January 14, 2011

Friday afternoon.
Settled in for the weekend. Until time for church on Sunday, anyway.

Yesterday, I went to Dr Gartman to see about getting a root canal. After some intense diagnostic tests, he shared with me a very detailed explanation of what is going on with my tooth and what he suggests I do to save the tooth. I really appreciated his was of making me understand everything. Unfortunately, the cost for all the work would end up close to $5,000. I only get $8,000 support a year from the church as a missionary, and I was not about to spend that kind of money on the tooth. Besides, I wasn't all that attached (sentimentally) to the tooth. I had been ready to pull it from the beginning. Dr Gartman was very understanding and called Dr Jeffries back and had a discussion about my options. An appointment was made to pull the tooth after lunch. The people at Dr Gartman's office were really nice. I would recommend them highly to anyone who has to have this type of work done.

I was nervous about my appointment, but I was sooooo ready to be rid of this tooth and the horrible pain. Dr. Jeffries was ready for me when I got there. He said that he hated pulling my tooth, but understood that I couldn't afford fixing it. So he promptly shot me full of numbing juice. While we were waiting for it to take effect, he shared pictures from his mission trip to Peru from 2 years ago. It was nice to talk about missions and ministry. Then he got out his lovely (NOT) tools and pulled that sucker out! It wasn't as bad as I had imagined. It all went very quickly. They only charged $105, so I was very happy. Deanna said that we weren't even in the office 30 minutes. It was all over quickly and I enjoyed it (as much as you can enjoy having a tooth pulled) and appreciated getting to interact with Dr Jeffries and Diane, his assistant. They treated me so well.

I've been able to cut my pain pills in half. There is just some pain from the extraction process and the horrible pain from the nerve in the tooth is gone. Yay! I'm glad to have this behind me.

I slept pretty well, with only 1/2 pain pill, and woke up feeling better than I have in a long time. I'm so thankful. I know that through everything, even simple tooth pain, God has me in His hands and has a purpose for it all. I was able to share with people in 2 different offices about serving as a Missionary here and in Nic, about relying on God and how faithful He is. awesome.

Today, I met with Mike and Sherry Hulsey, Directors of Voice of Hope Ministries, about taking on more responsibilities with the ministry. I'm thrilled. I love this ministry very much and I'm excited to help with planning and sharing and helping to lead teams. It will be a busy spring and summer and I can't wait.

I have quite a to-do list going and I love being able to check things off. I try to be a good steward of the time that God allows me to have each day. My schedule is very flexible and I have even had people tell me that they don't think I actually work, since I don't go to an office for regular hours. Then I have Deanna fussing at me sometimes for working too much, since she sees me working here at home. I know that I'm trying to balance work time, study time (spanish), Bible study time, rest, etc. each day. All I can do is to ask God to show me how He wants me to spend HIS time that He allows me to have. Remembering that is the key.

I need to put together a presentation from my last stay in Nic to share with the congregation at Cuerpo Vivo on Sunday. That will be fun to put together. I also need to put together some pics for sharing with one of the women's Sunday School classes at their meeting in February. I love talking about what God is doing in Nicaragua. I hope that people find it encouraging for them.

My only desire is to serve God as well as I can. I want Him to be glorified and praised. I want people to come to know Him as Savior and Lord. I want to show my gratitude for the life He allows me to live. He is my ALL.