November 28, 2009
The weather has cooled down, and the excitement has heated up. High adventure had taken a break for awhile, and we have been enjoying a somewhat predictable routine of homeschool, chores and outreach. We haven’t made any visits to our onsite Doctor, since Ben received stitches shortly after we arrived.
Last Thursday, Mike and I sat down with Dr. Anibal and his wife, (and our Mission nurse) Nani, to go over the last minute details of keeping the Mission running smoothly while they are gone. ‘Where should we go if we need a doctor?” I joked. That night, I wasn’t laughing anymore, when Becka climbed in to my bed with an ear-ache. The hot days had called for several days of cooling off in the sea, and Becka’s ear was complaining. After some prayer, ibuprofen and a little bit of coconut oil in her ear (by the doctor and local people’s earlier advice), Becka drifted off to sleep.
In the middle of our school morning, I noticed the doctor walking in to the clinic, just before Becka told me her ear hurt again. Quickly, we found Dr. Anibal, and he had a quick look at her ear. Sure enough, an ear infection was starting. Fortunately, he was still there to help her, and he gave us enough drops to treat all the kids, should they have any trouble.
As the Dr.’s car pulled away, early that afternoon, I felt my security blanket leave with them. Not only did they offer us medical care, but they have become friends, and have been the ones we go to with many of our questions or concerns. We knew we would miss their presence here, while they are on furlough. I knew, however, that we were still safe in the hands of God.
Jessi was delighted to find out that her first Fijian horse was on the way last week. The Dream Machine Foundation, (the ministry that we first connected to last September), had purchased a horse some time ago, and had it in the care of a Fijian man. We were granted permission to bring ‘Dreamer’ home, and keep him on the Mission property. What a surprise for Jessi to be in possession of a 6 year old Bay Stallion. All of her years of horse training hadn’t prepared her for a stallion, but being the horse enthusiast, she welcomed the challenge.
In some regards, Dreamer has a great personality. Jessi has been having a blast, riding him on the dirt roads around our property. He is well trained, and obedient, as well as playful. He reminds Jessi of her horse, Sonny, who is staying with friends of ours in Colorado. He nickers at Jessi’s approach, and enjoys a good water fight in the creek. Unfortunately, he is quite distractible when mares come around, and his focus goes out the window! In America, stallinons are kept away from other horses, for the most part. Jessi will need to figure this new horse behavior, as well as caring for an injured foal that was brought to her attention today. The colt was injured by a rope quite badly, and she is hoping to be able to nurse it back to health. No boring days around here!
(To all of you horse loving friends, Jessi sent pics to our vet in the states of the injury. He told her what to do, and her horsey friends from the states are sending supplies to help. Last night, as we were cleaning up after dinner, a woman and 6 children came walking up to the kitchen in the dark. Shyly, the woman asked if she could please see Jessi. It turns out, she is the owner of the mare and colt. She thanked Jessi for caring for the horse, and offered her 2 bags of fresh papaya, as a way to show her gratitude. Her words, “I don’t have much to offer, but this is my way to show thanks for your caring for our horse.” Her gratitude was thanks enough! Please pray for a full recovery for this sweet little horse. What a simple way to show love to this familyJ)
Harmless the dog is doing well, in case any of you were wondering. In case you think that is a strange name for a dog, we just met a stranger one. Pastor Mika of the local church here has a faithful dog, who likes to try to follow him everywhere he goes, from the Mission to the church, to baptisms in the sea. His name? UGLY. Yep, that’s right. Here, Ugly. No, Ugly! Good boy, Ugly. What ever happened to Rover?
Speaking of ugly, I saw an incredibly ugly animal tied up and screaming last week. We live right near the dock where the ferry and the bus drop off passengers. Very few Fijians own cars, so these are the main modes of transportation. Which means when people have belongings that need to get from point A to point B, the belongings accompany the owner on the bus and the ferry. I was on my way to the dock, to see someone, when I heard the most wretched screaming. It sounded as if 4 or 5 children were being brutally beaten. As my eyes scanned the scene for the sourse of noise, I was relieved to see that the screamer was actually one very desperate pig that was tied up like a burrito in saran wrap. The only thing free was his snout, and from that one point came some very unhappy sounds. It’s owner was taking the pig on a journey, apparently. I pity the people that were traveling on the very confined boat and bus with the singing swine.
