Flip-Flop Service

      Tonight, I joined a small group of school staff traveling to the village of Gagil where they are doing some evangelistic meetings over the next few weeks (as well as in a few other places).  I come along a few times a week to help with music.  Everything went quite well tonight, and there were actually more people there than I had seen before, although most of them sit outside the meeting house (which I have nicknamed "The Temple), so they can chew and spit their betelnut off the edge. 
      Well...somebody wasn't really paying attention when they were spitting, and when I came out to go back to the van, I looked down and saw my one, lonely little flip-flop covered in red spit.  Disgusting!  I was trying to mentally prepare myself to allow my foot to touch that nastiness, when Yu-Chien came to the rescue!  Yu-Chien is an anthropology doctoral student from Taiwan living in Yap, and has been staying with a local family off and on over the last few years, who happen to be Adventist.  So she often comes to church, and has even helped out in the school office several times, but is technically a Buddhist, I think.  But she has been coming to the meetings, and is always open for learning and conversation.
      Anyway.  Yu-Chien came to the rescue.  She was asking me which shoes were mine, and I was a bit embarrassed to tell her.  I finally pointed it out, and she was wondering where the other one was (I always have to remind people that I only need one shoe right now)...and then she noticed.  Right away, she asked for some water from Ms. Sarah, and began washing off my shoe.  But she didn't stop with a quick rinse.  She went over and found a plant that is kind of like basil--it smells nice and fresh--and she scrubbed, rinsed, scrubbed, and rinsed.  And THEN gave me my flip-flop back.
      For some reason, that whole foot-washing...or flip-flop-washing...thing came to mind.  And Yu-Chien really reminded me of Jesus.