What a week...

well, after the group from church left, mom, dana, and i played around. we headed to Roatan, a island in the Carribean off the coast of Honduras. It is such an amazing place of God's great imagination on displayed for all to see, behold, and wonder. we were there are 4 days and 3 nights that included snorkeling, laying out, taxi boat rides, eating, and relaxing. After the trip (July 26-29), we returned to tegucigalpa and crashed at my apartment at baxter. Dana left Sunday without problems. monday, mom and i worked on the paperwork for the nutritonal program to be able to send informational phamlets out to various sponsors. Monday night we met Marlen and Marlen Michelle for dinner at Mall Multiplaza (the family i have lived with inthe past). Since Tuesday was mom's last day and since she has been asking, we went to Valle de los angeles. (Valley of the Angels). The valley is where most of the local merchants gather to sell/ trade all the typical honduran things like wooden boxes, pewter, crosses, t-shirts with honduran sayings, etc. i bought a shirt that says 100% GRINGA! by the time we got back, a roit had started on the streets. all 40, 000 teachers in the country have gone on strike due to no increase in promised pay from the newly elected president. it has been a mess. when mom and i got off the bus, i could not find a taxi to take us anywhere near to my apartment. after asking 4 taxi driver and being laughed in my face per my request, we finally got one to take us to a mall to wait the march out. i guess in this case, it pays to live in a place where people don't stay out after dark! the next day, the boycotts continued- more streets were blocked of and more people gathered to march with the 40K teachers for support- the biggest problem for me was that mom was leaving and the airport was blocked off to traffic. she had a nice roit police send off. we parked far far away and walked right through of hundreds guards with their roit gear on and broken off broom stikes as clubs! oh, to be in honduras!!!! i felt very quilty about leaving mom alone at the airport at 11:30 since her flight was at 2:15 but very afraid the march was on its way to the airport and i would have been stuck there until dark which is never a good idea! i visited a friend's grandmother in the hosptial and called it a day. thursday, God blessed me with a great relief. i bought a car. i had been looking with the mechanic Rudis from baxter the entire time i have been here in honduras for a car/ truck to buy. one of the men at baxter was selling his truck, which everyone wanted me to buy, but someone, the preacher of the Mateo church, was going to buy. well, his wife had a differentn opinion. he backed out, i bought it thursday just in time to go to church at kennedy. kennedy is where the english will hopefully eventually start as well as the church that brentwood hills supports. friday, i gathered all my things to move to another apartment. there is, evidently, some other gringos coming to baxter soon who need the "visitors apartment." oh, well. i'm sure God has a reason. my new apartment is just bare naked. there isn't one cabinet, drawer, table, mirror, hot water, or anything on the walls. that's the honduras i remember. after packing and moving all day, i went to one of my favorite places here in honduras- Pricemart (it's like sam's or costco- honduran style) with my friend amber from missouri and an OC grad. she has been here for 2 years and coordinates brigades from OC and all over. she's awesome at her ministry. SOOO, that leads us to today, right now i am sitting in the airport in san pedro sula, honduras waiting to board my next flight to Guatemala, Guatemala. Jeanne White and i are going to Antigua for spanish classes to be able to communicate better with the locals. AND, the fact is, i need to learn more tenses then present tense and more conversational spanish than medical lingo. this week has been nice to have free. i only worked some in the mornings in the clinic since the census is so low (it's the calm before the storm of dengue season) and the fact that i am leaving for guatemala for 2 weeks today. well, all, in conclusion, i hope all is well with your souls. Baxter has signs posted all around that i love saying: God is in control. He never makes a mistake. His timing is perfect. i truly believe this. it's been an adjustment coming back to a place that i already know but am having to learn about it again. i don't know if i was thinking that things would be the same as when i left or what, but i know that i am where God wants me to be at this moment of time in my life. there is a reason why "Mr. Perfect" or not-so-perfect hasn't come along. God has other plans for me and it is so much easier for me to see that here than in the states. here the theme is survival; there it is improvement. it's easier for me to understand what God was talking about with the camel passing through the eye of a needle here than thrown into a world to excess. my goal is heaven and to expand his kingdom by letting others know about His love and sacrifice. i think i am rambling on now, i am not sure if i will have internet in antigua so this might be my last post for 2 weeks. hope all is well! Dios les bendiga!