A Serendipidous Day!

This day has been full of such delightful surprises.  I can't wait for Steve to get home from work tonight, so I can tell him all about it.  In the meantime, I'll share it with all of you.

I got to the community pool early this morning and had it all to myself for 45 minutes of aqua-jogging and water aerobics.  The pool was a perfect temperature, and the radio station that is piped in had music that kept me moving.  Good for me.

When I got back home, I was stepping out of the shower and getting dressed when my phone rang.  It was Matt.  He had a lot of thoughts swirling around in his head, and Katie was at a meeting, his Dad was at work, so I was the next best thing.  :)  That part didn't matter.  What mattered to me was the fact that my son wanted to share his heart with his Momma for a few minutes.  I treasure times like that.

Five minutes after we hung up, Laura called.  I knew that she and her family were in the area (at the other grandparents/in-laws) on their way to Florida and that the plan was to spend the night with us this weekend on their way back.  But what she said was, "Mom, are you home?  David and I about to pass the turn-off that leads to your house, and I sure would like to come by for a quick hug."  What a thrill!!!!  A few minutes later, there she was, and we hugged and hugged and hugged.  I treasure times like that.

When they left, I hurriedly finished getting ready so I could meet my first cousin Dixie for lunch.  Our birthdays are a week apart, and we thought some co-celebrating might be in order.  This was the Big 6-0 for her and the Big Social Security One for me.  We'd better grab chances like this before we get too old to party, right? While I was driving, Matt called back to tell me a funny incident that had just happened to him in Wal-Mart, and again I felt so grateful to be on the receiving end of his call.

Dixie and I met in the restaurant, hugged, and started chattering and laughing like a couple of school kids out for summer break without a care in the world, not paying any attention to the other diners around us. We joked with the waitress about hoping there would be no big hats to wear but wondering if birthday people got free dessert.  Silly stuff like that.  About 30 minutes into our meal, our waitress and the hostess came over to our table and said, "We have some good news for you.  Did you happen to notice the gentleman in the corner behind you?"  (We hadn't.)  "Well, he was enjoying watching you and overheard you both mention birthdays.  He has paid for your meal today AND wants you both to order dessert!!!"  We were stunned!  We gave each other high-fives and felt a psychological lift that I'm sure Dixie is still feeling as much as I am.  What a nice thing for someone to do!  We asked if there was anyway for us to tell this person "Thank You," and they said that he is one of the regulars, so we left him a note for them to give him the next time he's in.  (Dixie wondered if he was single, but that's another story -- Ha!)  And, by the way, the desserts were amazing.

Dixie headed off to teach voice lessons (she sings like an angel), and I went to the grocery store.  There in the produce section was a dear lady from my church.  As a matter of fact, she was in the class where I had been the substitute teacher just last Sunday.  I told Sarah how much I had appreciated the deep insights she had contributed to the class when I asked questions and invited participation.  I told her that SHE was the one who should have been teaching.  She told me that she has problems with her eyesight now and can't study or read as long as she would need to in order to do justice to the lessons.  She shared with me that she has spent the last 25 years of her life devoted to studying the Bible in depth.  Now that she can't see as well, she still listens to Bible teachers on her radio.  She said, "The study of God's Word satisfies me like nothing else ever has."  What a testimony and an inspiration to my heart.

I'm back home now.  The groceries are put away, and I've had a couple of fun texts from both of my daughters.  I have a little time to be quiet and reflect before I need to start cooking supper.  I love it when God fills my day with such sweet blessings.  I treasure times like that.

Ezekiel 34:26b (God said) "I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing."

Inside All the Pretty Houses

I am blessed to live in a lovely neighborhood.  The homes are so pretty, and the nature-preserve-type setting is peaceful and serene.  It is normally very quiet, except for the birds singing and the boats, barges, and Sea-Doos cruising up and down the river.  We're not convenient to anything but the Tennessee River, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, and a tiny cafe called Geezburger.  However, all of us who live here love the feeling of driving through the gates and knowing we are home.

It is easy to imagine that the people living inside all the pretty houses are living "pretty lives."  We assume they must have happy marriages, perfect health, model children, bulging portfolios, complete job security, and the total absence of worries of any kind.  But, that is simply not the case in this neighborhood or in ANY neighborhood for that matter.

This morning I decided to get to the community pool early, so I could exercise in peace before the expected Memorial Day visitors poured in.  It goes without saying, too, that I'm not fond of strutting around in a bathing suit in public.  Shudder!  As I was going into the pool area, a father and his teenage daughter were coming out.  They had gotten to the pool even earlier than I had, which was puzzling until I realized the reason.  The daughter has some kind of muscular condition -- perhaps she's even recovering from a stroke -- that makes walking and talking difficult.  The father was being very patient and careful with her and encouraged her to acknowledge my greeting.  The sight of those two reminded me of other situations I've become aware of going on in the houses around me.  In two of the homes, the husbands are suffering from congestive heart failure.  In at least one home, an apartment has been created for an elderly parent to live out her final days.  In a home near the entrance, a daughter has waged a difficult war against cancer in the past couple of years.  One family moved in after their house was destroyed by a tornado.  Another has a husband about to be deployed to the Middle East.  In one house, the main breadwinner just got laid off.  In yet another, there is a lot of loneliness because the husband travels heavily.

