Getting Things Done: Presence Required

I left the printshop grumbling…I had come in last week and had been assured that they could do the printing in 30 minutes.  It would be as easy as that.

“30 minutes…ha!” I muttered to myself, “Try 3 hours.”   I was annoyed.  

View looking over our town

I had arrived at the printshop at 11:30.  I had even called ahead to let them know I was coming.  They told me to come, that it would be no problem.  But when I got there, the print shop was busy.  It took 30 minutes to be seen.  “Why didn’t they tell me they were busy?” I asked myself.

Finally, they got started on the job assuring me it would not take very long.   Two and a half hours later, I was still waiting for the job they said would “not take very long.”   That’s when they came out from the back and said to me, “It’s 2pm, we’re done for the day.  We’ll finish the job tomorrow.”  

Grumble, grumble grumble…why couldn’t they have told me to 'come back tomorrow' two hours ago???…why couldn’t they have told me they were busy today???…why did I have to sit around there so long???…grumble, grumble grumble…

Somewhere half way home my grumbles turned into head shaking, and then even a grin.  Why am I surprised???  Shouldn’t I have known it would be like this?

First of all, time is relative on the islands—30 minutes can easily stretch to two hours.  I know that.  

Secondly, everything closes down at 2pm, so should I have been surprised when they told me to come back tomorrow?  Not at all…

“But what about making me wait all that time???”  my mind complained.  

Then I thought about my landlord, sitting patiently as the plumber fixed the shower, or watching as the construction crew put the roof on, or as the electrician redid some wiring.  He was there for every moment of it.  Did he have better things to do?  Surely.  But the reality is work does not get done unless you are present.  

The final product was nice

It’s like your presence is the generator.  There is no power to do the job until you are present—even if the job takes hours.  We have seen this so many times, we should not be surprised by it.  It’s why you can’t tell a restaurant to start preparing the meal before you arrive.  They will only start the fires when they see you.  It’s why you can’t expect house repairs to be done in your absence unless you have a landlord willing to sit and watch them.  And it is why the new calendars will not get printed unless you are sitting quietly waiting.  This is the island way of things.  Why am I grumbling about it now?

The next morning I was not surprised when the remaining job (punching a hole in the calendars and printing the bill) did not start being done until my arrival.  Even though I had been assured the job would be finished when I arrived the next morning.  (I even went late and called ahead to give them more time and opportunity to get the job done—alas!)  

So I began to sit and watch again.  But that’s when my American culture got the better of me.  Yes, I knew this would happen.  Yes, I knew what to expect, but I wanted to get back home to join a meeting and all that they needed to do was punch holes in the calendars. I could see the guy every once in awhile pausing from his other work to punch a few holes in just a few more of our calendars with a manual hole punch—the same punch I have at home.  I could do that and even do a better job of it!   I couldn’t take it anymore.

“I’ll just take the calendars now and punch the holes myself,”  I said, trying not to look too exasperated.  “Is the bill ready?”  

“Oh yes, the bill.”  I rolled my eyes and grinned as the printer sprang into action to make my bill.  10 minutes later I was leaving, bill paid. The stack of calendars still needed holes punched in them, but I was free. Maybe next year, I will need to remember to clear my schedule for a couple days for the printing of the calendars…

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We were able to get our annual island visas renewed without any problems (something we don’t take for granted as colleagues on other islands have had difficulties). The planning of the island worker gathering is coming together. We are thankful for the team of people working with us on that. Our short-termer continues to do well and as she has a different background from us, she has had unique opportunities to share with islanders. Tom has several men now interested in studying with him.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for Tom that he would discern how to proceed with these men and generally how to encourage island men to greater growth and lasting maturity. One of our island sisters that we had you pray for last week was in the hospital for two nights this past week. She is back home, but pray for healing for her and for clarity about her diagnosis. There is a religious holiday this week and elections for town mayors, which will make for a strange week with schools closed for three days. Pray that the unusual schedule would lead to unique opportunities for our team and local brothers and sisters to have good conversations with islanders. One island sister sent a message encouraging everyone to pray that God would open hearts/minds across the islands. Let us join her in prayer.