DanandDalaina.com

Well, Friday was a pretty crummy day. Moses had gone to bed the night
before pretty sick with what we thought was a migraine. He complained
of a headache, pain in his eye, light sensitivity, and then he started
throwing up. Luckily, he kept his cookies during the night, but we did
get to wake up to him coming into our room to barf the next morning.
All day he was sick. He couldn't keep anything down, but we pushed
gatorade and eventually gave him a shot for nausea. Mostly he slept,
threw up, and watched Dora the Explorer. By nighttime, he had stopped
throwing up, but he went to bed early. Saturday he woke up literally
singing, so maybe it was just a 24 hour bug. I am just glad it wasn't
any longer because having wood floors and no running water was not fun
when dealing with a kid that can't aim for his barf bucket very well!
Also on Friday the Swifts flew in. It's fun to have the whole gang
here. All three of our porches are filled with people pretty
regularly, though I still feel totally incompetent at talking to them.
That doesn't seem to have slowed down their visits any.
Yesterday (Sunday), was another very hard day. The kids, as Dan put
it, ganged up on us. They were all beastly for reasons that we do not
understand. The twins took a short nap early but refused to nap
anymore, and Moses skipped his nap altogether. When we tried to put
Ben down again in the afternoon, he took off his diaper and smeared
poo all over his bed. That was sure fun to clean up. To top it off I
woke up sick to my stomach and spent much of the day running to and
from the outhouse. By the end of the day, Dan and I were both run
ragged, and our tempers flared at each other. Finally I left for an
hour and a half to sit and read in Nichole's hammock, and Dan
graciously stayed to negotiate with the terrorists. When I got back,
Moses had passed out in the hammock and the twins were playing in
their bed. We apologized for being grumpy with each other and started
dinner. The evening was much more pleasant, and we had 3 visitors hang
out with us for about an hour after dinner.
Anyway, Dan again gave me some time alone this morning to have an
uninterrupted quiet time. I have managed to work on my Beth Moore
Bible study in the midst of kid care, but having time to pray is
challenging. I spent about an hour praying this morning, and it was
SOOOO refreshing! One of the things that I prayed about is the whole
issue of having fun/being satisfied here. Because, frankly, it is not
easy for me. I felt like God revealed something to me that really
helped me understand. Basically, I asked Him why it had to be so hard.
Why I couldn't naturally enjoy this kind of “rustic living” like many
other missionaries that I know. They thrive on it; I hate it. God said
that if it was easy for me I would too easily become self-reliant and
take His glory for myself. For me to have to continually need His help
and grace just to deal with life here, keeps me humble. Specifically,
I realized that having the kids I did when I did plays a big part in
this. I think had we come alone here, I would have faired much better
physically and even emotionally. But it would result in huge pride and
self-sufficiency. God loves me too much to let that happen.
It is, however, embarrassing. It seems like I barely function here. I
thought I was stronger then that. But I guess that is His whole point:
I'm not. But if He is actually able to use me somehow in this place,
it will have to be by His strength, and I can have no credit.
So I whined for a minute and had the gall to ask if it would always be
this way. From the answer I got, I think that I better get used to
feeling incompetent and pathetic. Honestly, though, I came away from
it glad. I don't want the credit. I do want God to get the glory. And if
this is the best way for it to happen, well, I guess I have to trust
the Lord's wisdom. Maybe I am finally getting Pastor Todd's point about joy
in trials...

We have been debating about what to do with the situation with Irma.
Since we are not Caquinte and don't have the best understanding of the
culture, we have been remiss to act on her not showing up for work
yet. Our thought was that perhaps that was simply her way of saying
that she didn't want the job. One thing that we have noticed when it comes
to a lot of things that Americans would ask directly (like "will you
work for me"), a third party is the one that actually does the
communication. In fact, I had asked Irma to talk to her sister,
Natividad, about doing laundry for me, and when Dan was over there a
little later, he tried to ask if Natividad would in fact be doing it.
Though she sat right there, the entire conversation about when she
would start was done without her participation. Her family told Dan
what she wanted to do, and he replied back to them.
So anyway, we talked to Scott and Nichole about it yesterday, and they
agreed that it might be a good idea for Scott to talk to Irma. I
mostly wanted to make sure that we had not offended her in some way or
somehow gave the impression that we did not want her working for us.
Scott talked to her this morning and the story is that she simply for
got about it on Monday and then yesterday (Wednesday) was just too
embarrassed about it to come by. He settled with her that we still
wanted her to work for us, so hopefully she will be coming next week.
The whole thing is still weird to me because if someone forgot about
something like that in the USA, they would just come later and say,
“So sorry. I totally forgot.” And that would be the end of it. I
suppose she thought we were mad at her (okay, I was), and just decided
to avoid us (the Caquinte way, I guess).
Blah. At least we figured it out. I am glad that we did choose to have
Scott intermediate. I think it was the right call.

