3 February 2007

Be our guest

Dear Family and Friends,

Drip, drip, drip. Slip, slip, slip. Rainy season is upon us. We carry umbrellas, dodge mud puddles, and hang up laundry in the work room. Day and night, temperatures remain constant at 70 degrees F. Skies let loose, especially at dawn. Mosquitoes love it. People suffer in crowded areas.

Meanwhile, why haven’t you been hearing from us? Because of three lengthy journeys last month to Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Copperbelt, which is a region of Zambia.

For half of January and the last week of December, we hosted Keith Pacheco from Ted’s former congregation. Keith—who came here on a partnership assignment to work in Masvingo, Zimbabwe—served as a guinea pig for all of you other hopeful guests. Now we know what it’s like having friends stay and travel for extended periods. With deep appreciation for his kindness and good nature, let us share some of the lessons we all learned

• Patience is a virtue. You wait for the Internet. You thank God if you get connected. You wait for the Web site to load. You wait while your modem re-dials because the phone line has failed. You wait for government officials to show up. You wait in a queue when they do. You wait in traffic because the robots (traffic lights) don’t work. You wait for whoever is speaking to finish.
• No good deed goes unpunished. If, like Keith, you plan to bring us valuable gifts, and if like him you declare them at Customs (as legally you’re supposed to), tell us in advance so we can prepare the paperwork that will allow the goods to enter as church-related. Otherwise, like Keith, you will discover that Zambia charges 50 percent duty plus 17.5 percent value-added-tax. (“What value did I add?” he asks. We wonder the same when we go shopping.) Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. The projector arrived in good shape, and now it stays safely within our house.
• Be prepared to preach, teach, or at least give a welcome to the church on Sunday morning.
• Bring photos of yourself or your loved ones to leave as gifts for those whom you visit locally.
• Check and double check to make sure that you have all your travel documents in order. Ted failed just once. And it was such a good plan—to cross the border post into Zimbabwe on a holiday. We arrived at Chirundu, sailed through immigration, and proceeded to fill out the vehicle export papers. “Show us your Interpol clearance, please,” the man asked (to prove the vehicle wasn’t stolen). “Ah…it’s supposed to be right here in this envelope.” End result: we drove back to Lusaka, two and a half hours, and started again the next day.
• Don’t worry about laundry. We own a washing machine and have a wonderful housekeeper who irons.
• Bring a washcloth for travel. African guest houses don’t supply them.
• Bring chocolate for Sue. When Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.
• Remember, the voltage is 220.
• Be flexible with plans. Good things can happen. Surprises will happen, you can be sure. Keith hadn’t imagined that he would take home tailor-made dresses for his young adult daughters. But because it took time to choose and buy the local fabric, we didn’t go to a game park. Imagine visiting Africa and not seeing a single zebra! But the trip was highly successful.
• Finally, breathe the air and really meet the local people. You will probably decompress while you are with us. Not that it’s easy getting used to no TV, driving on the left, or using pit latrines at church, but you may discover doors of awareness opening up. Keith made this good observation: “In America, time is scarce; money is plentiful. So people give money, but giving time is tough.” Here it’s quite the opposite. Money is scarce. People take their time instead, and sometimes not by choice. A certain American guest felt peeved because folks were running late for his meeting. We had to explain: “They are coming by minibus. A minibus doesn’t leave until it is full. You never know when.”

Here, the speed of travel often improves if others wish to go where you are going. Seems counterintuitive, but if you stop and think, the love of God is also counterintuitive.

A closing thought from the Gospel of John, chapter 14. Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.”

All of us are guests, and always will be. You’re welcome to come and be ours.

In Jesus’ love,

Ted and Sue Wright

P.S. We’ve gone ahead and told Keith’s story without his help. If you want it straight from the horse’s mouth—what the Wrights are really like—send us a note. We’ll give you his email.

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 337