Things don't always go as planned

Nothing went right today, but somehow it never bothered me a bit.

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. from a really bad dream.  We had a meeting tonight from 5-9 p.m.  Who has meetings at that time?  (They didn't serve any food or even have a stretch break!)  I was not thrilled about being awake at 4 a.m., knowing it was going to be a long day.

This morning I had to pick up Walter at 8:30.  Usually I'm prompt but somehow I didn't get out of the shower until 8:40.  When I finally passed by to pick up Walter at 9 he kept me waiting outside for 10 minutes.  He is usually timely too so I kept the motor running and waited and waited...  Good thing I was late.

We went to immigration to pick up my immigration card.  First the boss wasn't in.  Then the machine was broken.  We left empty handed.

I wanted to go home and take a nap, but instead we headed to the church.  There is a group visiting this week and they are doing great things.  They are very hands on, singing and teaching and drawing with the kids.  They have different things planned for all week.  The kids are having a blast with them.  I love seeing all of the kids, from 2 years old to 14, enjoying themselves.  Today was pupusa day.  They seemed extra yummy today for some reason.

I got an email from the car dealership saying that after all this time - a month and a half - I have to go myself to register the car.  I knew that did not sound right, so I emailed all of the emails I have sent to the dealership, pestering them for the documents, to my friend who has been helping me with all of the car related things.  After I sent the emails I called him.  By the time he answered his phone he had already read the emails and had his assistant helping him.  He said he was about to call his lawyer.  He said the lawyer should have the papers by Friday at the latest.  I am in good hands!

So no residency, no car registration, and I was exhausted.  I tried to take a nap at the church after the kids left, but I just can't.  Don Juan even came and put a blanket over me.  It kept the mosquitoes away but didn't help me sleep.

Jairo asked if he and Lourdes could have a ride to the meeting.  I said sure!  He has driven me around for over a year.  Finally I was able to return the favor.  We stopped to pick up a prescription.  Normally it takes 2 minutes.  Today it took 10.  Jairo was worried about us being late so we took a short cut and came upon a murder in the middle of the street.  It was the first crime I have really come close to.  I was driving, so I couldn't see much, but Jairo said a cab driver got shot.  I made a quick decision and did a three point turn to get away as crowds of people gathered around in front of us.

We made it to the meeting just in time and got seats for all of us together.  The organization is called Samaritan's Purse.  They are based in the US have a lot of projects going on.  This is a Christmas gift for extremely poor kids.  But it is much more than a gift.  Their mission statement sums it all up - "To show the love of God in a tangible way (the gift)to the kids who need it most in collaboration with the local church."

The project asks the church to do the foot work and asks us to cover some of the cost, but they offer twice as many gifts as we have children in the church.  They told us to ask the kids to bring a friend to the Christmas party.  In the time before the party we ask the kids to pray for the friend they are going to invite.  The kids have a beautiful Christmas celebration learning about God and His love for them.  Then they receive a gift that comes from His provision.  They even talked about the attitude that we need to have when we prepare for the party.  They talked about how important kids are to God, how important hugs are to kids, and that no matter how much time we spend preparing a lesson, if we are only about getting the lesson across and not focused on the kids, we are not meeting their needs.

All in all it was a good meeting.  There are two more before we have a ceremony and are officially part of the program.  I am thinking I will spend Christmas in Honduras this year.

Joss and Belinda rode home with me.  It was nice to have some time to catch up with Joss.  She is incredible.  Now I'm tired and ready for some sleep.  Tomorrow will be my last day at the Breakfast Program for a while since I am headed back to the states for 3 weeks.  I'll miss the kids.  I'll miss my friends.  Tonight 3 friends called to make sure they said goodbye before I left.  I have a good life here, with good friends, doing good things.  Even when everything doesn't go as planned, it is still a good day.