Morning walk

Life in Loja is often dusty and windy and very little green in the immediate vicinity. It's because lots of gardens are tucked behind the house and so walking around you generally just see walls and concrete. And some construction is always happening somewhere so mud and dirt gets carried around everywhere (for example right outside our house).

And so, it is delight to be able to go for a walk along the river on the northern end of town. To be amidst the trees, the grass, the sound of the river rushing past is refreshing to the soul. Thrown into that, Annalise gets to see cows, horses, dogs, llamas, monkeys and eagles as we make our way along. And when I lift my eyes, the hills are there, green, often misty, and when the sun breaks through the clouds, the light as it hits those slopes is lovely.

It is worth the bug bites that always seem to appear once I get home!

Ephesians 6 across cultures

Came to Ephesians 6 in the bible study I (John) lead before church this morning. And it raised a whole host of questions that hadn't even entered my Australian head. As we talked about relationships between slaves and masters, and what it means to be a godly employee or employer the whole area of 'favours' came up. What do you do if you are an employee and a friend asks you for a favour to get something moving along faster or to have an issue resolved sooner than it otherwise would be? What about if it was you, is it OK to ask a friend for a favour to get those slow or stationary wheels turning to have your situation attended to? Do you decide on the basis of legality, you surely wouldn't agree to something illegal, but if it was legal, would you go ahead and do it?

Hard questions to answer, so it meant a lot of listening for me! God's word has a lot to say to every culture but for as someone still learning this culture, it meant hearing how followers of Jesus here viewed some of these tricky areas.

What I learnt today

I was happily (sort of) ironing this morning as the lady who helps with cleaning once a week paused outside the room I was in. 'You iron during the day, Señora Karine?' 'Oh, I replied, 'if I have time, more often at night, when the kids are in bed'. She looked a little perturbed. 'When do you iron' I ask her. 'At night'. Oh. The thing is, she went on to explain, its dangerous to iron during the day. Why? I asked. Well, you will soon be cooking lunch, right? And you'll be washing up and using water. And the water will be cold, and even if it's warm water, all this water will make your body cold. And this is after the ironing has made your body all hot. And the end result of this will be that you will damage your hands. You will end up with twisted hands and wrists.

Oh. I could see her cause for concern. Do you know anyone that this has happened to? Yes, she replied. Oh. Do you think it could be arthritis? No way, this is different.

Who told you about not ironing during the day? My mum, my mother-in-law. All the women in our family iron on Friday nights, after we have definitely finished everything in the kitchen.

OK. There are so many beliefs and superstitions in this society that I have yet to learn. Each of them govern people's lives in such subtle ways, dictating even when ironing should happen. I pray that many will hear the gospel and enter into the freedom that comes from knowing Christ, and that it may be God's powerful word that governs lives.

The process of putting in new phone lines

Mattias had a fun afternoon the other day as he watched a digger right outside our window dig up the footpath up and down our street. Noisy, dirty and so close! No one came to let us know the footpath was going to be dug up, and unfortunately for our neighbours, the footpath mostly ended up in front of their garage (people generally are very averse to leaving their cars outside overnight).

A week has since past, and the trail of destruction (or construction?) continues on down the hill. Not sure if the footpath will get repaired or if it will be left as is. At least I am getting a bit of off-roading experience as I drive into our garage!