Today
was supposed to be a day in Lendem, with tomorrow being our last day
at the Bissau center. I had a healthy list of items to get done in
Bissau and not much on today's Lendem agenda.
Devotions
have been in 1 Peter. I was reading about Christ being the chief
cornerstone. Some workers here at the Lendem center have been
building a wall of cement blocks. I've been impressed on how
straight it is, especially when all they do is by sight, no surveying
equipment involved. I can only imagine how careful that first block
must be laid, both in height and direction, for the rest of the wall
to turn out true. (The wall starts at the other end being 3 blocks high. You can see what happens.)
We
normally have breakfast at 7:30 am. We have some kind of dry cereal
(currently generic corn flakes), mixed with a flavored yogurt (banana
today), some bread, and perhaps some fruit. We normally leave for
Bissau (if we're going) as close to 8 am as possible. Estevao and
Gloria have been going every day but Corey and I only went Tuesday
and supposedly tomorrow.
It was
7:55 am when I got a bit nervous about leaving just one day for my
Bissau to-do list. I suddenly decided to spend today as well as
tomorrow in Bissau. Corey stayed behind (and found himself pretty
busy most of the day).
My day
was spent wrapping up my laser printer project (see yesterday's
blog). In particular, rather than asking others including several
national workers to try and follow my documented steps, I offered to
make the change for them so that they could print directly over the
network. I did this for about 7 computers. It was so cool and
rewarding to see their expressions when they could simply print from
their desk and then go pick up their printout on the other side of
the room or even from another room. They had no idea this could be
done.
I also
installed a new network connection over by their copier so that the
laser printer could sit on a proper table, freeing up floorspace in
the crowded room. I finished the internet connection in the guest
apartment, just needing to anchor the cable to the wall.
Because
I was spreading one full days work over two days, I was able to catch
an early ride back to Lendem with William, who was in Bissau picking
up some construction materials. A Portuguese Christian who is part
of another ministry was looking for a ride home so we detoured off
our normal path, adding only about 20 extra minutes to the trip.
At one
point we needed to slow down for one of the many speed bumps found in
Guinea-Bissau. A number of children strategically positioned
themselves there, hawking bags of roasted cashews. Here's a
snapshot of their salesmanship as well as the product they were
pushing.
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| Children selling roasted cashews |
 |
| Said cashews... about $1 worth |
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| I wouldn't like to be passed by us |
At
least half of this road home was dirt. We were kicking up quite a
trail of dust behind us. Not bad for us (at least until we got
caught behind another vehicle) but I did notice nationals riding
bikes in the opposite direction that would cover their mouths and
squint their eyes as they prepared to be assaulted by the dirt we were
kicking up.
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| Man's attempt to lay the cornerstone |
And
yet God was the perfect architect for our salvation, using the
perfect cornerstone and placing it in exactly the right place at the
right point of time and heading for the culmination of our salvation,
the cross and the resurrection.
Sunday
is Easter. Hallelujah! Christ died for me. His is risen!
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