by Heather Phillips
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Lesotho has given me multiple tales to regale you all with, so be prepared for a few Lesotho Newsletters this year!! The first one is going to be about a spoon! Or rather, a lack thereof…
On the Wednesday of our mission trip in Lesotho, the team visited the village closest to the base, Moreneng (“Village of the Morena”, the chief). At the Morena’s compound, we had a meal with the whole village. We played with the kids, handed out sweets and bags of toiletries, and entertained the village with our gent’s displays of strength and agility (some of our boys were bored and kept trying to rugby tackle each other). It was a grand affair, that went down very well in the end.
In preparation for the meal, Mpho and Mamatello, two of the Africa for Jesus staff, were cooking for hours. They cooked all the meat, stirred all the pap and peeled all the veggies. All we had to do was bring spoons. Did I remember to pass on this simple instruction to the team? …
So after hours of walking around and fooling around, the food was finally ready. As Pieter was handing out plates, it sunk in that we had no utensils. Most of the team was not impressed. We were about to eat stew with less than clean fingers. As always though, Jordan came to the rescue with his positivity: He had been trying to convince the team for days, that the best way to eat pap was with your hands. Finally, he had inadvertently gotten his way!
Zandré, obviously, was the first to cave and tucked in with gusto. He too assured us that seasoned fingers seemed to enhance the flavour. Within a minute, the team was silent, guzzling down their finger foods with no regard for what their mothers would think of their manners.
The following day back at the base, where utensils were plentiful, many of the boys continued to eat their pap with their hands, thoroughly convinced they’d been deceived their whole lives, and prepared to try a variety of other foods without the encumberment of a fork.
It was lovely (and a relief) to see how the team turned something that could have gone horribly wrong, into a memorable experience. It just took one person to look at the situation from a different perspective, to suggest how the change in plans might actually have been beneficial.
In planning for Lesotho, I tried to account for every possible thing that could go wrong, knowing full well that at some point an issue would come up that I had not prepared for. Even with all of the planning, I knew things wouldn’t go perfectly. And isn’t that just a great analogy for life. We make plans, we have wonderful ideas, and then the pawpaw hits the fan. Or the spoons get left behind.
It’s very discouraging when things don’t work out the way we anticipated. Proverbs 16 is full of wisdom on the ways of plans going awry. Verse 9 in particular shares the guidance of, “In his heart, a man decides his course, but the Lord guides his steps.” We have the responsibility to make plans and try our best at keeping them in line with the Lord’s will for our lives. Sometimes we make mistakes though. Or sometimes, God’s plan was us making plans and working through the fallout of failure.
The important follow up to plans not working out, is our attitude. Accepting and moving on, like water off a duck’s back instead of wallowing in self-pity, can be the best way out of a situation turned wrong. Sometimes, as with the spoons, the positive attitude in a less than positive situation was probably the reason for the situation in the first place. The team will always remember how good that meal with the village was, for a variety of reasons, but eating it with hands will have only added to the joy. So next time you “forget your spoon” try and make the best of the situation. Maybe you’ll find some joy in the creativity that comes next…
Much love in Christ
Heather P