Putting Things Back Into Perspective

God always has a way of helping me to put things back into the proper perspective…and always at the right time. After 11 days of being out of the United States, I found myself becoming whiny. While I am thoroughly loving my experience in Indonesia, I found myself letting the smaller things that really shouldn’t matter dominate my mood. For example: the abundance of rice and noodles that are offered at every meal in lieu of vegetables; the frequency of meals and the large portions that we are given makes me feel guilty because I get full after small portions and have so much food wasted; and one brief experience at a hotel that I felt was completely unsuitable for me (rodents, unclean linens, etc.)

I found myself getting in a mode of complaining until I reread the email I sent my family about the village. Almost instantly, my eyes began filling with tears because I let things that really shouldn’t matter take such a dominant role over my experience. After reading the email, it was as if God had put me ‘in check.’ He helped me focus on what is most important, the children in the village.

Here is the email I shared with my family.

This class knows only conversational English such as, “What is your hobby?” “What is your favorite fruit?” you know… The very basics.

This is another class.

In the picture above, you can see little kids in front of the door and the window. The little kids and even a few who have stopped attending school have been hanging around the doors of the classes to hear what is going on. When we leave, all the little bitty kids follow us all the way back to the river bank. When we are getting on the boat to go back to the other village (where we sleep), this is what we see.

What you can’t see beyond the concrete stairs is the muddy river bank. That is where the boat waits for us. When the fisherman cranks up the boat, the kids run and climb onto an adjacent boat and wave to us. It is soooo adorable!!!