Snippets...

Today it’s just snippets of news…not really anything cohesive here other than it’s how life is here.

*It’s a hot, dry, windy day here…a double-edged sword if getting laundry done is the goal for the day. No city water is a problem when it comes to washing but thankfully, the water tank is full so we’re splurging for clean clothes and hoping the city water comes back on tonight. The hot sun and wind serve to dry clothes in short order…the first also tends to toast tender white skin in the same amount of time while the rapidly drying wind also carries the ever-present fine dust that covers every surface…including not-so-brilliant-white clothes hanging out on the line. I think clean must be defined differently depending on locale.

The dust is annoying at the very least while posing a health issue for so many. Some of you have asked if we have air conditioning and have suggested that it might help with controlling the amount of dust that enters the house. It would…but we don’t have it in our home. Well, that’s not quite true. The guest bedroom has a window air conditioner that has been placed in a cut-out in the exterior wall, but it doesn’t work. And even if it did, we probably wouldn’t run it as it would be too costly in electricity charges.

It’s been in the mid 90s and we’re managing to survive…we’re a bit damp but we’re still hanging in here. We just got the car back yesterday…I won’t go in to the “fixes”…it will only serve to aggravate me again. Suffice to say, as with most things, the way we expect things to be repaired and the reality of what you receive often have a wide gap between the two. But the a/c now works again and that’s huge! That’s one of those things that really is a luxury that we have come to consider a necessity. So, if it gets too hot and we feel we just have to get cooled off, we can always jump in the car for a short drive.

I had to laugh, in a kind of shocked way, when Jim tossed a book on our bed and a slight cloud of dust poofed up from the bedspread! One of the consequences of having our bed under a set of windows… But, having to shake the bedspread outside is a small price to pay for catching any bit of breeze on warm nights. And the nights are getting warm. It’s that time of year. We have hotter days ahead and more dust until the rains come in the middle of May. So during this dry season, we live with dust…during the wet season, we live with mold. I can’t choose which I prefer…actually, I prefer neither.

*This was our supposed to be our clinic weekend in Rio Blanco but it’s been postponed. The pastor we work with, Pastor Sergio, had a death in the family. His brother-in-law, who was in his early 40s, suffered a fatal stroke last week. And if that weren’t enough, Pastor Sergio’s mother was hospitalized. This family has had a hard couple of years as they lost two teenaged nieces last year. One died with complications from pneumonia and the other from cancer. It seems as though serious health issues are not an exception here but more the norm. I am understanding a bit more why there is such a preoccupation with any kind of illness or “abnormality”…it can have great ramifications that I would just never have considered before.

*We had to miss this month’s clinic in Jinotepe because I was fussing with my own respiratory junk. I knew my own immune system was puny and I didn’t want to pick up anything else plus I sure didn’t want to share this junk with anyone else who might not already be feeling their best. I hated that we missed it for I know it was a good clinic…it always is. The need continues…

*Kenet, Miguel’s nephew who has lymphoma, is not doing very well. He is now at home and they are trying chemo again but the news wasn’t encouraging yesterday when we went to see Miguel for his English lesson. The prognosis hasn’t changed…it’s not good. The tumor is growing and is trying to steal this child’s future. We keep reminding Miguel that Kenet is in God’s hands. He nods in affirmation…but I know while that brings comfort on one level, our human flesh is so entwined with our human desires that we still want our loved ones to be the ones who experience the miracle of divine healing and so we cry out our prayers of desperation. In the past, I’ve cried them for my own family and I am sadly sure I will cry them again in the not-so-distant future as Jim’s folks are having their own health issues. It’s the same for all of us, I suppose…we say we want God’s will to be done but don’t we secretly want God’s will to be our wishes? Kenet is a child and our desire is his future to be counted in decades, not in months. We ask you to continue to pray for this child.

