It’s been a week since I’ve written…much has happened…nothing has happened. We're still waiting to move in to our "new" house. We were to have moved yesterday. We're not sure if we'll even be able to move in by this weekend. It's life in Nicaragua.
We’re still at Susanna’s, thankful we have a roof over our head and yet, ready to move in under our own roof. As I type this, Jim and I are sitting on Susanna’s front porch, both of us in rockers. Occasionally, as I stop to think about what it is that I want to write and Jim stops to think about what it is he wants to say, we rock. More times than not, we rock in the same rhythm. A perfect motion back and forth…we seem to be well synchronized. Timing is everything.
The porch is normally a quite large space, covered with a roof and secured by bars. The breeze blows through and when the sun is beating down, it provides a great place to take refuge from the heat and still be outside. Today, the sun has stayed hidden and the temps are cooler. I actually feel almost a bit chilly…I’m told that means I’m acclimating to the climate. I question that.
Jim is studying his Spanish notes and I’m waiting for the washing machine to finish the last load for the day. Normally, that wouldn’t be a big deal. Today, it’s worth celebrating. Susanna’s house has been without water since Saturday night. We’ve had snippets of time where the water would come back on, but never for any great length of time. The longest period to have running water since it first went off this “cycle” was yesterday morning when we all were able to get a shower in before they turned it back off.
Tuesday morning, Jim and Susanna loaded up our empty 5 gallon water jugs and a 10 gallon cooler and headed up to the Buzbee’s “to fetch a pail of water.” The Buzbee’s have their own sweet water well and had graciously extended the offer to come get water whenever we needed it. After all the jugs had been brought in to the house, Jim and I were standing in the kitchen talking when I noticed the faucet was dripping. If thought realization could have been put in to animation, I would have to say it was a slow-motion cartoon-like moment. Simultaneously, we saw the dripping faucet. We then turned and looked at one another. Looked at the faucet again. Looked at one another – again. Back to the faucet. And as we once again turned to look at one another in amazement, we both said at the same time, “We’ve got water!” Synchronized realization…what a beautiful thing!
We laughed at the timing. We immediately decided to indulge what had quickly become luxuries. First and foremost, Susanna disappeared in to her bathroom and we headed for ours. Synchronization continued with the sweet harmonious sounds of toilets flushing. We then began the process of taking our showers. Warm, running water…it was heavenly!!!
And as many good things often do…it all too quickly came to an end. Within several hours, we were once again without water. Sigh. Back to spitbaths and bucket brigades for the bathroom. Until this afternoon. And the lovely sound of water running once again tickled our ears and our spirits. What great manner of celebration could we now revel in? What would be the best use of the much longed-for liquid? Laundry!!! With the water out for four days and laundry not having been done for several days prior to that, well…it was time.
I turned the knob on Susanna’s trusty old washing machine. Nothing. I wasn’t too concerned at first as her machine is very temperamental and has been becoming more so of late. But after several times around the selector without so much as a trickle of water, I had to come to grips with the fact that the only agitation going on in the laundry room today was of my own doing. Gr-r-r. We finally had water and now, we had no washing machine. This was getting to be more than frustrating…it was almost tear-worthy. Almost. I wasn’t ready to lavish my own storehouse of eye liquid on the lack of a washing machine. At least not yet. I was still in a conservation mode and wasn’t sure what else the day might bring forth…I might need those tears for something much greater than a cantankerous container of corrosion.
I decided that the only option was to use the pila…the concrete outdoor scrub sink. I filled a bucket with soapy water and a large bowl with clean water and began washing clothes by hand. The first two minutes I was feeling very Nicaraguan and quite proud of myself. Somehow, it all seemed so romantic and martyr-ish…my mind filled with concocted images of Lottie Moon , Ann Johnson (Adoniram’s wife) and Mary Moffat Livingstone (David’s wife) scrubbing clothes in washtubs and rivers. I was joining the ranks of women missionaries who bore hardships for the sake of their calling. I brushed my hair back out of my eyes – quite certain I must be making a pretty impressive show of my willingness to “do the hard thing”.
God must have decided I was full enough of myself and chose at that moment to bless me with a spasm in my back. Lottie, Ann and Mary became distant memories. My hands were hurting, my back was cramping and I was having trouble getting the soap rinsed out of the clothes and getting all the excess water wrung out. This was hard work. This was not fun. There was nothing romantic about it. This gave me a new appreciation, not just for women who lived 100 years ago…women like Lottie, Ann and Mary…but also for Margarita, Mary (Freddy’s wife) and Elizabeth (Miguel’s wife), women who wash their clothes every day like this…that is if they’re lucky enough to have a pila. Washing at the river and using a rock is the other option. I’m a wuss. I never have minded doing laundry. Today…I was minding it a lot. Not just for me though…but for women all over the world who have never had the luxury of using a washing machine. I was reminded that I have been blessed in so many ways and even on the worst days here…the days without water and the days without a washing machine…are often just normal days for most of the population.
Jim took pity on me and after some discussion and a phone call approval from Susanna, Jim rigged up a water hose to our washing machine that is sitting on Susanna’s front porch. He ran an extension cord to a surge suppressor and then to the washing machine. He then tied the drainage hose to one of the front porch bars so that the water would drain out the porch area and not flood all our belongings. With some hesitation, I started the machine. It ran beautifully and within about the same amount of time it took me to hand wash a small number of pieces, the machine did an entire load. I love technology! I love running water! And I love it when both are working well together. Synchronization.
It’s now the end of the day. The laundry is done and hung on the front porch to dry…it may take a couple of days as cloudy as it’s been lately. But that’s okay. The clothes are hung on lines – not on bushes or on the ground. The side yard now resembles a tar pit, with all the mud the wash water made. That’s okay, too. The mud is a direct result of being able to use a washing machine instead of the pila. My arms and hands hurt tonight. Again, that’s okay. They’re reminders of a good lesson I received today. I am blessed with many things whereas many others are not. My life hasn’t been blessed for me to whine about wanting more blessings or even different blessings. I don’t merit an easier life than Margarita, Mary or Elizabeth. But because I have one, I am responsible to see that it’s a life that pleases God and blesses others…with my attitudes and my actions. Synchronized conviction. Timing is everything. And now it’s time to go to bed…I wonder what tomorrow will bring?
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
A second piece of pie...
For some time now, Susanna, Jim and I have tossed about the idea of starting a monthly medical clinic up in Rio Blanco, much like the one we help with the first Saturday of each month in Jinotepe. When Susanna returned from her training in the States a while back, we discussed it again. She got in touch with Pastor Sergio, who pastors the church plant up there, and started the ball rolling on making this clinic happen.
About a month ago, Jim and I had an opportunity to meet with the Project Hope people here in Managua and in the course of our dinner conversation, we casually shared with them what we were thinking of trying to start. We received such positive feedback and support from them that we left the dinner that night, feeling very encouraged. Dr. Jose is a young man who is their legal liason here but he is also a dentist. The local administrator, Rebecca (who hails from Springfield!), happens to be a dental hygienist and they both volunteered to help us when we did our first clinic. We were so excited at the prospect.
Well, we held our first clinic in Rio Blanco this past weekend. But just like most things in life, it didn’t go off quite as we had planned. Some things fell short of expectations and some things went far better than we had hoped. But all in all, it was a great first time effort.
The original plan was that we would have an 8 member team. Susanna was to be the first contact person with each patient, taking vitals and recording necessary info and then directing the patient in to see either Dr. Shayla, the woman doctor who lives in Rio Blanco or to Dr. Jose and Rebecca for dental treatment. When the patients were through seeing the doctor(s), they were to give Rhonda (our friend from Jinotepe who has the clinic there each month), Jim or me their prescriptions. While we filled the prescriptions, the patients were to meet with Pastor Sergio for prayer and counseling. When the patients were ready, they then were to return to our area to pick up their medications with Rhonda explaining each medication’s instructions. Smooth as silk, right? It sounded so good and it actually went very well with one little hitch…we didn’t have Dr. Jose or Rebecca with us. Other than that, it worked pretty much as it should have.
We’re in the rainy season here which means just that…it rains a lot. But last week, we didn’t have just rains, we had a very slow moving tropical depression which was inundating us with torrential rainfall…for almost three days straight. I doubt if there was a single roof in all of Nicaragua that managed to escape some sort of leak somewhere. I know we had several here at Susanna’s. But heavy rains of that magnitude here don’t just mean leaky roofs…they often mean flash flooding which results in damaged roads and closed bridges. We were hearing of many communities in the north and northwestern part of the country which were basically cut off from any outside help due to the flooding that was happening. Naturally, we were beginning to question whether we could make it to Rio Blanco or not.
About mid-morning on Friday, (we were scheduled to leave Managua about 1:00 so that we could get up to R.B. before dark), we got a call from Rebecca. She and Dr. Jose were wondering whether the trip was still on or not as they had heard that there were problems with some of the roads going up. They didn’t want to load their dental equipment (which includes a portable dentist’s chair and a children’s chair) if we weren’t going. And they didn’t want to get ½ way up and have to turn around to come back. Neither did I. It’s not a leisurely trip even in good weather.
We called Susanna (she was working that morning at the Children’s Center) and asked her to get in touch with Pastor Sergio to see if he had heard anything re: the roads up that way. Of course, nothing moves swiftly when you want it to do so. Our time was running out re: letting Dr. Jose and Rebecca know whether they should load the equipment or not. It was pouring rain here and it didn’t look like it was going to be letting up anytime soon. Rhonda was also here with us and we discussed the pros and cons of going ahead and trying it. We didn’t want the dental truck to get stuck or for anything to happen to that equipment. So we made the decision to call it off and we let Rebecca know. They were disappointed and so were we. Jim and I had been so excited about having a dentist go up with us on this trip. We decided we would try for another time. It was the right decision but it was still a disappointing one. Rhonda and her husband went ahead and left and were going to do some errands in Managua before returning to Jinotepe. We were all a little down but resigned to the fact that safety needed to be our number one concern.
Susanna got home a little after 2:00 and said that Pastor Sergio had talked to someone up in R.B. and they thought the bridge had been opened back up and we should be fine going up. After some discussion, we made the decision to go ahead and go. I have to admit here that neither Jim nor I were in favor of trying to make the trip. I can come up with all sorts of valid reasons as to why we didn’t think it was a good idea but there were three other people who felt like it was worth a shot to go. And so we packed up all the medicines and loaded both Susanna’s car and ours and headed out.
I got hold of Rhonda and because they were still in Managua, she was game to go with us. Susanna went to pick her up from where she and her family were shopping and Jim and I left shortly after three and went on over to Pastor Sergio’s house to wait for the girls to join us. We finally left Managua at a few minutes past 4:00 with Jim and me in our car, loaded to the hilt with luggage and drugs (that kind of makes us sound like drug runners, doesn’t it???) and Susanna had Rhonda and Sergio riding with her. We obviously weren’t going to make Rio Blanco before dark.
The rains had let up quite a bit so that we were just driving with the wipers going sporadically as we started our climb in to the mountains. It is such a beautiful drive going up there but I think we were all a little apprehensive as to what we were going to find at our first point of concern. There’s a new bridge under construction a little over an hour outside of Managua. The detour is nothing more than going across the old bridge. It sits down low and the water is often across it but never very high at all when we’ve gone across it in the past. The route across that pass is horribly rocky and often very muddy. It’s definitely not a vehicle friendly “road” but it’s the only way to get across. It was this very point of concern that was the deciding factor against having Dr. Jose and Rebecca come. We weren’t comfortable with them having to navigate that detour with their equipment truck.