In other words, a home may have a perfect exterior facade, but the people living inside are human beings with everyday struggles, pain, and challenges.

Isn't it the same with the people sitting beside us in the pews on Sunday morning?  Don't we all "look pretty on the outside?"  We have on our "good clothes."  Our hair is combed, and we've got on a little extra make-up.  Yet, inside each of us lives a host of prayer needs, questions searching for answers, and seemingly insurmountable struggles.  Aren't we all humming silently in our heads "It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer?"  Maybe we should cut each other a little more slack.  How about if we take off our judging robes and put on mantles of compassion?  I'm preaching to myself today.  The sight of that dad and daughter brought a lot of conviction to my heart this morning.

1 Samuel 16:7b -- "For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."  

A Week in Guatemala -- Faces and our Work

On Monday night we were invited by the pastor to the home of the couple in the foreground on the right.  This group meets every week to discuss ways to make their marriages stronger and to study biblical principles about marriage.  Pastor Otto turned to Steve after we were introduced and said, "You've been married for 41 years.  Tell us how to do that."  Thus, an impromptu marriage seminar began.  A keyword you learn quickly on mission trips is "flexibility."  Steve did a great job, and I (as always) was his "comic relief."  :)

Bro. Joe Teal, our Minister of Education at First Baptist, Athens, AL, preached on Tuesday and Thursday nights.  Pastor Otto is obviously enjoying translating for him.

When we learned this little boy's name, we had to get his picture.  This is a Guatemalan Nathan.  Our own grandson Nathan turned 6 on the last day of this mission trip.

Steve's translator was a very smart man named Aldo.  They are teaching the book "Share Jesus Without Fear" under a tree in their makeshift classroom.  

After my last teaching session on Thursday, these dear ladies came up to request a special prayer time.    Most were burdened about family members.  One of them had sat on the hard bench for hours listening to the teaching in spite of tremendous pain in her leg and hip.  I was so humbled by their prayers.  I was still wiping tears because another sweet lady stood a few minutes before this picture was made and said, "I may not see you again on this earth, but I'll see you in heaven."  The feelings from a moment like that are beyond description.

Right before saying good-bye, Steve, Joe and I posed with Pastor Otto, his wife  Ruth and daughter.    It was a privilege to serve beside them last week.

A Week in Guatemala -- the translator that prayer brought my way

Here we are in action.  You can tell by our hair that a fan (thank you, Lord) is blowing.

Dear Cely, on our 2nd morning together, outside the church in Tecun Uman -- a natural sauna if there ever was one.  Can you tell that my skin is already "glistening?"  :) 

Cely and me after our last teaching session together.  What a treasure she was for me!

A few weeks before I left for Guatemala, my friend Lauren Cox told me that God had impressed on her to pray for the whole translation process while I was teaching and specifically for the person who would be my translator.  I was a little perplexed by this because translation had never been a big issue before, but I knew there must be a reason for God to prompt her like this.  And, besides, I'd never been called on to teach so extensively on a mission trip before.  

Since I had decided to teach the book of Esther to the ladies in the 8 churches that would be represented for the conferences, I asked for the pastor there to find a female translator for me.  After all, it would be women learning about a woman and even discussing what in the world a eunuch was, etc. etc.  You get the picture.

Well, at first a woman named Carol was designated.  I communicated with her by e-mail a few times before I left and was struck by the fact that maybe her English wasn't quite as good as it needed to be for the intense study I had planned.  But, I knew Lauren was being led to pray specifically.

When we arrived, Carol was the first friendly face that we saw once we cleared customs, and I liked her a lot.  However, that night at dinner she told me that her husband (a doctor in the area who works at several clinics) was recovering from typhoid fever and that she needed to go with him to several follow-up appointments in the coming days and wouldn't be able to translate for me.  Hmmmmmm.  She thought that Edwin, our van driver, would do a good job.   Hmmmmmm.  Even though Edwin had spent quite a few years in the States and had a good grasp of English, did he REALLY want to talk to women ABOUT women (and eunuchs) for the next 4 days????  Hmmmmmmm.  I was determined that I would not lose any sleep over this situation.

By the next morning, Pastor Otto (the coordinator for our week's work) had secured the help of Cicely Joachin, one of his faithful church members, and told me that she would be my translator.  I met her, and we chatted happily during the short trip from Coatepeque to Tecun Uman.  She introduced herself as "Cely," so that's who she was to me the rest of the time.  She obviously understood me well and was very familiar with the book of Esther.  Like so many others, she had spent quite a few years in the States, and besides that, she is just a very smart, dedicated, Christian lady with a servant's heart.  The first day there were a few stumbles and stutters by both of us as we established a rhythm and searched our brains for synonyms when the first words didn't "compute," but by the second day, she honestly could have taught the material without me.  She seemed to anticipate what I was going to say and how I was going to say it.  We made an awesome team!!!!  

