Adventist Circles

Loma Linda? Yep. College Place? Uh-huh. Berrien Springs? Of course. Makwasa, Malawi? Oh yes! We may not have the household familiarity, but the problems are still the same. What problems might you ask? First of all, our work ethic is well, uh, typical adventist. Work Sunday through Friday lunch, and take your Sabbath leave 6 hours before it starts. Cliques exist in a form. It's more like a family. If you're a missionary, any other missionary is your family and their house is always open (even when you get sick at 2 AM with some nasty gastro-intestinal infection multiple times, but that's another story). Potlucks abound, including another one this week. As I write this, another family (Elisa's brother and his family) is on their way here, and we want to welcome them. This will be my 4th potluck in 6 weeks! Catholic jokes. They abound even if there aren't any Catholics.

Last night, I spent some time at the guest house where 4 people about my age reside temporarily. One is British/Greek, one is Zambian, one is Brazilian, and one is American. One of the non-Adventists started asking (not just me, but the whole household) about the why questions concerning Adventists and our strange ways. Sadly, the stereotypical "holier than thou" jokes (even though sarcastic in nature) were mixed thoroughly with the serious responses. These jokes would have been completely acceptable in an Adventist circle, but I don't believe they were appropriate because of the slim chance of confusion. I didn't make the jests and I don't even know if any of them were taken the wrong way, but my prayer is that one's enjoyment didn't have any negative implications. Perhaps the topics will come up again soon.

Just a brief update on life otherwise. Funding for Rwanda is still up in the air, as are travel dates, destinations, and projects in the meantime. Dr. Fam left this week for his furlough in Malaysia, after which he will go to Nigeria. He will be missed, but he will do lots of good wherever he is. IT RAINED TODAY!!! This was the first real rain since I got here. It was that "drench you before you know you're wet" hurricane-type rain. About 10 feet before I got to the front door, some lightning struck extremely close. That was loud. Scary part? I was holding a 2-foot long pair of pliers and had a bunch more metal tools in my backpack. Two minutes after I walked in the door, it started hailing. The balls were about the size of pea gravel. Anyway, the Brown's are having dinner at our casa today. Should probably be there.