I am not alone

The following entry includes a bunch of stories from this past week. My perspective during the events was often not the greatest as I simply saw one problem after another -- some bigger than others. But as I look back I can smile and laugh and realize that it was not as bad as I thought while in the midst of the challenges. I hope that you can laugh too. I hope too that most of you cannot identify with the week but I know that we all, whether living overseas or in our hometown, have these challenging days. I am glad that I can learn from the challenges but also look forward to brighter days. I am glad that I was reminded yet again that I am not alone and that I need the help of others -- whether in tangible help, prayer support, or in words of encouragement. God works through people. Okay,here is the saga and I tried not to dramatize it too much.

Perhaps the week started off all wrong when I was making tea and found a tick drowned in my purified water that either came directly out of the bottle or had found its way into the closed pot on the stove. I looked at it, decided I did not want to waste the purified water and simply fished it out with a spoon (which I later used without washing). It was at this point that I thought, "So is this what missionary life is like?" or something to that effect. It was also the beginning of the week when I discovered that though I could hear others when they called me on my cell phone, no one could hear me. And the problem was more than just the fact that I do not talk a lot. Thankfully I got the phone fixed in the village on Wednesday. Little did I know how important it would be to me the next day.

On Thursday morning I headed to the city to do some car shopping and hopefully internet research and to make more contacts. Before I left I grabbed my cooler from inside the freezer and was horrified to see a cockroach inside of it. I thought the freezer would be the last place to find one. Perhaps it crawled in over the weekend when the electric was out and managed to survive the cold. I met up with a Honduran Insurance salesman from the church, Tony. He drove me all around the city for about 6 hours looking at different cars and talking to various people. He had to make a few stops for his business too so I really had no idea when we would be done or what the plan was. Originally I thought that he might take me to one lot and that would be it. By 4:30 we were at his office and I knew that if I was to get home before dark I needed to leave very soon so I asked if he could take me back to the mall where my car was. (actually it is not my car, it is the Williamson's and that was what made the next part of the story worse)

At the mall I had to purchase a phone card and I tried to check and send e-mail but my computer at first would not turn on and then when it did, I could not get on-line. Feeling frustrated, I headed out to the car. As I approached the car I tried to unlock it with the button, but it would not work. Suddenly fear set in because I wondered if I had left the lights on. I had been in a parking garage first thing in the morning and then ended up parking outside later but possibly forgot that the lights were on. Sure enough I opened the door with the key and tried to start the car (thereby setting the alarm off) and not a sound. The alarm kept going off every 30 seconds or so no matter what buttons I pushed. I called back to Cindy at camp and she said she would call 2 families we know here in the city and see if either could help me out. With the alarm going off constantly, the stupidity of my action looming in front of me, and the other stresses of the day (and probably week) I was in tears. There was a guard nearby and he came over and then a man drove his truck over to jumpstart the Patrol. It took a long time to get the battery charged to where it would start and by that time it was too late to head home so I had to ask to stay at someone's house. The one couple was gracious to let me come over and they had a battery charger which was good so I headed across town to their home. Being in the city overnight did have its advantages -- internet, vonage phone, and a chance to calm down. I felt bad about being there though because the other staff had spent the day fighting a fire on the edge of camp and if it flared up again, I wanted to be able to help. Driving alone after dark though was not an option, so I stayed put. And the fires died down even without any rain which was a big answer to prayer. But the next day the adventures continued.

I left the missionaries' home around 8:30 and started down the road but I stopped for gas. The car had started right up previously so it seemed like it would be fine. But at the gas station the car would not start and the alarm kept going off again. I called the couple and they graciously came back to help me out even though they were on their way out of the city. The guys at the gas station helped get the car started but then Mark wanted to check and make sure the battery was charging properly. In the end it was and possibly the problem had been the alarm because apparently if it is going off you cannot start the car until you push the "secret" button.

