LivinginHisgrip: 24

Now I know based on the title of the blog most of you immediately thought Jack Bower and while this post will not be quite that exciting I do hope you enjoy it J Many of you have asked what does a normal day look like so I thought I would simply reflect on the past 24 hours.

This morning I got word that our language teacher is sick and would not be able to meet with us. We have already missed one class this week so I was discouraged and disappointed to be behind yet another lesson. I quickly decided to get over myself and do some studying on my own. This consisted of putting in my headphones and listening to the recorded lessons I had from last week along with working on my stack of flash cards. Truth be told the refresher before we move on to more vocab was much needed.

After I studied as much as I could handle I decided to take a break and make some lunch. Meat here is not something that comes easily so the other day I bought some tuna…not something I would eat regularly in the states, but this girl was craving the protein. As I opened the can and noticed the orangish color I quickly realized that it was spicy tuna. Of course you get spicy tuna here, why wouldn’t it be spicy? On to more important things…I’ve slowly been getting settled in my apartment, key word being slowly. One thing that has proven to be extremely difficult was finding a shower curtain rod. Most people simply do not use shower curtains here. I’ve looked all over in stores and decided to make one myself. I found a slender piece of wood that would work for my rod, used my small saw on my utility knife to cut it down to size and hung my shower curtain. Tommy Peterson you would be so proud!!!

Around 3pm I was finally ready to finally head out for the day to meet some friends across town. The beauty of this work and this country is everything happens in the evening. I walked down to the road, through the gulley to get a rickshaw. After being shot down four times I finally found one who was willing to drive me across town. The ride there was quite interesting as I attempted to give the driver directions to a place I have never been in a language that I still do not understand. I counted it quite the accomplishment when I arrived at my friends flat without too much trouble. From there we set out to make some contacts and practice some language.

The five of us headed to an area near their apartment where former J-girls had made several contacts. We had the chance to talk to many people and got invited into numerous homes. Pretty sure I had at least 5 cups of chai as these people know how to do hospitality and they do it well. We sat with one lady who was a believer, as we talked with her she commented on how everything that she had was from Jesus. She had so little of material value, yet she was abundantly grateful for all that she had been given. Time flew by as we were visiting in this neighborhood and before we knew it we had been there four hours.

We decided to grab dinner and fortunately for me these friends just happen to live near Chili’s meaning I could enjoy free refills on my coke (not normal here) and real honey mustard! The four of us talked over dinner about the endless possibilities to share Truth in this city and as I took my hour-long ride home the Father simply confirmed the reason why I am here.

See no Jack Bower. Nothing glamorous or too terribly exciting. Yet the fact that I can see the Father at work in even the small things makes it worthwhile. If you are still reading at this point that means that A) You’re my mom (love you Joycee) B) You really were looking for something exciting. Sorry if your disappointed but for me these days the exciting part is simply living life with open hands and trusting the Father to guide you even with the not so exciting things.

Check out this song : Open Hands by Matt Papa