This morning, Hannah woke up with a terrible growling coming from her lungs. She has not been feeling well for over a week, and so I immediately gave her all the medications that were called for. This had an unexpected, but not unwelcome side effect….drowsiness! We had a fantastic time at church, I got to sit through the entire service while Hannah peacefully snoozed. It was great! I was really looking forward to a long, quiet afternoon, while Hannah either slept or played quietly nearby. I even had a book in mind for reading.  Yes, I did have a bit of insanity, I suppose, for me to be able to entertain such thoughts. I am in the mission field after all.

It all started innocently enough. Hannah was playing quietly by my side, while I was trying to decide what to do first, when a little delegation of angels came running down the hill and offered me some freshly picked jungle fruit. (I didn’t say what kind of angels, mind you!) There were 5 of them, and they wanted to know if they could come in and sing “peace like a river” with me. Well, what kind of missionary would say no to that? Not me!  I invited them in and we sang the song several times before they started looking around for something else to do. I was hoping that they would find something to do OUTSIDE my house, when they spied the hammock swing that Jason made for Hannah. Then the fun began. They screamed and yelled and swung and kicked and screamed some more…they don’t seem to know how to talk normally… then they punched and kicked and yelled again! Hannah had retreated to the safety of my lap, and had decided that this was a great opportunity to take a nap. This brought the little hoodlums right up to me to see if they could wake her up. But, I happened to notice that one little girl had a badly infected ear, so I went and got the medicine and I treated each owie that was presented to me. One little boy was not happy with this arrangement and so he took my peroxide squirt bottle and began to spray the other kids in the face. I put a stop to that right away, so then he went and started to try to break my gate! I had enough of that, so I took him firmly by the shoulders and escorted him out of the house. The other children were momentarily stunned, but then they went back to screaming, fighting, and once in a while when my face looking especially threatening, they asked me to sing for them again! I was getting pretty desperate by this time. I talked to them and told them what I thought, but they must have assumed that I enjoy their antics extremely well, and so put on another burst of enthusiasm! By this time, I was praying for someone, anyone, to come and rescue me! But, like God always does, he had a different plan for me.

When Hannah woke up, (I wonder why???) I went into the bedroom to change her diaper. This was extremely entertaining to our guests, who commented on each part of the operation. They were content to stand in the doorway until I got to the powder part. (without powder, she gets a bad rash) Then suddenly, four pairs of hands reached out beseeching me for some powder. I deposited some in each hand, and they all disappeared! Everything was quiet for a moment, and then I heard giggles and struggling sounds. I peeked out of my door, and saw that two of the kids were stacked on the floor with a third one standing on their backs so that she could see into the mirror in order to powder her face professionally. Now that was cute! They took turns doing this little operation until all were perfectly powdered. That gave me an idea, maybe I could take control of the situation at this critical junction when nobody was screaming and they could actually hear me! I dashed into the bedroom and brought out my trusty computer. Suddenly, I was surrounded by four little bodies desperately trying to get the best seat. I brought out a Planet Earth video and told them just where to sit. They were glued to that video the whole time. They commented on all the ice….BIG ICE! All they have ever seen before is ice cubes! They loved the penguins, and the polar bears and all the other critters on there. They kept up a steady commentary on the entire program.

They finished watching the video, and then they all told me thank you and trooped out the door. I felt like it was a great victory for me. Not the screaming and yelling part, but the fact that I was able to end up liking the little waifs! These kids have no upbringing, and so I cannot blame them for not knowing how to behave. Near the end of the video, even the little boy that I had kicked out came back and watched like a little angel. They want and need attention, and they also need to know Jesus. The good news is that if I love them enough to do so, I can tell them!I believe this is the reason Jesus put me in the middle of this village, so that I can reach the little ones for him. And please PRAY hard that God will give me the patience that I need in order to continue liking them! And I hope that you all enjoyed your Sabbath as much as I did!