Simpler life but not so easy…

The other night we had dinner with a long-term missionary family and some friends. One couple were new missionaries who arrived less than 2 weeks ago. Prior to that they have visited Jos for only 10 days 3 years ago. It was interesting listening to this aspiring missionary talk about life on the field. His aspirations were for a slower pace of life tat would allow time (he even hinted at much time) to read widely and deeply about the Christian faith.

I don’t at all doubt his intentions, but I wonder if he has an honest assessment of life here in Jos. I found myself thinking but you have a wife, two young children and it takes LOTS of time to get things done. Simple things that are no bother or a snap in the US are not easily fixed here.

It is almost as if God took my thoughts and then accented them in our life here. We have use of the Fretheim house which is a wonderful multi-bedroom well outfitted home with 2 generators, a 12-volt system and NEPA (Nigerian electricity when it is working). We have use of the Fretheim house and ministry staff so we have a cook, cleaning person, drivers and fix-it men when needed (notice I said when not if). So on many levels life is much simpler here. We don’t have to concern our selves with the stuff of life (cooking, cleaning, laundry… if something breaks we tell Amos). And since it is not my home I do not have a ‘to do’ so when I am not busy teaching or preparing I can relax and visit with my family. It is very nice in this way.

But things are never quite what they seem. Saturday for example, everyone in the compound had NEPA, except us. I tried everything but to no avail. So we ran the gen for a little while to make sure the refrigerator was cool and basically lived without electricity. There is something ‘fun’ about living like that for a short while. But no NEPA means no hot water, because even the generator cannot run the water heaters!

Sunday we took quick showers still moderately warm… but no NEPA. A friend stopped by and we discovered, YIKES the ground wire from the pole had snapped! Little wonder either there must have been half-a-dozen splices and repairs in the wire from the pole and the house. Ok no NEPA till Monday when Mark (our fix-it man) comes.

Monday Mark was able to temporarily fix the NEPA, until the power company comes to do the real job (when??? only the Lord knows). A good thing is was fixed our house provides the power for the water pumps on the compound, no pumps no refilling the water storage tanks! Later on Monday since NEPA was off and I needed to print some things for class, I put on the gen just to complete my printing, which I was able to complete. We were going to read as a family for a while when OUT went the lights…. Hmmm? The gen must have run out of fuel, but when I went out to check on it is was running like clockwork. Now we have a bigger problem. I flipped every switch I knew about but no electricity, so I “offed” the generator and will tell the workers in the AM. Like I said, things are never quite as they seem here in Nigeria.

Even with double back up we had no lights or power. Life on the field, life as a missionary in Jos.

PS NEPA did come on Monday night for a couple of hours so we had nice warm showers in the morning… Life is good, God is BEST!

PSS publishing this post took 3 attempts... who knows why? But I did finally figure it out,(I think). As I said, Life is good, God is BEST!