nice chest bump. we also put him in a hammock for the first time...he looked like a little kid grinning and wide eyed. and the kids are loving the frisbee we brought. but, life out here is not all play. we are working hard everyday to build our house, which should be finished by midweek, and we are about to start the hygiene classes and well drilling. whoohoo.

if you throw inexperienced americans into the african bush life is bound to stretch it's boundries and take new shape. when we outreach our own capabilities through the power of the HOLY SPIRIT we find that the process often hurts. stretching always hurts. but, the process is the reward when in the end we find we are stronger and better people.

the other day the team was building our shower. i was away doing some work in yei. it was a simple structure, just a small concrete slab, and a winding halway of teak poles and black plastic sheets to keep out curious eyes. but the process stretched us for sure. the africans are often puzzled by us americans. they couldn't figure why we would want a hallway, and a room for showering. "it is too big," they complained. but i had left specific instructions and wanted the shower to be completed that day, so the team followed the drawing. while they were building, several of the village men watched and laughed at the guys working. not a funny kind of laugh, but a, "you stupid americans, this will never work," kind of laugh. they even tried taking the tools and doing the way they thought it should be. this has happened on several occasions. like, hoeing the ground, slashing the grass, chopping wood, squaring a building, they seem to know how to do it better. it is frustrating...we came to help them, and now they are laughing at us and not letting us do anything...we are capable, we are smart, and having a village laughing at you while you try your best is certainly a blow to your pride. when i returned and heard about the incident, i got so frustrated. why don't they just let us build stuff how we want it. we came here with great drawings and plans but they keep undermining us. after a long walk, i realized that we were begining to lose our sense of purpose. our purpose every day is not to construct a base or drill a well. those jobs are the medium we use to connect with the people. our purpose is them. those men who are laughing at us, those men who hurt our pride when they take the shovel from our hands to show us how to do it better. JESUS says to love even your enemy. i would hardly consider anyone from this village an enemy, even when they are frustrating and annoying. so we must remember our purpose. it is not the job we are doing that matters, but the people...GOD's children. let our jobs connect us with them, but never let our jobs divide us, or become our chief purpose. i told the team, "maybe that is why we are here. to be laughed at. to give them a sense of pride, to lose our sense of pride. to let them be better than us. for once in their life, they get to be better than an 'american.'" and so they laugh...it is a beautiful sound.

thank you all for your support. the well drilling rigs are coming tomorrow, and two wells will be dug in wadupe within the next two weeks. praise GOD, wadupe will never be the same. much Love

GOD is Greater

billy