Friday night in Nic. Mary and I, 2 wild and crazy gals, are spending it quietly at the team house, reading and on the computer. We are rather tired today and are enjoying the relaxing atmosphere. I love listening to the waves on the beach in the background, the whir of the fans, Spanish praise music on my iPod and little portable speaker, kids in the street and an occasional horn honking. Oh yes, and the bugs, toads and geckos making themselves known.
I woke up really early this morning and tried to read myself back to sleep, but the book that Mary loaned me is a murder mystery and it kept me wide awake. She seems to think that it's funny. I may have to switch that book to daytime reading and find something boring to read at night. We got things ready for today's class and discussed more of our plans for the month. We also studied a little bit of Spanish. Mary is really digging in and I'm proud of her. We had peanutbutter sandwiches for lunch and then headed out to the Sewer Ponds for class.
When we arrived at the Sewer Ponds, there were 2 large road construction machines there rolling up and down the little roads and making quite a racket. There is a large tree stump at the corner where we were holding the classes and the machines tried digging it up for a while. We had to stop class for short periods of time because we couldn't be heard, but we pressed on. God's WORD is louder and stronger than any manmade machine!
Mary taught the class today and I spent some time playing frisbee with a couple of kids and also taking pics on my camera, Mary's camera and my phone. We were very encouraged by the number of people who came to the classes yesterday and today, and that they paid attention. We gave out Spanish New Testaments today.
There will be a ceremony commemorating the newly packed roads tomorrow and the people invited us to come, but we won't be able to attend. We thanked them very much for inviting us. I love getting to build some relationships, even slowly. It's all in God's time...
We'll be going back on Tuesday to do a feeding and to recap our class. We'll also return a few weeks later to give out some Christmas gifts. It warms my heart to hear them call our names and to wave at the van. Mary and I are both easily recognizable, so each time we stop by we are getting closer to some of the women and kids. I love it.
On the way home this evening, we stopped by the house that German is building. There is more construction finished and he will soon have completed all he has materials for for now. We met one of the workmen and when we showed him the New Testaments that we were giving out, he pulled out his Bible. He's a young man (maybe teens) and it was great to see that he was carrying his Bible. He's some relation to Saturnino, our guard. He seems very nice. His name is Gabriel. He lives on the way back to the team house, so we gave him a ride.
This morning, I was blessed to be able to speak to my sister Pam before they took her back for her surgery. I called Rob's niece every few hours during the day to see how things were going. This afternoon I actually got to speak to Pam after she woke up. She was nauseous, so they were going to keep her overnight. With her weird insulin problems, it's dangerous for her to vomit, so they are watching her closely. They watched her bloodpressure really closely during the surgery, too. She did very well. They had to dig a little deeper than they first thought for the tumor, but they said it was small and they feel that they have gotten it all. The lymph nodes are not effected, so they felt very good about the surgery. As for her gallbladder, it was bad but didn't register any problems on any of the tests (as with mine). I'm so glad that they went ahead and took hers out. Now, hopefully, she can start healing from both problems and maybe all her other health issues will heal, too. She just needs to complete 33 days of radiation and see how things go from there. I thank God for good news today. I'm so thankful.
My family is so dysfunctional... I won't even go into the drama that has unfolded the last few days. But I'm heartsick that my family cares so little for each other. I think the unconditional love of Christ is what drew me so near to our Savior when I was presented with the truth of God's love. As much as I'm used to the craziness of my family over the last 53 years, I still had an emotionally tiring day. All I can do is lay it all at the Father's feet and let Him bear this burden in my heart. He is Faithful.
Tonight Mary and I had hamburgers and fried potatoes and cucumbers for dinner. I don't eat hamburgers in the states, but here the meat is really lean. (I mean, have you seen how skinny these cows are down here???) But I really splurged on the fried potatoes. I rarely eat anything fried. I may pay for it in my tummy, but it was really good!!! I topped off the evening with a chocolate snack pack pudding. Hopefully, the lettuce and cucumbers I ate will balance out the bad stuff! :)
It's only 7:45 and Mary and I are both retired to our beds for the night. Up with the sun and to bed with the sun. I think I might try to take an early morning beach walk tomorrow. who knows...
I keep thinking of the faces of the kids at the Sewer Ponds today. I recognize some of them from last summer. It's nice to know them enough to at least notice how much they have grown. They think it's funny when I speak Spanish to them. Some of them know a few English words and make sure that I notice when they say them. They are so proud.
Well, I guess I should sign off and get ready to go to sleep. I'm sure I'll be wide awake in the middle of the night, but we are working here at the house tomorrow on our own schedule, so if I need a nap or two it won't be a problem.
God is blessing my life so much. I love serving Him full time and I thank Him for making me useful to His kingdom. I am nothing without Him. He is my ALL.
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