Just like the Bookfield

[This is a blog for all of you crazy Southwestern book people out there that sell educational materials to families door to door all across America every summer.]
 
A big part of our ministry here in Bungoma is house-to-house evangelism. So where do I find myself…at a door. As we have been what you could call knocking on doors a few days a week, I have found myself contemplating life on the bookfield. Therefore, here are some funny nuances and thoughts I have had while knocking on doors missionary style in Kenya.
 
Some things never change as I find myself always greeting people with a smile and a wave as we walk up. Somehow our translator, Benjamin, with no bookfield training knows that we should always go to the homes where someone looks home, and Benjer has this beautiful habit of always standing about three feet back while turned to the side. I have a few lessons to learn from Benjer though as his sitdown percentage is perfect…literally absolutely perfect. I wish it were that easy to get sitdowns back on the bookfield. I guess the part of us being some rare oddity, as Muzungus, has something to do with it. Once we are inside the house, we start into a nice intro while building rapport, explaining what we are doing, and outlining our time in their house. Of course, we have to expose the need…aka ask lots of questions.
 
You might be asking yourself what is the need we are trying to expose. Well, it is that they are lost; we are all lost; I am lost…that we are all just floating around in this world like orphans without parents. We are searching for affirmation and approval but we can’t find it on our own. I need someone to reveal to me that I do have hope, and so do all the people that I meet every time while going door to door.
 
Once the need is “exposed”, instead of it being a “that’s what these are for” moment, it is more like “that is why I am there.” I am there at their doorstep to share with them that they do have hope. They have such a hope that the pride, fears, doubts, lies, and failures can no longer take claim over them anymore. All of that is wiped away by a true love that covered up and conquered all of that thousands of years ago. I am just there to be Christ’s hands and feet to them as I talk with them, encourage them, and pray for them.
 
Even though, it is not Thankful Thursday…it is an attitude and habit to embrace at any moment.
So bookfield thank you for teaching me how to keep perspective. Thank you for teaching me how to choose a positive attitude. Thanks for making me listen to people. Thank you for making me do the things that I don’t want to do. Thanks for teaching me the most important thing is how I do something. Thank you molding me more into a woman that strives for greatness in my life because you, Father, call me to.
 
And you know why all of this is just like the bookfield???
Because it is just life. The bookfield is just life.