Mission in Zambia: Mariam v. The Laminator

Sweat dripped down my spine; I stripped off my bandanna and threw to the side. It had to be done, I had no other choice – I dropped to my knees and clasped my hands, “Lord, please have mercy on me, I really need this to work, you know what I have been going through, and I need you to make this happen. I know you should be my first thought and not my last resort, please forgive my insolence. Now, oh Lord, I need you, oh Lord, please…”

I opened my eyes, the green light on the laminator stared back at me. I gently inserted the paper to be laminated into the malfunctioning machine for the 27^th time. But this time it actually fed. I am not kidding when I tell you this was a God-had-mercy-on-my-soul, straight up, no frills, no doubt about it, genuine miracle.

Now what, you may ask, could have brought me to sweating, near tears, and on my knees in front of a laminator on the eve of Palm Sunday? Allow me to briefly summarize the events preceding this miraculous event.

Let's be honest, what in my life is ever brief?
More details than you ever wanted to know...

What might take approximately half an hour and a reasonable amount of money to accomplish in the US (such as printing six banners made on Microsoft Publisher and then laminating them) will inevitably take four to five days in Zambia. This is just a general rule that is perhaps one of those most challenging cultural adjustments that I have not quite yet come to accept (the American multi-tasking efficiency part of me refuses to acquiesce). In this particular instance, I had spent Wednesday afternoon producing the posters on one of two functioning printers at the compound. The following day, I found the laminating machine, but no lamination covers in a colleague’s office. He was incidentally out of town on a conference for the week. When I got in touch with him that evening, he informed me that there was in fact lamination covers in his office. When I returned to his office the next day, the sole proprietor of the keys to his office was on her day off. Determined, I walked to town to laminate my 66 pages of posters, but was soon discouraged by the fact that it would cost over US$90 to make my project happen. The next day, now the eve of Palm Sunday and my last day to accomplish this task, I found the proprietor of the keys, the laminator, AND the laminating covers. I eagerly, almost greedily, ran to my room with equipment and materials in hand only to find out that the electricity was out indefinitely. Defeated, I began the Palm Sunday church decorations. At 13:00 (1pm) the electricity reared to life, I literally dropped the palms and made a mad dash to my room. I plugged in the laminator and stared at the warming light until it finally turned green. When I stuck the first sheet in, it proceeded about four inches and stopped. Nothing would make it go. There was no feeder, no button, nothing to lead me to believe that it wasn’t supposed to automatically feed. I called Dalia, but she had never used it before and the only people who had used it were on a plane to South Africa. I looked for a manual on the internet, but the laminator was so old the version didn’t even exist anymore. I felt like the world and God were conspiring against me. Then I prayed.

Truly Biggie’s been teaching me about getting away from a task-oriented mindset and moving towards a God-glorifying mindset. Being a good little American multi-tasker, I always believed that efficiency and completion were the ways to measure success. Biggie, per usual, seems to have a different take on the matter. It’s called, “I don’t care if you get every item on your to do list done, if your objective in every task isn’t to glorify me, then it’s not even worth doing. Oh, and btw (yes, Biggie uses slang) I’m not a big fan of how much personal satisfaction you get out of putting a little checkmark on the page when you’re not acknowledging that it’s by my grace and my mercy that you completed it in the first place.” And the only way He could get me to listen was to bring me to my knees in front of the laminator. I was seriously humbled by the laminating experience, and I’m now I’m definitely trying to shift my mindset, lest the next time I’m outdoors laying hands on the lawnmower in a public venue! :)