*Our visit with Miguel yesterday was like a small reunion of sorts. We had not been able to see him for the last two weeks due to the car issue and we had no way of getting hold of him. When Jim pulled up in front of the church, I noticed with a sinking feeling that the windows to our classroom were closed. Miguel always has the windows open before we arrive so that the room has time to air out and cool down a bit. Closed windows were a visible sign that he had no hopes of our coming. It grabbed at my heart. Jim honked the horn and a few minutes later, Miguel appeared at the gate to unlock it for us to enter the small church lot. He smiled, but it was a guarded smile. There was obviously some trust lost.

When we explained the situation, he visibly relaxed. He then had to inspect the marks of the “repairs” himself and offered his comments…some funny, some critical but all covered with a sense of relief that there was a legitimate reason for us to have not shown up for two weeks. The only day we had Susanna’s car to go to the grocery store happened to be his day off…we just were incommunicado for a lengthy enough time that his imagination had plenty of time to work.

He told us he was concerned I had taken a turn for the worse with my cold. Remember I said that with many folks here, there seems to be a preoccupation with health issues and I think Miguel is one of those people. He wondered if we had gone away or if we had some kind of terrible trouble come upon us. And his worst fear was that he had suffered “abandonment” from his friends. I had to laugh when he used that term but then I realized that he was being honest in expressing his concern. We assured him that we would not abandon him and that we valued his friendship. Even though we have told him before that if we didn’t come for our scheduled time there was a very good reason, doubt had crept in. Were we really his friends? Did we really care? Were we dependable?

Again, God holds up a mirror. Doubt creeping in when expectations aren’t met… do we ever master doubt so that trust is an involuntary response instead of an act of the will standing on shaky legs? This conversation with Miguel was a good reminder for me that no matter how good our intentions are, there might possibly be situations in this life that would prevent us from fulfilling our promises. We don’t have that concern with God. He is faithful to His promises and true to His Word. Gracias a Dios.

We listened to Miguel’s worries. We apologized profusely. We told him if we could have called him, we would have. He said he lost our number and couldn’t call us. We reassured him. He forgave us. We had a great time catching up with what had occurred in each other’s lives over the last two weeks and then we had class. Restoration…there’s nothing like it!

*Our night guard, Felix, told us recently that he needed to make more money and thought he was going to have to look for another job. We completely understand that as he is the father of five children. Although we have been relatively pleased with his work performance, we just didn’t feel like God was leading us to give Felix more money to stay. He started with us the beginning of January and we didn’t think 3 months of employment, warranted a wage increase. We have all agreed that he would remain through the end of this month. That gives him time to find a job while he still has one and would give us time to find another security guard.

We began praying that day that God would bring the right person to us. Finding a security guard is a tricky issue here and it often takes time to fill the position with someone who is trustworthy. I had asked Freddy, our gardener, in the past when we needed someone, if he perhaps had a friend or someone he knew that needed a job. He was never able to help us in that regard before but as we were leaving the other day, I asked Freddy again, almost as a second thought, and he said he would think about it.

A few days later, he came to us and told us he had someone who was interested in the position. I was a bit surprised as I didn’t really expect him to recommend anyone. It turned out that his brother-in-law needed a job. We have met him before and he seemed like a very nice man. Freddy reassured us that Felix (yes, another Felix) was honest and that he would not suggest someone who might cause us “damage”. I believe him.

So, Freddy and Felix (and sweet little Gabriel), came over this afternoon so we could sit and discuss the job. By the time their visit was over, we had secured our next night guard! We are very thankful that God has met this need in such a relatively painless manner and we just praise Him for this provision! We are looking forward to building a relationship with this young man as we believe God has brought him in to our lives at this time for a special reason.

Well, I started this thing this morning and it’s now after 9:00 p.m. It’s been a day full of interruptions, both annoying and welcoming. Susanna has a cold so I stopped to make some home-made chicken soup and ran some over to her…it also gave us a chance to love on Pixie for a bit, as well. Plus, Sadie, my youngest daughter, called tonight with her exciting news that she was accepted in to the veterinary school at the University of Missouri in Columbia. This is her dream come true but it means her trip here will have to be postponed. For that, I’m a little sad but my joy for her far outweighs my disappointment. Even when we have a day off, it seems we’re busy! I will try to get some pictures posted in the next few days of some of the kids at Los Cedros. Until then, that’s it for now.