Yes, I know that I already posted a blog this week but, as with some of our blogs, the purpose of writing is so that we have a record later on in life to look back on. Because (and I know I’ve said this before) so many things happen to us here that it'd be easy to forget a lot of this stuff. And, besides that, this is very therapeutic for me to be able to write some of these things out so that I know I’m not going crazy- so please bear with me.
Wednesday I woke up and drank my coffee just like every other morning. Then I grabbed my towel and started to make my way to the shower when, all of the sudden, I heard Maryssa yelling for me from outside. She said there was a snake on the porch at the orange bunk house and I needed to come kill it! Well, I ran and threw my clothes back on (I was in my underwear and that’s not appropriate snake-killing-attire) grabbed my machete and headed to the bunkhouse. We’ve had an unusually large amount of snakes already this season (it’s late Spring here in Brazil right now).
Sure enough, when I arrived up at the orange bunkhouse there was a tree snake just sitting there looking at me and taunting me (they’re the boldest of the snakes we have here) daring me to mess with him. So I chopped his head off and then I chucked him out into the jungle. Botta-bing botta-boom. Just another day at the office: )
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| This isn't the one I killed for Maryssa but it was the first one that I got with my new machete a few weeks ago. This is a snake that was in the kids bunkhouse. |
Then I went back to the main house to get a shower. I turned the shower on, got it to the right temperature and then I jumped in. As soon as I got in and started bathing- Bam! The electricity went off. That may not sound like that big of a deal to you, but when you have an electric shower head- it’s huge because now I’m taking a shower in ice cold mountain water that literally takes your breath away! But this is pretty much just the way our life is so I just sucked it up and bathed myself one limb at a time (there’s no way to put your whole body under all at once- it’s way too cold).
After I got out of the shower I got ready and kissed MJ goodbye as I headed-in to church. Matthew was weed eating, Maryssa was taking care of the animals and MJ was going to do some gardening while all the little kids were at school (that’s her therapy). The electricity was still off but it was sunny and everybody had things to do outside so ‘no harm no foul.'
After working at the office all day I headed home. When I arrived home everyone was outside and I could tell something was wrong. The electricity was still off (we’re without electricity a lot here!) and I could tell Maryssa was mad. She explained that she wasn't going in the house and that I better do something!
It appears that there had been a snake invasion while I was away: )
While I was at church Matthew had killed a couple snakes while he was weed eating (that’s normal), MJ almost got bit by another snake in her flower bed (not normal- Matthew killed it for her) and Maryssa said there was a snake in the house (definitely not normal and totally unacceptable for her and MJ, lol!)!
What happened was this:
When MJ finished working outside she came inside and laid across the bed in our room. As she was laying there she looked up and right above our bedroom window was a freakin’ snake inside the mosquito netting of our soffits (aka- inside the house!). She called Matthew and they tried killing it but it got away by heading into the second story of our house. This is where Maryssa and Matthew’s rooms are: ) So, to say the least- Maryssa isn't very happy at this point and is insisting I do something, haha! What am I gonna do? It’s nowhere to be seen. So I just convinced her that it must of slithered/climbed back out when we weren't looking and everything is OK. What else can you do, right? : )
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| This is what MJ saw as she laid in our bed and glanced up |
By this point everyone is pretty stressed-out because of all the snake activity at the house. The electricity is still off and now there’s a storm brewing outside. That’s right, out of nowhere what was 90 degrees and sunny has now turned into a torrential downpour that causes flash flooding! Seriously? After everything else today? Oh well…So we just rode out the storm and sat in the darkness since our electricity was still out.
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| The rain was pouring down and flooded our front porch unless than 5 minutes |
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| This isn't a stream or a waterfall- it's the grass slope that leads up to the pavilion. Massive amounts of water fell within minutes. |
After being without power all day and after sitting in the darkness most of the night our electricity was finally restored at around 10:00pm. It turns out that ours was the only house on the entire mountain without electricity all day. Seriously- just our house. Lucky us, huh? But it’s back on now and for that we’re thankful.
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| The power company came out and restored our electricity around 10:00pm |
We’ve already killed so many snakes this Spring (more than in previous years), seen more spiders than any other year (they're everywhere- in the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, running across the roads), we’ve been without power more days than any other year and here’s the thing- it really hasn't mattered much. In previous years I would get so frustrated with the power outages. I would get so irritated with all the snakes and spiders. And all the storms would just wear me out. But for some reason it’s not affecting me the same way this year. I guess a person can get use to just about anything when they're constantly exposed to it (this would be a perfect place to turn this into sermon illustration- but not today). I just told MJ last night that I still can’t believe that we live in the jungle in another country. And if you would've told me that I would be experiencing all these things here on the mission field I wouldn't have believed you. I’m just a city boy and this isn't who I am or what I do- or is it? lol!
Love Ya,
Jim
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