Religion & Politics
Written by Lonny (April 3, 2010)
Today is Good Friday, the day Christians remember the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. The Orthodox Christians here have been fasting from all meat and animal products for a month.
I made the mistake of offering jerky to the office staff, not realizing that some of them were fasting. {oops.} I told them that they could do the taste test next week.
Joe Morrell and I met with Girum, an engineer, to discuss the types of buildings that we will build in Kokosa. I wish we had American companies to do this for us, but we will have to get by with what we have. I spent the rest of the day planning, organizing and communicating and got a lot done. For a break, I did my laundry. It is nice to have a good washing machine here and a nice warm breeze to dry the clothes.
Even though we are in the dry season, it has rained most of the days that I have been here so far. Climate change is now the buzz word and it is still being blamed on the industrialized countries. Ethiopia is unfortunately among the third world countries that are demanding that the industrialized nations pay reparations for what they have supposedly done. What a crazy world we live in.
{Erika here: It’s sad to me that some people always have to find a scapegoat instead of just accepting that life is going to have challenges, and that some of those challenges will be unfair. That’s the way it is for all of us. We should do the best that we can with what we are given instead of blaming someone else for our struggles and then waiting for them to fix it. If and when someone has accidentally wronged us, we should graciously use good communication to try and resolve the issue with them. Then we should practice forgiveness, which will be far more likely to give us a positive outcome than making unreasonable demands. When forgiven, those who have committed an offense against us will be far more willing to change and often will give love and service in return. If they don't, that's okay, because at least we will have the peace of knowing that we did everything we could in a Christlike manner. And true inner peace is the ultimate positive outcome.}