Carrots, Dehydrator, & Delegation

- May 15, 2015

As many missionaries here are thinking of end of the school year and summer plans. My mind is already skipping to the end of summer furlough and what awaits me 5 days upon our return. Usually 5 days after we return from a half way around the globe transit I have just about got my feet on the ground and beginning to feel a sense of normalcy. Jet lag is real and so is grocery shopping in a 3rd world. 5 days after we return, we are expecting approximately 25 short term missionaries to arrive. It will be my job to host them and feed them. Now if I were to simply feed them from my kitchen, that in itself, would be an impressive task. However, the group plans to split, half of them going into a remote mountain location and half to a remote sea side place. One group accessible by plane, the other by boat. They need fed in those locations too. So take away the stove, electricity, refrigerator and FEED MY SHEEP. Thanks! Really? : ) Really!

So over the past month my mind has been grappling with HOW? And what can we do to make this work and simple.

I was REALLY freaking out about this. When Darron said to me, “Don’t worry, I am sure Wendy will help you.” The second he said that, I KNEW his words were true. Sure enough, the next morning I asked Wendy. She is on board. Provision #1.

Provision #2. My 19 year old dehydrator died. A faithful wedding present. A great tool for taking “heavy” food and making it light to fly into remote places with. Every kilo counts when doing mission flying. I put out a request to the community to see if anyone would like to sell a dehydrator. I had two responses. The first one I was able to borrow. The second one arrived to me this week. It had only been used twice, by a missionary family who lives in a tribe. Came in the box, as if I had just purchased it from the store and they would not let me give them a penny for it. I was so HUMBLED by this generous act.

Not only do I have Wendy and a dehydrator but I have also come to realization that I have a host of people all around me eager to help. This week I talked with both my house helper and my cook. Both assured me that they would ask their friends to rally and so when the 25 guests are here in town, I will have a group of ladies willing and eager to serve. I was reading a book to the younger boys recently, set in the 1800’s. The mother was teaching her “wealthy” daughter how to cook and clean. She said, “Even if you never have to do this kind of work, you will still have to know how to do it in order to manage your household.” That really resonated with me, because even though I have people helping me now and in the future, it is still a big responsibility to manage and oversea what needs to be done. Rejoicing that my mother gave me the skill set to know housework and cooking. Grateful that I am not alone and many will rise up to help. Provision #3.

25 people = room in suitcases. Provision #4. Prepackaged food from America. Yes….we are making our lists of what can be brought from the USA, so that when we are cooking over a camp fire, all we have to do is add water, heat and stir. Our goal is light weight and nutritious. We will also eat the local food. However, sweet potatoes and sweet potato leaves are going to need some supplementation for our Western tummies.

Provision #5. This week, it also dawned on me, that I don’t have to cook every meal. That when we are here on campus, I can ask others to prepare. The Indonesian ladies here on campus would be thrilled to prepare some Indonesian food. So I think when we are here in town I will do breakfast and supper (western) and lunch will be Indonesian. Also, that simplicity will be best.

So, already we have peas, corn, bananas, and carrots dried. I delegated the drying to Jacob and Nathaniel. 10 kilos (about 20 pounds) of carrots dried to less than 1 kilo. Praying that God will grant me the blessing of being able to walk away from all of this while we are State Side. Knowing that I have done all that I could to prepare and that God will continue to provide on our return. He is faithful. And if for some reason you are reading this and it is your family member who is going to come here and do a short term mission project…..just know, they will be well taken care of!