A "Normal" Day in the Life of a Missionary Wife

“Small things may be where He [chooses] to leave us because we’d crumble under the weight of something bigger. But small things are just as important to God as the big things.” (http://stephanieshott.com/2013/05/do-you-despise-small-things/)

This blog was written last week, so the actual day I am talking about is Wednesday, May 16. Yesterday was one of those full days. I woke at 5:30 a.m. since I didn’t hear Rod’s alarm at 5 a.m.

  We have been able to find sales on cereal lately bringing a box down to less than $6 so we have enjoyed that luxury for a while.   I made lunches and Rod got the bowls out for breakfast.
  Once Rod was out the door by 6:30 a.m. I wanted to have some quiet time.  I set the timer to force myself to focus.  By 7 a.m. I  hadn’t checked e-mail or Facebook and there would be no connections for the day while I was at work so I took my fifteen minutes to indulge.  Lydia was chomping at the bit and wanted to get to school quickly to talk to a teacher about making up a test and to turn in a science project.  I wanted to return camping equipment to the mission guest house on the way.  Well Lydia won the argument and we got her to school early. 

Arman working on a Square Tile Puzzle!

After I dropped her off I took the first period of school to exercise.  Since the classes are shorter on Wednesday I cut my walk and exercise time to 40 minutes.

I got to class on time and my student wasn’t there but the French teacher next door had just had him in class, so he must have had to go to his locker. He arrived thinking he should be grumpy for the day.  Victory was mine because by the end of the first block we were laughing and enjoying each others company and learning about bar graphs. 

His tutor who also teaches him English and math hadn’t show up by the normal time so I checked to see if he had texted (is that really a verb now?) me.  I discovered that my phone was missing.  I decided to blame that on being rushed out the door even though I tend to forget my phone around 20% of the time anyway. . I guess that isn’t a very godly attitude, is it?   Rod says I forget it more often than that. Christian, the tutor, did show up about 10 minutes late but my student and I were going strong so we continued on.Christian's son was sick and they had to take him to the hospital.

We had a break in class to do a photo session

For lunch I chose to stay in my classroom since we decided I would teach the rest of the day to make up for a day I missed when I was at the retreat three weeks ago.  Lunch went fairly quickly but I was able to get word forms set up, square tile puzzles and the math meeting strip ready as well as eat a tuna sandwich and play a game on the computer to rest my brain for a moment. Arman returned with a great attitude and we had a great afternoon.

Lydia ended up taking her test after school so J. D. and I hung out.  I talked with another teacher for a while so by the time I got back to my truck and realized the camping equipment was still in it, it was five minutes until it was time for us to go.  I quickly drove to the MPH guest house  and dropped off the camping equipment. I left the equipment by the manager’s apartment door inside the building.  I met up with J.D. and Lydia just in time.  On the way home I remembered I needed hamburger for supper.  So after dropping J.D. off I ran to the grocery store and picked up enough meat so I would not run out again soon. 

Ammielle and Acharchelle: The Bloggers

We drove into the driveway to find my twin students and their sister sitting on the front porch.  I had confused them on our meeting time and they had arrived 1/2 and hour earlier than I expected.  I unloaded all the “stuff” included groceries quickly, and we began our  learning therapy session for the day.  Acharchelle did a blog and Ammielle did regular therapy.  You can read their blogs here: http://brooklyntwinsincongo.blogspot.com/.  During the session Rod arrived and stepped in to say hi and began his exercise routine for the day. When the twins and I were finished I went to the kitchen and began making Enchiladas. 

 Pete and Cindy Ekstrand were coming from Gemena and would stay the night with us before going on to the US for a year of furlough.  We also invited our neighbor to join us since her husband was away.  Lydia helped me out by mixing up some brownies for dessert and I was very happy to have plenty of vegetables for the salad.  We discovered that the bell peppers were not bell peppers when Lydia snatched one on the way by.  Her lips and tongue started burning immediately.  So I need to make myself an omelet sometime with some hot peppers in it. 

It is always fun to have friends from up country or out in the bush of Congo over for supper.  We get reports on how the other missionaries are doing and how the church is doing.  We also hear about “new” mission strategies and what is being done to encourage the church or help that is being given to try to boost the economic situation.  The Ekstrands were excited about a recent trip to Kenya to encourage several African Churches that are all connected in some way to the efforts of the Swedish Covenant Church.  The long history of outreach and church planting was interesting and exciting.  The purpose of the conference was to help people in the church to see Biblical Truth vs Cultural Traditions. 

After our visit my eyes were ready to close, so we all caught up a little on correspondence via computer.  Then we were all very happy to go to bed.