Hard places and soft spots

8/27/14 Buenas noches de Siguatepeque, “the city of beautiful women” where the air is cool and the women are. I’m working with short term mission teams, and my first was a dream! They were a group of young people from St. Luke’s in Birmingham, AL. It was their first trip and they were so into the experience. The young women taught Vacation Bible School along with the guidance of an incredible young Honduran woman named Waldi who had taught herself English. The young men and myself helped to construct and pour 12 concrete steps on an addition to the church in Trinidad which had been started some 10 years before with nothing done since. These folks were such a pleasure to work with. Not a single complaint all week. On the ride into the site every morning they sang and it made me so thankful to finally be in Honduras doing what I have felt for so long I was called to do. Thanks to Parker and Josiah. Loved working with you two and can’t thank you enough for your support. Can’t wait to see you here next year. The following week, Parker and I joined up with St. John’s, Montgomery, my home church, in Tela for their medical mission. It was so good to see familiar faces and to work and worship with those wonderful folks. I fit some 300 people with reading glasses. Thank You thank you thank you to Kat Dailey who brought me my new Apple MacBook Pro! Such a help! I was riding high when I returned to San Pedro but like the Bible says, “let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” After two incredibly blessed weeks I returned to find dozens of emails from a bunch of people I’ve never met preparing to come down for mission trips to places I know nothing about…yet. It was a little overwhelming. I have a huge learning curve to scale. I was able to come home to my 830 sq. ft. apartment for just a couple of days and then I was back in the road again. I’ve been living out of a bag since the end of May. The next group was from California. They had worked together in different places for years, but had not been to Honduras for two years. I felt it very important that they have a good experience. The team leader and one of the doctors came down a day early to scope out the new place they would be working. We picked them up from the airport and got them checked into their hotel. The next day we drove for hours and hours but never did find Concepción del Norte. The stress began there. After returning them to the hotel that evening, I was headed back to Rick and Lura’s place in La Gran Bestial, the 1999 Ford F350 straight shift diesel behemoth with a huge metal cow catcher on the front that I have been assigned, and managed to locate the one and only Honduran who comes to a screeching halt at a yellow light. Most slow down at the red lights and if nothing is coming they keep going. This guy came to an abrupt halt half way under the yellow light and I popped him, popped him half way down the block! Thank God no one hit him broadside, then I would have had to pay for two vehicles to be repaired. I was pretty shaken up. I haven’t had an accident in I don’t even remember how long. It became incredibly complicated really fast. The next day I had to pick up our driver and my good friend Fredy at 4:00 a.m. to get the Coaster and run out to the airport and pick up the rest of the team. I got lost AND I got stopped by the police for going the wrong way down a one way street. That actually turned out to be a blessing because they led me to the road I needed to get to Fredy’s, but still, being stopped by the Police just kicked my cage again. We got off to Concepción del Norte. Fredy knew how to get there. It is an hour's drive UP a twisting and turning dirt road. The next day the brakes on the coaster blew out. There was some struggle getting the clinic set up as there always is in a new place. As with any team that has worked together for years, there is always the question of whether or not the new people are going to be a good fit. Sometimes they and sometimes…well. I liked everyone of them well enough but there was some tension in there. The guy I hit kept calling me about twice a day. I felt challenged and felt I should have the answers to all the team’s questions even though it was the first time I had ever laid eyes on the place, so I didn’t. There was some talk of being disappointed in the numbers of people that showed up. It was a rough week. We returned everyone to their hotel in San Pedro on Friday where they were to meet private transportation to Pico Bonito. The three nubies caught the hotel transport and headed straight to the airport and flew home. The one bright spot all week was my new dear friend Delma Paredes. She is a lay leader in the church where we had the clinic. She has worked there for 12 years, and was a pleasure to work with. She was our host in her garden every day for lunch. On our last day, when I felt the tension (self-inflicted) was getting to be a little much, we had just finished lunch when down her driveway came a maharache (sp?) band. A wonderfully spirited foursome. Delma slid back one of the tables and said, “Let’s dance!” No one budged. I said, “Well I’m dancing!” I danced with Delma and then I grabbed the hand of the team leader and slung her around until she was giddy, or maybe just dizzy. Some of the other folks finally got up. Fredy sang along! It was glorious. I’ll never forget it. Thank You Delma. In the end I think the week went pretty well. One of the doctors told me at the airport before they left that he found having fewer numbers was actually nice because it gave him time to really talk to the families and get to know a little bit about them and discuss healthy habits. That made me feel a little better. Back in San Pedro, I went to check on the wreck and the guy hadn’t even brought it in to be repaired. He had gone to the Diocesan office and ran into the Bishop. Thanks a lot. He wanted me to rent him a car while his was in the shop. Everyone was telling me that no one in Honduras ever does that. He wanted me to pay him for lost wages while the car was in the shop. It went on and on and on. He hired a lawyer. The lawyer called the office and kept the Diocese Secretary on the phone for an hour. Eleana finally said, “Look I just answer the phone!” God bless her. That was Friday. Monday the car still wasn’t there. I had to talk to a lawyer and get the spill on how to handle the thing. On my way to do it Tuesday I ran by the repair shop one more time and it was there. “8 days” they said. 4 for my part and the guy is having the rest of the clunker repaired and the whole thing painted. My mechanic said, “You pay from here to there and he pays from here to there and don’t you pay him anything else. He talks too much.” It is supposed to be finished the day after tomorrow. I said I needed to go home to Siguatepeque. “you go, don’t worry. Come back in 8 days.” God bless him. His name is Moses! I bailed out of San Pedro and was home before night fall. I’m finally settled in to my new place. I have had a chance to buy some furniture and now have a bed and some things to sit on, a stove and refrigerator, I have some things to put my clothes in and I have unpacked for the first time in months. I wake up in the morning with the sun in my face and I am in the light. I have had time to read my daily devotional from "Jesus Calling," and the daily lectionary which, if you have been keeping up has been from Job. “human beings are born to trouble, just as sparks* fly upward. ‘As for me, I would seek God,
and to God I would commit my cause. 
He does great things and unsearchable,
 marvellous things without number. and those who mourn are lifted to safety.” I have had a chance to get out and work in the yard some and that has always brought me peace. Reading from Job has made me thankful for my good health. And for my friends and family both here and in the States. For Fredy and Carlos, Eleana and Rick who took such good care of me with the traffic accident. For Delma and the maharache band. For my yachter friends, the generous people of St. John's and the good people of Honduras. Tonight, it is cool and quite. The dogs have gone to bed as well as the roosters. The giant boom box across the road is quiet for once. The evangelicals down the road have taken the night off. The only sound is the thunder and rain on the tin roofs and I am thankful. There are hard places and challenges. Our resolve and faith are tested. But then our sweet Lord blesses us with the rest and comfort we need to survive. The soft spots. Thanks be to God