Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Hippos, Crocs, and Scorpions?

Well the good news is that I'm still alive, but as you can tell by the title of the blog, I haven't exactly felt the safest I ever have in my life out here. Last week, a man was actually killed by a hippo in the village right next to ours. Thankfully, we have a village guard that fights off hippos if they get too close to where we are staying. There have been a few crocodile sightings in the river from the place where we usually draw water. But I usually try to stay as far away from the river as possible, so I haven't been too worried about them. A couple people on our team have found scorpions in their tent! So every night before bed, I have been doing a thorough 10 minute tent check. Thank the Lord I haven't found any scorpions, but I have found a few decent-sized spiders. Lastly, there are some pretty vicious dogs in all of the villages which tend to make all of my runs pretty non-relaxing. All this to say, I have felt like God is trying to teach me to trust Him in all of the little things. Even things as small as being worried about the animals I might encounter on a day-to-day basis. I have found myself praying more about the little things in life. It's sometimes easy for me to forget that God not only has control over the big issues in our lives, but also over the little, miniscule details that, on occasion, we don't even notice.

I have found that the easiest way to draw a big crowd in the villages is to do some push-ups or pull-ups. Every time I do a set I try to find a secret place to do them, but by the end, I have 10+ kids huddled around watching me. Then once I'm done, they all try and copy what I was doing. At first, it was kind of awkward and annoying, but I've been trying to have a good attitude about it and have been trying to have some fun with it.

I have been working with one other guy on our team, Nicholas, and we have been focusing mainly on one village that is 4 kilometers from ours. We have found three guys that we have really good relationships with, and with those guys we are spending a lot of time with them and just pouring into their lives. We will continue spending time with them in hopes that, by the time we leave, they will be able to start sharing the gospel with other people around the villages.

These past couple weeks, God has really been revealing a lot of pride issues in my life that I didn't even know I had. It's been really humbling. He has been focusing on breaking down the idea that I can be self-sufficient. I have realized that, just like every human, I have a lot of weaknesses and brokeness and that no matter how much I think I've got it all figured out, I actually never do. He has really showed me how much I need Him every single day, even on the days that I don't think I do. My brother gave me a verse a couple weeks ago, and I have been clinging onto it ever since. It is Psalm 66:10-12 which says, "For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance."