The Other Minor Disaster

August 30, 2010

Jumping back to Friday, I returned to my apartment in the morning and decided to try and get a little more sleep. As I was moving the bedspread, I discovered that it was all wet where it touched the floor and that there was water all along the bed. There was a watermark on the ceiling that I did not recognize from before but I could not remember for sure. It has rained all night and though my window had been closed, I wondered if the rain had been the culprit. I quickly cleaned it up and settled in for a morning nap. Perhaps twenty minutes later I heard the sound of dripping water. I looked up to find water pouring out from around a light set in the ceiling. It was clearly not rain because the skies had cleared up and the smell of the water told me it was not the cleanest water. I called the people I rent from and they placed a call to the owner. Meanwhile I decided to go upstairs and find out what kind of water was seeping into my bedroom. A maid answered my knock and when I told her how water was coming into my apartment, she said that she would talk to her employer but they had been running water in the kitchen. Many kitchens or laundry rooms have what is called a "pila" and is where water can be stored and then taken out to use for scrubbing laundry etc.... They are more common to have on a patio than in an enclosed apartment.

In talking with those in charge of my apartment, I discovered that the owner would be coming by in the afternoon so I changed my plans around to make sure I was present. And in the meantime I had more cleaning and laundry to do than I had planned.

The issue was not resolved when the owner came since the cause seems to be the apartment upstairs. To fix the problem (and now the ceiling) will take some time as said the ownner today and so she will probably wait until I am out of town for a while. I spent the weekend in one of the other bedrooms since I was not sure the upstairs neighbors would refrain from using their pila or get the issue fixed. I think I will stay put for a few more days since I do not fancy waking up to dirty dripping water.

Thankfully the rest of my Friday went well even though I was in the kitchen. The bread and other food turned out well and I enjoyed visiting with a friend that evening over her birthday dinner. The best part of the day though was getting news from another missionary friend that a situation I had been praying about worked out well and a friend had taken the confrontation calling her into accountability well.

Looking back on Friday with a Monday perspective, I see that my "disasters" are still so minor compared to many others. Today one of my co-workers had important documents stolen out of car while it was parked in front of La Casa. The other week someone stole the registration card out of our micro-bus. Those are situations with even more headaches than my leak which I am ultimately not responsible for. As things continue to happen that slow down ministry and program or discourage the staff, it does seem that there is spiritual warfare going on. Actually spiritual warfare is always going on, sometimes it is just more intense than other times. These past seven months I feel like I have seen a lot more of the warfare than at other times in my life. And so I realize even more the importance of wearing the armor of God and being equipped, praying in all occasions. Of course that is all much easier said than lived out, but I pray that the Lord will give me the strength that I need to stand firm in trials and to be a support to those around me.