Topic stew

How weird is it to have three interns here at the same time? It won’t be for long, but still...unusual, in a very good way! Ethan is finishing up two weeks shadowing Oscar, Sarah has been in the clinic helping Valerie for a week, and her good friend Carrie (we have known both of them from prior optometry teams) arrived yesterday for a week. Seen here is Sarah who helped Dilcia prepare sushi for a different dinner fare. We even bought genuine imitation crab meat! All told this year we are expecting seven interns...possibly even two more before everything is said and done! 

We were in the neighborhood recently and stopped by to see if the auction for the Land Cruisers would be anytime soon...still no word as they wait for the Honduran government to approve selling them (since they paid no tax upon entering the country) but through the guard’s little hole in the gate I got a glimpse at a couple of them. I was not coveting my brother’s turbo diesel V8 on the left with its 40% more power than ours along with 6% better fuel economy...but it was close. Add the snorkel and mule killer along with all of the other hard core, non-luxury goodies like solid axles, factory winches and usable roof racks, and...I was in love. We will see what God has in mind however when the time comes, as it was only by Him that we got the first three that have been so incredibly useful...and very reliable.  I'll be more in love if they end up being as incredibly affordable as the last three were. 

The rainy season kicked in late April...and if late May is any indication, it is going to be plenty wet. This was just from a pop up afternoon shower today...flooding many streets, and this was not as bad as it will get for sure with more coming. I have not seen the road to the clinic this afternoon, but it gets more...challenging with each passing rain drop.

Dora is close to finishing her first quilt! She will be making 50 of these as debt payment to the mission (which stepped in to help her with some much needed things around her home for security and such, but only if she did not try to pay us back with money, but with these instead. A huge help for her, one she is paying back, and gladly so in this way that does not hamstring her for years to come.) I doubt the mission will make a profit selling these, but it was a way to meet her time of need, as well as help her feel responsible by knowing it was no hand out, that she is earning that work done to her home.

 

I struggle often with people wanting hand outs, trying to guilt us into giving them whatever they ask (yesterday someone flat out told me I needed to buy them a car because they needed it and the Bible says those that ask will receive), but there are many people like Dora out there as well...people that if given the opportunity to help themselves, take every opportunity to change their lives and move forward for the better...spiritually as well as physically...not wanting anyone to give them anything save for an opportunity.

It can be hard to remember and focus on the good when the bad sometimes stings more. One bad apple only spoils the whole bunch if you leave it there and fester instead of removing it (from your mind in this case) and see the rest of the bunch for what it is. Still I admit to struggling to know where to try to help and where to pull back. When to just say no, and when to go further than we think we can reach. What is our familial responsibility versus that of helping others that have no family? How do you handle being cursed for not immediately handing over that which is demanded?

 

I am in the deep end of the pool on that one, barely treading water, and that only by the arm floaties that is God’s grace. I don’t get it right often enough, I often look around thinking “I am greatly under qualified to handle these situations,” and even when I want to just sink out of sight...those pesky floaties of God’s grace pull me up just enough to keep swimming.

I was struck by many things I heard this week in different sermons, but in reference to the above paragraphs, was inspiring. When in Bible times they talked about “a lamp unto my feet”...a lamp was a rudimentary candle type apparatus, not the 10 million candle power spotlights available today. A lamp carried with you in the darkness then was enough to illuminate a step or two in front of you, nothing more. 

Sometimes we want to see where we will go before we want to leave. We want to see the end of the bridge before we step foot on it. We know our final destination...but the intermediary stops along the way are not clear at all at times. God does not tell us where all we will go, what all will happen from our action/inaction along the way...just to follow step by step where He has for us to go by His light. 

If you had told me twelve years ago where I would be today, I would have been too scared to take the first step. Where will I go/be taken tomorrow? I do not know. I can plan, I can think, but in the moment, I am to just take today’s steps, this minute’s steps, and let God work out the rest. I know this. But like the man that see’s his reflection in the mirror and then walks away and forgets what he looks like...I need to stew on this more and more.