As we neared the bridge, we came upon traffic at a standstill. Nothing was moving with the exception of a few cars which had decided to turn around and return the way from which they had come. We still had some daylight at this point. We sat there for awhile and Susanna and Sergio decided to walk down to the bridge to see what was happening. The plan was for Rhonda to drive Susanna’s car in case traffic opened up and we started moving forward. We never did get a clear explanation of what was creating such a traffic jam but it was 2 hours before we began moving again. It was dark. That crossing was the roughest I had ever seen it. The big transport trucks and buses rocked so violently crossing it, even though they were creeping, that at one point, I was afraid one of the buses was going to tip over.
I have come to the conclusion that things that seem like great adventures when you’re young somehow lose some of their flavor by the time you’re in your fifties. Maybe it was the fact that we still had another hours’ worth of driving to do before we even got to the bad part of the trip. Maybe it was because I wasn’t feeling quite up to par. Whatever the reason, at that point in the trip, it wouldn’t have broken my heart to turn around and head back to Managua. But the decision had been made to go on and so we did. I wasn’t at all excited about continuing on…but, in less than 12 hours, I was going to be so glad we did.
Once past the bridge, we stopped at the next little town that we came to that had a restaurant that Sergio had recommended. We were able to use the restrooms and sat down for a quick bite to eat. Jim and I then went across the road to fill the car as we wanted to make sure we had enough fuel to get us through any other unexpected delays. We weren’t even halfway through the trip yet and I think we both felt we already had enough adventure for the night without adding running out of gas to the mix.
Again we headed north. That last two hour stretch of road is filled with crater-like holes in good weather…Jim was dreading navigating that stretch in the dark. And when I say “in the dark”, I mean it. There are no street lights, no billboards with lights and most of the houses on the roadside are without electricity…it is DARK! The only light that comes from any source other than your own car lights are the headlights coming right at you or the ones that are blinding you in your rearview mirror. Both are soon gone and the dark is even darker than before. Not only is it necessary to be watching for every pothole that is lurking just out of reach of the headlights but then to make things even more interesting, there are the occasional cows out for a late night stroll down the middle of the road or the more frequent drunks staggering along the roadside. I believe that all the years of playing video games culminated that night and enabled Jim to negotiate the holes, the cows and the drunks like a life-sized game of Frogger. Thankfully, he won.
We finally pulled in to our hotel at about 20 minutes before midnight. Jim was exhausted from trying to keep our car on the road and out of the short-cuts to China. And we both were suffering from some major eyestrain. We were ready for bed. Morning was going to come early as we were supposed to start clinic at 8:30 and because we arrived so late, we weren’t going to be able to set up that night. Because they were doing some construction on the hotel, we were put in a back section, walking a foot path, ducking under low-slung clotheslines and finally arriving at our brand-new rooms. They were much larger than in the old section and looked to be nicer.
We had a fan, a television and even two nightstands and a headboard. We were uptown! What more could we ask for? A bit thicker mattress would have been nice as we were laying right on the planks, but as tired as we were, it didn’t really matter. We fell asleep immediately and for the most part, slept soundly. At least Jim did. He slept so soundly, he didn’t even feel the bedbugs feasting on his back throughout the night. The poor guy was one giant welt the next day! He’s better now although it’s been an uncomfortable few days for him. The only thing that saved me is that I took pajamas with me to sleep in as it’s often cool at night in the mountains. I had a few bites around my ankles but because Jim just wore his old camping shorts, his legs and back were exposed to the hungry little varmints. I hate to be critical but I think this 1 star hotel is slipping a bit. Too bad it’s the only place to stay in Rio Blanco.
Susanna and Sergio went to the church early the next morning to get things set up. That’s where we were holding the clinic. The church is upstairs above a store on one of the two main streets in town. We weren’t at all sure what kind of turnout we would have. Sergio said they had put signs around town announcing the clinic and the prices – 20 cords for an adult ($1.02) and 10 cords (.51) for a child. This included the visit with the doctor and all prescribed medications. Of course, we had the same policy we have in Jinotepe. No one is refused treatment or medications due to the inability to pay. By 8:30 our waiting room area was filled and the people kept coming.
We took a 30 minute break at 1:00 to eat some beans and rice provided by Sergio’s family and then we were back at it again. By the time we closed the clinic at 4:30, we had seen 101 people! It was amazing! Jim and I had bought a nebulizer and a dozen extra tubes and mouthpieces along with some infant masks to take up with us. We didn’t know if there would be a use for one or not, but we thought it was a good idea. The very first patient we had was a little girl who was having some serious respiratory problems. Dr. Shayla immediately put her in a corner and got the nebulizer going and the child was breathing much easier ½ hour later. We left the nebulizer with Dr. Shayla as a gift to her practice so that she could continue to give treatments to that child and anyone else who might need it. She will bring it back with her to any future clinics we hold up there. Along with the all the medications used to fill the prescriptions, which were purchased by Susanna’s ministry and ours, we also gave away every pair of reading glasses we had taken with us. It was such a great day!
We had originally planned on staying the night and coming back Sunday but instead opted to go ahead and leave that evening. It was still a long trip home but nothing like the trip up. Once again, we fell in to bed exhausted, but very happy. We had a rocky beginning and we certainly wished we could have had Dr. Jose and Rebecca with us, but nevertheless, we felt the clinic was a success. We know medical needs had been met that day but honestly, the part that to us was the most exciting was that Pastor Sergio had been able to pray with 101 people, most of whom he had never met. Even the roughest looking men came out of the prayer room with a much softer look to them than when they went in. Many clutched tracts (of course in Spanish) in their hands and more than one wiped a tear from their eye as the curtain was pulled back for them to leave. It was such a touching site – so personal and so intimate.
I love food but I hate having to eat humble pie. And it seems like sometimes, I am presented with a second helping of that pie. That's how I felt about this trip up to Rio Blanco. I was really concerned about the weather and the road conditions. So much so that I advised our dentist not to go and was not very happy that we had decided to go after all. I felt like we were taking some unnecessary chances. I made that judgement call before we ever left the city. I was wrong. Going to Rio Blanco was absolutely the right thing to do. Not so much for the medical needs that we met...although those were very important. But there was a far more greater reason to make that trip. Because of the records we kept, we know that 101 people met with Dr. Shayla last Saturday. But it's much more important how many met Saturday with the Great Physician. That’s the appointment that really mattered. You know...I've noticed the more of that pie I have to eat, the easier it becomes to swallow.
About a month ago, Jim and I had an opportunity to meet with the Project Hope people here in Managua and in the course of our dinner conversation, we casually shared with them what we were thinking of trying to start. We received such positive feedback and support from them that we left the dinner that night, feeling very encouraged. Dr. Jose is a young man who is their legal liason here but he is also a dentist. The local administrator, Rebecca (who hails from Springfield!), happens to be a dental hygienist and they both volunteered to help us when we did our first clinic. We were so excited at the prospect.
Well, we held our first clinic in Rio Blanco this past weekend. But just like most things in life, it didn’t go off quite as we had planned. Some things fell short of expectations and some things went far better than we had hoped. But all in all, it was a great first time effort.
The original plan was that we would have an 8 member team. Susanna was to be the first contact person with each patient, taking vitals and recording necessary info and then directing the patient in to see either Dr. Shayla, the woman doctor who lives in Rio Blanco or to Dr. Jose and Rebecca for dental treatment. When the patients were through seeing the doctor(s), they were to give Rhonda (our friend from Jinotepe who has the clinic there each month), Jim or me their prescriptions. While we filled the prescriptions, the patients were to meet with Pastor Sergio for prayer and counseling. When the patients were ready, they then were to return to our area to pick up their medications with Rhonda explaining each medication’s instructions. Smooth as silk, right? It sounded so good and it actually went very well with one little hitch…we didn’t have Dr. Jose or Rebecca with us. Other than that, it worked pretty much as it should have.
We’re in the rainy season here which means just that…it rains a lot. But last week, we didn’t have just rains, we had a very slow moving tropical depression which was inundating us with torrential rainfall…for almost three days straight. I doubt if there was a single roof in all of Nicaragua that managed to escape some sort of leak somewhere. I know we had several here at Susanna’s. But heavy rains of that magnitude here don’t just mean leaky roofs…they often mean flash flooding which results in damaged roads and closed bridges. We were hearing of many communities in the north and northwestern part of the country which were basically cut off from any outside help due to the flooding that was happening. Naturally, we were beginning to question whether we could make it to Rio Blanco or not.
About mid-morning on Friday, (we were scheduled to leave Managua about 1:00 so that we could get up to R.B. before dark), we got a call from Rebecca. She and Dr. Jose were wondering whether the trip was still on or not as they had heard that there were problems with some of the roads going up. They didn’t want to load their dental equipment (which includes a portable dentist’s chair and a children’s chair) if we weren’t going. And they didn’t want to get ½ way up and have to turn around to come back. Neither did I. It’s not a leisurely trip even in good weather.
We called Susanna (she was working that morning at the Children’s Center) and asked her to get in touch with Pastor Sergio to see if he had heard anything re: the roads up that way. Of course, nothing moves swiftly when you want it to do so. Our time was running out re: letting Dr. Jose and Rebecca know whether they should load the equipment or not. It was pouring rain here and it didn’t look like it was going to be letting up anytime soon. Rhonda was also here with us and we discussed the pros and cons of going ahead and trying it. We didn’t want the dental truck to get stuck or for anything to happen to that equipment. So we made the decision to call it off and we let Rebecca know. They were disappointed and so were we. Jim and I had been so excited about having a dentist go up with us on this trip. We decided we would try for another time. It was the right decision but it was still a disappointing one. Rhonda and her husband went ahead and left and were going to do some errands in Managua before returning to Jinotepe. We were all a little down but resigned to the fact that safety needed to be our number one concern.
Susanna got home a little after 2:00 and said that Pastor Sergio had talked to someone up in R.B. and they thought the bridge had been opened back up and we should be fine going up. After some discussion, we made the decision to go ahead and go. I have to admit here that neither Jim nor I were in favor of trying to make the trip. I can come up with all sorts of valid reasons as to why we didn’t think it was a good idea but there were three other people who felt like it was worth a shot to go. And so we packed up all the medicines and loaded both Susanna’s car and ours and headed out.
I got hold of Rhonda and because they were still in Managua, she was game to go with us. Susanna went to pick her up from where she and her family were shopping and Jim and I left shortly after three and went on over to Pastor Sergio’s house to wait for the girls to join us. We finally left Managua at a few minutes past 4:00 with Jim and me in our car, loaded to the hilt with luggage and drugs (that kind of makes us sound like drug runners, doesn’t it???) and Susanna had Rhonda and Sergio riding with her. We obviously weren’t going to make Rio Blanco before dark.
The rains had let up quite a bit so that we were just driving with the wipers going sporadically as we started our climb in to the mountains. It is such a beautiful drive going up there but I think we were all a little apprehensive as to what we were going to find at our first point of concern. There’s a new bridge under construction a little over an hour outside of Managua. The detour is nothing more than going across the old bridge. It sits down low and the water is often across it but never very high at all when we’ve gone across it in the past. The route across that pass is horribly rocky and often very muddy. It’s definitely not a vehicle friendly “road” but it’s the only way to get across. It was this very point of concern that was the deciding factor against having Dr. Jose and Rebecca come. We weren’t comfortable with them having to navigate that detour with their equipment truck.
As we neared the bridge, we came upon traffic at a standstill. Nothing was moving with the exception of a few cars which had decided to turn around and return the way from which they had come. We still had some daylight at this point. We sat there for awhile and Susanna and Sergio decided to walk down to the bridge to see what was happening. The plan was for Rhonda to drive Susanna’s car in case traffic opened up and we started moving forward. We never did get a clear explanation of what was creating such a traffic jam but it was 2 hours before we began moving again. It was dark. That crossing was the roughest I had ever seen it. The big transport trucks and buses rocked so violently crossing it, even though they were creeping, that at one point, I was afraid one of the buses was going to tip over.
