Hot Sticky Dirty Work

Our team just returned from serving in Telica, Nicaragua by drilling a water well and teaching health and hygiene practices to the children and women of the village.  This work is coordinated by Living Water International (www.water.cc) and this is the 3rd trip our church has sponsored.  We shared the good news of Jesus Christ with 250+ people and distributed over 60 Bibles to families in the village.

Who really benefits from a trip such as ours?  The townspeople who receive a continual supply of fresh water are obvious recipients.  The schoolchildren who participated in the hygiene classes on germ transmission and effective handwashing procedures are others.  So, too, are the village women who learned about how to provide for their babies who suffer dehydration caused by diarrhea from unclean water. 

At the risk of sounding selfish and self-serving, I believe the greatest recipients are those who serve on the team by drilling and teaching.  Our lives in the US are so often consumed with getting and keeping.  I found it humbling and inspiring to work alongside and serve people whose lives haven't gotten cluttered with the preponderance of material items, who live closer to the earth with simpler needs, who find joy in sitting in the shade with friends to laugh and tell stories.

I returned with a renewed understanding of how shallow and purposeless a comfort-filled life can become.  I was also encouraged by working alongside brothers and sisters in the faith who shared a desire to serve.  

What changes occur in your heart when you are generous with yourself or your possessions?  Do you experience a different kind of satisfaction when you serve outside of your comfort zone?  Or maybe you haven't yet been generous--why not?

Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 by Gloria Ruppel

1 comment (Add your own)

1. Dawn Werner wrote:
Gloria - Iraq has taught me the same things about our "comfort-filled" lives. Grant it, I"m personally living much simpler than normal. My "home" is a 10' X 20' trailor I share with a roomate and thankfully we have our own bathroom. We keep our clothes in a locker (tall gym size), I have a 3-drawer dresser, she doesn't, so the rest of our things are kept in boxes and foot lockers. But even in this simple life, we have immediate access to the things we "think" we need via internet shopping. Drugstore.com is an amazing site! We can't drink the water out of the pipes, so live by consuming endless bottles of water, even just to brush our teeth.

My biggest blessing has come from my Ugandan friends who are away from their families (in their own unstable Africa), for at least a year, many sign on for much more; are paid less than $5 (rumor has it $2.50) an hour to do work that any American would refuse for anything less than $20-$25 an hour if not more. They stand out in the sun for 12 hours a day at our entry control points ensuring that the only people that come into our work and living camps are authorized to be there and they physically search every Iraqi that comes in to work as well. Yet every single one of them has a smile on their face, will not hesitate to tell you how blessed they are that they can provide more for their families and that God is working in their lives. At the end of a week of 12-hour shifts they will still dance and sing for the Lord for 2 hours and would go on longer if we "their coalition brothers and sisters" didn't need to get back to camp so we can get up the next morning for work in an airconditioned facility.

It's a very humbling experience.

In Christ
Dawn

July 5, 2008 @ 3:22 AM

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