'We Aren't in Kansas Anymore'

Post Service Swim

 

Rescuing a local kitten.
The newest member of our little family

 

Little study. She is always so diligent about studying and learning about the bible

 

Our Front Yard

"You don’t appreciate what you have until it is gone”. I cannot begin to explain to you how many times I have heard this phrase in my life. But when I heard it this Sunday during the study of the Watchtower, I began to feel and think differently. What if, instead of being so wrapped up in reflecting on the meaning of the phrase and instead of dwelling on the things we don’t have that we once had, we thought about the things we currently have that we didn’t have before? It seems simple enough, you think about the good things in your life and for the moment you feel thankful, but this particular article twisted my way of thinking. Here on this island, I have so much less than I do at home. No car, no places to go and eat out or shop, no fancy gadgets or toys to occupy my time, no fun job to do during the week, no ‘list’ that perpetually seems to float over my head like a black cloud of things ‘to do’ during the day. I have been missing these things, these conveniences, these commodities, these distractions… thinking all the while that these were the things I should have appreciated while I had them. But now I feel differently.

Yesterday, I got sick. Bitten by some atrocious six legged monster that creeps at night and feeds off of the blood of innocent people. The day before that, I was so ‘bored’ that I studied the bible for three hours straight. This weekend, I washed my skirts in a bucket by hand because I don’t have a washing machine and I made corn tortillas by hand because I have nowhere to buy them. I have nothing to do all day but visit people and talk to them about the bible. So now I am appreciating it. When I get home, I won’t have these things. I won’t have the challenges or opportunities to learn to be creative or resourceful. I won’t have the adventures and memories that come with surviving each struggle. I won’t have time. So I am appreciating it now.

Granted, this way of life is hard. But I’ve never felt so accomplished and strong in my life. To have less than what I once had is a blessing. One that I hope to fully be immersed in for the following two months, no distractions. How can I appreciate what I have when it just comes so easily and is so expendable that there’s really nothing special to appreciate most of the time? So I have hereby decided that, instead of dwelling on the things I have at home that I don’t have here, I am going to appreciate what I have until it’s gone. Until the nothing is filled with everything at the push of a button.

We are One month and one week in to this amazing experience, and I can already feel myself growing and changing in ways that I had never expected. I wouldn’t trade this for the world.