I have come to the conclusion that things that seem like great adventures when you’re young somehow lose some of their flavor by the time you’re in your fifties. Maybe it was the fact that we still had another hours’ worth of driving to do before we even got to the bad part of the trip. Maybe it was because I wasn’t feeling quite up to par. Whatever the reason, at that point in the trip, it wouldn’t have broken my heart to turn around and head back to Managua. But the decision had been made to go on and so we did. I wasn’t at all excited about continuing on…but, in less than 12 hours, I was going to be so glad we did.
Once past the bridge, we stopped at the next little town that we came to that had a restaurant that Sergio had recommended. We were able to use the restrooms and sat down for a quick bite to eat. Jim and I then went across the road to fill the car as we wanted to make sure we had enough fuel to get us through any other unexpected delays. We weren’t even halfway through the trip yet and I think we both felt we already had enough adventure for the night without adding running out of gas to the mix.
Again we headed north. That last two hour stretch of road is filled with crater-like holes in good weather…Jim was dreading navigating that stretch in the dark. And when I say “in the dark”, I mean it. There are no street lights, no billboards with lights and most of the houses on the roadside are without electricity…it is DARK! The only light that comes from any source other than your own car lights are the headlights coming right at you or the ones that are blinding you in your rearview mirror. Both are soon gone and the dark is even darker than before. Not only is it necessary to be watching for every pothole that is lurking just out of reach of the headlights but then to make things even more interesting, there are the occasional cows out for a late night stroll down the middle of the road or the more frequent drunks staggering along the roadside. I believe that all the years of playing video games culminated that night and enabled Jim to negotiate the holes, the cows and the drunks like a life-sized game of Frogger. Thankfully, he won.
We finally pulled in to our hotel at about 20 minutes before midnight. Jim was exhausted from trying to keep our car on the road and out of the short-cuts to China. And we both were suffering from some major eyestrain. We were ready for bed. Morning was going to come early as we were supposed to start clinic at 8:30 and because we arrived so late, we weren’t going to be able to set up that night. Because they were doing some construction on the hotel, we were put in a back section, walking a foot path, ducking under low-slung clotheslines and finally arriving at our brand-new rooms. They were much larger than in the old section and looked to be nicer.
We had a fan, a television and even two nightstands and a headboard. We were uptown! What more could we ask for? A bit thicker mattress would have been nice as we were laying right on the planks, but as tired as we were, it didn’t really matter. We fell asleep immediately and for the most part, slept soundly. At least Jim did. He slept so soundly, he didn’t even feel the bedbugs feasting on his back throughout the night. The poor guy was one giant welt the next day! He’s better now although it’s been an uncomfortable few days for him. The only thing that saved me is that I took pajamas with me to sleep in as it’s often cool at night in the mountains. I had a few bites around my ankles but because Jim just wore his old camping shorts, his legs and back were exposed to the hungry little varmints. I hate to be critical but I think this 1 star hotel is slipping a bit. Too bad it’s the only place to stay in Rio Blanco.
Susanna and Sergio went to the church early the next morning to get things set up. That’s where we were holding the clinic. The church is upstairs above a store on one of the two main streets in town. We weren’t at all sure what kind of turnout we would have. Sergio said they had put signs around town announcing the clinic and the prices – 20 cords for an adult ($1.02) and 10 cords (.51) for a child. This included the visit with the doctor and all prescribed medications. Of course, we had the same policy we have in Jinotepe. No one is refused treatment or medications due to the inability to pay. By 8:30 our waiting room area was filled and the people kept coming.
We took a 30 minute break at 1:00 to eat some beans and rice provided by Sergio’s family and then we were back at it again. By the time we closed the clinic at 4:30, we had seen 101 people! It was amazing! Jim and I had bought a nebulizer and a dozen extra tubes and mouthpieces along with some infant masks to take up with us. We didn’t know if there would be a use for one or not, but we thought it was a good idea. The very first patient we had was a little girl who was having some serious respiratory problems. Dr. Shayla immediately put her in a corner and got the nebulizer going and the child was breathing much easier ½ hour later. We left the nebulizer with Dr. Shayla as a gift to her practice so that she could continue to give treatments to that child and anyone else who might need it. She will bring it back with her to any future clinics we hold up there. Along with the all the medications used to fill the prescriptions, which were purchased by Susanna’s ministry and ours, we also gave away every pair of reading glasses we had taken with us. It was such a great day!
We had originally planned on staying the night and coming back Sunday but instead opted to go ahead and leave that evening. It was still a long trip home but nothing like the trip up. Once again, we fell in to bed exhausted, but very happy. We had a rocky beginning and we certainly wished we could have had Dr. Jose and Rebecca with us, but nevertheless, we felt the clinic was a success. We know medical needs had been met that day but honestly, the part that to us was the most exciting was that Pastor Sergio had been able to pray with 101 people, most of whom he had never met. Even the roughest looking men came out of the prayer room with a much softer look to them than when they went in. Many clutched tracts (of course in Spanish) in their hands and more than one wiped a tear from their eye as the curtain was pulled back for them to leave. It was such a touching site – so personal and so intimate.
I love food but I hate having to eat humble pie. And it seems like sometimes, I am presented with a second helping of that pie. That's how I felt about this trip up to Rio Blanco. I was really concerned about the weather and the road conditions. So much so that I advised our dentist not to go and was not very happy that we had decided to go after all. I felt like we were taking some unnecessary chances. I made that judgement call before we ever left the city. I was wrong. Going to Rio Blanco was absolutely the right thing to do. Not so much for the medical needs that we met...although those were very important. But there was a far more greater reason to make that trip. Because of the records we kept, we know that 101 people met with Dr. Shayla last Saturday. But it's much more important how many met Saturday with the Great Physician. That’s the appointment that really mattered. You know...I've noticed the more of that pie I have to eat, the easier it becomes to swallow.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Making Paul Harvey Proud...
The last time I wrote, I told about the events that led up to us immediately moving out of our house and moving in with Susanna. Now, I want to play Paul Harvey for a bit and tell you “the rest of the story”...or at least as much as has transpired to this point.
By Sunday evening (the 12th), we had the majority of our things out of the house. The only things left were the cleaning supplies (for Margarita to do her final magic), all my plants, some rocking chairs and our mattress and box spring. Now would be an ideal time to tell you that box springs don’t exist on locally made beds. Our bed has always been very “firm” and not the most comfortable bed, but we just thought that the bed place had sent the wrong mattress. In the course of the move, the protective “sheet” that covers the bottom of the “box spring” was ripped away from the frame. Upon looking at it, where I expected to find springs, instead was empty space. The base is simply a wooden frame with wooden cross pieces covered by cardboard and then, a thin layer of padding. The mattress sits on top. That explained why the bed wasn’t the most comfy, but then it only made me question even more why it was so stinkin’ expensive to begin with! But that’s a pondering for another day.
Because we left the little bit of furniture in the house, Enrique, who was on night duty that week, went ahead and came to spend the night in the house so that it wouldn’t be left unattended. I asked him if he was sure he was okay spending the night alone in the house. He assured me he would be fine and that he wasn’t the least bit afraid. I don’t think either one of us was convinced.
After a night of fitful sleep, we got ready to go back to the house to get the rest of the things. Jamil, the guard who happened to be working the day before when the robbers tried to get in to the house, had ridden his bicycle to Susanna’s house and was going to ride in the car with us up to our place. The young man (Brinson) who owned the trailer and had helped us move the day before was also going to meet us at the house. The plan was we would get the rest of the things loaded and leave the cleaning supplies for Margarita who was to do the final cleaning the following day (Tuesday).
On the way up to our house, we told Susanna about the house for rent which we had seen the day before. We told her we didn’t think it was something we could afford. She said since we would be driving right past the turn off, we ought to just go by and since she had never been in that area, she was curious herself as to the type of neighborhood it was. This time, instead of just two of us gawking right and left at the huge homes, there were four of us oohing and aahing. When we pulled up in front of the rental house, Susanna immediately started to record the phone numbers listed. She thought the house looked worth the time it would take to at least find out what it would rent for. We thought it would give us an idea of what rental property was now going for as the economy here continues to tighten. The value of things is changing almost daily, with most items going up in cost.
While Susanna was writing down the numbers, a man came walking from around the corner towards our car. He asked if he could help us and Susanna asked him if he knew anything about the house. It turned out he was the caretaker and quasi-guard. He said we could come in and look at it if we wanted. At first, we said, “no”, thinking there was really no point in looking at a place we couldn’t afford but then we decided it wouldn’t hurt to just look. So, in we traipsed, with the man (whose name we found out was Eddy) leading, smiling from ear to ear, as he proudly showed us around.
The house wasn’t magnificent by any means, but it did look relatively safe, with the exception of several of the doors and windows not having any exterior bars. The house sits on a slope and is a two story with the front door opening up to the main level and downstairs, the back door opening up to the ground level. Upstairs there are two bedrooms (each with its own bathroom), a small living room, dining room and very small kitchen. Downstairs there is another bathroom, a small storage area, another small room that could be a guest room and a small fourth bedroom and bathroom that is accessible only from the outside…most likely a room for a live-in maid but could be used by an outside guard or gardener. The house has a covered area for a vehicle, similar to a carport. There is also an exterior supplemental water tank which is a nice “extra” as we have been without water before for more than a day…that’s not fun.
I have to reiterate that the house is not fancy at all…not nearly as nice as the house we just left, but it does seem to be much more secure and the neighborhood is certainly much nicer. We had Jamil look around and he felt like the house was fairly well protected from the outside. Jim was not at all pleased that there weren’t bars on all the exterior openings. We asked Eddy how much the rent was and he said he didn’t know for sure but that the landlady had said the rent was $700 but she was willing to take less although she would not go lower than $550. There’s never a straight answer to any question here. We told him we wanted to think about it and would get back with him. And off we went, back up to our old house to finish packing things up.
Freddy was already there, waiting for us. He had come early and had dug up all the plants I had planted since arriving in May. Smiling his perennial smile, he showed me each plant he had retrieved, including a small tree I had planted in the spring. I thanked him again and again, and told him how grateful I was that he was taking care of us. He said we were like family. He thanked us again for helping him when he needed milk for his baby and money for his medical tests. He wanted to help us however he could. If he thought there was a debt to be paid, he had more than paid for it long before that.
The trailer finally arrived and all the rest of the belongings were transported safely to Susanna’s in two trips. I have to confess that all my plants, the vast majority in pots, made one load in itself. In my defense, about ½ dozen of those were in great big pots which took up a lot of room in the trailer. Plants and pots are very reasonably priced here so it looks to be much more of an investment than it actually is…and that’s something we know of which we speak!
Of course, the last load of furniture couldn’t be moved without the rain coming in. Thankfully, we had access to a blue tarp so we were able to cover the mattress and base (I can’t bring myself to call it a box springs ever again!) so that it was fairly well protected. As we pulled out behind the last trailer load, I couldn’t help but wonder where were those eyes hiding that watched us so intently, knowing our every coming and going. What were they thinking? Were they saddened their newest source of income was coming to an end? Were they smug and triumphant that they had "chased" us away? Were they battling pangs of guilt and waves of remorse? Or were they impassioned to any of it…knowing there would soon be someone else moving in to “their” familiar territory. As we passed each person we came to on the road, I wondered if they were one of the robbers…and being so suspicious made me ill. I examined each face, looking to see if it betrayed any sign of culpability. What had happened to that fundamental American principal that a person is innocent until proven guilty? Oh, yes, I remember…it stayed in America…this is Nicaragua.
That afternoon, Susanna, Jim and I went to check out a few other neighborhoods that had houses for rent. The rent was much higher and the security much less. They were smaller houses, crammed right up next to each other…some even joined together. There was very little privacy and even less yard. None seemed to offer the security and the value of the rental house we had seen earlier.
Tuesday, Jim and I decided to drive by it again ourselves, checking out the various streets that led to the house. Eddy immediately came to check out who was in back of the house and recognizing our car, came to talk to us. He wanted to know if we wanted to go inside the house again. We told him no, that we didn’t have time. He actually looked a bit disappointed…I wondered if this guy was getting a commission for each time he showed the house…he sure seemed eager to do so.
