Don't ask why!

Hello from the "Wild, Wild West Indies!", as we have now dubbed our chosen field of service. Sometimes life here defies all logic. For example, this morning we got up with a program to return to Port-au-Prince to finish some mechanic work on the truck. A trip to town, however, is never wasted. There were plenty of errands to run. Money needed to be exchanged, groceries needed to be bought, Shaina, Crash and I needed some chocolate, we needed to check prices on uniform material, and books and of course several other things that we would remember when we got there or on the way. The plan came to a halt as our driver, El-ves showed up for work. He told us that he had a dream that he was in a terrible accident with the truck and therefore he would not be driving the truck anywhere today. Since Wilckly had other business to take care of here he couldn't drive us and so our plans will remain to be executed at a later date, remaining to be determined.

Fortunately, I was warned a long time ago by my very perceptive mentor, David Orr, how I could still live in the midst of this kind of craziness. The two tidbits he gave me that have carried me through sixteen years in Haiti without going crazy, are these: Don't ask why? and Everything takes longer than it takes.

He said don't ask why Dee, contrary to everything you've been taught. There will never be a logical explanation . You don't have time to waste trying to figure it out so if you just learn to accept it and go on you will be able to accomplish a lot more.

Don't be discouraged by things moving so slowly, just always remember that everything takes longer than it takes. This way you won't get quite as frustrated by it. For example: when you go to the store and you want to know the price of something. First,you ask the person who looks like they work there, the price of the item. They will look at it, get a number off of it and disappear. They return after some time with the price in Haitian gourdes which you have to translate into Haitian dollars. You then decide you would like three but they only have to on the shelf. Thirty minutes later you have finally secured the third one and you proceed to the counter to pay. You hand the item to the person with the money. They hand you back the money and collect information from the items. They keep the items and hand you a three-fold copy of the items and their prices. They send you to the next window where you then hand them the bill. They figure the total and ask you to pay. You then pay and they give you back two copies of the bill and you go to the next window. You hand the two papers which are stamped paid and they finally hand you one of the papers and the item you bought and you prepare to exit the store. A man stops you and asks to see your receipt and look at the items in the bag. He then makes a check mark on your receipt and you can finally be on your merry way! Patience is definitely a virtue in this country. I am embarrassed to even tell you how long all of that could take. All of this brought into perspective by the fact that, Everything takes longer than it takes.

Next time you are frustrated by that slow, fast food service; those poky people in the check out line;that traffic light that seems to take twenty minutes to change; and that crazy microwave that can't get the food cooked fast enough........slow down, take a deep breath and enjoy those conveniences and think of us, your missionary friends who need you to continue to pray for them to have patience, endurance and understanding to further God's kingdom here in Haiti.