Spiders!

I must say that if it weren’t for trouble, there would not be too much going on here right now!  In fact several stories in this group are on the negative side!  But that does not mean that we are discouraged or despairing!  This means that the devil hates what we are doing, so we are happy.  Plus, through it all we feel the guiding tender touch of the Master's hand, and we feel His presence.  Just one encouraging word from Him and all doubts and fears are gone!  In the darkness, the brightness of His presence is even more distinguishable and precious.BletJaw has been digging in the dirt for 2 days.  He has dug a deep ditch across the base of the bank in front of our house in preparation for a wall, which we hope will keep the dirt in place over the rainy season.  He has leveled one area in front of our house, and has almost completed building concrete steps leading up to our house.  I think he is quite a genius to figure out how to do these things. He also dug ditches to redirect the rapid flow of water during the rainy season on either side of the steps.  At one point he calls me to see a deadly poisonous spider that he had killed in the dirt by our front porch.  I look at the horrible, fat, black, hairy, body and brown underside.  I recognize it to be like several smaller ones that I have killed in our house before!   BletJaw tells me that you are in big trouble if they bite you.  Many people die.   One man barely escaped death, but lost the use of his legs.  That very night I killed another one in my bedroom! BletJaw has just hooked up some PVC pipe higher up on the wall in the bathroom so we can now turn on the water and have it pour out like a shower! Luxury! It is really quick, and more convenient, than the bucket baths we are so used to. Plus, for the first time we do not have to worry about running out of water and do not have to go to the river for a bath!  A few nights ago I was in a real rush to take a shower because I was late for a worship we were to have. It was a joy to have the water come down from above – I was so happy about it, until I felt something going down my back besides the water. I thought my hair had fallen down and I glanced in the mirror to fix it. Oh! Lo-and-behold, it was a very large, hideous, fat, black, spider – the deadly poisonous kind! I don’t know to this minute how I reached the center of my back to get that thing off, but in an extremity sometimes you can do things that in normal times you cannot do! These type spiders seem to really be prolific in our house right now. We have found and killed one in the main room where we eat and another one in the storage room, and yet another one in the bathroom!  We have agreed that we must be very careful about these spiders, but they appear when you least expect it.Just yesterday, I used the washcloth on the sink to wash a plate.  I put a little soap on the cloth and washed.  When I was finished I squeezed the washcloth out and began to hang it over the side of the sink, when the largest, fattest, hairiest, horrific, poisonous black spider popped right out of the cloth, running through my fingers and across my hand!The same God that closed the lion's mouths for Daniel, has also closed the spider's mouths for me!PeWah, our beloved "Aunt" next door just told us this morning that there is a black and white spider where she used to live not far away that kills you so fast that you don't even have time to look up at the sky!  She really has a way to express herself!  However, these spiders are not that bad.  At least you may have a little time!*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *Here is a good place to tell you about our plague of flies!  Every year in the beginning of April there are a couple of days when these fancy, long winged flies come in droves.  I believe they are something like butterflies, (only ugly), because they only live long enough to lay their eggs somewhere.  But the next year there are twice as many of them! In the last four years that we have spent here, the number really has quadrupled!  They come in the evening and by morning they lie dead everywhere.  The wings drop off and go floating around all over the place.The Karen call these flies "BeBea" They love to eat them.  Last week all the flies came in droves.  Your only defense is to put up your mosquito net and turn out all the lights.  In the morning there were 2-3 inches of them dead on the front porch in places!We will find wings in everything for a very long time!  The good news is that they do not bite, sting, suck your blood or give you diseases that I know of!This is what I call a "ScorpioPede!"  I forgot the Karen word for them. I have seen some over a foot long!  They are not so bad  though because when stung, a normal healthy adult will not die.  Its sting will just hurt more than a scorpion I am told!