 |
| Going to the Falls |
 |
| Easter Bunny in El Obisbo |
 |
| THE FALLS |
Nothing says EASTER like a submachine gun
sitting on the hood of a camouflage colored humvee.
 | ||
| Ben is in the States for a much needed rest |
After I had dropped off the Robertsons on
the day before EASTER, I had expected the military to be out in high profile,
but usually they are the support for the Red Cross units set up every so many
miles down the main stretch of the Central AMERICA highway. Because it is the country´s busiest time of year, and because so many
drive in the back of trucks and it is the most traveled week, they have support areas everywhere along the highway in case of wrecks and stranded motorist. It was kind of a shock, to see that they
may have expected some problems in the area I drove through.
 |
| Friday before Easter in Yamaranguila |
As I crawled down the highway in my car trying to get back to
the farm, the traffic was so heavy that I had plenty of time to think about the
week. I was thinking about all the
activities that we had been doing with our staff and girls
teams for the last weeks.
 |
| Kimberly was trying to help |
We had three teams in March almost back
to back, from Texas, Penn. and GA. With those teams we ministered to schools, had a quincenera with about 100 folks invited, moved adobe for the construction of a farm house, crafts projects and meeting some wonderful folks who had all come to bless our girls and community.
 |
| Bean picking time |
All that lead up to picking up the
Robertson family who had come to do some pretty special paperwork. They brought Natalie's best friend as a surprise. The Robertsons' called me and ask me if it
was okay if they brought Natalie's best friend ¨CANDY¨ with them. I am thinking Easter candy, that is where my
mind was. I know that Natalie loves
candy and I thought to myself "yeah bring it on". Well Natalie and I were sitting in the
airport to receive this family from the airport and their son walks by and he sees us and can't
speak, he makes a circle and points at us and then he points at his parents, rubs his head and
he can't talk to them either, so he sprints over to his folks and points to us, and Anna vaults out
of her chair and scoops up the two little ones we brought with us and Natalie
and I are just part of the crowd. It was
such a blessing to watch what God puts together, that nobody else really
matters. Michael stays with the stuff
and watches from across the way but is very much in the process of hugs and
kisses even though he isn't physically standing there. It is amazing to watch how God can move love
across a crowded airport station and saturate someone on the other side of the
huge crowd with a dose of love. I was
standing watching all of this play out.
It was really kind of neat to watch how His Spirit moves.
The added blessing was that Natalie did
the same thing when she saw her friend "Andy" not CANDY, who she didn't know was
coming to visit and apparently neither did I. It was her Easter
surprise. She looked at her and couldn't
speak, and then she cocked her head side ways and was like "I know her", "what is she doing
here?" It was a fun day at the
airport.
Prior to all this…. I had taken a few
days off. I knew we were having teams
come every week and in May we will be dropping off a team and picking one up
until August. I knew there was much to
do, but I was sensing to come away.
Every book I picked up was saying the same thing. My devotions were sharing the same thing about spending one on one with God, and
so I said "Okay", I am going to do it. I am going to work on my book
and get some rest and I will pray, about all the teams coming.
So I did what any normal woman does, I wrote
my friend and asked what she was doing those days. I was dropping a team off and picking the
Robertson's up and so I decided that would be perfect and I could hang out with
my special missionary friend, who has been in the country as long as I
have. She is a director over a large
ministry with her husband. Well, she had
a team and didn't get back with me, and meantime, God was kind of saying to me "What
is the deal? I ask you to come away and you invite a guests?" WEll I started telling the Lord that I
couldn't travel alone or spend the night off in a foreign country by myself
because it is not prudent. Have you been
telling God something and realize that He is just patiently waiting for you to
get to the point as He rolls his eyes towards the heavens and tapping His
celestial fingers , because He already knew all my arguments. I felt like a nut. Then I realize when He called me to do this
I had put my friend, my work in first place and then I was going to pray. I love how God whittles down to the meat of
everything and exposes where He really stands in your life and you feel bad and
exposed but you feel He loves you anyway, even though you picked Him
last….again.
WEll I didn't hear back from my friend,
Sandy, and so I am planning and praying about my trip, and my fear of going by
myself and I am getting confident that this is exactly what God wants me to
do. Then my friend writes two days
before I leave and says she can spend one day.
Then I am in a pickle. I want to
be with my friend, and I invited her but I was in" post- conviction
land" and I was going to have to un-invite her. Which I did, because I knew I was going to
have to put God on a time table to show up and speak to me before my friend got
there. She of course, was great about
it, and so off I went.
