Lila, one of my teammates who is going to Swaziland wrote this blog that I had to share with you because it is super funny and SO true!
Yesterday was our day off, so we went into Brownsville to go to the zoo and other such fun things. For dinner they dropped us of in this shopping center with all sorts of places to eat. Some of us went to Chick Fil A, and after a delicious meal of chicken fingers, milk shakes, and cheesecake we were talking to one of the employees. Her name was Hannah and we were just telling her about what we were doing and where we were going, etc. She then proceeded to tell us that when we pulled up she “thought we were hippies and was scared”. Ha. But when I really thought about it, we kind of do look like hippies. We drive around squished into big vans, none of us are ever actually clean, we wear a lot of tie dye and bandannas, we all love each other a lot, we smile all the time, and some of us are weird enough that strangers might legitimately think we’re on drugs. But really.. we just love Jesus. So, in honor of Hannah, I’ve comprised a list of some of the ridiculous things we do because we’re missionaries.
- One night we were about to have evening session and some girls were sitting on the ground fixing coffee for each other, completely and utterly undisturbed by the huge dead cockroach laying belly up right in the middle of them.
- Showering is absolutely optional. The end.
- Dreads, purple hair, nose rings, and tats have become the norm.
- Wearing the exact same outfit for multiple days in a row is totally okay. This might actually have more to with the fact that we try to avoid doing laundry at all costs though.
- Musical instruments are always present. Guitars, Jessica’s flute, tambourines that no one really knows how to play, harmonicas, drums/objects that sound remotely like drums, etc.
- John Parrish has only brushed his teeth three times since we’ve been here. That really has nothing to do with being a missionary, the rest of us uphold our dental hygiene, it’s just super gross.
- Sharing is caring. We all wear each other’s clothes, eat each other’s food, use each other’s stuff.
- Facial hair is revered, sadly. All the menboys (I don’t really know what to call them anymore) stopped shaving a long time ago.
- The three most talked about things are 1) God 2) Food 3) Poop.
- We’re supposed to exercise every morning, but instead we play elementary school PE games. Red Rover, dodgeball, kickball, tag.
- Due to the massive infestation of bed bugs our legs will never be the same again. They are forever scarred.
- Having at least twelve bracelets on your wrists and ankles is common.
- We use toilet plungers to wash our clothes.
- We consume an average of at least four gnats with your dinner and are completely okay with it.
- For a few days I was really frustrated because I couldn’t get my feet clean no matter how hard I scrubbed them in the shower. Then I realized that they weren’t actually dirty- I just had an awful Chaco tan line.
- Additionally, we all have probably irreversible farmer’s tans.
So, in short, I’m having an INCREDIBLE time. I’m so thankful that God brought me here instead of to college. There’s no possible way I could do justice to the work He’s doing here, or in my heart, so just know that He’s being so good to me.
