The Gecko in the Window

I’ve been sick and quarantined to my room all week, so I’ve had lots of quality time with just me and the gecko in my window. I haven’t been able to go hiking or swimming this week, since I’m supposed to be resting, so I thought I would introduce you to some of the characters that hang around the Pacific Orientation Course (POC) campus.

This is my corner of the room, which is where I’ve been chilling (figuratively, not literally; it’s been quite warm lately!) all week. The netting is to protect against malaria and dengue fever, both of which are carried by mosquitos around here.

This is Martha; she’s the one we thank every day when we have hot water for our showers! Well, actually we thank the people on “Martha Duty.” We take turns building a fire in Martha so that she’ll heat up the water in the tank and we have hot water for our showers. You really have to keep an eye on her, because the fire tends to go right out if you’re not careful; the humidity is so high, it’s hard to get a fire going, even with paper.

Moving along, here we have Ray. He is not very popular around here, but if you are so inclined to want to practice using a traditional outhouse before village living, Ray is the one you need to visit.

                                                        
Continuing on to a more pleasant place, we’ll visit the kitchen; here we find (L to R) Harry & Sally, Elvis, and Olaf. Harry & Sally are the trusty chillers (refrigerators) that keep our leftovers from spoiling. Elvis (so named because Elvis is dead) was once a chiller, but is now a dry goods storage for things like the toasters, new boxes of tea bags, and empty containers. Olaf is still alive and kicking, and is where you will find the jelly, homemade yogurt, and milk made from powder (I’m not brave enough to try and just drink a glass of it, but it’s not bad on granola for breakfast!). One of the kitchen duties we share is mixing up a new batch of yogurt and milk every day so that it’s ready for breakfast the next morning.

On the other side of the kitchen, we have Wilma, who is responsible for cooking our meals (along with the national kitchen ladies, of course!). Part of our daily kitchen duty is stoking Wilma so she stays hot and gets our food done on time for supper.

And there you have it—the “cast of characters” who all play a role in our time here at POC. Just as each of these inanimate objects play a part in making our time here go more smoothly, so it is with us—the Body of Christ. Each of us plays a role in Kingdom work, just as Paul writes in his letter to the church in Corinth (I won’t write out the whole chapter, but I encourage you to read it for yourself): “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ… For the body does not consist of one member but of many… But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose… Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” 1 Corinthians 12:12,14,18,27