Bugs, bugs, bugs. It is the time of year when the termites come out.

Come with me to vespers Friday night. The church has two banks of lights, one for each side of the church. The windows and doors are wide open without screens. This time of year, we light only one side of the church and sit on the side of the room that is not lit. Around each light, swarms of little termites, big rhinoceros beetles and other assorted whizzing bugs gather in great clouds. All the spider webs that have collected around the lights fill up with termites and fall to the floor. If you happen to sit on the lit side of the church, your shirt will fill up with termites, and you won’t want to sit there very long.

Usually, a bat or two will fly into the church to take advantage of the insect feast, but we try to keep them out because they make a mess on the floor.

Often during the program we will hear the slap slap of a flip-flop on cement, and someone will say, “Feet up, everyone!” It is a scorpion carrier, a very large, fast-moving spider with long feelers and a very nasty bite. It is called a scorpion carrier because apparently it sometimes carries scorpions around, though I have never seen one doing this. Also, scorpions are often found near these spiders.

Sabbath morning, we have to re-sweep the church because the termites either died there or dropped their wings before leaving. Sweeping up termite wings is tricky, kind of like sweeping up downy feathers.

One Saturday night, I tried to do a Bible study outside with some young people. We lasted about 10 minutes near the light until, with flapping shirts and sweeping hands, we fled the area. We turned off the light, and I just turned on my flashlight to read the Bible texts and turned it off quickly for discussion.

Just a little window on life here in Benin.

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