A Humbling Experience

This past Thursday evening, we went with two young missionaries to visit families in a rural area. To get to one of the homes, we drove down a narrow roadway with vegetation scraping both sides of the vehicle, parked when it became too narrow, and walked the rest of the way along a muddy path. We were humbled beyond words to see people living in one-room homes with dirt floors. The family we visited brought out small rough-hewn benches for everyone (14 adults and children including a grandparent, neighbor and son-in-law) to sit around a lantern and listen to the missionaries. The light attracted more than a few flying insects, so the father gave his daughter some money to purchase a smoke device from a neighbor. Although the purchase was probably only a few cents, it was a lot of money to that family. We would have paid for it, but knew that it would have greatly embarrassed the man. We were guests in his home and he honored us. It is experiences like these that renew our understanding of the real meaning of life, and that our happiness does not depend upon any of the material things we may have. The experience was so sacred to us that it was not appropriate to take a photo of the home. Sometime in the future, we will include photos of some representative homes in rural areas.