Culture...and Bugs

I never was very fond of bugs - any kind, any size. It's sort of funny now, that I am a missionary's wife to the dark continent of Africa; probably the bug capitol of the world! Now there's a whole new world of bugs to discover.

It's amazing to me how after time, the most bizarre things become commonplace and normal. The other day, I was washing my face before bed. As I turned to my towel, I noticed a nice, fairly good size beetle that was resting right where I was headed. And you know what - I didn't flick it off or kill it. I just 'moved over' so we could 'share' the towel. Then I stopped. "Oh. My. Word. I cannot believe what I just did." Because it's a way of life, one gets accustomed to picking foreign 'things' out of food and drinks, and just 'pretending you never saw it'.

Culture. It has a way of changing you! Now I've probably offended, grossed out, and lost all my friends. My apologies. :o)

Another missionary wife and I were chatting about the subject of bugs one day and she made the comment, "I don't think ladies back in America have any clue the types and amounts of bugs we face on a daily basis - that we now look at as normal!" She's right. What once would have illicited a quick smack of my shoe now gets passed by as if it were part of my decoration. Now, unless they're poisonous or harmful - they may live.

Here's just a few that we visited with today...

Ants. Boy they work hard. Boy they're scavengers. We have the type of black ant that is mainly interested in other dead bugs. Nice, eh? Trouble is, in this country cleaning up dead bugs is a several times a day chore. Oftentimes though, these diligent little things beat me to it. You can leave a room clean, only to re-enter 5 minutes later to a infestation of ants. We probably say a dozen times a day, "What in the world are they after now." A closer look reveals that the main attraction was dead fly. How exciting. When they've rid the house of dead bugs, they will move onto food. We must keep things sealed and covered, or they help themselves! Many times I have gone to do dishes and found an army swarming all over every dish in the sink. Fun!

Flying Termites. Recently these have started up again. Around the time I'm preparing dinner, it starts. The air-raid of the flying termites. Maybe they like my cooking, I don't know. They come unannounced and unwelcomed in the screenless windows, try to shed off their wings and then ... well I don't know what they do next.

Crickets. Now these little creatures are normally not too bothersome. Except when your house is infested. When we returned from the States in January, we discovered that they moved in. We regularly remove at least a dozen crickets a day. Oftentimes we're flicking lights on in the middle of the night moving furniture to find them, as their 'serenade' isn't appreciated in our bedroom.

Spiders. In the 2.5 years we've been in Africa, I've seen more spiders than I have my entire life. There is one particular kind that is somewhat poisonous. It called a jumping spider and very tiny. They do jump. They are hard to catch. When they bite they leave a welt about the size of a half-dollar - and often require antibiotic treatment. Spiders require daily maintenance as well around here.

Over the next several weeks, I have several posts I will be writing in regards to different aspects of the culture of the land and people we love. I hope that you can get a better glimpse of our reality, and be able to pray for us better. So, there will be more frequent posts than there has been! :o)

With all that being said, I wish at the same time to convey the peace and joy - amidst oftentimes radical cultural differences - of being where God wants us. "There's no life so rewarding, as serving the Lord..." When we accept what God has for us - His Perfect Way, then we can and will bloom where we're planted - for His glory. God's will is NEVER something to fear.