What I've Learned on the Mission Field

Okay...so this picture really has nothing to do with my post, but it was so cute - in a goofy sort of way - that I had to share it with you. This picture was taken on Sunday after Max's baptism. Lydia hopped up on the chair and started singing and "talking", buckle undone and all.

NOW to my post.

What have I learned on the mission field? That MY plans are not always HIS plans. Planning is good, but must be very flexible. (Even as I have been writing this post, my lunch plans have changed twice. My plan was to cook a nice soup for lunch, but now that the weather has been warmer out, they regularly turn off the electricity....so then it was sandwiches for lunch again. But 30 minutes later, they again turned on the electricity. So soup again. YAY!) From my mom, I inherited a love for pretty planners and organizers. Unfortunately, I failed to inherit her ability to be flexible (or maybe that came with time for her too, being a pastor's wife and mom of 7 kids). I love to have a plan for everything...menu, hour-by-hour, cleaning....the list goes on. If things got off schedule, I started to feel stressed and anxious. Since coming to the mission field though, things just haven't gone as "planned". I came over "planning" on working with another missinary, have someone to go shopping with, talk to about life on the mission field, plan ladies' meetings with...etc. GOD's plan was to move them back to America shortly after we got to the field. MY plan: to work in an orphanage here, which I was able to do for a little while. For now, God has closed that door. Sometimes my plans have brought more stress than was necessary. When we came over, we knew God wanted us here and we were planning on having our first baby in the hospital here. I was stressed out for most of the last half of my pregnancy, telling God I just couldn't do it. GOD's plan? He worked everything out for a home birth.

SO, how am I doing today with the never ending changing of "plans"? Well, let's go back to Monday.

Mondays are MY day. I love Mondays. I spend the day in intensive cleaning and organizing for the week...but do it slowly, enjoying time with my girls reading and playing in between. We are dressed VERY casual, usually our hair is unwashed (gasp!) and I may or may not be wearing matching socks. (Papa usually doesn't get home from the city until late on Mondays, so his girls are usually bathed and smelling pretty by the time he gets home.) Up until now, if Mondays don't go as planned, the whole week feels like a ball spinning out of control. Monday morning, everything was going as planned...the girls and I started the laundry, did some dishes and were just putting away the playdough when Eric called from Yuri's house and said that he was going to run some errands with him and then have them over for lunch. He knew I didn't have anything in the house because Monday is also when he goes shopping for me, so he said he would drop off some chicken wings for me before they ran the errands...was that okay? Sure. So, I quickly got ready. He came in and handed me my chicken wings...they were frozen. "Everything okay?" "They're frozen." "Is it going to take to long?" "No. I can make it work." "Okay, we'll be back in about 20-30 minutes." I started preparing the vegetables and finished the biscuits. They got back, half of the chicken was still needing to be thawed and the water for my rice had just started to boil. I go to put the rice in...we are all out of rice. What do I do? No potatoes, no rice...ahhh! Then I spy a box of stuffing mix from America someone had given me! With the fried chicken, not only did we have a good meal, but I was able to enjoy myself and visit. At the end of the day my husband came over to me, gave me a big hug and kiss and said "Thank you. You fulfilled your role today." That made everything, including the sink (tub) full of dishes worth it. AND my week wasn't ruined...just got everything done on Tuesday WITH unexpected guests for tea! There may still be days...or weeks when I fail in this area of changing plans, but slowly I'm getting there.