A Mid-July Post

A street in my neighborhood after the rain

     For the past month, John Ramsey (from Wycliffe USA and a much more experienced travel veteran than me) and I have been catching our own zemidjans (motorcycle taxis) to the Wycliffe Benin office. Negotiating the price for a zem ride intimidated me a year ago, but it gets a lot easier with practice. There are factors that hike up the price from time to time, like flooded roads and rising gas prices. But on most days, taking two zems from the house to the office should cost 200 francs (about 40 cents) apiece.

    Cotonou is a big city, but when you live in the same neighborhood for long enough, it's not unheard of to be recognized by a zemidjan driver, especially when you stick out like a yovo thumb. For example, on the way to work the other day, I pointed out the Wycliffe building on the right so my driver would know where to stop. He just laughed and said, "I know, I've taken you here before!"

     Gas prices spiked in the past week, so zem drivers are charging more across the board. Taking the "normal" price for one or two special riders won't put a dent in their profits, but they can't afford to do that for everyone, so when it happens they call it a cadeau ("gift"). And if you're a yovo (white person), it's time to accept that you're last in line for that gift. A zem will sooner drive away than lose money on us, so for the past few days we have usually paid 250 francs rather than 200.

     On one morning this week, we left the house, hailed zem #1 at the end of the road, and I explained where we were going. I was about to ask "How much?" and start negotiating the price when another Beninese man passed by us on on his moto, shouted something in Fon at our zem, and continued driving down the road. The zem driver turned back to me, smiling, and translated, "He says you pay 200," gesturing for one of us to hop on. No muss, no fuss--our day was made! We were grateful to the stranger who recognized us--I think he must have been an off-duty zem driver. Maybe two yovos are twice as recognizable as one?

John and Jacques at a restaurant where we ate pounded yams

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise...

1 Peter 3:8-9

     Only God can work in a limited world to produce that which is limitless.

     We've all heard the expression "Time flies when you're having fun." There are those happy blurs when you don't think things could get any better, and before you know it they're memories. It's like binge-reading a 300-page book in two days (yeah, I know I'm not the only one). On the other hand, there are those moments when you don't think you can bring yourself to turn even one more page, low days when we are reminded of our very real insufficiency, but as time goes on it turns out that what once seemed hopelessly unpredictable actually flows to its own dilapidated rhythm. Time has a way of scooping you up and carrying you to point B whether you're ready or not.

     At the moment, I'm staring down my final few weeks in Benin. In the past 11 months I've experienced new things that were, at times, totally baffling in the context of my previous life experience. Through it all God has taught me, shaped me, and humbled me in ways I never could have predicted. I can honestly say that I'm looking forward to seeing what He will do next, but praying that I don't forget that I'm still here. If this were a book, I'd be tearing through pages to find out what lies around the bend. But this passage brings me back, reminding me of the eternal importance of right now.

With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

    There's no limit to what God can do in the next three weeks, the next four days, the next 24 hours. What an honor to be included :)

     One thing I know, it's never too late to be reminded of the fundamentals. A list that I found in this blog post does a pretty good job of laying out the basic laws of expat life. It made me laugh (which, I'll be the first to admit, is not that hard...), but also a great reminder to keep an open mind to keep the most of this home stretch.