I wrote this last week but never published… and already some things have changed!

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It all starts the evening before. Pulling out a tablet of paper, we go through each hour of the day and list who has studies planned with who and where they are to meet. In some sense, this is an act of deficiency because we know that half of the studies we list will never come about, and in their place there will be multiple divine appointments. But with so many of us here (10 for now) and only one vehicle, we have to keep some semblance of order. Once everything is laid out hour by hour, we can then plan vaguely who can ride with whom, who needs to take a taxi, what time meals should be planned for, etc.

In the morning, the guys start getting their showers pretty early. There are two group studies that are held each morning – one in the market, and another for a shop’s employees, so at least four of the guys are out the door by 7:30. The rest of us take our time getting ready, cleaning up breakfast dishes, and when everyone is back together at 9:00, we have morning group devotions.

After devotions, the guys have training time with my dad, while my mom and I do laundry, clean, and start making lunch. We usually make lunch our main meal of the day, and depending on when the first afternoon study starts, we usually eat between 11:30 and 12:00.

Then the afternoon busyness starts! Sometimes we all go into town together, packing into our car like sardines. Other times we go in stages – some by car, some by taxi – as we disperse ourselves around town to our respective appointments. As I mentioned before, only half of our appointments will likely show up, so we go armed with tracts to hand out, or another nearby contact we can drop in on to do an impromptu study. Most days we plan around 25 studies, many of them group studies. Some of them are salvation studies, and some are discipleship of those who have been saved.

We all trickle back home, whoever is riding in the car usually stopping at the grocery store. While feeding eight guys and having only a tiny fridge, we have to stock up nearly every day. Some of the guys end up staying in town until 5 o’clock or later, but eventually everyone is back home – tired and sweaty from another long day.

Supper around 6 o’clock consists of sandwiches and leftovers (when there are any) and we listen to a chapter of an audiobook every night while we eat. We usually make coffee and tea to have while we debrief, everyone getting a chance to share what happened in their studies. Then one of the guys gives a book report of a biography he is reading, we clean up the supper dishes, and then everyone goes off to write their reports.

Another thing about having so many people going so many directions is that it is easy to let people fall through the cracks. Since we are only here a short time and there will be others coming behind us to work with the same people, we are careful to keep records of the time we spend with each person, what studies we do, and what issues we discuss. Everyone types us a two or three paragraph report of their day to add to our trip journal, and then I break down the information into the big book of contacts. The correspondence studies are graded and new studies gotten ready to send out, tracts are stuffed to be handed out, booklets are assembled and papers are copied so that everyone is ready to face the next day, equipped with the information that they need.

Then comes free time! LOL – I say that facetiously because some days (depending on how much paperwork needs to be done or videos need to be edited and uploaded), my ‘free time’ doesn’t start until 11 pm! But we usually have a couple hours to just relax before bed.

It has been a lot of fun thus far, although quite draining and exhausting as well. Just being outside in the heat is enough to wear you out – then add on top of that a line of Bible studies with people ranging from no Bible knowledge to those steeped in false religion. It is definitely an experience of a lifetime.

This is our washing machine.

It’s a pink bathtub, located at a most inconvenient level to make your back ache and your knees sore. The alternative is using the kitchen sink, which can fit approximately two dish towels, a pair of socks, and a shirt at one time.

Here’s how we do laundry: Fill the tub halfway with hot water, sprinkling in a bit of handwashing detergent. The package says 3/4 a cup…but I never put in even half of that. As you can see, there are still lots of bubbles and lots of soap. Put your clothes in…first the lights, saving the reds and darks for later. Once the clothes have been submerged and swirled around, I usually walk away and do something else, letting them soak in the warm, soapy water for a while. Then take each item, swirl around in the water, use your knuckles to work on areas of stain, then wring out as much water as you can. Pile up little wads of soapy clothes all around the bathtub while you systematically empty the tub of the clothes. Next, using the same soapy water, do the same with the reds and darks.

Now, let all the water drain, rinse the tub, then fill with cold, clean water. Again, submerge the lights, swishing around and around to be sure all the soapy water is rinsed out. Again, wring out as much water as possible, then deposit little wads of clean, wet clothing into our single laundry hamper. Set towels and washrags to one side, as they need to be rinsed a second time (if only rinsed once, the little bit of soap residue makes them dry hard). Then rinse the reds and the darks.

Again, drain the tub, fill (not quite so full this time) with cold, clean water, pouring in a couple tablespoons of laundry softener. Submerge the towels and washrags, swish around, and wring out. (Wonder to yourself why the hardest thing to wring out – the large bath towels – must be wrung out 3 times in one washing.) Drain the tub and sit back to catch your breath.

Yeah, you!!! Now it’s time to visit the dryer, which is of course, a series of lines strung around the yard. We have one carousel, two extra long lines between the trees, and approximately 100 clothespins. Clothes must be turned inside out before hanging, otherwise the beating sun will fade and bleach your clothes in only one afternoon. Clip away! (I might add, this is my favorite part. There is nothing so relaxing as hanging out clean laundry in the morning sun…of course, I’m usually sweating like a pig by the time I get done!)

Now stand back and admire your work. Try not to feel discouraged that spending the last 45 minutes on this activity only washed your clothes from the past 3 days and the towels and rags from yesterday.

It’s almost Thanksgiving, right? I am so thankful…

I am thankful that I have an abundance of clothes. I only brought one suitcase with me, yet I still have enough clothes to go more than a week without having to wash. I try not to let it build up and rather do a little every day, but still…I have the option of waiting if I want to. I don’t have only two outfits that I rotate to wash and wear – like a lot of people that I now know.

I am thankful that we have running water. So many don’t. As much work as it is to wash clothes by hand, I can’t even imagine having to carry my own water from the pump outside, or from the stream down the road (which, consequently, is dry this time of year). Then, water brought in by hand must be taken out by hand…

I am thankful that we have hot water. Boiling water on the stove to add to my laundry water would be quite a task indeed. Of course, if we lacked hot water, I probably wouldn’t bother boiling and would just wash in cold.

I am thankful we have electricity to make the hot water. The power has only gone out twice since we’ve been here – and neither time for very long.

I am thankful that the clothes dry quickly. With the hot sun and slight breeze, most clothes dry in a hour, towels in two, and sheets in 20 minutes. This means that you don’t have to be quite so careful to fully wring things out after the last rinse, when your arms already feel like jelly.

I am thankful for the exercise, and for the fact that I am physically able to wash my own clothes. I have two arms, two hands, two legs, and ten fingers. They are all used in doing laundry. It really is a great workout program. Already, I can tell that I am improving. I can do more laundry at one time, and it doesn’t wear me out as much as when we first got here.

I am thankful that I don’t have to wash everybody’s clothes. My mom and I do a couple loads each day, taking care of our clothes, my dad’s clothes, the towels, sheets, and rags…and that is enough to keep us busy. We have helped the guys out on occasion, but there is no way we could wash everybody’s clothes and still be able to do anything else. It would be a full-time job.

I am thankful that when I get home in January, I will be able to take all my clothes, dump them into the washing machine, press a button, and WALK AWAY.

In the back yard of the house, we have several varieties of fruit trees.

There are sweet oranges and sour oranges…

There are grapefruit-like oranges…

Look who was hiding in the orange tree!

We even have an avo tree…I hope it produces avos while we are here.

There is a lemon tree…

And this is what happens when the oranges fall on the ground. It’s a feast for millipedes!