Cultural Quirks

This week has been very interesting. On Thursday, it was a beautiful, sunny, breezy day so I decided to hang out 2 loads of laundry. After they were hung out for about an hour, large billows of smoke started rolling by. It got thicker and thicker and soon the air was white from the smoke. It filtered through our house and I started to cough. It was from them burning the fields around us. They burn down the brush that grows and gets out of hand. Since it was a breezy day, it was carrying the thick clouds of smoke right into our community and all through our house. I knew that the clothes would smell of smoke, but I certainly was not washing them again. I didn't bring them in to throw them in the dryer because I was trying to conserve electricity in the first place. So we've been wearing smoke-smelling clothes. :-) The good thing is that we will wear them once and then they will get washed and hopefully smell better next round. :-)

Today I decided was going to be the day I cleaned my bedroom from top to bottom. I was going to wash the curtains, etc. I got my sheets in the washer early and hoped to get them hung out to dry before I pursued the curtains and rest of my laundry. The cycle was half way through when the electric went off! Of all days! There went my plans to hang my sheets out, wash the curtains, as well as finish my regular laundry. Ugh! The electric never did come back on till 6:00 p.m. so I did laundry this evening. I never did take my curtains down (thankfully) and I never got them washed. Maybe on another day when there's electric and water, it will happen. If I really get desperate, I can wash them by hand, but I'm not that desperate yet. :-)

Since the electric was off so long and we couldn't do anything else, Doug took us out for ice cream. It was also partly to celebrate an recent answer to prayer as well as have some family time. We got six sundaes and they only gave us three spoons! We had to go back in and ask for three more spoons.

On another note, we're anticipating how God is going to work the next several weeks. Tomorrow in youth Sunday school class, Doug will present the death of Jesus. It will climax the next several weeks and then, providentially, on Easter Sunday, it will conclude with the resurrection of Jesus.

Doug has been preparing and praying for these next few weeks with all of his energy. We've been feeling the kickback from Satan. Yes, it seems when he is working is also when we have electric and water problems - which we've had multiple times this week. Not just in the physical ways, but we also sense Satan working in the spiritual realm. He does not want to let these young people go!

We would appreciate your prayers specifically for the young people over the next couple of weeks. There is no better time for them to come to Christ than Easter! That's what it's all about!