A Lifetime of Lice

Yesterday started off just like any other normal day on the property but of course like most “normal” days on the mission field it took a twist.
 
Around 9:30 I was peacefully in the kitchen baking a strawberry cake in our tiny little toaster oven when Laura, who was convinced she had lice for the last few days, finally found the evidence that she did indeed have little baby bugs in the roots of her hair. 
 
I, on the other hand, was totally convinced that my head was just itching because we had too much tea tree oil in our shampoo.
 
Ha! It was quite the contrary.
 
When you think of lice you think of tiny white things that just chill in hair.
 
Well, I definitely had lice and, come to find out, they were so large that they had probably been living in my head since week one of Honduras.
 
Yeah, gross.
 
And these bugs were not the little white things that most people would picture when thinking about lice.
 
Nope, not even close.
 
Let me tell you what lice look like when they grow up… they are really big and black. They have legs and they can fly. They are real insects and they do not just chill in your hair. They creep and crawl and bite and make you awfully itchy.
 
We started picking through attempting to get every little creepy crawling bug out of our hair. Very quickly the word spread that we had lice and so, all the other people on the property nervously had us check their heads and of course most had lice as well.
 
We soon realized that there were way to many bugs to pick them out one by one so we went for the mayo. Mmm greasy, slimy, smelly mayo. We smothered lots of it through all 15 of our lice infested heads, wrapped it up with plastic grocery bags, and left it to soak for the next 8 hours.
 
After all of my teammates heads were completely saturated with mayonnaise, we gathered all of our belongings, clothes, pillows, and sleeping bags and ventured into public looking like fools so that we could get rid of the lice for once and for all.
 
Except not.
 
After soaking our hair in mayonnaise, washing it with lice shampoo, and picking it out we still all woke up with lice this morning.
 
I guess I should just get used to them for the next six months or so because I’m not going to stop loving on children or visiting peoples houses.
 
 A lot of things on this trip and everyday life are like that and I surely wouldn’t pass up any of these opportunities just because of something so small.  
 
On the way home last night from the laundry mat Samantha and I were complaining about everything that had happened during the day and then we stopped and thought about our attitudes and who we were doing all this for…  Jesus went through SO much more than we can ever imagine.
 
 We decided that if lice are our biggest problem right now then we are so incredibly blessed. We are so fortunate God chose us to be here right now. God had this trip planned for our entire lives, and well if lice come with the package I’ll take it.
 
Because I have come to realize that God and His people are worth a lot more than even a lifetime of lice.