Who matters to you?

Missionary Moment: some days i go into town and it is a heinous struggle to accomplish simple tasks. it feels like and sometimes is that every single person i speak to is aggressive, offensive or just plain rude. But then other days...like today...i go to town and my french is working and my limited malagasy is also working and people are friendly and enjoyable to practice language with and i get a new tidbit of personal information in the super slow relationships i am cultivating. and my taxi drivers don't hit on me, laugh at me or drive like madmen on drugs. AND THERE WERE CRACKERS in the store! I have pined away for saltine crackers and also cheddar cheese. AND BOTH HAVE ARRIVED IN DIEGO in the last 4 days! i nearly passed out....in the isle. They must think Americans are very strange or at least me...i have hugged a pack of crackers today, done a happy dance over flour tortillas last month, looked like a hoarder when American bbq sauce arrived, and gasped in thunderous praise upon seeing the cheddar cheese on saturday. Now i know that they may never be on the shelf again (this is Africa after all) but the victory is mine in this moment.
Most of the stockers and checkers and store employees know me. I have worked at getting to know them and using my malagasy with them and treating them like people who matter. they laugh at me and with me and genuinely smile at me when they see me. they quiz me on malagasy. the Manager greets me now and i now know the stock purchaser!! he has promised to keep me in flour tortillas  the vegetable weigher/stocker is always happy to see me. i choose different clerks to check out with so i can get to know each one. i am quite fond of the meat counter team. they keep me in chicken when they can and have even held back chicken breast during ramadan for me! each of these people matter to God and to me. Their salvation is my utmost focus. Standing in line for 2 hours for bread has brought gospel conversations with the bread employees. they have seen and commented that i am different (not just because i hug food). so far i have only been able to really tell one employee why i am different. but the malagasy are known for sharing information with each other. so each time i go there, and spend more on groceries than i would at the market, i know that it could have an eternal impact and pray it does! let me suggest to you that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU COULD DO THE SAME THING IN YOUR LOCAL GROCERY STORE OR WALMART. IN. YOUR. OWN. LANGUAGE. ( i will just leave that thought on the table).
We enjoyed fajitas for dinner and the electricity was on and the water was on today. some days are just worth talking about and praising God for. My kids thank God for simple things at the dinner table. And the mosquito screens were delivered for our windows. some nights we kill in excess of 50 mosquitoes in our house, so we are having screens made TOMORROW. The screen maker man will be at our house for the next several days starting at 7:30 am. Mosquito screens are another avenue to share the Gospel. Yes i want mosquito screens, yes i want american food, yes i want a safe taxi driver....but all of those things are not eternal. What is eternal are the souls in which i interact to get these things. They need to hear how to spend eternity in peace. They matter. Pray for our everyday interactions and the ability to communicate the Gospel in their languages!
~Brandi

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