Electricity Woes, A Cheap Narnia, and Two Great Possibilities

Three months ago I never would've imagined saying this, but it's cold here! It has been chilly for over a month now and is supposed to get even colder in Jan. It's really not all that cold here. Temperature wise, it's actually milder than South Carolina. But, there's always a but, all buildings are made of concrete. What does that mean? It means that on an average morning, it's roughly 10 degrees colder in my apartment than it is outside the apartment. As crazy as this sounds, sometimes it's so cold inside, that I have to open the door to let some warm air in. Strange I know, but true. I'm sure you're thinking, "But Chris, why don't you just turn on the heat?" It's an honest question, and here's my honest answer. First of all, there was no heat. I had to go buy (thank you Lottie) my own heater for my room. It's a little radiator looking thing with oil inside. The radiator heats the oil and subsequently the room. It's supposed to be much more energy efficient than the regular electric space heaters. Well, that may be true, but after the first month of usage, it tripled our electric bill! That's right, TRIPLED! My roommate was not happy, and neither was I, since it was obviously my heater's fault. But, c'est la vie. I guess I'll pay it this time. But I'm being much more conservative with my heater usage this month. So currently I have on my winter coat and ski cap with a blanket rapped around my legs as I type with very cold fingers. I'll be dog gone if I'm going to pay another $30 electric bill!

Since I've been drained by the power company, I've had to be a little more selective in my entertainment purchases lately. There's no use wasting money on the frivolties of life when our electric bill is in double digits! But I made friends with a DVD salesman down the street and was in the mood for a good movie the other night, so I went to see his collection. Unfortunately, DVDs are expensive. I saw some for what would be about $25. Granted, it's not much more than what you'd pay for one in America, but still, that's a lot. I was just about to pay it when my friend offered me a deal I couldn't refuse. Instead of buying the $25 DVD, he'd give me one for the US equivelant of about $3.25. Ok, I'll take it! He pulls a box out from under the counter are starts going through piles of homemade DVDs with copies of the actual DVD box covers on them. Well, sure enough, out pops the Chronicles of Narnia. I bought it, brought it home, gave it to Eve to play, and sure enough, it is a wonderful copy of the original DVD. So I guess you can add breaking federal copyright laws to my list of lifetime accomplishments.

And finally, and more seriously, two pretty cool things that happened this week. First of all, I got to share with the man I buy pants from. I have talked to him a few times in the past, just stopping in when I'm in the area to chat. But, as usual, my language difficulties limits our conversations. Well, this past week, I was supposed to help a family in the church paint their living room one afternoon. They stood me up. Once I realized that they were not coming, I grabbed my dictionary, my Incil, and my pen and paper, and off I went. I dove into the heart of the city and found my pants man to sit down and practice some language and maybe learn a new word or two. But, providentially, the conversation turned to Christmas, and I was able to lay out almost the whole Gospel, almost. Granted, I don't know that he was too receptive, but honestly, I couldn't understand what he was saying enough to really know what he was thinking. Hopefully the next time I see him, which will be one day this week coming up, we can get back into the conversation and maybe God will grant me the gift of tongues (don't tell the Trustees) long enough for me to share the Gospel, the whole Gospel, with this guy.

The second really cool thing happened a few days later. My boss and I met with two guys that live in a village close by that wanted to get together and talk about Christ. The story, as best I could make out, goes like this. They found an internet site about Christianity. The got connected with a believer in Istanbul and began an email and MSN Messenger correspondence with him. The two guys got their hands on a Bible and started reading it together, asking the guy in Istanbul whatever questions came up. Recently, for reasons I don't know, they decided that they wanted to meet with someone in person, locally, to discuss what they had been reading. Word made it's way down the chain to us and we met them for lunch. So that's the background. On the way to this meeting me and my boss were talking and agreed that there's really five reasons someone would want to meet with us. 1) They want Money. 2) They want a job. 3) They want to learn English. 4) They want to go to America. 5) They want to learn about the one true God. So we've got a one in five chance with these guys. I like my odds. The lunch went well. I didn't speak hardly at all as my boss and one of the other guys did most the talking. The impression that I got, and my boss did as well, was that these guys are genuinely seeking. It's hard to judge the guy who wasn't talking because, well, he didn't talk much. But at least the one guy seemed to be interested in learning more. So this week we're driving out to their village to meet with them again. If they're for real, this is my first opportunity to do some real foundation laying with someone here. It'll be a great chance to disciple some guys and try to develop a ministry in a town where there is no other known believers. It's really exciting to think about the possibilities, but I have to remind myself, that they're just that right now, just possibilities. There are no guarantees that these guys will care, listen, or believe what we have to say. There are no gaurantees that anything will come of either of these opportunities, but if something does, it's going to be a very exciting time.