Sights and Sounds of the Island

 When you first arrive in a new place, everything feels different.  The sights, the smells, the sounds—your senses are bombarded with new.  But over time, new becomes old and different becomes routine.  It can be difficult to remember the things that once affected you so vividly, but it is not impossible.  Sometimes it just takes some time.  If we sit and we look and we really observe, those things can come back to us.  Or sometimes it takes someone else seeing and pointing out to us the things that we have stopped seeing.

Our son on the roof

Our youngest son had a homeschool assignment this week.  He was meant to sit and observe his surroundings, to take notes and then write a short essay.  The result is below.  We think it is a good reminder of the atmosphere of our island home and we wanted to share it with you:

The humming of a generator comes to me one evening, as the calm wind blows and birds are chirping.  In the sky, the sun is blazing, the clouds are moving, the birds are flying and crows are cawing.  

Above the street where I am sitting, junk is lying around, leaves are swaying back and forth and curtains are fluttering in the wind.  Rebar wire sticks out and wires hang from here to there.  A spider is skittering.  Pebbles are everywhere.  A door is opening.  

Out of nowhere the call to prayer bellows.  Flies tickle my skin.  My clothes are heating up.  Shadows drift and my notebook papers flip.  

Down on the road, people walk, engines rev, pots clang, cars honk and people shout.  Then I get up and leave the roof.

View from our roof

Many times when we travel to the US people ask if it’s good to be home.  Really we have two homes.  We love and appreciate both our homes.  (We dislike things about both of them too.)  The funny thing about home—you even learn to appreciate the not so pretty parts.  We think he captured the mix of noises, heat, beauty and movement we so associate and love about our island life.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Rice has arrived!  Praise the Lord, but see more about it below.  We had our first week of home school (as seen above) and it went well!  We are thankful for a week that had us feeling more settled and enjoying the reconnection with friends and routines.  The medical team leader now has electricity in her home (after over a month of living there without)! Pray that remaining issues be resolved soon.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Rice has arrived, but difficulties continue.  The government has opened the doors to sell unsubsidized rice from other countries.  This means there is now enough rice, but many don’t have the money to buy it, and it will probably take some time for prices to stabilize.  In the meantime, many poor people continue to suffer.  The politics of the islands continues to simmer with rage under the surface resulting in a recent attack on the president.  He is recovering.  The attacker was killed in prison.  Pray for peaceful avenues for change on the islands. Keep praying for the new family adjusting to island life.  They are only a few weeks in and the first months can be the hardest!  Pray for an island sister undergoing threats from her father on the little island.  She is standing firm, and her neighbors have even come to her defense!  It is still unclear what her father will do— pray that she would remain encouraged and that he would soften. Pray that our teammate can get authorization from the hospital to continue her OT work there.