Happy independence day from central America! Sorry for all the bad grammar and misspellings, but this is a blog from central America on a blackberry late at night - you get what you pay for.
I heard fireworks when I woke up this morning, but quickly realized it was just my joints. Ha! Seriously, the first noise I heard this morning was a shofur (spell?) horn at 5 am as the college kids departed. That was followed by the howlers at 5:30. I'm glad I can sleep through anything. Breakfast was huge, homemade apple and pineapple pancakes with mango juice. Tough job huh?
After breakfast we had our morning devotional and david continued to explore what the kingdom of god is and why it is something we share with joy. The thought that kept going through my head the last several days was the verse in Romans 14 that says the kingdom of god is not eating and drinking (religious rules) but rather peace, joy, and righteousness in the Holy Spirit and a life lived in that service will be commended by God and all men. Russia was a constant reminder to me that God's love is simple to communicate and doesn't require more than following his example of talking, touching, and interacting on a personal level with no special bible or language skills. When we go out to the islands I pray that's our heart.
The morning's work went well. The gate crew headed out to finish the last footing, and the rock crew stayed and sweated. I don't know how many trips kyle, drew, and I made up and down that hill with wheelbarrows full of rocks, but at the end we were all pooped - young and old (ha ha showed them how the old school works!). The others shovelling and raking the rocks worked hard as well.
After our rest break (I made a gravel angel and then a sweat silhouette on the rocks) we found out that we were going to go into town and do the dental clinic instead of making sidewalks. Turned out that the locals found out we were in town and started lining up a day early. Cool. Flexibility is our middle name.
There's way too much to tell about the experience at the church this afternoon. I was fortunate enough to help with the dentistry while others played with the kids, or prayed, or just sat and watched. We worked almost 8 hours and I enjoyed every minute of it. I will admit the last hour was tough because of the morning wheelbarrows and then standing all day. But hey, why else did I come? I learned all about forceps, novocaine, periosteonal elevators, impacted molars and about 10 other names I won't bore you with. My new hero is our dentist Bob. He worked for 8 hours with unfamiliar equipment and suspect assistants (ha) pulling teeth extracting broken roots, in 95 percent humidity with no breeze, in broken Spanish - and did it with a smile for each patient and the fabled patience of job. Everyone was grateful for the care we provided, even the young man who lay in the chair for 90 minutes, three difficult extractions, and five vials of novocaine (which still didn't completely numb the roots). It may be just a small drop in a big bucket, but it was a tangible demonstration of god's love that our friends here can build on over time. We may not get to reap, but we sow and water ... Sow and water! Ask me about this day when I get back...
To top it off, we ended up driving 10 miles to a pizza place "loco daves" or something like that owned by a family from Wisconsin (or somewhere..) where we had a real pizza buffet just like back home. What a great country! I'm stuffed, completely exhausted and mentally and spiritually satisfied as well. Forgot it was the fourth of July until I started this post. Time flies and all that ...
Did I mention that I was one of the designated drivers today? Driving up and down the hill is fun and brings back memories of the drive to a cell site in Venezuela. Who knows what tomorrow may bring? Maybe I'll eat dinner with a flock of toucans, or meet Mel Gibson at the beach, or get to see a little girl laugh and smile while she plays at VBS with the nice Americanos ...
So long for now - Steven
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