Yesterday was a frustrating day for us. Dan had planned to hike into a
nearby village with some friends to “pick up” another Dan that was
headed back into town. At 3am, a torrential rain that we had been
waiting for started and didn't let up until mid-morning. He decided
that being soaked all day was not a very good idea, so he backed out
of the trip.
I had been very much looking forward to the day (Monday), as it was to
be the first day that I had Irma back helping me. We spoke a few days
ago and agreed on her helping 8am to 4pm on Monday, Wednesday, and
Friday. This would give me the opportunity to get a break from the
kiddos and, mostly, have a chance to work on language study. Well, 8am
rolled around, and she didn't show up. Then 9, 10... at lunchtime I
gave her up. The weird thing is that Dan saw her yesterday afternoon after she had nopt showed up all day,
and she chatted with him like nothing was going on. He didn't bring it
up as our feeble understanding of Caquinte culture dictates that if
she didn't want to work for me, she might have agreed to and
then just not shown up. Freaking irritates an American like me. I
mean, could you just tell me that? The other guess, and the one I like
better, is that she got the days confused, somehow. But I think when
she told me she would start Monday, we both knew what she meant. So
now I have no helper and not much idea about who else I could ask.
There is one girl that might work but she is still in school until the
end of the year. Dan and I tried to work out a schedule for giving me
a couple of hours a week to study language, and I did take that time
yesterday afternoon. But at the end of the day, I was frustrated with
the whole process. It seems like Dan is learning very quickly (though
not quickly enough if you ask him). He can already follow some
conversations and is able to say a lot more than I. I am happy for him
and jealous. I didn't want to be another “missionary wife” that is so
far behind her husband, but I am thinking now that it might be
inevitable. Perhaps I should do some serious praying for the gift of
tongues!
Anyhow, Nichole and I started our hopefully tri-weekly prayer time. It
was nice. In so many ways that is the only “ministry” that we have
outside of a little medical care. It is always a good thing for me to
be praying with another like-minded person.
This morning my "sister" Mercedes came by for a half hour visit. It made me feel a
lot better to talk to her because she is good at figuring out what I
am trying to say and telling me how I am supposed to say it.
Moses played with her three kids, and we enjoyed watching them. He
really wants to be able to climb trees like the Caquinte kids, who are
basically monkeys when it comes to that. It is hilarious seeing him
dangling from the lowest branch. One of these days he will figure it
out and will probably be up in the trees with the best of them.

The day after we arrived a man showed up asking if we would hire his
16 year old daughter, Rosita, to weed our yard. The jungle takes back
over very quickly, and the plants had grown up quite a bit around our
house. I happily agreed that she could work for us. The next morning
she showed up with her two year old son (I know, it's crazy) and
quickly got to work. She surprised us both with how diligently she
worked without much rest. We were further impressed when, at the end
of the day, she was paid a little extra (mostly because I didn't have
change) and went back to work for another half hour to earn the extra
I had given her. She has come back for three mornings now and has done
an amazingly thorough job. I have been raving about her work ethic,
honesty, and all around sweet spirit to my husband.
When the Welshes got here this afternoon, I told Nichole about Rosita.
She asked me if I realized who she was. Nope. Right after we left from
Tsoroja the last time, Rosita walked into the jungle with her sister
where she gave birth, wrapped the baby in a black cloth, and buried
the baby (though no one is sure if he was dead or alive). The baby was
found a few days later. When I had heard this story a couple of months
ago, I was pretty disgusted. I wondered what I would think and how I
would react when I came face to face with a mother that could murder
her own child, regardless of the circumstances.
When I realized that my sweet Rosita and the mother were one in the
same, I was surprised and more than a little humbled. Surprised
because she hardly seemed capable of such a thing, and humbled because
God had introduced her into my life in such a way that I cannot see
her with anything but compassion. I do not know the circumstances that
drove her to do what she did, and I doubt that I ever will. But I am
thankful that I am able to see her as a sweet, hurting girl and not
the evil monster that I had pictured. Thank you, Lord, for giving me
Your eyes to see Rosita, and help me to show her Your love that she
needs so badly.

We had an uneventful flight back to Tsoroja two days ago, and as the
plane touched down, I admit to being a little choked up. We were very
excited to see those that we recognized gather around. I am not sure
if they were excited to see us or disappointed that we were not the
Welshes. I choose to believe the former. :)  Anyway, we got all of our
junk into the house and nearly completely unpacked the first day. We
did pause for an hour because we got invited to the birthday party of
our next door neighbor. The masato was pretty strong, but we both
managed to drink some (it still grosses me out, but I will get there
someday, I hope). I loved watching Moses play with the kids there.
It's funny how the lack of communication doesn't seem like a big
obstacle to little kids.
The next day Dan set out to work on the airstrip that was too
overgrown for the pilot's liking, and I continued to try to get the
house in order. The kids seemed to do well with the novelty of it all,
although they refused to take naps. Finally at about 4:45pm, all three
of them passed out. I had to wake them up for dinner 45 minutes later,
but they were very ready for bed 2 hours after that.
Dan and I were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to transition
this time compared to last time. I think it helped A) having most of
our stuff here already, B) being familiar with the surroundings, C)
having a jungle routine already established.
I managed to take the kids for a walk yesterday afternoon. We met
Irma, Natividad, Irma 2, and Nessie on the airstrip, and they got a kick
out of trying to get the twins to walk around. Irma also said she
would work for us again – 3 days a week this time. I am glad we didn't
scare her off!
Dan is loving being out here on our own, bumbling through trying to
communicate. He thinks he learns a lot more quickly not having a
translator to rely on. I, on the other hand, find myself extremely
frustrated. I think I learn better when I am told “this means this”
and hearing it after having an idea what it means. We've had a fair
number of visitors, and after “hello, what are you doing, what is your
name” I am out of conversations (unless they have a baby around, and
then I can just coo over it for awhile).
This morning, Dan went to the radio house and was able to successfully
call Scott and his dad with the new phone that was installed in the village while we were gone. It is very cool to have that ability,
especially since we realized that we forgot our video camera charger.
Not a problem – we have a phone!
Anyway, the Welshes get here tomorrow, and I am very much looking
forward to having them around again. It is really obnoxious to be
alone and realize that I have to go to the bathroom. That means I have
to leave the three kids alone here to go out to the outhouse. Not an
appealing idea. I will be glad to have Nichole (and Steven and Govi)
around again to take over when nature calls. I told Dan yesterday that
he has to come and check in at least every two hours in case I need a
bathroom break. Speaking of which, I hope he remembered that because I
am going to need one soon...