In Our House

Our little missionaries!  Sometimes I wonder if the people of General
think that American's only have girls...4 girls now & 3 babes on the way!

We have been a full time missionary family for one month!!  As I Iook around our new home I can see how I have adjusted to missionary life and how many things are different than “American living.”  It’s surprising to me how much we’ve become accustomed to these changes, so much so that it was hard to think of some of the differences. 

In our house there are three families….each one has one shelf in the kitchen, one shelf in the fridge and one room in the house, no matter how many kids.  Everything we own fits in that one room, everything else is communal.

In our house, our washing machine is outside and our clothes dryer is the sun, so no washing clothes when it’s raining, otherwise the dining room tables are turned into drying racks.

 

Outdoor washing machine...careful when it rains
Don't leave your clothes in there because it will fill up with rain water!

This is what I like to call an external energy efficient clothes dryer
and oh how inexpensive it is!

It was raining for 3 days the last time I did laundy, so this room
got converted into the laundry room and I covered most of the tables
with wet clothes...that is missionary life!

In our house, we can see the stars from the middle of the house.  Most of the doors lead directly to the outside so to walk from our bedroom to the kitchen we get to see the sun or walk through the rain.  It’s a perfect spot to have an outdoor tea party with the kids, learn to ride a bike or hang a piñata for a special little girl’s birthday!

We practice bike riding in the courtyard of our house!

In our house it is one temperature, 5 degrees warmer than outside.  There is no indoor heating or air conditioning so if you wear a jacket to walk outside, you’ll wear that jacket all day long, through breakfast, morning prayer, home visits and dinner.

In our house someone can always be knocking at the door and often times there are new people sitting in our entry way that were not there 5 minutes prior.  One of our ministries is offering help and prayer to those who come seeking it: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).  Some people come for food, others for medicine, some for help with medical bills and tests, a few for clothes or diapers, formula or milk, for their ‘bebes’ and a handful just come for a cup of hot coffee (with tons of sugar) and the company of a warm home.

In our house Jesus has his own room.  Something special about this mission post is we are entrusted with the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist in our own chapel…morning, noon or night we can go visit him present in the Blessed Sacrament.  In fact, this next week we’ll have the Blessed Sacrament exposed for 12 hours a day, Monday – Thursday, at the initiative of the priest and will welcome any and all who want to come pray into our home.

Our chapel!

In our house we have a four-sink dish washing process: Sink 1 rinse, sink 2, wash, sink 3 rinse the soap, sink 4 double rinse the soap (just in case sink 3 was full of soapy rinse water).  When groups come to visit we add Clorox to the water to disinfect it…it’s true what they say, ‘Don’t drink the water in Mexico.’  In fact, we have to cook and drink purified water so we don’t get sick.

Life here is different, and yet, how much the same it is too.

In our house we still have kids that scream, cry and do the most adorable things!  Raeleigh’s latest favorite is to tickle her friends and say, ‘You’re my best friend, cutie pie.”  In our house we still have dirty clothes that need to be washed, meals that need to be prepared and kids that go down for naps…

I guess it just goes to show that all the things I thought I 'needed' to make life good, successful, and full were not actually needs, but products of American life... all I NEED is Jesus!

Thank you Jesus for naps!