Just then, our cell phone rang and it was our friend from Jinotepe, Roger. He called just to check to see how we were doing. We told him where we were and that we were just driving around to check out the back side of the house from the street below. He asked us if we wanted him to translate anything for us and we said if he wanted to talk to Eddy and see what other info he could gather from him that would be great. And so, we put Eddy on the phone to talk to Roger. Between the two, we ended up having an appointment the next day at noon to meet with the brother of the landlady of the house. Roger and his family were going to be there with us and if Susanna had time, she was going to join us as well.
The next day (Wednesday), as soon as Rhonda, Susanna and I finished with our Bible study group, we met with Jim and Roger and all of us drove on over to the rental house. Roger and Rhonda gave it their once over and we asked them to share their opinions with us as we shared our concerns with them. Ours were all about security. Jim said that the house had to have bars on the doors and windows or we just couldn’t even think seriously about renting it, no matter how reasonable the rent.
Security. That’s the name of the dead horse we keep beating. I’ve discovered that almost without exception, all the other missionaries have gone through similar robbery experiences. We’ve just jumped the gun a bit with our time frame and, because: a) ours is the freshest experience and b) the experience is ours…well, that dead horse can’t rest in peace yet. We’re still cracking that security-is-mandatory whip.
About that time, the landlady’s brother arrived. We had made a list of concerns and questions regarding the house. Roger began talking with the man and within a few minutes, we were told the rent would be $500 a month…$50 less than the day before. We told him we were definitely interested but stressed the fact that without bars on every door and window, then we just wouldn’t even consider renting the house. The brother said that they would repaint the walls, clean the house, etc. Roger translated. We listened and thanked him…but that without bars on every door, yada, yada, yada. Repetition is such a part of conversation here…and for someone who wants to just get to the point, it can be a little tiring. But, it is what it is. (Sound familiar?) The guy finally said that he could do the bars but the rent would then go up to $525 a month. That was still at least $25 less than we had initially been quoted and for us, it was well worth the slight increase to have that horse put out of its misery.
We all discussed it and Jim and I came to the conclusion that this house could meet our needs as long as we thought we could be safe there...knowing full well that none of us are really “safe” physically, are we? We only fool ourselves if we think we can control every aspect of our environment. Every day the papers and the news channels are filled with murders, kidnappings, muggings, robberies, natural disasters, and so on. Sounds terrible, doesn’t it? I’m not speaking of the news here, and trust me, we have our own issues going on in this country, but honestly, the nightly news reports there in the U.S. are far more frightening. I guess that’s why we believe that although we do what we can to be safe physically, the concentration needs to be on the assurance of a safe eternity.
The landlady’s brother wanted us to put down a deposit equal to a month’s rent so that they could get started putting the bars on. We told him we weren’t comfortable putting that much money down as a deposit but that we would agree to a smaller sum. He said we could go ahead and move in and they could work around us. We told him we weren’t going to move in until the work was completed. He told us we probably should go meet his sister. To that, we agreed. And so, we all piled in to our cars to go meet the landlady.
After a lengthy and highly charged negotiation (which apparently is part of doing business here), Roger got the lady to agree to put bars on all the doors and windows. At one point she told us she could rent the house that day to some people from China for $700 and not have to do one thing to the house. We told Roger we understood and that we appreciated her time but that we weren’t prepared to move in to any house without the security of barred doors and windows. She finally told us that she would have all the work done by the end of the month and if we came back on the 28th, bringing all our documents with us, she would have a contract ready for us to sign and we could move in. We are hoping she’s good to her word. We want the relationship to be a good one with this lady.
The business dealings completed, she then showed us pictures of all her children – all grown and very successful in their own fields of interest. She told us her husband, who had been twenty-seven years her senior, had passed away three years prior and that she was spending most of her time handling all their rental property. I believe she enjoys the challenge of the negotiation process and is a woman who has to think she’s gotten the final word. She lives in a very nice house and obviously is a woman of means…she is also very shrewd. Personality wise, she is as opposite of Don Carlos as can be. I’m hoping she’s also on that end of the spectrum when it comes to following through with her promises.
Now…the reason I wanted to be so detailed about this whole process is I want to make sure God’s hand is seen in all of this, from beginning to end. It’s so obvious to us but because we’re living it every day, it’s probably easier for us to see it.
By Sunday evening (the 12th), we had the majority of our things out of the house. The only things left were the cleaning supplies (for Margarita to do her final magic), all my plants, some rocking chairs and our mattress and box spring. Now would be an ideal time to tell you that box springs don’t exist on locally made beds. Our bed has always been very “firm” and not the most comfortable bed, but we just thought that the bed place had sent the wrong mattress. In the course of the move, the protective “sheet” that covers the bottom of the “box spring” was ripped away from the frame. Upon looking at it, where I expected to find springs, instead was empty space. The base is simply a wooden frame with wooden cross pieces covered by cardboard and then, a thin layer of padding. The mattress sits on top. That explained why the bed wasn’t the most comfy, but then it only made me question even more why it was so stinkin’ expensive to begin with! But that’s a pondering for another day.
Because we left the little bit of furniture in the house, Enrique, who was on night duty that week, went ahead and came to spend the night in the house so that it wouldn’t be left unattended. I asked him if he was sure he was okay spending the night alone in the house. He assured me he would be fine and that he wasn’t the least bit afraid. I don’t think either one of us was convinced.
After a night of fitful sleep, we got ready to go back to the house to get the rest of the things. Jamil, the guard who happened to be working the day before when the robbers tried to get in to the house, had ridden his bicycle to Susanna’s house and was going to ride in the car with us up to our place. The young man (Brinson) who owned the trailer and had helped us move the day before was also going to meet us at the house. The plan was we would get the rest of the things loaded and leave the cleaning supplies for Margarita who was to do the final cleaning the following day (Tuesday).
On the way up to our house, we told Susanna about the house for rent which we had seen the day before. We told her we didn’t think it was something we could afford. She said since we would be driving right past the turn off, we ought to just go by and since she had never been in that area, she was curious herself as to the type of neighborhood it was. This time, instead of just two of us gawking right and left at the huge homes, there were four of us oohing and aahing. When we pulled up in front of the rental house, Susanna immediately started to record the phone numbers listed. She thought the house looked worth the time it would take to at least find out what it would rent for. We thought it would give us an idea of what rental property was now going for as the economy here continues to tighten. The value of things is changing almost daily, with most items going up in cost.
While Susanna was writing down the numbers, a man came walking from around the corner towards our car. He asked if he could help us and Susanna asked him if he knew anything about the house. It turned out he was the caretaker and quasi-guard. He said we could come in and look at it if we wanted. At first, we said, “no”, thinking there was really no point in looking at a place we couldn’t afford but then we decided it wouldn’t hurt to just look. So, in we traipsed, with the man (whose name we found out was Eddy) leading, smiling from ear to ear, as he proudly showed us around.
The house wasn’t magnificent by any means, but it did look relatively safe, with the exception of several of the doors and windows not having any exterior bars. The house sits on a slope and is a two story with the front door opening up to the main level and downstairs, the back door opening up to the ground level. Upstairs there are two bedrooms (each with its own bathroom), a small living room, dining room and very small kitchen. Downstairs there is another bathroom, a small storage area, another small room that could be a guest room and a small fourth bedroom and bathroom that is accessible only from the outside…most likely a room for a live-in maid but could be used by an outside guard or gardener. The house has a covered area for a vehicle, similar to a carport. There is also an exterior supplemental water tank which is a nice “extra” as we have been without water before for more than a day…that’s not fun.
I have to reiterate that the house is not fancy at all…not nearly as nice as the house we just left, but it does seem to be much more secure and the neighborhood is certainly much nicer. We had Jamil look around and he felt like the house was fairly well protected from the outside. Jim was not at all pleased that there weren’t bars on all the exterior openings. We asked Eddy how much the rent was and he said he didn’t know for sure but that the landlady had said the rent was $700 but she was willing to take less although she would not go lower than $550. There’s never a straight answer to any question here. We told him we wanted to think about it and would get back with him. And off we went, back up to our old house to finish packing things up.
Freddy was already there, waiting for us. He had come early and had dug up all the plants I had planted since arriving in May. Smiling his perennial smile, he showed me each plant he had retrieved, including a small tree I had planted in the spring. I thanked him again and again, and told him how grateful I was that he was taking care of us. He said we were like family. He thanked us again for helping him when he needed milk for his baby and money for his medical tests. He wanted to help us however he could. If he thought there was a debt to be paid, he had more than paid for it long before that.
The trailer finally arrived and all the rest of the belongings were transported safely to Susanna’s in two trips. I have to confess that all my plants, the vast majority in pots, made one load in itself. In my defense, about ½ dozen of those were in great big pots which took up a lot of room in the trailer. Plants and pots are very reasonably priced here so it looks to be much more of an investment than it actually is…and that’s something we know of which we speak!
Of course, the last load of furniture couldn’t be moved without the rain coming in. Thankfully, we had access to a blue tarp so we were able to cover the mattress and base (I can’t bring myself to call it a box springs ever again!) so that it was fairly well protected. As we pulled out behind the last trailer load, I couldn’t help but wonder where were those eyes hiding that watched us so intently, knowing our every coming and going. What were they thinking? Were they saddened their newest source of income was coming to an end? Were they smug and triumphant that they had "chased" us away? Were they battling pangs of guilt and waves of remorse? Or were they impassioned to any of it…knowing there would soon be someone else moving in to “their” familiar territory. As we passed each person we came to on the road, I wondered if they were one of the robbers…and being so suspicious made me ill. I examined each face, looking to see if it betrayed any sign of culpability. What had happened to that fundamental American principal that a person is innocent until proven guilty? Oh, yes, I remember…it stayed in America…this is Nicaragua.
That afternoon, Susanna, Jim and I went to check out a few other neighborhoods that had houses for rent. The rent was much higher and the security much less. They were smaller houses, crammed right up next to each other…some even joined together. There was very little privacy and even less yard. None seemed to offer the security and the value of the rental house we had seen earlier.
Tuesday, Jim and I decided to drive by it again ourselves, checking out the various streets that led to the house. Eddy immediately came to check out who was in back of the house and recognizing our car, came to talk to us. He wanted to know if we wanted to go inside the house again. We told him no, that we didn’t have time. He actually looked a bit disappointed…I wondered if this guy was getting a commission for each time he showed the house…he sure seemed eager to do so.
Just then, our cell phone rang and it was our friend from Jinotepe, Roger. He called just to check to see how we were doing. We told him where we were and that we were just driving around to check out the back side of the house from the street below. He asked us if we wanted him to translate anything for us and we said if he wanted to talk to Eddy and see what other info he could gather from him that would be great. And so, we put Eddy on the phone to talk to Roger. Between the two, we ended up having an appointment the next day at noon to meet with the brother of the landlady of the house. Roger and his family were going to be there with us and if Susanna had time, she was going to join us as well.
The next day (Wednesday), as soon as Rhonda, Susanna and I finished with our Bible study group, we met with Jim and Roger and all of us drove on over to the rental house. Roger and Rhonda gave it their once over and we asked them to share their opinions with us as we shared our concerns with them. Ours were all about security. Jim said that the house had to have bars on the doors and windows or we just couldn’t even think seriously about renting it, no matter how reasonable the rent.
Security. That’s the name of the dead horse we keep beating. I’ve discovered that almost without exception, all the other missionaries have gone through similar robbery experiences. We’ve just jumped the gun a bit with our time frame and, because: a) ours is the freshest experience and b) the experience is ours…well, that dead horse can’t rest in peace yet. We’re still cracking that security-is-mandatory whip.