One unusual experience that I have neglected to mention was my first second hand clothes shopping episode here in Fiji. Somehow, I ended up here with no shorts. I knew that the custom here is for women to wear skirts, and that Fijians are very modest. So I brought mostly skirts, and a few pairs of Capri pants. It turns out that when we are at the Mission, or at Rainbow Reef, long shorts come in very handy. So I was browsing in a ‘nearly new’ store on a nearby island, and found a pair of shorts that looked like they would work. I asked one of the employees if they had a dressing room. She said yes, and promptly led me thru a back door in the store, which was just the front room of someone’s house.
I noticed that the dressing room was actually someone’s bedroom. This was a bit awkward, but I didn’t think it was too strange. The strange part was when the woman led me in to the room, locked the door behind us, and sat down on the bed. I quickly discovered that she was going to stay with me while I tried on those shorts. Well, what’s a girl to do? Surveying my options, I decided to go ahead and try them on, while making small talk with the clerk, who acted like this was not out of the ordinary at all. She commented that they fit me well, as we politely talked about Fiji and the weather. I agreed with her and went on to buy the shorts. None of my girls decided to ask to use the dressing room that day. I wonder why!
Another unusual custom of the Fijian stores is to write the price of the items for sale in Sharpie, right on the item itself. Whoever comes to eat lunch at our house will know that I paid $1.65 each for those lovely plastic neon green platesJ Conversation can now revolve around whether I got a fair price on my Tupperware or notJ Speaking of Tupperware, I was delighted to find some corn meal that I had brought over with us on the container. Last night we had a traditional American meal of chili and cornbread. It tasted just like home. We invited some Fijian friends to join us, and they insisted that they liked it. Although, one of our guests, Siwa, admitted that when he first ate pasta that the Americans had brought, he had a hard time keeping it down. That reminded me of the fact that about a month ago, we had a family over for a last minute meal of spaghetti. We expected the Fijian children to love it, but they all forced themselves to eat a bit, and then gave the rest to the adults. Our friend, Anna, told us that when they went home, a few of the children threw up!
I would say it shouldn’t surprise me. Introducing our children to the favorites of the Fijian people has been quite challenging. New textures and flavors are hard to acquire an appetite for. No one has thrown up yet, fortunately. (Andrew, tell your Mom that Nate says her zucchini sounds welcoming at this pointJ) Our kids usually make an effort to try the new things. I was tremendously proud of Mary Sue (Thompson) this past week. She went with her Dad to visit a family that lives farther out ‘in the bush’ than we do. The people here always welcome you with whatever food they have available. There are 2 foods which Mary Sue despises. Papaya and banana. These are the two foods which were offered her by her hostess. After choking down a whole banana, she was handed an entire half of a papaya with a spoon. At home, she won’t even eat one bite of papaya or banana. To honor this family, Mary Sue chose to force feed herself the whole half of papaya, with as much of a smile as she could muster. Three cheers for Mary Sue!
Another three cheers for of our sweet friends and family who have sent care packages. You would have thought my family had died and went to heaven when they ate spaghetti with American spaghetti sauce. We are so thankful that customs isn’t confiscating those lovingly packed care packages. We really appreciate the love behind the gifts as much as the treats!!
Well, today is Thanksgiving. As I write this, Mike is doing his second act as a substitute doctor, since the Dr. is gone. Nathan has an infected toe from an ingrown toenail, so Mike is trying to get that one the mend as I write. The much more intense bit of adventure happened just a few days ago. I was in the kitchen, when Saula (our Fijian student) came in and told me that Justin was hurt. I didn’t hear any crying, so I calmly made my way out to where Justin was waiting. He had his hand covering his chin, so I couldn’t see what was wrong. Saula filled me in on the story. He and Justin had been biking down a rocky hill with ruts, and Justin crashed chin first. Saula had cleaned him up already, so I didn’t see any blood. However, when Justin moved his hand, I saw 2 large cuts which I know immediately would require stitches. Hmmm. “Let’s go see Dad,” I told Justin, and gave him a piggy back over to Mike, who was working on putting poles up for our house.
Mike has been coined Dr. Daddy at our house, because he is very good at doctoring all of the kids owees—including super glueing many a wounds shut, at the recommendation of his ER friend. These cuts, however, needed serious care. We called (meaning yelled across the property, not on the phoneJ) to Siwa, our friend, and the Dr.’s assistant, to come over to the clinic with us. He agreed that Justin needed stitches. Siwa quickly got everything sterile together, and set up the room. Mike was ready to perform his first stitching, after observing doctors do this thousands of times at his old job in medical sales. Justin laid quietly on the table, as Siwa planted a huge Fijian kiss on his cheek. I do believe Siwa is Justin’s best friend here. A grown man, Siwa has a huge heart, and is commonly seen carrying Justin around on his shoulders, or playing some kind of game with him. You could see Siwa’s concern for Justin as he waited to get stitched.
