Make a difference

Have I mentioned before that all the amazing things that are happening here....I am just one guy, sometimes I do not get to hear everything that goes on everywhere every day. Valerie perks up yesterday, saying "Oh, I forgot to tell you!" I knew it would be a good story...."one of my patients had Christ enter his heart yesterday!" I inquired more on our semi-date-afternoon yesterday. He had been her patient since 2000, and has also seen Reina. He has retinitis pigmentosa. He can still see....but very, very little. How he gets around, let alone works (at a gas station pumping gas no less) is quite impressive. Before the exam, Valerie and he were talking about a variety of things, and he mentioned his son who was a Christian, and that seemed to take up all his time, he just wanted to go and do what he could, etc. But that when he went...all the noise (oh, that is why he saw Reina...his hearing is going as well) he could not really pray or get anything out of it or make any sense of it. Valerie said....if Christ is not in you, then you would not get anything out of it, it would not make sense and be just like your physical sight and hearing. They talked some more, and she had the feeling to ask him if he wanted to pray about repentance and recognizing what Christ did for him. He did...but he did not know how to pray. So they prayed together, she led him, and they talked about him going to his son and to the Church he attends to be discipled.

So, there is just one story for you from Friday.

The political scene here is just as filled with words as it has been for the past week or so. Mel, his wife and Hugo baby all made remarks on Friday and Saturday that he was "en route" "hours away" etc. from somehow re-entering Honduras. Notice no specifics there? Mel is nothing if not verbose, shaky on details, and rare to follow through on promises. No Mel, and the negotiations in Costa Rica seem to be going nowhere. Supposedly the seven point plan on reaching an agreement was agreed to by Mel, with him getting back into power here, but giving up on any plans for ammending or throwing out the constitution to stay in power, etc....but the new government says no to any agreement that brings him back in power. "But if he says he will just serve out his term, no trying to stay in power or change the constitution, why not?" says the international press/governments. Today I read in the local paper that Mel said in Nicaragua that when he gets back....he will push for that constitutional reform again. No surprise there. Hollywood could not do better. Meanwhile back at the farm....life continues very much as normal for most of the country.

The grocery stores here for the most part now (versus my early memories of what they were like on my first trip) are very much like what they are in the US. However I saw this scene, and it just struck me as something I never saw in my local grocery. Sure, imitation crab meat on the right....but the octopus on the right, or the "assorted seafood" which sounds, and looks, to me to be the seafood equivalent of what you make hotdogs out of, and then the nicely prepared calamari in the bottom....which looks like if breaded and fried, would probably taste like onion rings.

Lastly, we sang a hymn this morning that I think I have sung before. Like much music however, sometimes the words get lost in the singing of them (at least for me) so I made it a point to find the words and study them a little more after the fact. I found it to be much more edifying, so I share it with you as well:

Verse 1 I saw the cleansing fountain, Open wide for all my sin, I obeyed the Spirit's calling when He said "Wilt thou be clean?"

Verse 2 Tho the way seems straight and narrow, All I claimed was swept away, My ambitions, plans and wishes At my feet in disarray.

Verse 3 Blessed be the name of Jesus! I'm so glad He took me in; He's forgiven my transgressions, He has cleansed my heart from sin.

Verse 4 Glory, glory to the Father! Glory, glory to the Son! Glory, glory to the Spirit! Glory to the Three in One!

Chorus:

I Will Praise Him! I will Praise Him! Praise the lamb for sinners slain; Give Him glory all ye people, for His blood can wash away each stain.