About that time, the landlady’s brother arrived. We had made a list of concerns and questions regarding the house. Roger began talking with the man and within a few minutes, we were told the rent would be $500 a month…$50 less than the day before. We told him we were definitely interested but stressed the fact that without bars on every door and window, then we just wouldn’t even consider renting the house. The brother said that they would repaint the walls, clean the house, etc. Roger translated. We listened and thanked him…but that without bars on every door, yada, yada, yada. Repetition is such a part of conversation here…and for someone who wants to just get to the point, it can be a little tiring. But, it is what it is. (Sound familiar?) The guy finally said that he could do the bars but the rent would then go up to $525 a month. That was still at least $25 less than we had initially been quoted and for us, it was well worth the slight increase to have that horse put out of its misery.
We all discussed it and Jim and I came to the conclusion that this house could meet our needs as long as we thought we could be safe there...knowing full well that none of us are really “safe” physically, are we? We only fool ourselves if we think we can control every aspect of our environment. Every day the papers and the news channels are filled with murders, kidnappings, muggings, robberies, natural disasters, and so on. Sounds terrible, doesn’t it? I’m not speaking of the news here, and trust me, we have our own issues going on in this country, but honestly, the nightly news reports there in the U.S. are far more frightening. I guess that’s why we believe that although we do what we can to be safe physically, the concentration needs to be on the assurance of a safe eternity.
The landlady’s brother wanted us to put down a deposit equal to a month’s rent so that they could get started putting the bars on. We told him we weren’t comfortable putting that much money down as a deposit but that we would agree to a smaller sum. He said we could go ahead and move in and they could work around us. We told him we weren’t going to move in until the work was completed. He told us we probably should go meet his sister. To that, we agreed. And so, we all piled in to our cars to go meet the landlady.
After a lengthy and highly charged negotiation (which apparently is part of doing business here), Roger got the lady to agree to put bars on all the doors and windows. At one point she told us she could rent the house that day to some people from China for $700 and not have to do one thing to the house. We told Roger we understood and that we appreciated her time but that we weren’t prepared to move in to any house without the security of barred doors and windows. She finally told us that she would have all the work done by the end of the month and if we came back on the 28th, bringing all our documents with us, she would have a contract ready for us to sign and we could move in. We are hoping she’s good to her word. We want the relationship to be a good one with this lady.
The business dealings completed, she then showed us pictures of all her children – all grown and very successful in their own fields of interest. She told us her husband, who had been twenty-seven years her senior, had passed away three years prior and that she was spending most of her time handling all their rental property. I believe she enjoys the challenge of the negotiation process and is a woman who has to think she’s gotten the final word. She lives in a very nice house and obviously is a woman of means…she is also very shrewd. Personality wise, she is as opposite of Don Carlos as can be. I’m hoping she’s also on that end of the spectrum when it comes to following through with her promises.
Now…the reason I wanted to be so detailed about this whole process is I want to make sure God’s hand is seen in all of this, from beginning to end. It’s so obvious to us but because we’re living it every day, it’s probably easier for us to see it.
- We have not been at home either time the robbers paid us a visit and although the last incident was frightening to the boys, no one has been hurt
- The first time, we were attending a baptism north of Managua and the second time, we were out looking at a ministry opportunity…God “events” which kept us from being at home and possibly in harm’s way
- We already had a day guard in place and a night guard at our disposal when the second attempt was made
- Freddy never works Sundays…he was working next door last Sunday morning and although it was time for him to leave, he went to investigate the noise he heard
- It was Jamil’s first time to work days for us…his face unknown to the robbers…they probably didn’t realize he was working for us as he was down by the front road when they came
- Susanna had issued an invitation for us to come and stay with her if we ever felt the need to move…that invitation came two days prior to the break-in attempt
- We were already in the process of looking at houses for rent before we even realized we would be needing one
- The robbers were attempting to break in to our house at the very moment we were writing down the phone numbers for the rental house
- Susanna rallied the troops with just one phone call…those kids gave up a day of swimming and fellowship with one another to come move us “old folks” to safety...we could never have moved all those things ourselves in such a short time frame using only our car
- Eddy, the caretaker at the new place, “happened” to be right there when we drove up to look at the house with Susanna
- The rent on the new house is within our budget…nothing else that was in a stated “safe” neighborhood came even close
- All of our furniture will fit in this house and there’s a great yard just begging for lots of potted plants to give it a homey feel
- The landlady has agreed to do all the work we requested - including bars and windows which means the security at this house meets all our criteria…at least for now!
- Roger “happened” to call at just the very moment we were trying to understand Eddy…Roger, fluent in Spanish, then spoke with Eddy and made arrangements for us to speak to the landlady’s brother
- The new place is on the same bus route as our old one for Freddy and Margarita so that we can still keep them working
- This house boasts an amazing view off in the distance of God’s handiwork…Lake Xolotan (Lake Mangua) and the volcano that rises majestically out of it…that’s the best housewarming “gift” from God…the view I absolutely love can be seen right out the back door!
- Jim’s perk is that we can continue to go to the same bakery...it's a favorite place of his!... and the same fruit stand – these are relationships we’re working on and we’re glad we still will have the opportunity to continue to develop them
It seems like it would be natural to focus on the negatives of the past few weeks but it's difficult to do so when we see God's hand of protection and provision so clearly evidenced in the events and the people He has brought to walk with us through these experiences. We feel so mightily blessed and we pray that those blessings are multiplied to others in great abundance. This is an exciting journey we're on! We hope you continue to be a part of it with us.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Unplanned move...
I’m not quite sure how to begin this – so much has happened this last week. And I can't tell it all in this one blog. So this will be part 1 with the second part of the week to follow in a day or two. There’s a lot to tell and I don’t want to leave out too much for reasons that I hope will become obvious later on. If you have read the most recent postings here, you know that while we were at church on Sunday morning, September 28th, our home was broken in to and we were robbed. Our experience with the local police was less than satisfying and we quickly ascertained we would never see our stolen possessions again. We stayed with Susanna until we were able to hire a day guard. Although we had either the housekeeper or the gardener there in the mornings and a guard during the afternoon, we still had a sense of uneasiness that would not go away. We had been assured by virtually everyone that was a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. My feeling was that nothing about any part of that experience felt “normal”.
We had added some additional locks and door bars to all the exterior and interior doors – with the landlord paying for some of the security additions and with us paying for the remainder. With the mornings being covered with a housekeeper or gardener and the afternoons covered with a day guard and a night guard coming sporadically, we really felt like we were as secure as we could be.
Last Sunday, we went to church feeling fairly confident that there wouldn’t be a problem. Our day guard, Jamil, was on duty. He and Enrique were scheduled to do a weekly rotation with one working nights at Susanna’s while the other worked days for us. They were to switch duties every week. Usually, Freddy, our gardener, is off on Sundays but our landlord had asked him to work for him that day as he was wanting some trees trimmed up on his property. Freddy had agreed to work that day as he wanted the extra income. We were able to speak to him prior to leaving for church and both Jim and I felt badly that Freddy was working on a Sunday…we wanted him to be at his own church. Thankfully, God wanted him there.
After church, one of the missionaries we had just met came up to Jim to talk with him about some opportunities for us to help with an agricultural project at one of the rural schools. He asked us to pray about it and to get back with him. Since it was a nice day, we decided to drive out to the area to look at the community, which is about 17 km outside of Managua. It was a very scenic drive and we were enjoying the easy pace of a quiet Sunday together.
On the way home, we began discussing what we would do if the robbers should return and we thought it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and start looking at some other neighborhoods. We began turning down streets that had signs posted with houses for rent. Nothing looked very appealing. Places were either way out of our league price-wise or way below what we felt would be safe. But since we didn't have any reason to have to move, then we didn't really care one way or the other...at that point, it was just good, cheap entertainment. We had no idea how quickly things would change for us.
We were just about ready to head home when we saw one more sign. We turned and drove by the house, which was connected to others and looked really small. We decided to continue to drive on back up in to an area which sat behind that place. It was in an area we had never been before and it was more out of curiosity than anything else that we continued to drive back up the hill. After a few twists and turns, we ended up in the most amazing neighborhood filled with grand houses...actually, many would probably qualify as mansions here in Nicaragua...they are beautiful! We drove on through the neighborhood, obviously not looking as potential renters, but rather, plain ol' Sunday lookie-loos!
It reminded me of when I was a kid and my folks would go for Sunday afternoon drives through Mission Hills, which at that time, was a very wealthy part of Kansas City, home to people such as the Stover family of Russell Stover candies, the Hudsons who owned Hudson oil company,
Ewing Kauffman, who owned the Royals, and such. I wondered, just as I did as a child, what it must be like to live in such a magnificent house. I also remember thinking if the majority of Nicaraguans must wonder what it would be like to live in a house like mine...a house that I considered "normal". But that train of thought was quickly brought to an end as we saw a gate with a sign indicating that the house was for rent. We laughed as we approached the house, knowing full well that we would never be able to afford a house in that neighborhood.
When we pulled up in front of the gate, we saw a very modest home nestled down the hill. We both were shocked that it was so small in comparison to all the other houses in the area. But even so, it had a beautiful view. We knew it was a house that would most likely be out of our price range. The house looked nice enough, not fancy, but liveable...but the most attractive feature was the concrete security wall with the concertina wire on top... it surrounded the yard. Jim asked me if I wanted to write down the phone numbers listed on the sign. I told him no but then just as he started to pull away, I said that on second thought, it couldn't hurt to write it down and that maybe someday, we could have Susanna call and see just how much they were asking for rent.
We left the neighborhood and started for home. We saw one more sign and turned down that road. Our cell phone rang. It was Susanna and she had just received a call from Jamil, who was acting as our day guard that week. The robbers had returned. We immediately turned around and headed for home. Evidently, while Freddy was next door trimming the bushes for Don Carlos, a man walking by on the upper road, made a comment to Freddy that he didn't need to bother with trimming the bushes as they could already see our house without any problem. The comment made Freddy uneasy and he kept watching the man walk on up the road.
Jamil was working down in front of the house at the coconut trees and was unaware of the man or his comment. It was time for Freddy to leave for the day and as he was getting ready to go in to Don Carlos' house to get cleaned up, he heard some noise at the back of our house. He walked back to our back yard, with his machete in hand, and discovered two guys were trying to break in our back door again. Although they didn't have machetes with them, they threatened Freddy as they knew they had him outnumbered. Freddy wasn't sure if the first man who had made the comment a bit earlier was close by or not so he yelled for Jamil. Jamil grabbed his machete and came running. The robbers evidently hadn't seen him down by the coconut trees and were surprised that they now had two "armed" men with which to contend.
The robbers took off running, one through the overgrown field next to our house and the other one down through the Deep Dark Woods, but not before they told the boys they would be back. The boys chased them as far as they could but didn't want to leave the house unguarded in case the guys were "bait" to lure the boys away from our house. They returned with Freddy calling the police and Jamil calling Susanna. Freddy then went to tell Don Carlos what had happened. His theory was that since the robbers were unsuccessful getting in this time that they "probably" wouldn't try it again. Freddy and Jamil didn't agree...neither did we.
When Freddy called the police, they told him at first that they didn't know where we lived. He gave them directions and then reminded the police that we had been broken in to just two weeks before. The dispatcher said that they remembered the case and that they would send someone out as soon as they could. They never did come!
But thankfully, Susanna did. After a few minutes conversation with the boys, getting the story all over again, she asked what we wanted to do. I told her I didn't think we could keep living being held hostage to our house, always afraid to leave and now, not even sure we could stay without fearing the return of the robbers. We had just found out a few days before that the barrio just west of us had a lot of gang activity going on and that a car had been stolen just two nights prior. We also had discovered that the people before us moved out because they had been broken in to three times with the last time happening at night, while they were there. That little fact must have slipped our landlord's mind when we asked him specifically if the neighborhood was safe or not. We decided we needed to move.