As I watched the situation unfold and resolve itself so beautifully, I understood in a powerful and unmistakable way why God had prompted Lauren and how He worked everything out to perfection.

Cely has two beautiful daughters.  She and her husband own an internet business in the middle of Coatepeque.  When you finish reading this blog, I hope you will pray with me (and with her) that her husband will receive Christ as his Savior.

A Week in Guatemala -- Food

Scrambled eggs, fried plantains (a large, sturdy type of banana), refried black beans, a small piece of fresh, white cheese, and a tortilla.  This is what the hotel served for dinner, the "plato tipico" or typical meal/plate.

Two fried eggs, fried plantains, refried black beans, a small piece of white cheese,  some salsa, a piece of bologna-like meat.  The tortillas were in a bowl at the top of the picture.  This is what the hotel served for a typical breakfast.  In reality, the only difference was how you wanted your eggs cooked.  That simplifies things quite a bit, doesn't it?  Imagine how short our grocery lists would be if we served the same things for breakfast and dinner. . . and maybe even lunch :)  

This is called  paches.  It consists of chicken and potatoes that have been steamed/baked inside a banana leaf.  This was my first time to try this dish, and I can assure you it was quite tasty.

Never fear.  We did eat other things at lunch time -- usually hamburgers with "no lechuga, no tomate" (no lettuce and no tomatoes -- you can't risk raw vegetables when you have a gringo stomach).  Of course, we stuck to bottled water or canned/bottled drinks, too.

One of our many funny times came on Thursday when Joe Teal, Steve, our van driver Edwin and I went to a place called Pollo Campero.  It is a popular chain in Guatemala and had the cleanest restroom I found during the whole week.  The waiter told us that they were having a 2 for 1 special on pizzas that night (yay, we can save some money), so Edwin asked how long it would take to cook them (since we had to be at the church pretty quickly).  He came back and said we couldn't have pizza because the ovens weren't turned on.   ???????

So then, Joe said he'd have the 3 chicken strips meal, and the waiter said, "Nobody orders the 3-strip meal."  ?????  So Joe said, "Can I order the 4-strip meal?"  And the waiter said, "Sure."  ???????  

Obviously, something was lost in the translation.  :)

A Week in Guatemala -- a few sights around town

This hospital (yes, hospital) was directly across the street from the little hotel where we spent our nights.   It's actually a large property with a huge courtyard when you see it closer.  This is just one of the entrance gates.  The church people in Coatepeque have a ministry in this place and go several times a week to take coffee and encouragement to those waiting with their loved ones, especially in the children's ward.  The mothers have to sleep on the floor next to their sick children, so the church women made some pallets to make them more comfortable.  Sadly, there are often so many children that they have to put two in the same bed.

The yellow building with the orange stripes is the Kamali Vic Hotel where we stayed.  Interestingly -- and revealingly -- there are funeral parlors on both sides of the hotel and two more within one half block.  Remember, this hotel is facing the hospital.  Do you notice the person riding the motorcycle?  Do you see anything missing?  A helmet, maybe??  There were hundreds of motorcycles being driven in this town, and we didn't see a single helmet.  

I thought you might enjoy this little picture.  $464.90 dollars for 13.67 gallons of gas???   No, not quite.  The unit of currency in Guatemala is the quetzal (which also happens to be the national bird).  The exchange rate while we were there was 7.65 quetzales (they call them Q's) per dollar.  So, the total bill here is actually $61.17 American dollars or $4.47 per gallon.  Higher than here.  Which begs the question -- how can they afford to drive anywhere when their salaries are so much lower than ours?  It also explains the prevalence of motorcycles.

A Week in Guatemala -- April, 2012 (Some of the natural scenery)

A field of sugar cane.  Notice the mountain/rock formation in the background.  The locals refer to  this as The Sleeping Lady.  Imagine that she's lying face up and her nose is sticking out in the formation on the right.  Can you see her now?

We stopped to ask for directions, so I made a quick picture of this family set up to sell coconuts on the side of the road.  

A new sight for me was passing mile after mile of rubber  trees.  Notice the small cups attached near the bottom.  White liquid latex is dripping into them.  Earlier in the day a worker had cut a strip of bark in the tree, and the latex immediately started oozing out.

Guatemala shown in the middle near the bottom is actually Guatemala City, the capitol where the main airport is.  Our work was done primarily in the province of San Marcos on the western border near Mexico.  We were in the towns of Coatepeque and Tecun Uman.

This relatively small country produces so many crops.  I would guess that sugar cane and rubber are the main exports, but they also grow tons of bananas, coffee beans, pineapples and coconuts.  Probably the most delicious thing I tasted all week was a pineapple/banana smoothie.  Oh my!  Heavenly!

There are two seasons -- dry and rainy -- but for me, both of them are hot.  We were there at the very end of the dry season.  When Steve was in Guatemala last October, it rained constantly, and their main concerns were mudslides and washed out bridges and roads.  This time we wiped perspiration and swatted mosquitoes.