Good Day

Today has been a good day so far!  The sun is shining and it's warm, but not in a way that makes your clothes wet with sweat. (I'm trying to savor that before the real heat comes!) I woke this morning to a text saying that the wife of a local co-worker in our office had safely given birth to a girl.  Then we went to the once a month Saturday morning service at a local fellowship that's specifically for the women that we work with.  The women aren't really comfortable coming on Sundays and since FS is open for only 1/2 day on Saturday this works well.  The leaders of this Body also come one morning a week and do a bit longer version of our usual morning meeting at our workplace.  This morning I totally enjoyed the ladies' singing, sharing of requests, and answering questions from things taught in the past---for prizes, of course!

As the speaker shared I watched faces in the crowd and loved seeing the joy there.  All of them have been through things that I can only imagine, whether they were in the trade themselves, grew up in a tiny room sleeping under a bed while their mother received customers, or were left to their own devices at night.  I particularly focused on one women who still sits outside a brothel just up the road a couple of nights a week.  She hasn't entirely left the trade yet but she's on a journey.  This Saturday morning gathering is optional, but she chose to be there and this morning she was full of smiles.

We had a lovely time at lunch with visitors from the part of the country where Steve's mum worked before he was born who came to see FS. Then one of the laborers who does building work for FS brought his sweet young family over for a visit.  His wife didn't speak any English or any of the language that we are learning, but I'm sure she was pleased how much we enjoyed her adorable children.

Tonight we have a couple of foreign co-workers coming to dinner, but until then I'm going to put my feet up and relax, something we haven't had much time for since we've been back.

Yup, it's a good day.  While there are lots of days here that are hard on the heart strings, there are many days that are really, really good just being part of the community that we serve.  And those days make me smile.