That was all Susanna needed to hear. She had told us just two days before that if we ever felt like we needed to move out of that house, that hers was always open to us. We had no idea, nor did she, that we would be accepting that invitation 48 hours later. I went inside to pack some clothes and Susanna started to make a phone call. She told me she was going to have her night guard come and stay the night at our house so that it wouldn't be left empty. Within a few minutes, she came in and told me that she had called some of her/our friends, and that they were on their way over with their cars, a truck and a trailer and that we were going to be moving out as much as we could that afternoon. I was floored!
Within an hour, we had 11 people there, all brothers and sisters in Christ, both Americans and Nicaraguans, all segments of society represented and all who came just because they heard we needed help. No one said they wish they could help but they had other plans. No one wanted to know who else was going to be there. No one grumbled or complained. They just came because we had a need. They worked side by side...the gardener and the international banking computer programmer, the pilot and the night guard...it didn't matter, it was the body of Christ working and I have to tell you, it worked beautifully.
What a humbling experience and blessing that was...and...it was wild! There were people in every part of the house, moving furniture out, packing totes, emptying cabinets, carrying boxes. Every time I would start out the front door with something, someone would take it away from me, all the time, reassuring me things were going to be okay. Even when the heavens opened up and the rains came down, the words of reassurance never stopped. Nor did the people working. They just kept it up. The truck and trailer got stuck in the mud on our road, the boys jumped out and worked it out. The trailer wouldn't fit under the metal gated arbor going out on to the main road because of the furniture and refrigerator being too tall in the back...the boys unloaded the trailer, pulled it through the gate and re-loaded it...all in the rain. And no one griped, whined or complained. It was the most amazing day. Two minions of Satan came to do his work...they were met with machete-wielding angels and a legion appeared. I don't think I will ever forget that day or that move. At least I pray that I don't.
I loved that house and I hated to leave it...leaky roof, noisy bats and all. I loved the terrace and all my plants. I loved the openness of the house, the enclosed laundry area, the woodwork and the large kitchen. I loved the giant showers, the sound of the geckos chirping and the thud of sweet, ripe mangoes falling to the ground. I loved the fullness of the thunder as it would echo through the mountains and the clip clop of the horse carts as they would go by our upper road. I loved watching Orlando's face light up whenever we would greet him...and I loved watching him fight his unseen-to-my-eyes enemies. I think I understand a bit better now what he must feel and why he must fight.
I hated to leave the house, but even more so, I hate it that the robbers won. I hate that they made us feel uneasy in our own home and uneasy away from it. I hate that they took memories and peace of mind. I hate that we felt like we had no other recourse but to move. I hate that I am once again "unsettled"...I want to be settled. I want a place to call home. A place where I feel safe. Where I feel my "things" are safe. That's what I want. I think God wants me to live like Christ. And part of living like Christ is that I can't hold to any "thing" so tightly, whether it's a laptop or a house. I am to hold on to only Him...not the "things" of the world that I seem to think are so important. I say I want to live like Christ until He takes me at my word...and then I want to change my mind. Isn't there comfort in the fact that God doesn't change His?
We had added some additional locks and door bars to all the exterior and interior doors – with the landlord paying for some of the security additions and with us paying for the remainder. With the mornings being covered with a housekeeper or gardener and the afternoons covered with a day guard and a night guard coming sporadically, we really felt like we were as secure as we could be.
Last Sunday, we went to church feeling fairly confident that there wouldn’t be a problem. Our day guard, Jamil, was on duty. He and Enrique were scheduled to do a weekly rotation with one working nights at Susanna’s while the other worked days for us. They were to switch duties every week. Usually, Freddy, our gardener, is off on Sundays but our landlord had asked him to work for him that day as he was wanting some trees trimmed up on his property. Freddy had agreed to work that day as he wanted the extra income. We were able to speak to him prior to leaving for church and both Jim and I felt badly that Freddy was working on a Sunday…we wanted him to be at his own church. Thankfully, God wanted him there.
After church, one of the missionaries we had just met came up to Jim to talk with him about some opportunities for us to help with an agricultural project at one of the rural schools. He asked us to pray about it and to get back with him. Since it was a nice day, we decided to drive out to the area to look at the community, which is about 17 km outside of Managua. It was a very scenic drive and we were enjoying the easy pace of a quiet Sunday together.
On the way home, we began discussing what we would do if the robbers should return and we thought it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and start looking at some other neighborhoods. We began turning down streets that had signs posted with houses for rent. Nothing looked very appealing. Places were either way out of our league price-wise or way below what we felt would be safe. But since we didn't have any reason to have to move, then we didn't really care one way or the other...at that point, it was just good, cheap entertainment. We had no idea how quickly things would change for us.
We were just about ready to head home when we saw one more sign. We turned and drove by the house, which was connected to others and looked really small. We decided to continue to drive on back up in to an area which sat behind that place. It was in an area we had never been before and it was more out of curiosity than anything else that we continued to drive back up the hill. After a few twists and turns, we ended up in the most amazing neighborhood filled with grand houses...actually, many would probably qualify as mansions here in Nicaragua...they are beautiful! We drove on through the neighborhood, obviously not looking as potential renters, but rather, plain ol' Sunday lookie-loos!
It reminded me of when I was a kid and my folks would go for Sunday afternoon drives through Mission Hills, which at that time, was a very wealthy part of Kansas City, home to people such as the Stover family of Russell Stover candies, the Hudsons who owned Hudson oil company,
Ewing Kauffman, who owned the Royals, and such. I wondered, just as I did as a child, what it must be like to live in such a magnificent house. I also remember thinking if the majority of Nicaraguans must wonder what it would be like to live in a house like mine...a house that I considered "normal". But that train of thought was quickly brought to an end as we saw a gate with a sign indicating that the house was for rent. We laughed as we approached the house, knowing full well that we would never be able to afford a house in that neighborhood.
When we pulled up in front of the gate, we saw a very modest home nestled down the hill. We both were shocked that it was so small in comparison to all the other houses in the area. But even so, it had a beautiful view. We knew it was a house that would most likely be out of our price range. The house looked nice enough, not fancy, but liveable...but the most attractive feature was the concrete security wall with the concertina wire on top... it surrounded the yard. Jim asked me if I wanted to write down the phone numbers listed on the sign. I told him no but then just as he started to pull away, I said that on second thought, it couldn't hurt to write it down and that maybe someday, we could have Susanna call and see just how much they were asking for rent.
We left the neighborhood and started for home. We saw one more sign and turned down that road. Our cell phone rang. It was Susanna and she had just received a call from Jamil, who was acting as our day guard that week. The robbers had returned. We immediately turned around and headed for home. Evidently, while Freddy was next door trimming the bushes for Don Carlos, a man walking by on the upper road, made a comment to Freddy that he didn't need to bother with trimming the bushes as they could already see our house without any problem. The comment made Freddy uneasy and he kept watching the man walk on up the road.
Jamil was working down in front of the house at the coconut trees and was unaware of the man or his comment. It was time for Freddy to leave for the day and as he was getting ready to go in to Don Carlos' house to get cleaned up, he heard some noise at the back of our house. He walked back to our back yard, with his machete in hand, and discovered two guys were trying to break in our back door again. Although they didn't have machetes with them, they threatened Freddy as they knew they had him outnumbered. Freddy wasn't sure if the first man who had made the comment a bit earlier was close by or not so he yelled for Jamil. Jamil grabbed his machete and came running. The robbers evidently hadn't seen him down by the coconut trees and were surprised that they now had two "armed" men with which to contend.
The robbers took off running, one through the overgrown field next to our house and the other one down through the Deep Dark Woods, but not before they told the boys they would be back. The boys chased them as far as they could but didn't want to leave the house unguarded in case the guys were "bait" to lure the boys away from our house. They returned with Freddy calling the police and Jamil calling Susanna. Freddy then went to tell Don Carlos what had happened. His theory was that since the robbers were unsuccessful getting in this time that they "probably" wouldn't try it again. Freddy and Jamil didn't agree...neither did we.
When Freddy called the police, they told him at first that they didn't know where we lived. He gave them directions and then reminded the police that we had been broken in to just two weeks before. The dispatcher said that they remembered the case and that they would send someone out as soon as they could. They never did come!
But thankfully, Susanna did. After a few minutes conversation with the boys, getting the story all over again, she asked what we wanted to do. I told her I didn't think we could keep living being held hostage to our house, always afraid to leave and now, not even sure we could stay without fearing the return of the robbers. We had just found out a few days before that the barrio just west of us had a lot of gang activity going on and that a car had been stolen just two nights prior. We also had discovered that the people before us moved out because they had been broken in to three times with the last time happening at night, while they were there. That little fact must have slipped our landlord's mind when we asked him specifically if the neighborhood was safe or not. We decided we needed to move.
That was all Susanna needed to hear. She had told us just two days before that if we ever felt like we needed to move out of that house, that hers was always open to us. We had no idea, nor did she, that we would be accepting that invitation 48 hours later. I went inside to pack some clothes and Susanna started to make a phone call. She told me she was going to have her night guard come and stay the night at our house so that it wouldn't be left empty. Within a few minutes, she came in and told me that she had called some of her/our friends, and that they were on their way over with their cars, a truck and a trailer and that we were going to be moving out as much as we could that afternoon. I was floored!
Within an hour, we had 11 people there, all brothers and sisters in Christ, both Americans and Nicaraguans, all segments of society represented and all who came just because they heard we needed help. No one said they wish they could help but they had other plans. No one wanted to know who else was going to be there. No one grumbled or complained. They just came because we had a need. They worked side by side...the gardener and the international banking computer programmer, the pilot and the night guard...it didn't matter, it was the body of Christ working and I have to tell you, it worked beautifully.
What a humbling experience and blessing that was...and...it was wild! There were people in every part of the house, moving furniture out, packing totes, emptying cabinets, carrying boxes. Every time I would start out the front door with something, someone would take it away from me, all the time, reassuring me things were going to be okay. Even when the heavens opened up and the rains came down, the words of reassurance never stopped. Nor did the people working. They just kept it up. The truck and trailer got stuck in the mud on our road, the boys jumped out and worked it out. The trailer wouldn't fit under the metal gated arbor going out on to the main road because of the furniture and refrigerator being too tall in the back...the boys unloaded the trailer, pulled it through the gate and re-loaded it...all in the rain. And no one griped, whined or complained. It was the most amazing day. Two minions of Satan came to do his work...they were met with machete-wielding angels and a legion appeared. I don't think I will ever forget that day or that move. At least I pray that I don't.
I loved that house and I hated to leave it...leaky roof, noisy bats and all. I loved the terrace and all my plants. I loved the openness of the house, the enclosed laundry area, the woodwork and the large kitchen. I loved the giant showers, the sound of the geckos chirping and the thud of sweet, ripe mangoes falling to the ground. I loved the fullness of the thunder as it would echo through the mountains and the clip clop of the horse carts as they would go by our upper road. I loved watching Orlando's face light up whenever we would greet him...and I loved watching him fight his unseen-to-my-eyes enemies. I think I understand a bit better now what he must feel and why he must fight.
I hated to leave the house, but even more so, I hate it that the robbers won. I hate that they made us feel uneasy in our own home and uneasy away from it. I hate that they took memories and peace of mind. I hate that we felt like we had no other recourse but to move. I hate that I am once again "unsettled"...I want to be settled. I want a place to call home. A place where I feel safe. Where I feel my "things" are safe. That's what I want. I think God wants me to live like Christ. And part of living like Christ is that I can't hold to any "thing" so tightly, whether it's a laptop or a house. I am to hold on to only Him...not the "things" of the world that I seem to think are so important. I say I want to live like Christ until He takes me at my word...and then I want to change my mind. Isn't there comfort in the fact that God doesn't change His?
Friday, October 10, 2008
Catching up...
