lunch hospitality

though church was good, the most magnificent part of the day was easily my time with a young couple i have become friends with here. they invited me to their house after church. they are a young couple who married in 2002 and have one toddler son
through the rain we walked in what appeared to be a rain forest. we took a small, muddy footpath until we reached a small two room building made of cement block, plaster, with a tin roof.
only one room was theirs. and this was not a one room apt. u.s. style. it was one room. the room had no electricity, no lights (other than a lamp), no water, no plumbing. it only had a four chairs, a coffee table, a bed on the floor, a small table with various things on it, a crib (used for storage), two dowel rods in adjacent corners with clothes and a leaking roof. life was simple yet challenging.
imagine cooking all your meals on a small charcoal fire in the rain. or sharing an outhouse with twelve other people. getting water from a well. walking every day about a 1/2 mile on a muddy, slippery path to get to the road just to hail a taxi (not a quick process).
the couple served me like a king. the food was excellent and the conversation was engaging.
while we were eating, some of the men from the church just dropped in and asked for food (not uncommon or rude).
during the course of the meal i thought many times about the many young couples i know. very few of them have an easy or even comfortable life. but once again, the many comforts we have (that are definitively not a bad thing) are things that i take for granted so easily.
i wish i could relate all of our conversation. george bush. charles taylor. culture. food. but the stories of the war that occurred here always capture my attention. just after they were married, this couple fled the country and were refugees in guinea. while in the refugee camp the lived in a large tent with fifty people. no privacy. no distinctions. they only had a small suitcase...
i am exceedingly grateful for the relationships i am developing here.
God is good despite the trouble i see all around me. these people live his goodness.