Accumulation

As we came back to the islands this past week, it was to a smaller team. Our teammate, who had lived on the island for years, moved out of her house and left while we were gone (though happily we saw her as she passed through mainland Africa). She gave away or sold most stuff to islanders, but there were some things that made their way to us. A bag with some odds and ends. Our other teammates had received a last minute tub of random stuff too that was very much appreciated by their neighbors. For anyone that has had to move, this will probably sound familiar. In our experience, there is always a final box/bag needed to hold all the random stuff at the end.  The stuff just keeps coming! And you start to realize how much you have accumulated.

We've accumulated a number of puzzles

Meanwhile our new teammates (in their first year on the islands and with kids) just got back from vacation.  It was their first time off islands since arriving, and naturally they came back with lots of stuff that didn’t make it the first time and/or that they have been missing the past 6 months. They are still in that early stage, where you welcome a certain amount of accumulation.

When we first arrived on the islands, we remember that our possessions were limited both by what the airline luggage restrictions allowed us to bring and the limitations of what we could find on the islands. With growing kids and fresh memories of all the things we couldn’t get on the islands, we always left the islands with big shopping lists of things to bring back. There was the always-present food stuffs that we missed, but then always some toys, clothes, electronics, books, kitchen stuff, too.

Younger son likes to accumulate things he finds

As time has gone by, we find our lists are a lot shorter. We still usually get some good coffee, chocolate and peanut butter, but we’ve already accumulated so much on the islands and/or gotten used to life without some things, that we are less often truly disappointed if we don’t have time to buy things when we’re off island now.

We also have had enough reminders of the slow creep of accumulation to fear it. Whether it is a teammate moving out or having to sort through the kids’ stuff as they packed up for boarding school. I find myself wanting to get rid of stuff and questioning why we still have things. Some collections of stuff seem like a headache to keep, the storage and eventually moving of it doesn’t seem worth it.

But maybe we need to first accumulate and feel burdened by the stuff, in order to want to stop the accumulation. Maybe if you’ve never had to move or never been low on storage space, you’d never feel the burden of it. Or if you’ve never had the money to accumulate possessions, then you’ve never been in the position of having more than you need (over-accumulation definitely feels like a rich person’s burden). Whatever your situation, we have been privileged enough to have more than we need to keep. We have felt the burden of possessions and also the freeing feeling of culling those possessions—ideally by giving to people that actually need or want what we have, but by whatever means, getting rid of stuff.  These days I smile at the thought of newly freed up storage space, uncluttered corners, empty boxes! Maybe it's time to ‘de-cummulate’ again!

Son hasn't accumulated much in his dorm room yet

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The island brother with the hurt back got his passport renewed and made it safely to mainland Africa and had an MRI! He’s awaiting the results. We made it back to Clove Island, despite some bad weather and canceled flights. We had a nice few days on the big island and had a chance to connect with our colleagues there. Our daughter has settled right back into school.  Megan’s back continues to heal and she has decreasing amounts of pain!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our son’s first week at boarding school was a bit rough. Pray that he could stay positive even when things don’t quite go as he hopes and that he would make some good friends and find activities that bring him joy.  Continue to pray for the brother with the hurt back.  He may need surgery and it is unclear if his family or village will help him.  Pray for the medical team who are waiting to hear from people.  They need clearance from the hospital for our medical team members to start their observational internships.  We also need to hear from a landlord in France that they would agree to rent out their house.  Pray that we could be generous with our things, de-cummulate, and bless others. We just learned that a young island sister will be traveling abroad for university studies— pray that she would have safe travels and find fellowship with others in her new home and continue to grow in her faith.