My journey to find a Locksmith!

I've had an eventful couple of days that have frustrated me more than I thought they would. It had nothing to do with the people that I'm forming relationships with or the ministry that I'm doing down here....but with me. For the first time all summer I lost my keys! That's right, keys to the rectory and to the church. They were no where to be found. I was at Miss Lorna's, got ready to leave and checked to make sure I had my keys. They were gone. I ended up having to stay at her place on Monday evening. By the time I realized they were gone, all of the stores that I had been to that day were closed and I wouldn't have had any luck finding them. So I woke up really early the next morning, hopped on my bike and made my rounds around town to all of the places I had visited the day before. Still no luck. By noon on Tuesday I had given up, and figured that they must have fallen out of my pocket while I was riding my bike somewhere. So I decided to call a locksmith. I think this was the point of the whole event where I started to visibly look frustrated to everyone and feel the frustration building. I was embarrassed that I had been so irresponsible not too notice earlier that the keys were gone. I felt bad having to stay at Miss Lorna's house, she's been so hospitable to me this summer I didn't want to over stay my welcome (I know she didn't mind at all, it was just me worrying), and I was worried that this event would make people think that I was irresponsible or something (Miss Lorna was very quick to tell me otherwise and that everyone has lost keys and not to dwell on it, they're only material things) So, Monday night I laughed off the fact that I had lost my keys there was nothing I could do until morning anyway. But it was yesterday when I had to make arrangements to get my deadbolt fixed, that I realized there are still things about the culture that I'm not used to and I must admit frustrated me.
In Canada if you need a locksmith you flip open a phonebook to the "L" section of the yellow pages and find the number for a locksmith. I figured that this is how it works down here as well.....i've never had to find a locksmith in Belize. It's not....locksmiths here are people in town who have jobs (mechanic, security guard etc), and just know how to change locks. Which is great, except when you don't know the people in town who changes locks. So my looking for a locksmith involved me getting directions to a mans house in town, interrupting his job as a mechanic to ask him if he would come over to the rectory to change my deadbolt. I felt like such an idiot. Thank goodness he was easy going about the whole thing. He chuckled at me when I told him the story and how I had to stay at Miss Lorna's and that I really wanted to get into the rectory so I could shower. His willingness to stop what he was doing at his home and come and help me out (a complete stranger) truly reflected a love and image that I know was Christ.
I realized in this whole event my need of routine. Miss Lorna's home has become my second home and her family has embraced me as one of their own. I love to spend time with them. But I also enjoy the time I have in the evening to be by myself in prayer, or listening to music, reading and hanging out in the rectory as quiet and bare as it is. It's a routine that I put in place at the beginning of the summer that has helped me to balance my social activity in the village and my prayer life and alone time (which I never thought I would need as an extrovert). That routine was interrupted on Monday by my losing my keys. And I didn't like the frustration I was feeling yesterday. It's not like me to get worked up over a little incident like losing keys. But in reflecting on it, I think my frustration came from my familiar routine having to be discarded for the evening, culture shock that keeps biting in me in the butt when I'm not expecting it, and the exhaustion and anxiety that is beginning to set in as I near the end of my internship. My emotions are starting to take flight again as I'm realizing, in a few of weeks, I will be starting to say goodbye to people, and it feels like I've only just arrived here and just settled in.

I may be reading into the loss of my keys in way too much detail, but I couldn't help but notice my difference in attitude when dealing with the frustration. Thankfully God is good and he has provided people in Mango Creek with big hearts and locksmith knowledge. I'm truly grateful!!