I decided that I would attempt to run some more errands in the city and pray that the car would work fine. I ended up stopping by the MCC (Mennonite Central Committee)office and meeting a few of the missionaries there (I got a name of a girl who is doing Enviro. Ed. somewhere not too far from me). I then went to lunch because I knew the government office where I needed to go would be closed for an hour. When I got to the office, no one seemed very sure what line I should be in and the line I was in did not move for 15 minutes so I decided not to risk getting up front and discovering I needed to be somewhere else. I just left. I was also exhausted and I knew I would get a headache standing there for several hours.

I then went to try and get internet connection at the mall but that did not work. From there I tried to see if some friends were home and they were not, so I headed to the grocery store -- my last stop. I still wanted to do e-mail while it was free and there is a good connection so I decided to try some parking lots of fast food restaurants because some of them have wireless access. I pulled into one and it did not so I turned right out of the drive onto a side street and headed towards the main street, maybe 200 feet away. I do not remember seeing any signs, but as soon as I got onto the road, I had a feeling that I was on a one-way street. It was wide enough for 2 (or 3) cars so a head-on collision was not really a concern. I cannot remember if I could have turned left into some parking spots along the road but I realized I was practically on the main road so probably the best thing would be to just go and turn right like I needed to. I pulled up to the road and just as I was pulling out, I groaned inwardly because I saw a cop car coming my way. Sure enough they saw me and flashed their lights so I had to pull over. For some reason I was closer to laughter than tears because I could hardly believe that yet another thing had gone wrong. The policemen came up to my car and I tried to explain that I had no idea it was a one-way street but either they did not understand or did not care. I had broken the law but it was very unintentionally. He told me he would have to keep my license till Monday and then I could pay $50 to get it back. I explained that I do not live in the city and so I would not be here to pick up. I think he said I would have 30 days to pay the bill, but all I could think about was that I was not sure I trusted leaving my license with the police. I had not yet talked with the missionaries about what happens when stopped by police so my thought was to get out of their as soon as I could. I also had memories of reading of a friend's encounter with the police and how he just paid them a little money at the moment and they let him go. So I asked if I could pay him now. At first I said $10 and he said no. I then opened my wallet and pulled out all that I had there which was only about $18. (Thank goodness for pockets!) In the end he went to the other side of the car and took the money. Thankfully he gave me the car registration and my passport back but I was worried for a bit. After talking with the missionaries I discovered that when paying the fine you do recieve your license back and so in order to not encourage the corruption in the police, I would be better off retuning later to pay the fine. Now I know.

I then headed to the grocery store and went in the wrong direction, mostly because I listened to what I thought the police said was the way to go. Needless to say I was ready to leave the city. The drive home went fine but I was exhausted and my legs hurt as if I had exercised a lot but it was probably only from the stress and tension. I wish that I could say my time in the city had been productive but I only have a few car leads (one of which is bright yellow and therefore not exactly a vehicle with which I could blend into society at least in the country) and I never ended up being able to do internet research. I did get to speak in Spanish a lot and I also learned that when I live in the city I might be able to join a women's basketball team so there was some good in the midst of the stress.

Saturday morning I went to wash my hands and no water came out of the spicket and I looked at it in amazement. My thought was, "Lord, no! I cannot handle no water right now!" I wondered which I would dislike more in the end -- no water for 48 hours or no electric. Thankfully after asking some other staff I discovered that someone had turned the water off to work on another area. I spent the rest of the day cleaning and trying to relax a bit. I also got to play soccer for the first time since my arrival with some of the staff, roofers, and children. Today (Sunday) was rather uneventful. The biggest disruption to the "norm" came when when one of the camp dogs walked into the area where we were having church this evening and we all gasped and choked because of the overwhelming odor of skunk. She must have taken a direct hit and we also suffered for it. Unfortunately her second entry seemed to distract us all from focusing and Wes had to wrap things up. Quite the week is all that I can say. But I survived and I know that God is still in control and has a plan in the midst of the seeming chaos at times. He is faithful!