During
our three-month orientation course, Kenya Safari, I experienced many firsts.
That
was the first time I:
- outwitted a charging hippo
- received a Maasai blessing
- ran my fingers through a psychiatrist’s hair
- lived surrounded by baboons (who pooped in the breakfast I was preparing for orientees and staff, fifty people)
- learned there was such a thing as—and had to use—a pit latrine
- slept through big cats (lions? leopards?) prowling on the other side of my tent wall
- ate goat, dikdik, warthog, ostrich egg, ugali, sukuma wiki, and irio
- drank tea from a pot cleaned in cow’s urine
- and got peed on by a colobus monkey.
Sigh. . . .
All I ever wanted was to live a quiet,
secure, genteel life
in a little white house with a picket
fence
and a rose garden,
but my husband, Dave—a free spirit
who seldom limits himself to coloring
within other people’s lines—
and our adventuresome God (ditto) had
other plans.
You’ve probably seen the following. I
haven’t been able to identify who wrote it, though it sounds like something
both God and Dave could have written. They had no intention of letting me
remain an unadventurous homebody.
Life should not
be a journey to the grave
with the
intention of arriving safely
in an attractive
and well-preserved body,
but rather to
skid in sideways,
champagne in one
hand,
chocolate
covered strawberries in the other,
body thoroughly
used up,
totally worn out
and screaming
“WOO HOOOO!!!
What a ride!”
(author unknown)
What
about you?
Have
you worked on the mission field or
in some other role overseas?
If
so, tell us your list of firsts!
Leave
a comment below or on the Facebook Page.
We’d enjoy
hearing your stories!
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