Once again, I'm on borrowed time...or perhaps it sounds better to say I'm on a borrowed computer so my time is limited! Susanna had to run up to the Children's Center so she dropped her laptop off so we could check e-mail. I thought I would take advantage of this unexpected "windfall" and blog a bit.
The landlord's carpenter finally showed up on Wednesday to put a new deadbolt on our backdoor, ten days after the break-in. I didn't want to ask him if he finished the tomb...that just seemed to be too awkward for small talk. Thankfully, Jim stayed in the kitchen with him to watch the process as he finally had to show the carpenter (twice!) which way the lock was to go. In the process of trying to put the lock in, the carpenter broke off the edge of the tile on the backsplash, glued it back in place and then proceeded to break off several more chunks. He finally just took off all the broken pieces and so now our backsplash has a jagged raggedy edge. I wasn't too excited about how it looks so I can't imagine how the landlord is going to feel when he sees it!
The carpenter also was going to replace the broken kitchen window. He removed all the broken glass before deciding he couldn't do it. So we now have an entirely open window in the kitchen. This is the same man who is supposed to fix the roof in December...I was really looking forward to that being done but I can't say now, that I'm too anxious to see him on our roof. Jim managed to find some cardboard to cover up the window so we can at least try to slow down the entry of bugs and bats! Thankfully, we have bars on the window to provide us protection from two legged intruders. I've noticed God keeps ensuring that I don't settle in to a state of complacent comfort!
Our last week or so...
The landlord's carpenter finally showed up on Wednesday to put a new deadbolt on our backdoor, ten days after the break-in. I didn't want to ask him if he finished the tomb...that just seemed to be too awkward for small talk. Thankfully, Jim stayed in the kitchen with him to watch the process as he finally had to show the carpenter (twice!) which way the lock was to go. In the process of trying to put the lock in, the carpenter broke off the edge of the tile on the backsplash, glued it back in place and then proceeded to break off several more chunks. He finally just took off all the broken pieces and so now our backsplash has a jagged raggedy edge. I wasn't too excited about how it looks so I can't imagine how the landlord is going to feel when he sees it!
The carpenter also was going to replace the broken kitchen window. He removed all the broken glass before deciding he couldn't do it. So we now have an entirely open window in the kitchen. This is the same man who is supposed to fix the roof in December...I was really looking forward to that being done but I can't say now, that I'm too anxious to see him on our roof. Jim managed to find some cardboard to cover up the window so we can at least try to slow down the entry of bugs and bats! Thankfully, we have bars on the window to provide us protection from two legged intruders. I've noticed God keeps ensuring that I don't settle in to a state of complacent comfort!
Our last week or so...
- We have our new day guard - his name is Enrique. He is a quiet young man, very pleasant but not much of a self-starter...we're the first Americans for whom he's worked. He's very used to being given step by step instruction...I think it's going to take some time for us all to get used to one another. His first day was actually last Sunday and he brought a gift to us - a well-used KJV English Bible which I imagine was left by a group at some point. It was a very sweet gesture and we were both touched that he would do something so thoughtful. Jim carried it to church Sunday and when Enrique noticed it through the car window, he smiled. He seems to be a nice boy and it does provide some peace of mind when we're not here in the afternoons knowing Enrique's here, but truthfully, I hate having a guard. I hate the reason for it and I hate how it feels. It is the rule far more than the exception for foreigners, but nevertheless, it's a standard I don't like. The one positive thing, other than having a presence around the house when we're not here, is the fact we're providing work for someone who needs it. I have reminded myself of that every day so far this week when I happen to look out my kitchen window and see Enrique just standing in the driveway. I can't imagine such a boring job and I can't imagine being so grateful to have it. We have just recently been advised it might be wise to also employ another night guard. We're still discussing that...peace of mind and safety are definitely important factors to consider and we would be giving yet another person a job...guess this just isn't how I envisioned this ministry working! At least not in this format, anway.
- Miguel told us this week that they finally were told what kind of cancer his little nephew, Kennet, has...it's lymphoma. Kennet is 9 years old and this has been a very scary time for the whole family. Unfortunately, the prognosis isn't good. He had his first chemotherapy treatment last week and will have a treatment every Thursday. Because the system here is basically socialized medicine, his treatments are paid for by the government but the level of care is not nearly what it should be. He is able to now remain at home but having the weekly treatments necessitates that he and his mother travel by bus for over an hour each way every Thursday. We would all appreciate prayers for this little guy...
- Freddy is now with us only 3 days a week...it was SO hard to give him up the other three days which he now spends working for Susanna. We have come to not only look forward to seeing his friendly smile every morning, but his work ethic is one of the best I've seen - here or Stateside. He is a blessing to us in so many ways and takes his roles seriously, both as our gardener and as the provider for his family. He is such an encouragment. He said he would stay later than usual the other day when I told him we were going to go to the store and might not be back before he left. He didn't want to leave the house unguarded. I asked him if we could help him with any groceries (he's the sole support for his family - his wife, toddler, mother and sister) and he said that we didn't have to do that. We told him we knew that but wondered if it would be permissable to perhaps bring back some beans or rice for them. He smiled shyly and then asked if we would mind getting milk instead for his son, Gabriel (he'll be two in December). Mind??? Food for a baby? Was he kidding? Of course, we would get him milk. I asked him if he wanted the regular milk in a bag. He said something but I didn't understand him and so we just smiled and said we would get milk. We went inside to get ready and when we came back out, he had gone next door to Don Carlos to bring a can of milk over to show me what kind he wanted. It was a powdered milk, which of course, can be mixed as needed and doesn't require refrigeration...the milk in a bag, does. I wasn't even thinking when I asked about the milk in a bag that he might not have a refrigerator. We got his milk and added in beans, rice, sugar, oatmeal and cereal. Oh, yeah...and a little toy truck for good measure. The look on Freddy's face was worth far more than the money we spent on the groceries. When I gave him the toy for Gabriel, I teased him and told him the toy truck was for his son and not for him. He laughed and then became very serious for a minute and asked me if I missed my family. My eyes immediately filled up with tears and I swallowed hard, and told him that yes, I miss my family very much. He said, he was sorry. It was enough.
- I went with Susanna the other day and we stopped by the Children's Center for just a few minutes. The house was unusually quiet and we discovered we were there at naptime for the kids. I wish you could see these children...they are so precious. The thin, frail, little newborn girl who came from the drug-addicted prostitute now boasts chubby little cheeks and her hair is filling out. She looked like a little angel sleeping there. Although it was naptime, 6 toddlers who were sharing the room with the little girl, started to stir when we walked in to the room. One little guy held up his arms, begging to be picked up. I couldn't do it as the children were supposed to be laying down for their naps and picking one up would be the signal for all the others to start to beg for attention. It killed me to have to tell him no. This is one of my favorite places to go and yet one of the hardest. The govern-ment has decreed that all the children in such care facilities must be returned to their families as soon as possible, regardless the reason they were removed in the first place. This means little ones are going back to situations of abuse and neglect...the thought rips my heart out and I realize that any small act of kindness we show will have more meaning now than ever before. Please pray protection over these children...
- Next Saturday, Oct. 18th, Susanna, Jim and I are traveling up to Rio Blanco to hold our first medical clinic! I am so excited! Jim and I found a Nicaraguan dentist who has agreed to go with us and we will all be working with a doctor up there in a yet-unknown area which will be chosen by Pastor Sergio, the pastor of the church plant in Rio Blanco. We will be taking some donated reading glasses, toothbrushes and toothpaste that the June team left with us...we know these things will be such a blessing to those who receive them. Our desire is to be able to do a monthly clinic there in a rural area and set it up using the one in Jinotepe as our prototype. Another prayer request...that we would be well-received, that we would meet needs and most of all, that God would be glorified in the process.
Okay, that's enough for now. Susanna is due back any time so I best wrap this up. I want to thank all of you for your prayers and we ask that you would continue to intercede on our behalf. We have had some difficult days recently. I told Mandy the other day that at my Bible study, our group was discussing Abraham's obedience in sending Ishamel and Hagar off in to the desert. One of the young girls said that she didn't think it was that big of a deal since God had promised that Ishmael would become a great nation. I hesitated to speak...new "kid" on the block sort of thing...but I did. I simply said that just because we receive a promise from God doesn't mean that there's not going to be pain in the process. We're not exempt, are we?
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Fool's Gold...
Once again, I'm borrowing Susanna's laptop. Our back door has been secured with two bars which slide in to brackets mounted in to the concrete. We are hoping that along with the motion detector light, the new stronger padlock and the door alarm that we'll at least dissuade any uninvited impromptu guest from coming in. We should have a day guard in place next week and are planning on returning to language school the week after. They have been very concerned for us and assured us they would hold our place for us.
We are changing our gardener's workdays beginning next week to alternate with our housekeeper's. The day guard will work afternoons in to early evenings, alternating shifts with Susanna's night guard, with both randomly changing days off (with our gardner filling in on those days) so that it will be very difficult for someone watching to come up with their schedules. I hope so anyway, as it was difficult enough just to figure it out. We rarely go out after dark so for the most part, our home will always have someone here...that's the plan, anyway. We'll see how it works in real life.
Susanna has some more people coming from her church in a couple of weeks and they have agreed to bring a "new" laptop down for us. We actually purchased a refurbished one (it's too costly to replace the others with new ones) and it is to be delivered to Susanna's folks this coming week. Hopefully, I'll be tapping away on our own computer once again in a couple of weeks.
I want to take a minute to urge each of you who have pictures or important documents, spreadsheets, etc. on your computers to download them on an external hard drive which you keep hidden separately or on a disk that you can set aside. I have realized that even though we had all of our computer data on our external hard drive, we had it sitting on the same stand as the computers. The thieves took it as well. It hit me like a ton of bricks last night that all our pictures, all our music, all my notes from every Bible study, all my thoughts - for the blog and those that are too personal to share with others...all are gone and gone for good. And I was sick all over again. Each day I am reminded of the thief that keeps on stealing.
The positives this week? Too many to remember all of them but the sweetest ones are actually in relationship to the Nicas with whom we have become close - Margarita, Freddy and Miguel. Margarita made a pitcher of pitaya juice as a surprise for me in hopes of cheering me up. She has given extra tight hugs each day she's here and has made sure everything is extra clean... it's what she has to give and it's so appreciated.
Freddy has gone above and beyond the call of duty. He was genuinely sorry for us and has come in early and stayed late throughout this week - all of his own volition. He refuses to let me stay alone. He became very angry initially at the long-gone intruders that they would make me afraid and has taken on the task of our security as his own priority. He cautions us and educates us in being more saavy in this neighborhood. He won't let anyone in the gate without screening them first before even coming to us. He has been cleaning out the weeds near our fenceline, thinning out the brush and trees along the street, checking the work of the workmen to make sure it's solid. Never once asking for anything and always giving. He has been a gift of God this week.
Then there's Miguel. We went to see him this week to tell him what happened and that we wouldn't be having classes until next week. He was distraught and asked us 1001 questions about our employees, our neighborhood, even our friends. He asked to go to the hardware store with us when we had to exchange some locks as he was afraid they wouldn't do it for us. Of course, we took him and he was as proud as a peacock to be our "voice". We brought him to our house and gave him lunch. He was very grateful and wouldn't come in until we told him it was alright. He and Freddy sized each other up like little banty roosters but thankfully, they each gave the other a thumb's up. Miguel stuck close to Jim, not quite sure what to do or how to act in a gringo's home. His comment was that it was very elegant. Later, I looked around and tried to see it through Miguel's eyes. I squinted hard, turning my head first one way and then another, but couldn't see elegant. I saw modest. And I wondered what Miguel's home is like. And I wondered what the robbers thought when they walked through our home.
