Day 15

Well, I'm pretty proud of myself. I've been using the bidet for over a week now (if you don't know what a bidet is, go look it up somewhere, or maybe ask your mom). The nicer places have the option of toilet paper, but many don't, so at least I know I can survive most bathrooms. Sometimes it can be really confusing though, like when all there is is a bucket of water next to the toilet... seriously, what am I supposed to do with that? Luckily, I enjoy this kind of thing. It's all an adventure.
Time for a confession: I'm starting to get tired of eating rice and rice products. It's to the point where I just don't have an appetite at most meals because rice and curry can pretty much always be expected. Don't get me wrong, rice and curry is delicious... but three times a day can be a little overwhelming. 
We eat with our hands here... just with our right hand, actually, and licking your fingers is considered rude. That's been one of the hardest habits to break. It's been fun to learn the technique of eating this way (yes, there is a technique), and the Sri Lankans like to watch us try. They get a good laugh out of us.

A typical lunch at the farm... yeah, what was I complaining about again? 

We wash our own dishes here at the farm, and try to help with cleaning up as much as possible, but the kitchen staff doesn't let us do much. Amazingly, none of us has gotten a tick or lice yet, even though the dogs have ticks around their eyes, and many of the children have lice. Those are two fears that I have yet to conquer...

The kitchen and dining hall

 Taking a tour of the farm

I have no roommate at the moment, which is kind of nice, honestly. Whenever Thilini or the other Sri Lankan girls are here they are my roommates, and that's great, but I love having time alone too. I think Pastor A. was right in saying that I am more of a melancholy personality. I didn't quite believe him at first, but I definitely do now. No roommates means I can have a clean room, and no one with laugh at me when I re-pack my bags every few days. That's normal, right?

I've been thinking about this idea of "mission trips", and what qualifies as one. Yes, we are here to help, and to love on people and share the hope of the Gospel, but isn't that what all of life is? I'm just living for Christ in another country temporarily, that's all. So, in that case, is a "mission trip" just the act of making people's lives better by pretending that we have all the answers? If so, I don't think we are doing a good job of stewarding Christ's love. If it is a trip where you are giving and receiving, and allowing your own worldview to be expanded as you are also willing to serve, then maybe "mission trip" is a misleading term. We are not here to accomplish a mission, we are here to meet brothers and sisters, aunties and uncles with whom we will share eternity, and to join with them in the great commission. We are here to learn and pour into each other, even to develop lifetime partnerships that seek God's kingdom. If short term "mission trips" are for the purpose of accomplishing a task only, then I'm not sure I believe in them. 
See, the power of the Church is not in her money or her resources. The power of the Church is not even in her identity (a tricky statement that I am cautious to make because true identity as it is found in Christ is powerful. However, it is far too easy to distort that into thinking that we are God's gift to the world, when God's gift to the world is Himself). The power of the Church is Jesus Christ, and while he has gifted many in America with finances and material resources - and yes, those things are blessings - he has gifted the Church in Sri Lanka with faith, and the Church in Haiti with perseverance, and the Church in South Korea with prayer. We were not meant to operate alone, or to compare ourselves with one another, or to drop off a good deed and then continue to live within our comfort zone. The analogy of the church as a body applies on an international scale as well, and maybe more humility towards the third world and developing Churches is what we need. I hope this doesn't sound harsh... I'm just thinking out loud. Anyway, it's laundry time... bathroom sink, here I come!

Apparently, we chose the rainiest day of the trip to do our laundry. Literally ten minutes after hanging our clothes on the barbed wire, it started pouring. Thinking the damage had already been done, we decided to just leave it on the line and wait for the rain to stop. It did, but before the clothes had gotten a good head start on drying, it poured again. and again. by the third time, we saw we were in a losing battle and needed to change our tactics. Pretty funny. Its actually really nice to have a change of weather though. Still humid, but not as hot.