Trash for Treasure

     It's been raining since about seven-thirty this morning. That sums up what it has been like every day since the end of November. I can remember only one day that it didn't rain since then. Mostly it's just on and off hard rain, but sometimes it lasts for hours, going from hard to light and back again. Something strange that I've noticed, though, is that almost every night at eleven it rains so hard I almost can't hear myself think. It's mesmerizing, really. The combination of pounding rain, strong winds – whipping my drying (yeah right) clothes hanging outside my door, – and darkness. The only way I see it all is because of the large lamp across the driveway at the Pastor's house. With it I can see the wind driving the rain in sheets across the lit up puddles – or lake. Much of the time the driveway becomes one continuous puddle that the rain drops jump from. Like I said, it's mesmerizing.

     The second quarter has ended now. My mind wasn't able to settle down fully until yesterday. It ended on the fourteenth. Then the school Christmas program was on Monday, and I was the director of our little skit. So, I'm no longer worrying about something (for now), and I can sit down and collect the thoughts of my past four weeks since writing.

     On the thirtieth of last month I received four packages all at once. The mail hadn't been checked the week before, and I know that at least two of them had arrived then. Two from home, one from Amy, and the regular bi-weekly pack from WWU. In the two packs from home I received a good amount of candy. It was making up for the Halloween that I missed, from what I was told. Now don't get me wrong, I do like candy. But so much left to one person, well, I'd get carried away, eating it far too quickly. I decided on a more fun and … helpful way to use it up.

     Each week I put up a new Bible verse for the kids to memorize. On Friday, if they recite it to me from memory, they get a piece of candy (gum usually). I could use my candy instead of buying some at the store. So, on the Friday after receiving those boxes I told the kids, at eleven-thirty with thirty minutes until the bus was to arrive, that I have some candy from home for them if they recite the verse. Then I told the kids that if they find me ten pieces of trash, at least baseball sized, they will get a piece of candy.

     Now you must understand something. Before about the 1950s the island was still eating mostly local food, probably supplemented somewhat by rice. Whatever they were eating they could simply toss by the wayside. Their bowls were mostly made from coconuts, and most of them were still eating with their fingers. After WWII the US started helping them in different ways, trying to help them recover from the Japanese occupation. This resulted in packaged goods finding their way over here. Unfortunately, because trash was never an issue since it was always biodegradable, they kept tossing their trash wherever they opened it. You can probably guess what I'm getting at: there is quite a bit of visible trash. When the kids are done eating their ramen bowls for lunch, they usually toss them into the bushes, sometimes not even that far. They do have community dumps now, thankfully, but most of the kids haven't been taught that littering is bad.

     Now that you have some background information, their was plenty of trash around the school, church, and local house. Like I said, we stopped thirty minutes early, and I figured that most of the kids would do it only once. (Eleven kids times ten pieces of trash equals 110; I can live with that.) Boy, was I wrong. One kid had unintentionally grabbed six extra. I told him that if he grabbed four more that he would get two pieces of candy. Then as that kid was getting two candies another would walk up with just ten pieces of trash and say, “What? We can get more?” They didn't realize that they could keep doing it, one candy for each ten pieces of trash. I think Larry, alone, ended up getting a total of at least fifteen pieces of candy. Larry just kept going. He would come back with ten and see someone getting two at once. Then he would cash in and go back, motivated – by jealousy, envy, or a competitive nature, I would guess – to get more. His last batch was exactly 70. He was aiming for 80 to get all eight pieces of Stride gum left in the pack. I took out one and then gave him the pack. We must of filled three 44 gal. trash cans!

     The older grades saw this candy giving with mouths agape. I told them, “Get me ten pieces of trash this big (insert baseball sized hand motion) and you'll get one.” They hopped to. Marvin got 50 and then went back and grabbed 62 before collecting eleven pieces of candy. I also made them put the trash in the cans and wash their hands before reaching into the bag of candy. It was such a great thing to witness, really, the power of candy and the kids really wanting to pick up trash. Some were searching hard, digging around in bushes away from the beaten path. Around the local house and the grass in between it and the church were the worst places. They looked so great afterwards. The grass had honestly looked like an overgrown, unburned trash pile. Now, you can't see any trash in the grass. I could tell much of the trash that they were getting was months, even years old. Old sandals, ramen bowls, plastic spoons and cups, and many other things. I willingly gave up almost all of my candy. Like I said, it was great to witness an eagerness, or rush to get more trash, even if it was motivated by candy.

     After recalling this interesting happening to a couple different people I saw a different side to it: an amazing spiritual analogy. Jesus came to take our burdens from us. Among the normal burdens that we bear – distress about grades, enough money, that job, or the latest thing that girl/guy (that you like) said to you – sin is the heaviest. Yes, it is broad, but there it is, looking us right in the eyes everyday.

“²⁸Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” Matthew 11:28-30.

     Not only is He asking us to give up our burdens, but He is saying that he will give us rest in return. He will give us peace for our… trash. Now if that isn't the best, and most honest sales pitch I've ever heard, I don't know what is. A song from my Pathfinder days finds its way into my mind, as well. “I'm trading my sorrows, I'm trading my shame, I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord...”

     Let's remember to deal with the best Trader and get us some candy.