Grime and Impromptu Sermons

Today I decided to be a true missionary and by going two days without showering. Actually, I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Early Sunday morning the power decided to go out. There were power outages all the way out to Pucallpa, which is 38 Km away from base camp. Apparently this is a once a month occurrence. I still haven’t  figured out why this happens--I think it has something to do with the power plant being overloaded, who knows.

So here I sit in my own filth, dreaming of cold water to drink, swim in, bath in, anything but dirt. But then again, it could be worse. Two days isn’t really bad. So to get my mind off my own grime I shall recollect on past happenings.

I’ve come to really love my Church in Santa Elvita. By “church” I mean a house with a few roughly made pews sitting next to it. I really enjoy the simplicity of the church, it’s pretty impromptu, from the special music to the sermons.  Which shouldn’t have made last Sabbath shocking for me.

As the kids were putting the finishing touches on their coloring pages, a church member informed us that one of the SM’s would be preaching. Stupidly, we thought that the members wouldn’t ask us to preach since it was our first Sabbath—never think that. I should have seen it coming. Caleb, an SM from La Sierra, was asked if he had a sermon prepared. Of course none of us had come prepared. Two other SM’s were asked before one of the summer workers approached me, “Jenessa, can you preach the sermon?” What else was I going to say? No one else was left. I heard myself reply, “Yeah sure, give me a minute.” What?! How in the world could I preach a sermon, I hadn’t even had a full conversation without picking up my dictionary and saying, “Como se dice…..?”

After being asked to preach, I frantically searched through my Bible, trying to think of what I had read for my devotionals that week. I prayed, “Please Lord, direct me to something!” A few seconds later I turned to Matthew chapter 5 (which  happens to be the chapter of my favorite verses). “Perfect, thanks Lord!” I jotted down a few thoughts about being salt and light to the world. I barely had time to find some supporting texts before it was time to file to the front.

All the SM’s and I made our way to the front to take our seats for the service. We nervously stood there singing hymns in Spanish. After some off tune singing and garbled pronunciations,  one of the girls was asked to come forward to recite a verse of her choice. I didn’t quite pick up all she said, but I did catch where the verse was found, Matthew 5:16! I leaned over to my translator and asked if the verse the girl just recited was indeed what I thought it was. She nodded yes. “I can’t believe it, that’s what I’m preaching on!” Coincidence? I don’t think so.

The program progressed and it was finally my turn. Ah! I was so nervous; I said a quick prayer asking God to bless my words. The sermon went pretty smoothly,  it was more like a sermonette. But I think God still blessed. Just having the little girl recite the verse I was preaching on was such a blessing. I didn´t really care how the rest of the sermon went after that, I knew God would do His thing. My sermon ended and I breathed a sigh of relief. As we stood at the back of the church the members thanked us, said, ¨Feliz Sabado,¨ and gave us cheek to cheek kisses (I really like that expression of affection here by the way). I realized that the members didn´t expect perfection, just willing spirits. Which is what God expects of me too. There´s no way I could ever be a perfect missionary, but all God wants is for me to be willing.

Well, the power is back on now. Time to go  wash this grime off. One thing I’ve learned from this power outage is to take a shower whenever you can. Cause you never know when you’ll be without water.