WE took a private bus to the airport to
drop our GA team off. Then I got a
ticket from another bus line at the airport to get to my destination. It was a very secure bus line, and I felt
good about my journey. The bus drivers
wear a white shirt and a black tie and black pants, very professional. I said goodbye to the team and headed
out. I spent my free days seeking the
Lord and just resting. I did work some,
but thankfully in my room the internet didn't work, which I didn't see as a
blessing at first, but later I was thankful.
So after my jolly little holiday, I get
in a cab that the hotel called on my behalf and he drops me on a main road next
to a broken down looking bus. I asked
the cab driver if this was a direct bus.
I had huge faith when I left the hotel. I was so excited that I forgot that I was traveling with my travel money for the
team, and my lap top. I get on the rackety looking bus and I am
thinking, it is the beginning of EASTER WEEK and I am traveling with expensive
items and monies, and people on this bus look sketchy and all my faith was
trying to hemmorage out of my new sandals.
The bus cranked up and it was like being on a fair ride. It had no shocks whatsoever and so as I
bounced up and down, listening to the bus that kept making sounds like the motor was going to be in Bus
Heaven really soon.
I finally got peace and called
Natalie. Natalie was bringing two girls
from our farm on the private nice bus with air conditioning. We even had one of our birthday girls in the group. Well, I didn't know where my bus was going
to stop for sure, but I was hoping it would "T" into Natalie's bus
route. I finally talked so much to the
little bus assistant about how I needed to make this connection and he kept
telling me that they don't stop there because it is a direct bus, but because
of my insistence and maybe because he wanted to get me off the bus, they let me
off at the stop I wanted to make which was in front of the Pizza Hut. They dropped me off with all my gear, and
then I went inside with all my luggage and asked for a lemonade and a large
pepperoni pizza. It was so incredibly hot that on the bus and just walking
across the street to get inside to the pizza place.
The pizza came out of the oven. The little server put it in the box and
helped me get out of their restaurant with all my awkward luggage and Natalie
and the Big Blue private bus drove up, I greeted everybody with hot pizza and we swept away to the airport in
air-conditioned wonderfulness.
 |
| The Botkins will be stateside for 3 weeks pray they get blessed in every way we will miss them like crazy. |
 |
| Robertson FAMILY |
We had a great EASTER HOLY WEEK and
celebrated with some activity everyday.
We invited the ministry up the road to bring their kids, and they hunted
eggs and we cooked a goat for the occasion.
But through all the fun we came upon a friend who broke into our
festivities. Do you know how many days a
24 hr. virus can last when you have more than 40 people on the farm. It even made return visits. I finally carried a girl in the worst
condition as an example patient. We did tests, but miraculously she didn't
have many samples to give, so we found out nothing. The doctors were telling me
I needed samples from all the girls. I
asked him did he know that I had to get the samples to him in one hour. He said, "that is correct". I said it is 45 minutes on a good day, which
only gives me a 15 minute window, for gathering a labeling samples. Or I could bring 40 people in a bus to wait
for their samples to be produced in town or on the way. He said, "Well, you have good
reasoning". I returned to the farm,
and everybody seemed okay.
Even with everything happening with the teams
and the girls, with sickness and all, we still celebrated Easter in a mighty
way. I love this country that it
celebrates for an entire week what Jesus did for us on the Cross. They look at me crazy when I tell them we
only have one day in the US to celebrate EASTER. We went to the water falls, and had a
community field day, which included a 6 ft rabbit, one of the Robertson´s in a bunny outfit, and we had the 2nd annual PTC Olympics. This year before and after
each activity we thank Jesus for giving himself and all of His love to us.
I know we should celebrate His gift of love everyday
and not just one day or a week. If we
could just give all of our love out for each day we live, I think that would be
a great way to celebrate Easter.
I don't know what that would look like for you. Around here it is pretty easy. I love my staff everyday, I love these kids
even when after a huge pancake/fruit/milk breakfast, they put the rice meant
for the dogs in the pocket of their dresses as they went to church for a snack
later. Well, love didn't pour out at
that point, but I want it too during those types of moments. Be
blessed everyday with all the love God is pouring over your way. Blessings, The
Love on, Loved over, Love seeking, Honduran MOM
Be praying for Natalie and ME we have the farm to ourselves for a while. It is a grand adventure serving Christ.
