Owe no one except to love them

Yesterday we were in town. We had to go there and wait to hear from Dona Francisca's family. They were going to call about whether they were discharging her from the hospital. Dona Francisca is Mariela's caretaker. She had a severe case of gallstones and she needed surgery but because of her age, 54 (????) they felt there would be complications that they didn't have the technology to handle so we went to 4 different hospitals. They all had reason why they couldn't do the surgery. In the end, we went to a private clinic. They did the surgery and it was an amazing success because so many people were praying for her healing. While we were in town, I needed to take care of some people that I owed money to. One guy lost his check that I wrote him, and so I had to cancel the check and re-write a new one. One was the electric bill, one was a bill I didn't know I owed, and then I had to pay for some shirts and books for the school. I was busy the whole morning getting my debts paid. We finally got the call. They said for us to come and get her. It was 1 o'clock. It was going to take about 2 and 1/2 hours. WE had to get back before dark. Angie and I had to pick up Mary from School and then we got on down the mountain. I started getting sleepy going up the 2nd mountain and so Angie took the wheel. We got there before 4 o'clock but we had to get her discharge papers and pay the hospital what we owed them for their services. I went down to pay the bill, and to pay for the fistful of prescriptions that they gave me to fill. That took some time trying to get all that straight. Meanwhile, upstairs on the 2nd floor, Dona Francisca was ready to go home, and knew that it was getting darker. What we both didn't know was that there was a terrible storm preparing to unleash itself on unsuspecting missionaries. She started to walk down but the nurse told her to go back to her room and she would bring a wheel chair. Standard procedure everywhere. By the time she came down, so did the rain. They wheeled her out the door it was raining. By the time Angie got the umbrella from the car it was pouring, and by the time I grabbed a raincoat to cover her, I was soaked through to the bone. We got her to the car and her son had the umbrella directly over her head, not his. He is tall. Because she was short the rain was sheeting off the top of the umbrella into the truck, saturating the cloth seats. She crawled into the back seat, and then flipped around and stretched her feet between the two front seats. We didn't know the son had his girlfriend with him. He was tall and thin, Dona Francisca his mom, was short and hefty, and girlfriend was solid, and Mary is tiny. With all the varying sizes in the back that all squeezed in back there, it looked like a construction man's hands in a lady's leather glove. It was a huge storm system. I thought we would ride through it, but it followed us home. The rain was literally coming down in sheets. Water was running everywhere. We were all soaked to the skin. The roads were very dangerous. We got to the Sigatepeque and we still had time to get home before dark. We got to the second mountain range and my windshield wiper blade just stopped, on my side. So I was sitting sideways, leaning over, trying to see through Angela's windshield. I finally gave up, until rocks that were in the road started showing up. They weren't there when we came down the mountain, but with the quantity of rain, it had washed them onto the road. Then there were boulders as big as the cab of the truck I was driving. Then the fog came in, and I couldn't see anything at the point. I came around a sharp curve and a huge semi with a black tarp and mud flaps that had large reflectors on them that made the design of a dice with the number 5 on it. I told Angie. "Arrive alive with 55". I started to pass them but decided against it. Angie pointed out that at least I could see the mud flaps and the big black tarp. So I just followed him up the mountain at a snail's pace. When we hit La Esperanza we were told it was raining at El Obisbo where we live. I had to stop and get the wipers fixed. They couldn't fix the wipers, but just put one wiper blade in the middle. We took off, because by now it was dark. and the roads were super horrible. I put the truck in 4 wheel drive and locked the front wheels. Dona Francisca said nothing about the rough ride. She kept saying she was fine. I was going super slow, but the potholes you can't avoid. She has the best nature. She lived outside of Yamaranguila and walks that far everyday to work with Mariela. We let her out and she came up to my window to say thanks. She said, "that she owed us everything and that she could never repay us for what we did for her and her family". At the beginning of this blog, I was talking about people that I owed. I need to pay for goods and services. Not the same thing here. We all love Dona Francisca, she is the sweetest most patient person in the world. She is a huge blessing. We were just blessed enough to be able to help her in her time of need. We stepped up, because we love her and wanted her whole and well. We wanted to do what was necessary to get her better. The cool thing is that God did everything and gave everything, just so people, who were not the sweetest people in the world could live. I wonder if I would have been as animated and insistant about helping someone who was not a good person. I am thankful God didn't have to review whether He would or not. He just did it for all. I have found that helping someone is never convenient. It usually cost you emotionally, physically and spiritiually. When they were saying she may die, I was calling out to God for sure. I am thankful to all of you who help us in so many ways, allowing us to be able to help others that God has sent us here to help. I know it is not convenient and I know it costs you. I know that it cost Christ everything to accomplish what His Father sent Him to do. He wanted to do whatever it took to get us in a better condition eternally. I appreciate all the prayers lifted on her behalf and all the notes of encouragement to keep us going until Dona Francisca got to her home. We love you guys, and thanks for your service to Such is the Kingdom. Blessings, The Middle of the Road Hugging, Boulder Dodging, Honduran MOM.