Seasons

Hey friends. It's winter here. I'm dying. Well, I mean, technically we are all dying... I just feel like my death process is accelerated at the moment. The past month has been a bit of a blur. In fact, this whole year is becoming a blur. Lately in the office I've been working on our Social Media and preparing posters and flyers to be printed that help communicate what OM is all about.

On May 18 I went to Pretoria, South Africa with the communications department. It is here where I found fall. Green grass and sunny skies, but lots of leaves on the ground! It was so fun to explore a new place. Pretoria is like the perfect city cut out of a postcard that's actually been well kept up for it's whole life. South Africa is not Africa. It's Europe. It was a blast to be able to visit!

While a lot of fun was involved in this short trip, the main purpose was to get some training in OM communications. We met some of the OM International communication team and got inspired to keep doing what we do. As you can see here, we were freezing in Pretoria as well.

To get there I enjoyed a 16-18 hour bus ride chilling on the top deck of a double decker bus. I had yet another excited land border experience. They're so different from the usual airport immigration lines I have experience passing through. I am falling in love with this land more and more each day.

Last night I got to have a little taste of Chicago and home as the Moody Men's choir performed in my church's sister church. It was good for my soul to see and hear people from not just the US but basically my backyard. I kinda felt like a creepy fan girl wanting to go talk to them afterwards, but it was worth it to hear about their adventures in Africa and to be encouraged by them as I shared about what I am doing here.

Pray:

• I'm freezing. Pray I stall well and my nose stops running.
• Pray for the economy in Zimbabwe.
• Pray for continued opportunities for me to get involved in the community. I can't always find opportunities within OM, but I am praying for boldness to go out and do things on my own as opportunities arise.

Toilets

Today I have been inspired to write about toilets. Why? Because I now know more about toilets and plumbing than I ever have in all my life. Here’s the thing. Toilets break. Water shuts down every now and then. And about one in every three toilets I encounter the back is open and you have to figure out just what lever or string to pull inside to make it flush.

                 

As I was chilling in my room this past Saturday reflecting on life, this random revelation about toilets came to mind. I’ve kind of forgotten that at one point all of this random knowledge about how toilets work was foreign to me. When I arrive at new places I’ve learned to backtrack plumbing and figure out how to turn water on and off. Often times I get to search for a water source to manually dump water in to flush it myself. Hand sanitizer and toilet paper are always in my bag because literally like every public toilet is most likely lacking these things. Not to mention the fact that quite frequently public toilets are missing the seat – and occasionally the lock or the door itself is missing too.

(This is probably the weirdest blog post you’ve ever read, and I’m only a little bit sorry about it haha)

That being said, I’ve noticed that God has been teaching me some serious flexibility and patience. I don’t miss the comforts of home very often, and I consider that a huge blessing to my sanity haha. I don’t think twice about cold showers. Boiling water for a bath is my new normal unless I’m too lazy and would rather freeze. (Ashamedly I admit that 5 out of 7 days a week I am too lazy and would rather freeze.) Hand washing clothes now seems super economical and appealing to me even when I get back to the States.

This lifestyle makes me appreciate everything so much more. While I know doing simple daily tasks here can be a little more entertaining than at home, I also know that we have it pretty great here. Others out there are struggling much more and I am so thankful that God is a faithful provider in all ways for what we truly need.

But wait. There’s one more thing.

Target. I get to scroll through Facebook and see angry posts about Target, movements to boycott Target, reasons why it’s not a big deal, and all kinds of stuff about their new decision on their public bathrooms.

Friends. I agree that this is unsettling and yet another sign of how sin is gripping our nation. But at the same time…. PEOPLE. Just be thankful you don’t have to pay a dollar to use their toilets (that actually have seats) and you don’t have to bring your own soap and toilet paper and then try to figure out how to flush the stupid thing.

Disclaimer: Don’t get the impression that every toilet in Zimbabwe is a disaster haha… I’m just speaking from random experiences as I have traveled around.