Top Ten

Let's start off with a list of my top ten "Did that really happen?" moments thus far:

10. The Clinic computer's music collection consisting of a large collection of Otown, BSB, and Nsync songs as the only English music available.
9. The complete lack of trashcans anywhere...everything just goes on the ground and piles up on the sides of the street.
8. Seeing the gecko that climbs up my wall everyday around 5pm (he asked me if I needed insurance the other day....wow, i know that was really corny. i know.)
7. Eating tortillas 3 meals a day as the main staple of food/trying to fill my stomach so I'm not hungry in an hour. I never plan to eat another tortilla outside Guatemala again.
6. Not being able to walk 1 block without seeing dogs making more dogs (apparently Guatemala has never seen The Price is Right or Bob Barker...ok, ya, another corny one)
5. Ants getting everywhere, even into a double sealed bag of Smilies. RIP :(
4. Waking up to a cockroach crawling on me..and sadly, not the first, only, or last time it will happen.
3. Eating refried beans 5 times over....they start out as a soupy substance, move to a more pasty consistency with another refrying, by the 5th time they are served, they're more of a beany loaf, and my guess is that they can be eaten all the way up until petrification. (ok, bad joke number 3....come on guys, there is no one to speak english with here, so this is what happens.)
2. Having to perform paps in 90* heat...I won't go into anymore detail. But there is another pap day this week....I'm going to die.
1. Jose taking my old tooth brush out of the trash because he wanted you use it, and his mom said it was fine....(when they weren't looking, I washed my old one with bleach so he wouldn't catch my cold.)

That's the list so far. How about some comments.....top songs on the radio right now? top movies, top anything? I know I have been gone for only 2ish weeks, but it feels like an eternity. What all is going on at home? I don't think I'm going to stay until the Oct 17th date....if I stay through September, I won't miss anything planned so far (parade, school education day, Karla's baby's arrival), but I don't see myself making it much more than a month more. We will see. I talked to the supervisor here and he was really understanding, and he just told me to let him know what I decide for sure so he can change the plane ticket.

Despite wanting to come home earlier than planned, things are going really well, and I'm feeling more adjusted everyday. The work at the clinic is great, and I'm getting very excited for the Surgery team coming this Saturday. One of the doctors is from Laurel Church of Christ in Knoxville, I think. Even though I don't know any of them, I am excited to get to work with them and stay up at the clinic for a week! So, this week is just finishing up final preparations for surgery. Yesterday I did inventory and restocked the small pharmacy at the nurses' station in the hospital wing.....have to admit I got a little OCD with my organization. Then, this morning, I checked some of the vital sign equipment, and now I'm making posters for the education days at the school near the clinic (the hygiene stuff). One the the employees wants to teach me to run the Autoclave machine to sterilize the equipment for surgery, but I'm a little scared of it. Its a huge machine with like 50 steps and valves. I am even too scared to turn on the gas grill by myself!

I feel like I've kind of hit a little dry spot in my spiritual growth.....I've made it through almost all my books I brought, not to say there isn't a gazillion and one more things I need to and can learn. I think that what I am learning most is that it all boils down to having faith in this Grace. We can do nothing to gain, repay, or deserve this great Love and Grace given to us. Before I can even give my explanation or apology for why I left Him or went away, the Father is waiting with open arms and a kiss to embrace me, to welcome me Home, without a second thought.. (Matt. 15). So, it comes down to a choice, will I have faith above all else in this Great LOVE and GRACE to take me through every fear, every day, every moment, every choice?

Another story from the Ragamuffin Gospel:

Perhaps we are all in the position of the man who came to the edge of an abyss. As he stood there wondering what to do next, he was amazed to discover a tightrope stretched across the abyss. And slowly, surely, across the rope came an acrobat pushing before him a wheelbarrow with another performer in it. When they fnally reached the safety o solid ground, the acrobat smiled at the man's amazement. "Don't you think I can do it again?" he asked. And the man replied, "Why yes, I certainly believe you can." The acrobat put his quetion again, and when the answer was the same, he pointed to the wheelbarrow and said, "Good! Then get in and I will take you across!"


Me: Daily as I wake up, I ask God to give me the courage to climb in the wheelbarrow and walk with Him across the abyss. If there were 100 steps between me and God, He would take 99 and just ask me to take 1.