First impressions

Surprisingly I woke up about 7:00 AM and actually got up about 8:00. I sat in bed with my Bible to have my quiet time with the Lord. I made my way to the shower and had coffee as I read my second letter from home. This one was from Bruce (husband). This was a surprise as I had assumed that all the letters would be from Taylor. It made me cry to think he would take the time to write a note ahead of time for me to have while I was away.

Because Tracy was still sleeping and no one else seemed to be around, I headed out to their beautiful balcony off the upstairs family room almost right outside our bedroom door. It was a gorgeous morning, not cool but not terribly hot either. There was a great breeze and I sat on their porch swing just looking out over all the lushness. All the houses that I could see have walls all around the yard with electronic gates that open when they come and go. Very unusual to me, but we saw this everywhere as the week went on. Imro had gotten each team couple a cell phone for use while in Suriname so I was able to call Bruce to let him know we'd made it safely. It was so good to hear his voice.

Peggy and Marlon's home is very open on the inside. There is no central air in any of the homes in Suriname, but each bedroom has a wall unit. They keep their windows open all the time and there were no screens on them at all. This was hard for me to get used to at first, not being a "bug" person and all, but I got used to it and never saw a single bug the whole time I was in their home. A couple of mosquitos found me, but that was about it. They usually find me wherever I am anyway so it was no big surprise.

Millie came to pick us up about noon and we had lunch at Linda and Imro's. It was the first time I'd seen their home and it too was mostly on the second floor with a large balcony to catch the breezes. After lunch our team headed over to the church for our devotion/testimony time. Each morning we planned to meet after breakfast and took turns each day planning the devotional and giving our testimony.

Today was Pastor Tom's turn and his devotional was from Matt 4:18-22. This was when Jesus called James, John and Peter from their fishing nets to follow Him. That day was ordinary, what made Jesus pick them? Then they left everything they knew and followed Him without arguing or questioning. We talked about excuses we give for not following Jesus when He calls us. Questions: Am I looking at an ordinary day for ways that God can use me? Am I willing to let Him do that? Am I living expecting God to use me? We had some good discussion.

Imro took us for a bus ride (church bus) around town. The style of houses are so different from home or anywhere I've seen in the US. Also, with no zoning laws there are homes and stores built with no rhyme or reason, old next to new, etc. All the streets I saw were only two lanes with very few street lights. Only downtown had any lights to speak of so driving in this traffic is "lively"? Just like I've seen in the movies before. People pulling out, honking to allow others to yield, changing lanes, slamming on brakes. Since Imro has lived in Paramaribo all his life he is very comfortable driving in these conditions and even with a 30 passenger bus wound in and around traffic like he was driving a bug. I learned early on to sit where I couldn't see out the huge picture window of a windshield. It was better for me to look out the side! We did see the Chinese Embassy and the American Ambassador's home on the way. The Embassy was very cold and imposing. The Chinese have a huge presence in Suriname. There are Chinese stores springing up everywhere and people aren't quite sure where all the money is coming from to do this or why.

We stopped by the Suriname river and walked out onto the dock to see and take some pictures. Though a beautiful country, they have no concept yet of ecology and so the banks of the river where just covered with litter. Water bottles, wrappers, bags, everything you can think of. The water looked pretty yucky and Rand and I commented on the fact that you'd probably get a staff infection just touching the water.

We came back to Peggy's to rest till dinner. The a/c unit in our room is cracker jack and we go from tropical to artic with the opening of a door. We wear jackets in our room to stay warm, but it's a nice change from the heat. It's fun to nap under a quilt when it's 95* outside!

Dinner is for the team and all the host couples, including Millie and it is at Imro's and Peggy's sister Ingrid's Indonesian restaurant. OMG, you can't imagine all the food they brought out for us! We started with a native drink that was pink and kind of thick with little tapioca-like things in the bottom. Next came an Indonesian soup that was incredible. Following that came chicken satay, sweet and sour fish, coconut rice, a special brown rice spiced up, shrimp on a stick, fish cakes, noodles (my favorite) and I can't even remember what else. We passed and passed and passed dishes trying to eat bites of food in between. It was also Linda and Tracy's birthdays so they had a birthday cake for all of us.

Leaving the restaurant we got to see how Suninamese parking in parking lots......everywhere! It's a puzzle getting cars back out and since we were one of the first cars there that night it was fun watching all the antics to get the cars extricated from the lot so we could get home.

When we got back home, Peggy let me use her laptop to check email then it was just relaxing time reading and writing that day's events in my journal. It will get busier as the week goes on so this was a nice day. I'm so glad I came. God is opening my eyes.