Bryan and Melissa Abbott Using Aviation to Make HIM known in Indonesia 
Cutting down banana trees with our neighbor
We have a concrete ditch in front of our fence. Ditches are used throughout this area for dumping and burning trash among other things. When we moved in our house our ditch was almost completely full and I had no idea what to do about it.
A few weeks ago we had our bathroom remodeled. The workers cleaned up after themselves by dumping all the debris into our ditch. This seems to be common practice here. Afterwards I decided to try to rearrange the debris and break up the bigger pieces with a hammer to make it look “nice.”
While in the process I was met by a neighbor who explained that no one liked our ditch being full because it looked bad and caused flooding. He said he and some friends would be willing to clean it out, for a small price, of course. For only $12 these guys are willing to clean up my ditch for me. “Wow what a deal!” I went to bed very proud of myself.
If only I knew. The next day, while I was at work, four men came and dug out the ditch and they left all the debris in the road. This became problem 1… Problem 2 arose when our next door neighbor came over and said that if we did not put all that stuff back in the ditch, during rainy season, his house would flood!
So another adventure in language and culture began. With the help of Melissa, we consulted all the neighbors who were happy to educate us about Indonesian ditch etiquette.
After much consultation with the neighbors, we discovered that a previous resident had actually paid to have the ditch filled up halfway to prevent flooding…However, over time the ditch had become a convenient dumping place and was completely full, until I took the bait.
All the neighbors agreed that the ditch needed to be at least half full of dirt to prevent flooding. The man whom I paid to remove the dirt came by later that day to collect his payment and also volunteered to fill the ditch back in for me! I declined his offer, he was not surprised, but glad to get his money anyways.
I decided to finish this ordeal myself so I could sort out the trash from the dirt and refill the ditch properly. So, mom would be proud, I am officially a “ditch re-filler.” I always told the Lord that if He needed me to, I would dig ditches for Him, I never thought I would be refilling ditches instead.
Initially, I was annoyed by all the problems that came from this ditch dilemma. Yet not two days later, other neighbors started cleaning up their own ditches and even offered to plant some flowers alongside of our renovated ditch. The flowers were later eaten by transient goats, but it is the thought that counts.
Wow! If a little gesture like this spurs neighbors to action, we can be thankful for the hassle. Now we just pray that our actions won’t just promote cleanliness but will spur these dear neighbors to pursue the One True God. Pray with us for more opportunities to use our actions to point people to Christ!
Tags: Actions, Bryan, Funny Story, Language, Neighborhood, relationships, Trash