As we began, Justin’s lip was quivering, and Mike’s hand was shaking. I offered up a prayer for peace for Justin, and calm for Mike. It was incredible. After a few minutes, Justin was fast asleep, and Mike was working steadily away. 6 stitches on 1 cut, and some super glue on the other, and Justin was good to go. When he woke up, he asked how many stitches he had received. He was delighted to find out he had gotten 6, because he is 6 years old, and he was going to receive 6 pieces of candy. Please pray for no infection, as he had difficulty keeping the spot clean. The bandaids open up under his lip, and his food likes to descend in to the injured spot. We have discovered Bandaid Tough Waterproof Toughstrips may be tough enough to keep Justin clean.
Well, another day has come. We enjoyed an almost American style Thanksgiving Feast. Roasted chicken instead of turkey, and most of the trimmings were available. We had to pass on cranberry sauce, which sells for $36 a can here, and the whipped cream, which goes for $15 a can. The ladies who help us in the kitchen got a kick out of seeing us prepare the ‘American Lovo Feast’. Most of the foods they had never tasted before, and they especially liked watching me make popcorn for snack in our air popper.
We were having a pleasant dinner with the Thompsons, all gathered around 3 tables which we stuck together. We have a tradition of taking turns answering Thanksgiving related questions. Jessi had just been sharing that the characteristic of God that she most appreciates this year is the fact that he had sent us to Fiji, knowing what an incredible adventure it would be for us. Just as she finished sharing, Charlotte informed us that there was a large spider under the table right by Jessi. Jessi pushed out of her seat, and Sadie tried to come to her rescue. Her attempt to kill the spider was foiled and screams followed all around, as the spider disappeared between the slats of the table. Tough guy Justin tried unsuccessfully to kill it with a butter knife. We all laughed, as we realized we could not to on with dinner til the spider was taken care of. Somehow, it dropped to the ground and Margaret forcefully used her flip flop to end its short but exciting life. Margaret has proven to be quite the brave little girl, and has surprised me with her courage in the gross animal department! Our constant interaction with lizards, frogs and spiders has toughened us all up, I think!
With that spider episode over, we resumed dinner and enjoyed sharing Thanksgiving memories, and stories. The weather was warm and misty. Quite different from the wintery storms we had grown accustomed to. Trying to explain the holiday to the Fijians proved interesting. One gal kept calling it our ‘Prizegiving Day’. She wanted to see if she should bring gifts for the childrenJ Thankfully, all the children were content to make Indian feathers and pilgrim hats, as well as thankful cards for each other. Thanksgiving remains one of my favorite holidays, as we can turn our focus to all the good around us, and how much our heavenly Father has blessed us.
Our house building process has come to a halt, because we are waiting on supplies to be delivered. We have heard this is one of the biggest challenges in building. We have some hard working, reliable men working for us, but with no supplies left, we wait. This has been a great character building process for us. Patience is required in excess, and getting frustrated is useless. So we just make the most of each day, and trust that we will have a house when we need one. (Today, Mike was able to take the time to clean out a huge machete wound on a 12 year old boy. He bandaged him, and put him on the bus to the nearest place where he could get his very deep wound stitched. We never do end up just sitting around.) I was talking to one of our new friends, Ma, about how we will need to move out of the dorms, when teams start coming down this spring and summer. Her reply was, “you will move in with me”. How precious. At least I know we won’t be homeless. I am sure that village life with Ma would be incredible.
We are now in the process of sorting another 40 foot container worth of ‘stuff’. This time, it is not our stuff, thoughJ This container housed all kinds of donations for the Mission, and the Fijian people. Boxes and boxes of crocs, sneakers, clothes, medical supplies, books, vacation bible school supplies, etc. How exciting to be able to use the abundance from America to bless the people here. Pray for us as we dive into the boxes, to find good homes for all of the gifts!
In closing, I just want to thank you again for the encouraging notes you have sent me. The internet certainly has closed the miles between us. I can jump on gmail, and start chatting with someone, as if they are only next door. We were warned that we may feel forgotten by our friends, but so far, ya’ll have made me feel very loved and prayed for. Please feel free to let me know how we can be praying for you all, as well.
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