I am listening to bluegrass, getting ready for Telluride. Some friends have offered to drive me there and back, which is great. I can't wait for 10 days of camping in the mountains, hanging out with awesome friends, and listening to great music. This is the 40th anniversary of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, so there is an extra incredible line-up this year. My brother and his family will be there too. Yay! Can't wait for time with my nephews!
Lourdes' cousin died today. He had a collapsed lung and 2 heart attacks so he was in ICU hooked up to all sorts of machines. The hospital said it was too expensive to keep him that way for more than 48 hours so Lourdes asked us to pray for a miracle, but God took her cousin this morning. She took a bus with Belinda to Comoayagua for the funeral. Here the funeral happens as soon as the autopsy is finished so it will be tonight or tomorrow morning.
Monday Jairo will have his gall bladder removed. We are praying for an easy surgery and a quick recovery.
Yesterday one of the young men from the church asked me to teach him English. I asked what day he wants to meet. He said every day! I was shocked by how much English he learned in his public school. He was far ahead of what I had planned for the lesson and his pronunciation was seriously incredible. He can make sounds that don't exist in Spanish, therefore most Spanish speakers cannot make them. I was astonished. He is fun to work with because he is eager to learn and has a natural gift. After an hour and 1/2 I asked if he wanted to stop but he said no, keep going!
Another cool thing that happened today may seem so simple, but it was an honor. A boy from the church who has helped me with tons of different things over the past year called and asked if I was able to buy some minutes for his phone. I know he would NEVER normally ask unless he really needed something. He said he will pay me Monday. I felt so happy that he trusted me enough to ask for something he needed. I know that was probably really hard for him.
As I was going home tonight I saw the lady who cleans the Sarmiento's house sitting by the road. I stopped, backed up and asked if she needed a ride. She said sure if I didn't mind going to La Tigra. I told her I have nothing else to do. We had a nice ride, talking and laughing. It feels so great to be able to do things for other people now that I have a car. Before I felt like I was always asking for favors from others. Now I can finally give back!
There is another forest fire across the street tonight. I thought maybe we were done with those for this season. Guess not.
Tomorrow I am invited to a Mother's Day dinner with my landlord's brother and sister-in-law. I love hanging out with them. I'm bringing cookies. We agreed we are sick of cake. It will be fun.
I thought about something today. Do you pray when you get into your car? I never have before, but I sure do now. I pray that I will get to my destination safely. I pray that nobody will hit me and I won't hit anyone. (People frequently cut me off and put themselves in positions where I have to swerve around them.) Today I was nervous because I wanted to go to the store that is hard to leave because of traffic. I prayed on the way there. Then I sat in the store parking lot and prayed before I started the car to leave. Then I was amazed. There was a line of cars which stopped and let me pull straight out of the parking lot. Cars in Honduras NEVER do that. Then the cars literally parted and let me into the traffic circle. It was completely bizarre. I got around the circle and saw the line of traffic backed up and pushing to get into the circle. They had the right of way, not I. It should have been nearly impossible for me to inch into that circle. But God made the way for me! Wow. Sometimes I am so surprised (although I shouldn't be) by the little ways God cares for me. Not only does He keep me safe, He makes sure that I am comfortable driving in heavy Friday afternoon traffic. He literally clears the way for me! I don't mean to be cliché, but God is so good!
I am blessed to be in Honduras, to have great friends - both old and new, to be invited to special events, to spend every day with amazing children, to be able to teach, to live in an absolutely beautiful place, to have people who care about me and trust in me, to have all of my needs met, to be healthy and to be happy deep in my soul. Thank you God! I love you!
