My Day

It seems to be becoming a habit that my blog entries begin with an apology for it being so long without an update, along with a note about the preceding period of time being among the busiest of my life. Only problem is each time I do that, the following week is busier.

This time around, there were two things contributing to my being incredibly busy. One was our sole remaining elder having to go out for a few days. So on Saturday I had to lead out for field service and also take charge of the Kingdom Hall cleaning day, which here is a huge deal. This is everything from normal stuff like sweeping to an almost complete overhaul of the landscaping. The whole congregation shows up for it, and work lasts for hours.

During the workday we received news of the other thing: the daughter of a sister in Orealla had died suddenly. With our elder being gone, this meant the responsibility of organizing the funeral would fall on me. On top of this, the next day (Sunday) I gave the public talk and conducted the Watchtower study. Almost immediately after the meeting ended, I had to get ahold of the family and work out details of the funeral for the deceased sister. They wanted to bring her back to Orealla on Tuesday and have the funeral that same day.

Monday was thus spent writing a funeral talk and figuring out where all the family and out of town visitors were going to stay. That afternoon most of the guests arrived, and amazingly I only had one person who had to stay with me. It was a brother named Jason who had come here many times before to visit Kojo, so he knew the house well. Fortunately amongst the people coming in was our elder returning, and he had heard of what all was happening. Additionally, he had gotten his father to come back with him to deliver the funeral talk, as he had been a friend of the family for decades. So that was something off my shoulders.

Which brings us to the titular "My Day", Tuesday....

My day began with a banging on the door. As I stumble over to the door, I notice the clock reads 6:30 am. It's a local brother, who informs me many men in the village are getting wheelbarrows of sand to put all down the family's road to absorb the mud (which is an incredibly nice thing to do, considering how long that path is). Apparently they need more wheelbarrows and shovels, so I lend ours. I go back to bed.

I'm awoken once more by banging on the door. Another local brother is there saying he wants to rake the yard. It's like, yeah you can. I'm not stopping someone from doing my yard work. I decide sleep is hopeless by this point, and start making breakfast.

Almost immediately, there's banging on the door. Two local sisters are there asking if we can take the spare Kingdom Hall chairs to the family's house. Unfortunately, they're not yet done with the sand, so it's still so muddy the only way to walk it is to go barefoot. I take all 48 chairs to Hendricks' (the name of the family). Walking this path barefoot leads to considerable amounts of blood, sweat, and mud.

I get back home. Banging on the door again. An in-law of the Hendricks family is asking what we can use for music at the burial site. I shoo him away in the direction of someone who knows something. I decide to sit and relax until the funeral starts.

Banging on the door. The funeral is starting in three minutes and holy cow why are you not ready didn't anyone tell you you're chairman oh my heavens Josh you need to get ready RIGHT NOW!

So I cobble together a half decent outfit to wear and be chairman for the funeral. When the talk is all done, they set out to carry the coffin to the burial site, which is located in the uphill portion of the village. Unfortunately, the get there you must traverse Big Momma Hill (no joke, that's totally what it's called).

 

Finally the funeral is over. I hike back home and peel off my socks and take a shower. Banging on the door. At this point it's dark so I can't see the face. I ask who it is. The shadowy figure happily explains "It's Alonso!"
"Who?" I reply "And whaddya want?"
"I'm the deceased's husband. I just wanted to talk with somebody for a while."
At this point I'm ashamed, and begrudgingly talk with him for a while until he leaves.

I go inside and realize I never did eat breakfast, and it's now dark, so I set about making dinner. Banging on the door. I storm downstairs and open the door, where there's three people asking if I've seen Alonso. "Yeah, he just left. No idea where he went." They leave, I go back upstairs to resume making food.

Banging on the door. I open up and see Romano, whom you may remember was the brother I stayed with when I gave a talk in Apoera, the village in Suriname. "Good night Josh! Excuse me, I need the toilet!!" He barges in quickly and runs to the bathroom. Upon coming out, he explains he's on the river, and must urgently continue on, and thus leaves.

I go back upstairs and give up any hope of tasting food today. Instead, I begin searching for something to watch before I go to bed.

Two minutes later.....?

Banging on the door! I go down, open the door, and see Alonso carrying all his luggage. "I COME FOR SLEEP NOW!" He proceeds to Dustin's old room and passes out on the bed.

So basically, half the day was really depressing, and the other half was so cartoonishly bizarre I had a difficult time not laughing at what was happening.

Which brings us to today. Due to how busy the beginning of the week was, I now have a few hours in which to prepare my three meeting parts for tonight. So naturally, perfect time to write a blog update!

(kidding, already done writing my parts. Calm thyself....)