Archive for January, 2005

We were heading on our way to Abomey crunched together for over 2 hours of sweaty sticky vinyl and cloth seats, nine people in a little car they call a taxi. Weaving in and out of traffic like a Nascar driver released on the highway, but this was just a two lane with potholes. And sometimes we had to take dirty non-paved roads to avoid road blocks in which we would have to bribe the police.

After arriving we met with a local Christian pastor (as that is rare in this town) who talked with us about political and home struggles with the Voodoo that runs most of its inhabitants.

Later we went to a museum that told of all the kings and the palaces that used to reign in that area…We were also shown buildings specifically built to burn human and animal sacrifices. We were told that the bricks were made with human blood in them and that is why they had the color they did (kind of a dry, rusty, dark brownish red). There were also instructions to pay respects, take your shoes off, take head coverings off, and bow down before entering certain areas (to voodoo gods) and we refused to even enter these areas but the history was interesting and it gave a better sense of what was at work here in Benin.

It was said that when the king died all his wives committed suicide by poison to die with him and be buried with him. There are many other things that I could write about but do not wish to, some things are better left alone. Abomey is steeped in voodoo as is a lot of Benin. I avoided buying anything as souvenirs at this place for most of them were voodoo relics, masks, or some kind of paraphenelia.

We also dropped in on some Mercy Ship Segue students that were doing their outreach up there, working in the orphanages, praying, etc…It was nice to see they were adapting good in the heat with limited electricity and rationed water. Made us appreciate the haven of the ship.

It was a very interesting Saturday to say the least. Type in Abomey in your google search and read a few articles of history of this small town in Benin.

The coldest weather I have experienced since I been here was last night! 3 hours (at least) of unloading 3 of our freezers on the ship into 2 freezer containers on the dock. We are talking about big walk-in freezers, not ones you may have bought and put in your garage.

It was estimated we moved 20 tons of food.

How did we do it? First the Captain canceled shore leave so no one could leave the ship, then we asked for volunteers. We formed a line from the freezer unit on the dock up the gangway, in the ship, down 2 hallways and 2 flights of stairs to the cargo freezers. It was also estimated the line of workers included 180+ people.

Some of the food actually had to be thrown away and I am afraid it will not be a good ’smell’ condition on the dock if the 2 big dumpsters are not emptied today. A lot of fish and melted ice cream will be heating up out on the dock…what a smell that will be, rotten fish and spoiled dairy product.

What is the good news? We have successfully saved the rest of the food and I believe the fish and ice cream we threw away were mostly donations…so the organization personally did not lose a lot of money on these items.

I am not a technical refrigeration person but the way it was explained to me was that the system has sea water in it and it had to be shut down to find the leak and repair it, then refill the refrigeration with whatever kind of chemical/gas it is that runs it.

This week alone I think I have acquired enough hours in meeting and discussions to break any previous records. I think I am working on over 20 hours of blah, blah this week.

Which is critical for me because it means I am spending more time talking about stuff than actually doing it…Less time cooking and more time being drowned in the politics of life and work.

I can be a verbal communicator if I want, but by choice I am a man of action – be it the action you want or not! I am mentally strained to the point of headaches (which I never usually get, and it physically drains me as well). To what do I owe this great privilege? My big mouth, going against the flow, holding my limits and boundaries seriously with no compromise, and last but not least…Verbalizing all this to the right people at the wrong time! hahaha

Some things no-one wants to hear…And some things cause you so much hassle you wonder if its worth it to delve into an intense problem only to come out the other side and say, ‘what happened? I can’t even remember what the answer was or if we did anything about it.’ can any of you relate to this or am I the one blah, blah’ing your ear off now?

James chapter 3 speaks a good deal about the tongue. Presently I at least try to engage my brain before my mouth and hope I can adequately express myself. I even meditate upon ‘faith without works is dead’ can this translate to…Even if we pray, discuss, conference about things, if we have a physical chance to try to change things with action that coincide with prayer do we need to do it?

I am reminded by my own words as I used the phrase in critical situations, ‘LESS TALK, MORE WORK’. Maybe I should exchange that saying for, ‘PRAY, WORK, HAVE FUN, TALK AS NECESSARY!’.

As of lately I have been walking around with my sandal/flip flops on washing my big toe a couple of times every day, and wondering how many other people it will make flinch noticeably when they see it.

I had an ingrown toenail that was infected and had a kind of fungi in addition to other problems so in order to solve everything in one swoop…tada! No toenail! Nah, it doesn’t hurt near as much as before and hopefully I won’t bang it in to anything.

Its amazing how much pain you can be in every day and not even notice it. It comes to your attention one day that little by little the pain was growing stronger and stronger and you just realized by a stroke of genius that hey, maybe I ought to take care of this. OHHhhhh, the relief and happiness it brings from pain created to relieve the problem that has been constant…All worth it many times over.

Now the trick is to keep it clean and not let it get infected.

I wonder how many OTHER things in our life are like that? How long have we felt pain, put up with things, and/or ignored things so long that we didn’t really know how much it was affecting us until we woke up one day and realized we had to take care of it. Yes sometimes things bring more pain in order to start the healing process but that pain should be nothing compared to the release/joy it should bring from being free of it.

Think about it. And remember the next step: Now the trick is to keep it clean and not let it get infected (again).