14 Moments from My Final Week of Service

1. I sprinkle hot sauce on a bowl of plain rice and a single fried egg. Is this why I lost eight pounds here?
2. I watch a hammered drunk 17 year old meander up the path to the Evangelical church. Not a good place for you to be right now, I think.

3. 

   Impervious in my hammock

   I eat a fingerful out of the peanut butter jar. Then I have three more.
4. Someone tells me about my surprise going away party on Thursday.
5. Thunder rumbles, threatening rain, while I sit contently and impervious in my hammock, reading.
6. Someone else tells me about my surprise going away party.
7. One of the truck drivers stops to give me a ride home. Big smile on my face.
8. The moon is so bright and full that I can literally read a book outside at night. I don't, because there are lots of biting bugs outside at night.
9. Walking down the street, I stop, smell the air, listen, and decide it will rain. I think of what it would be like if I did this on the streets of New York and smile. Keep walking, Legolas.

10. 

    Waiting for a meal at a host family house

    About 30 yards up the road from me, a man slowly approaches a three foot snake and smashes it with the flat end of his machete. He then cuts its head off and backs away, waiting. I give him a thumbs up and walk by the dead Fur de Lance (aka Equis, a very poisonous snake).
11. Walking home, I look left and see a little girl drop her pants and pee on the side of her house. Halfway through pulling her pants back up, she looks up at me, smiles, and waves. At what age do we get self conscious?
12. Literally a second later, I turn my head to the right and a little boy drops his pants, and pees on the side of his house. I'm feeling a little peer pressure here to drop my pants and pee on my house when I get home.
13. Three mornings in a row, children come to my house at 6am shouting “Yak!” When I let them in, they circle the house, picking things up and asking if they can have them.
14. 

    Pictures with cute kids increase page hits

    I put my book down and sit quietly, reflecting. Until I hear a mouse in the corner and engage him in a merry chase. He gets away and somehow I still care, even though I'll be gone in two days.