After lunch, when we tried to give Miguel some money for some food for his family as well as for the bus as we weren't able to drive him back to the church, he refused. He said he wasn't interested in being friends so that we would give him things. We assured him we understood that and we were appreciative that he took the time off to help us with the hardware store and to come visit our home. The money was to pay for the means to get him back to work and the rest was to be used to help buy food for the family. His eyes became very teary and he lowered his head. I told him we didn't want to offend him and he said that it was no offense but rather a wonderful and timely gift. He just wanted to make sure we knew as far as he was concerned, our friendship was true. Once again, we assured him it was. I have to tell you that what we gave him was not a huge sum at all but what is equivalent to a little over $5.00. Not much to us but a gift of sizeable measure to him. He can't even comprehend the dollar loss we suffered through the break in. I can't comprehend the immense gratitude he feels for a gift of $5.00. Chances are pretty good that never the 'twain shall meet.
Well, my time on here for now has come to an end. We want to thank everyone for the concern you have expressed and the prayers you have taken before the Throne of God on our behalf. I can't even imagine how this week would have been without those. That is a beautiful manifestation of how the body of Christ works, isn't it? Coming together in one accord, praising God and letting Him work through His people.
The things that were stolen from our home...they'll all burn up some day, won't they? Our real treasures are stored somewhere else where neither moths nor rust can destroy nor thieves can break in and steal. We are not just aliens here in Nicaragua, this world is not our home. Lord, thank you for reminding me not to become enraptured with Fool's Gold...or the loss of it.
We are changing our gardener's workdays beginning next week to alternate with our housekeeper's. The day guard will work afternoons in to early evenings, alternating shifts with Susanna's night guard, with both randomly changing days off (with our gardner filling in on those days) so that it will be very difficult for someone watching to come up with their schedules. I hope so anyway, as it was difficult enough just to figure it out. We rarely go out after dark so for the most part, our home will always have someone here...that's the plan, anyway. We'll see how it works in real life.
Susanna has some more people coming from her church in a couple of weeks and they have agreed to bring a "new" laptop down for us. We actually purchased a refurbished one (it's too costly to replace the others with new ones) and it is to be delivered to Susanna's folks this coming week. Hopefully, I'll be tapping away on our own computer once again in a couple of weeks.
I want to take a minute to urge each of you who have pictures or important documents, spreadsheets, etc. on your computers to download them on an external hard drive which you keep hidden separately or on a disk that you can set aside. I have realized that even though we had all of our computer data on our external hard drive, we had it sitting on the same stand as the computers. The thieves took it as well. It hit me like a ton of bricks last night that all our pictures, all our music, all my notes from every Bible study, all my thoughts - for the blog and those that are too personal to share with others...all are gone and gone for good. And I was sick all over again. Each day I am reminded of the thief that keeps on stealing.
The positives this week? Too many to remember all of them but the sweetest ones are actually in relationship to the Nicas with whom we have become close - Margarita, Freddy and Miguel. Margarita made a pitcher of pitaya juice as a surprise for me in hopes of cheering me up. She has given extra tight hugs each day she's here and has made sure everything is extra clean... it's what she has to give and it's so appreciated.
Freddy has gone above and beyond the call of duty. He was genuinely sorry for us and has come in early and stayed late throughout this week - all of his own volition. He refuses to let me stay alone. He became very angry initially at the long-gone intruders that they would make me afraid and has taken on the task of our security as his own priority. He cautions us and educates us in being more saavy in this neighborhood. He won't let anyone in the gate without screening them first before even coming to us. He has been cleaning out the weeds near our fenceline, thinning out the brush and trees along the street, checking the work of the workmen to make sure it's solid. Never once asking for anything and always giving. He has been a gift of God this week.
Then there's Miguel. We went to see him this week to tell him what happened and that we wouldn't be having classes until next week. He was distraught and asked us 1001 questions about our employees, our neighborhood, even our friends. He asked to go to the hardware store with us when we had to exchange some locks as he was afraid they wouldn't do it for us. Of course, we took him and he was as proud as a peacock to be our "voice". We brought him to our house and gave him lunch. He was very grateful and wouldn't come in until we told him it was alright. He and Freddy sized each other up like little banty roosters but thankfully, they each gave the other a thumb's up. Miguel stuck close to Jim, not quite sure what to do or how to act in a gringo's home. His comment was that it was very elegant. Later, I looked around and tried to see it through Miguel's eyes. I squinted hard, turning my head first one way and then another, but couldn't see elegant. I saw modest. And I wondered what Miguel's home is like. And I wondered what the robbers thought when they walked through our home.
After lunch, when we tried to give Miguel some money for some food for his family as well as for the bus as we weren't able to drive him back to the church, he refused. He said he wasn't interested in being friends so that we would give him things. We assured him we understood that and we were appreciative that he took the time off to help us with the hardware store and to come visit our home. The money was to pay for the means to get him back to work and the rest was to be used to help buy food for the family. His eyes became very teary and he lowered his head. I told him we didn't want to offend him and he said that it was no offense but rather a wonderful and timely gift. He just wanted to make sure we knew as far as he was concerned, our friendship was true. Once again, we assured him it was. I have to tell you that what we gave him was not a huge sum at all but what is equivalent to a little over $5.00. Not much to us but a gift of sizeable measure to him. He can't even comprehend the dollar loss we suffered through the break in. I can't comprehend the immense gratitude he feels for a gift of $5.00. Chances are pretty good that never the 'twain shall meet.
Well, my time on here for now has come to an end. We want to thank everyone for the concern you have expressed and the prayers you have taken before the Throne of God on our behalf. I can't even imagine how this week would have been without those. That is a beautiful manifestation of how the body of Christ works, isn't it? Coming together in one accord, praising God and letting Him work through His people.
The things that were stolen from our home...they'll all burn up some day, won't they? Our real treasures are stored somewhere else where neither moths nor rust can destroy nor thieves can break in and steal. We are not just aliens here in Nicaragua, this world is not our home. Lord, thank you for reminding me not to become enraptured with Fool's Gold...or the loss of it.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Leaning on the everlasting arms...
It's Thursday night, 9:45 and we still don't have our back door secured. The "charm" of the Nicaraguan's sense of urgency (or to be more exact, lack of) in matters such as this is starting to wear thin. Jim has changed out the regular style padlocks with some that are supposed to be more resistant to picking and are designed so that bolt cutters can't be put around them...notice I said, "supposed to be..." I don't think there is anything that is as exactly as marketed.
Jim has also installed some door alarms on each door. Hopefully, if someone should attempt to get the door open from the outside, they will be frightened off by the obnoxiously noisy alarm. Hopefully. And our final attempt at making that side of the house feel more secure was the motion detection light we had put in last Tuesday. Sounds good, doesn't it? But in reality, it almost adds to the the stress level when the light goes on at night...do we look? Do we pretend like we didn't see it? What set it off? Or rather, on? Was it 4 legged or 2 legged? We like the theory that the light's sensor is so sensitive that the bats flitting around trigger it and on it goes. Regardless the cause, it's a bit of an oxymoron that the very thing that is supposed to help us feel better tends to increase the pumping of our blood and quicken our breaths.
Our landlord told us Sunday afternoon, the day we were robbed, that he would have a man come out the next morning to fix the door. We've still not seen him. The story is that there's an older woman who lives in his house...none of us have figured out the relationship between the two, just assuming that somehow, she's related. Anyway, this elderly lady is dying of cancer and the "carpintero" can't come work on our house until he finishes building her a tomb. I think maybe he means a coffin. And, we have had rainy days each day for almost a week so he can't work on her tomb right now. I'm not sure I know why he can't go ahead and work inside our house if it's too wet to work on her tomb. I'm sure there's a rational answer somehow, I just don't know what it is!
We have a man coming Friday morning (someone Susanna found) to go ahead and repair the door. Thankfully, our landlord agreed to let us do so when Susanna mentioned that if we were living anywhere else, we would have moved out when the door wasn't first repaired. Susanna told us that relationships are so important that it is difficult to find the balance between getting things done and offending. She said that our landlord had already paid the other man and that as a man of honor, he felt he should wait for him to show up. My comment was that I would have more respect for the Man of Honor thing if I saw more men of honor. That's when I think they all realized this agitated gringa was about to become a bit more agitated and Susanna convinced our landlord we could not nor would not wait any longer. At this point, I don't care who fixes the door, I just want to be able to lock it securely.
We are also in the process of securing a day guard to work afternoons and Sundays for us as those are the times we tend to be gone most often. We are trying to close in the circle of vulnerability as much as possible. This is a new way of life in more respects than I had previously imagined. Can't say it's one of my more favorite aspects of life in Nicaragua.
In reading this over, I realize how tired I am. It's a struggle to write this tonight but I wanted to take advantage of the time we have for the use of Susanna's laptop. Maybe I'll be so tired tonight, I'll fall right to sleep and rest in the peace that God has offered to us. It's hard to let go of the fear long enough to grab hold of the Peace...We don't want to jump at every sound and dwell on the fact we had our home and our peace of mind invaded but neither do we want to become complacent or foolish. We are entering tricky territory here. Everyone tells us it will take time to once again feel comfortable and safe. I'm not known for my patience. It's Thursday night...and the back door still isn't secure. I keep reminding myself, we are.
Jim has also installed some door alarms on each door. Hopefully, if someone should attempt to get the door open from the outside, they will be frightened off by the obnoxiously noisy alarm. Hopefully. And our final attempt at making that side of the house feel more secure was the motion detection light we had put in last Tuesday. Sounds good, doesn't it? But in reality, it almost adds to the the stress level when the light goes on at night...do we look? Do we pretend like we didn't see it? What set it off? Or rather, on? Was it 4 legged or 2 legged? We like the theory that the light's sensor is so sensitive that the bats flitting around trigger it and on it goes. Regardless the cause, it's a bit of an oxymoron that the very thing that is supposed to help us feel better tends to increase the pumping of our blood and quicken our breaths.
Our landlord told us Sunday afternoon, the day we were robbed, that he would have a man come out the next morning to fix the door. We've still not seen him. The story is that there's an older woman who lives in his house...none of us have figured out the relationship between the two, just assuming that somehow, she's related. Anyway, this elderly lady is dying of cancer and the "carpintero" can't come work on our house until he finishes building her a tomb. I think maybe he means a coffin. And, we have had rainy days each day for almost a week so he can't work on her tomb right now. I'm not sure I know why he can't go ahead and work inside our house if it's too wet to work on her tomb. I'm sure there's a rational answer somehow, I just don't know what it is!
We have a man coming Friday morning (someone Susanna found) to go ahead and repair the door. Thankfully, our landlord agreed to let us do so when Susanna mentioned that if we were living anywhere else, we would have moved out when the door wasn't first repaired. Susanna told us that relationships are so important that it is difficult to find the balance between getting things done and offending. She said that our landlord had already paid the other man and that as a man of honor, he felt he should wait for him to show up. My comment was that I would have more respect for the Man of Honor thing if I saw more men of honor. That's when I think they all realized this agitated gringa was about to become a bit more agitated and Susanna convinced our landlord we could not nor would not wait any longer. At this point, I don't care who fixes the door, I just want to be able to lock it securely.
We are also in the process of securing a day guard to work afternoons and Sundays for us as those are the times we tend to be gone most often. We are trying to close in the circle of vulnerability as much as possible. This is a new way of life in more respects than I had previously imagined. Can't say it's one of my more favorite aspects of life in Nicaragua.
In reading this over, I realize how tired I am. It's a struggle to write this tonight but I wanted to take advantage of the time we have for the use of Susanna's laptop. Maybe I'll be so tired tonight, I'll fall right to sleep and rest in the peace that God has offered to us. It's hard to let go of the fear long enough to grab hold of the Peace...We don't want to jump at every sound and dwell on the fact we had our home and our peace of mind invaded but neither do we want to become complacent or foolish. We are entering tricky territory here. Everyone tells us it will take time to once again feel comfortable and safe. I'm not known for my patience. It's Thursday night...and the back door still isn't secure. I keep reminding myself, we are.
What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
I have blessèd peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
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