This morning when I got up, Tony decided that he wanted to shower and go to big circle. He was not
sick – just the ear thing, so I decided it would probably be good for him to go & see his brother and his friends. We headed to big circle, dropping my overnight items from the clinic off at the volunteer house on the way.
The message for the day was from 1 Peter 2:19-21 which states “For it is commendable if a man
bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.”
Then the second reading came from 1 Peter 3:13-17 which says, “Who is going to harm you if you
are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.’ But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”
Basically the message was about how even if we follow God’s will in our lives, bad things are going to happen to us and God wants to respond in His ways, in the way that Jesus would have responded, with love and respect towards those who do us injustice. It is in our sinful human nature to be upset, angry and even vengeful when these things occur; but we need to remember to lean on God in these times and respond with love.
After circle, I walked back to the clinic with Tony and Daysha to wait for Terri to relieve me so that I could go to the little girls’ dining hall to help serve breakfast and do the dishes afterwards. I joked with one of the older girls about burning the hot cereal to the bottom of the pan and she cleaned it out for me. I definitely was not looking for her to wash that pan, but was very thankful she did (& I let her know that too!)…because it took her almost the entire time that it took me to wash all the dishes to
get the burnt, caked-on cereal off of that pan!
I headed back to the house to shower and then went to take a few more pictures to bring back home. Doris asked me to lend her my camera and said she would take a bunch of pictures for me, so I’ve saved what I have so far to my computer and I’m going to lend her my camera and trust that she’ll get some pretty good pics. I hope all of you have seen my new profile pic on Facebook of me & Doris.
Daysha and I headed to town. She needed groceries, and I desperately wanted to find a soccer shirt
for Noah to replace the one he grew out of, but loves – I was out of luck. I am not giving up hope though…I still have a few days left for my search! We got back to Emmanuel just in time for it to start raining pretty hard. It is the rainy season down here, so it generally rains at least once a day but not for much more than 5-20 minutes before the sun comes out again.
I ended my day by heading to the little girls’ dining area and ate rice, beans & a tortilla with them and then went to help shampoo hair with Angelica. It has been a real blessing to get this involved with the girls once again. I got permission to take Doris to town tomorrow (thanks to Lesbi for reminding me I hadn’t spent one-on-one time with
When I got back to the volunteer house, Daysha and I went outside to pick 2 avocadoes which are just about ready to eat. I remember Andres last year standing on a chair with broom in hand, jumping up to try to hit them off of the tree (they really are up high). Then Daysha asked me to pray for her college mentor’s family (the Burley family). Her college mentor, Kim, had posted a message on Facebook saying that her daughter, Emily, was in a terrible car accident and it took the jaws of life an hour & a half to get her out. Please be praying for Emily’s health in this most difficult time.
At the end of the evening, I prepared myself to head back to the clinic for the night. When I arrived, there was a girl from the toddler house who was at the clinic with a fever. She is autistic and prone to
seizures, so they wanted her to stay the night. She needed to have her temperature checked every hour, so this meant I would be pulling an all-nighter. I’m glad I had Daysha’s book to keep me occupied.