Joining up with Susanne to share my five favorite things of this past week. With the smells, sounds, and sights of Guatemala still so very real... I bring to you FFF: Guatemalan Style... the 2nd part.
{If you missed Part 1, it is here.}
1. Safe Food: The ability to purchase and eat without concern of intestinal parasites due to no refrigeration.
2. Education: The ability to read and write. I had an English/Spanish dictionary with me, but it was often of no help for them to converse with us. A lot of them can not read or write.
3. Electricity Free Showers: Not having to remember not to touch the shower head while in the shower due to the electrical wiring running to it. (and not having the electrical box in the shower with me.)
4. Hot water: While in Guatemala... I never had a cold shower. I never had a hot shower. Just warm enough to tolerate getting in, getting clean, and getting out.
5. A job... with an income of more than $100/month (average income in the lake area) to support and provide for the family.
Oh so blessed! So overwhelmingly blessed. The question now is how to keep sharing the blessings with others? I am convinced that I have not been blessed purely for the sake of my own comfort and enjoyment! It is to be shared and given away...
Have you stopped to consider the blessings and favorites of your week? Do I dare take that one step farther?.... Have you stopped to consider how to share those very things with others?...
:) Tonight my 7 year old thanked the Lord for our "home and provisions"...I loved hearing her tender heart be so aware and not take it for granted.
ReplyDeleteYou are right -- we are blessed to be a blessing. I love your fives this week and am intrigued by the electricity in the shower deal... When I was in Paraguay, the missionaries rigged up a large bucket with shower head at the bottom. We'd haul hot water (boiling in a barrel over an open fire), mix in cold water, hoist the bucket high, and take very quick showers ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhen we first got involved with ministry in Uganda, I was shocked at the water situation there and immediately was aware of how much water we waste and how I take it so for granted! Very, very few people in Uganda can turn on a faucet to get their water and most get it from filthy little watering holes.
ReplyDeleteAgain, beautiful and convicting. We are truly blessed here aren't we. And I'm with you, the blessings are to be shared and given away.
ReplyDeleteElectricity in the shower?! Yikes!
This made me grin ear to ear! LOVE this!! Thank you for sharing it with me!
ReplyDeleteWOW! Your shower set up in Paraguay sounds like quite the ordeal. Memories for sure!
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand, the electricity was run to the shower head and somehow it was heated as it came through that. I'm not totally sure how it all worked, I just knew not to touch it while in the shower! :-)
Your description here of Uganda sounds so very much like the lake area in Guatemala. No faucets and where they can get water it is not clean. Basic, clean water... such a need still for so many!
ReplyDeleteYes, Yikes! That's exactly how I felt stepping in for that first shower. But by the end of our time there I wasn't even really thinking about it.
ReplyDelete