I’d be lying if I said that as soon as I laid eyes on where we were staying this week I didn’t have my doubts. I wish I could say that when I first saw where we were showering, and for the five hour bus ride to the place when we weren’t even sure if we had a shower there wasn’t a little part of me that wanted to get right back on that bus for the five hour drive and get myself on a plane right home. The first night when we were sitting in a circle of chairs being warned to make sure we checked our rooms for mice and our sleeping bags for scorpions every night, I thought to myself “why did I ever want to do this”. And yes, the first couple days were rough adapting to the conditions that I was very much not used too, but every day I got better. Not the conditions, but my attitude. By day three I found myself actually being able to stand under the cold shower water!!!!

The point is though, I’m actually glad my naive self got to live in these conditions for a week. Because no matter how they compare to what I’m used to, they still surpass what a huge chunk of the world and especially the people here in Swaziland, live in everyday. So I’m going to choose to actually be very thankful for this wooden sleep-away camp bunk bed, because every night when I lay my head on the pillow, it humbles me. And a piece of selfishness and superiority leaves me, and a piece of Jesus’ humbleness and compassion is given to me. And that’s something so good I should be willing to sleep on the floor every night for the rest of my life to have!