What Do You Do?

Friends and family back in the States continually ask me, "Steve, what do you do each day?" My typical response is, "Plenty". I realize that "plenty" isn't much of an answer. So, I thought I would provide, in the space below, what the first 4 days of this week have looked like for me (that's Monday through Thursday)....

Mondays are typically very busy. Especially the morning. By "morning" I mean from 6:30 or 7:00 until about noon. This Monday was no different. By 9:00 AM I had met with 2 or 3 people which included lining out work for a couple of guys, one of whom spent the day "en ville" (in town) running various errands (including dropping off visa application documents at the Cameroonian Embassy for a couple staying at the Welcome Center) and purchasing various items. By 9:15 Janice and I and two friends (and Gracey and Liddy) headed off to town to run some errands ourselves. We went to the Central Market where we purchased some Quaker Oats and withdrew some money from the ATM. We also went to an Artesiannelle where local artisans sell their wares. We managed to buy some plane tickets and do 1 or 2 other things before heading home. We got home around 3 or 4 PM just in time to start preparing dinner. We had a nice dinner, some conversation, and finally made it to bed by midnight. (I also managed to go to a quick team meeting/prayer meeting for about 1 hour). Oh yeah, I almost forgot, after getting home I spent several minutes on several occasions talking with our staff, fetching things for folks, and noting some expenditures in our ledger. I also reconnected, via telephone, with our guy who went to town for us.

Tuesday started out at a rather leisurely pace as I only met with 2 people before 8:00 AM. But, by 9:00 AM I was called home by Janice because Payton was not feeling well. (He's not been completely healthy - with headaches, fever, and fatigue - since January 11th.) We decided to take him to the medical clinic. So, off he and I went. We didn't get home until the early afternoon whereupon one of our friends was underneath our kitchen sink making repairs to our leaking pipes. After about 30 minutes we had applied the largest patch of silicone caulk either one of us had ever seen. Then, after sitting outside for a spell (where we just talked and drank a soda) my friend went back to the Welcome Center and I went inside to cook dinner. Yes, I cooked dinner but only because Janice and the other ladies had gone to their weekly study meeting. I wasn't able to eat with everyone because of a few people who came by needing and/or wanting something but I was able to eat dessert with everyone. We had another nice time together and enjoyed conversation with our friends.

Wednesday morning started out fairly normal as I was actually able to eat my breakfast uninterrupted. And, since the Doctor had requested that Payton come back to the clinic for another blood test I had planned on leaving by 8:00 AM. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to leave then because of numerous people who needed me and/or needed something from me. Finally, at around 8:30 or so Payton and I (along with a friend) were off to the clinic. We were done at the clinic by 11:00 or so, did some shopping, and stopped by a little restaurant for lunch and ice cream. We arrived back home by 1:00 PM and our friends were able to leave after having finally securing their visas while we were eating lunch at the restaurant (see below). The rest of the day was relatively uneventful save for the several instances when I had people come to my office or our front door and the development of a problem with Hudson's "manly part" because he's not circumcised. (Long story. Really short version: can't get circumcisions in France until the little fella is 3 years old.) And, unbelievably enough, Janice and I were both able to stay awake long enough to read and pray before going to sleep at about 11 PM.

Thursday started out with a 12:05 AM wake-up call because the generator suddenly stopped working. So, I was out of bed and outside checking it by 12:10 AM and had fired off a text message to our mechanic by 12:20 AM. Up at 6:15 AM, texted our mechanic again who replied that he was already here and working on the problem. Went outside to talk with him for a few minutes, went to my office, talked to a few more people, actually came home and was able to eat breakfast. Somewhere b/t getting up and eating breakfast Janice informed me that H's "manly part" wasn't any better so we decided to take him to the clinic. So, off to the clinic we went with Hudson and Ethan (because "my no. 1 brother needs me") and we arrived there around 9:00 AM. Well, one thing let to another and we eventually ended up at the French Military Base where Hudson had surgery at about 2:00 PM. By 4 Pm we were back on the road and after making a stop or two for meds and some candy bars we got back home around 5:00 PM. Upon getting home our mechanic was still working on the generator (he got it fixed a few minutes later!) so I talked with him for a while, went to my office to take care of a few things, and then went back home to eat dinner. Since he hadn't eaten anything all day I invited our mechanic to eat with me - spaghetti - and after eating dinner we went back to my office whereupon I paid him for his labor - a whopping $26 for working from basically 6 AM to 6 PM. (I told him he should move to the US where he could make a killing as a diesel mechanic.) While at my office one of our teamates asked me to set up the projector in the conference room tonight. That request resulted in about 90 minutes of work - because computers and projectors don't like each other - spread over a 3 or 4 hour period. Now, it is 10:24 PM and I am writing this blog entry while Alex sits next to me drawing a map and the rest of the family is in bed.

Note: Our friends, whom I keep referring to above, were in town to drop off a couple of team members at the airport and to get Cameroonian visas. On Monday I had one of our guys take their applications, etc. to the Embassy. He wasn't able to submit them because the Embassy wanted a letter from their mission. We didn't know about the letter because we weren't required to give one when we got our visas. (It is not uncommon here to have moving-target requirements for things like this.) So, on Tuesday I had another one of our guys run the applications over to the Embassy again but this time with the appropriate letter. We were hopeful that their visas would be approved that very same day. Unfortunately, the Embassador was out of town and wouldn't be back until the next day. So, on Wednesday morning, I texted our guy and asked him to enquire at the embassy about the visas. After just a few minutes I got a response that said there is a 48 hour approval process (yet another moving-target requirement) which meant our friends' quick 2 day stay was looking like a 5 day stay at a minimum. Well, I texted back and asked our guy to see what he could do since our friends wanted to get back home to Moundou because they'd been gone longer than anticipated. After hearing nothing for about 2 hours I called him at which time he told me that he explained to the Embassador the problem and graciously, very graciously, he approved the visas on the spot. (Again, another fine example of the very relational way of life here in Chad - our guy invests a few minutes with the Embassador and the result is a couple of visas.) Thus, our guy was able to hand deliver the visas to us while we were enjoying a nice lunch at a N'Djaména restaurant.

Thus concludes my "this is what I do" missive. While the events may change, the flow of each day above is fairly representative of what I typically do. I hope you have enjoyed this little peak into my world and the world of my family.

Until next time. sf