It’s Just Perspective

I fell through someone’s roof today. No joke. It was definitely something that I didn’t think would ever happen. I didn’t go all the way through but I did drop about two feet.
 
Well, I guess I will preface this story with how it has been raining for a solid week. Yep, we have not really seen blue skies in Jinotepe in a week. It started raining last Monday while we spent two and half days at the beach for a little get away, and the rain has not stopped since. The worst days of rain were on Friday and Saturday. So right now we have no clue has to when there will be blue skies.
 
As for now, we all try to stay as warm as possible with our damp and dirty clothes, dishtowels that will never dry, and mildewing room [that we have given every attempt to rid of lice]. It has now come to the point of starting to ask God what He wants to teach me through this continuous rain? To be patient? To be content? To pay attention to my perspective? To be humble? To be thankful? All of the above?
 
After today, it is all of the above. We spent about three hours out in the scattered rain to put plastic tarp on families’ homes in the barrios. All the homes in the barrios have tin roofs with holes and cracks that allow water to drip or pour its way in. Some don’t even have complete walls as cardboard and plastic serve this purpose, which don’t have much purpose anymore as they are damp and sagging. Today, I feel like we made a small dint in the giant task of rain proofing families’ homes. We have now put tarp on about five families’ homes but I am exaggerating when I say that every home needs some help. They are all leaking and insufficient as the tin rusts away.   
 
So today as we made a team effort to cover one family’s house, one thirteen year old  (Maynor) and I precariously worked on the roof. We had to keep our body weight on the 2 by 4 beams that were about 4 feet apart so we were essentially walking on a balance beam. As we made our final touches on placing the rocks to keep the tarp in place, I put my foot right next to one of the rocks. I then found my foot about 2 feet inside the family’s kitchen. Let’s say I felt awful.
I couldn’t even fully communicate with the family as to how sorry I felt. But as we figured out what to do next to “fix” or more like alleviate the newly cracked tin roof, never once did I feel like they were angry or upset.
There was nothing the family or I could do. It just happened, and we all knew that.
 
So the answer to my previous question is “all of the above”. I never felt so selfish as I have been longing for a warm shower, a cup of Chikfila lemonade, or a nice vegetable filled plate. I have been longing for these delightful treats, as I know families that don’t even have amenities, such as dry firewood. So now I feel like I have to be patient as we wait out the rain, content with the shower that I do get to take, and thankful for the blessings God gives me that I don’t deserve. It is all just perspective, and I have to just remind myself everyday to keep His perspective.