A Big Surprise at the End of the Day

This morning there wasn't the usual big circle that happens on Fridays.  We headed in the direction that the big circle generally is and heard our little girls in their house yet, so stopped up to the house to see what was up.  Apparently they canceled big circle last night.  So after the little girls got up & dressed, they went to the sala to have a little circle and then watch some movies as they waited for breakfast.  This morning once again they had oatmeal, but there was a lot more grains than normal in the oatmeal, making it about 1/2 as thick as we eat it in the U.S.

The elementary school was closed today, so just the bigger girls needed to be walked to school.  Kimberly, Alina & I headed into town with 3 other female volunteers (Samantha, Anna & Leslie) so that the other volunteers could get some supplies/groceries for the next few weeks.  I had my own list (sent by Bob) as well as getting cards to add minutes to my phone so that I could call home.  It is most reasonable to buy a phone down here ($20-$35) and then get minutes than to bring your American cell phone & plan down this way to call back up to the States.  With the Honduran plan, it costs about 5 cents a minute to call back home!  Since I had such a big list of items to purchase for this coming Tuesday (I'll keep that a secret until we get to that day's blog), Samantha & Alina helped by carrying some of the bags back.

When we got back to Emmanuel, I put all of the purchases away before heading to the little girls' house once again.  The little girls were out in the yard, so I took the opportunity to chat with the bigger girls of the house.  Daniela was struggling with her English project.  She needed to choose which character of the Bible she would like to "become" and then answer a number of questions about this character of the Bible.  She told me that all of the people she wanted to be were taken by her classmates...so then she asked me if I could be anyone in the Bible, who would I be?  I told her I'd have to think about that and I'd let her know after supper.  We ate supper and then gave baths, and then I was ready to reply to Daniela.  Here's what I said:

If I could be anyone in the Bible, I would most likely choose to be Leah.  Daniela had never heard of Leah!  So we looked up her story in Genesis 29-30.  Leah was not anything special in terms of beauty, we could think of her as a plain-Jane...perhaps not even that good looking (Gen. 29:17).  Jacob fell in love with Rachel due to her physical beauty.  So Jacob asks for Rachel's hand, works 7 years for her father Laban and then on the wedding day, Laban gives him Leah as a wife saying that it is customary to give the older child first.  Imagine Leah & what's supposed to be one of the happiest days of her life, and when Jacob discovers that he has been deceived...how his expression changes from pure joy (having thought he was marrying Rachel) to...anger, disgust, repulsion, frustration, deception, etc when he realizes he didn't get the woman he had longed for.  Feel for a moment what Leah would have felt.  Then Jacob is so determined to get Rachel that he works another 7 years...so Leah is not "good enough" as a wife...and she knows that Jacob is putting in all that time to get the wife he really wants, which is NOT HER.

Okay, now after all of the earthly misery, here's what God did in Leah's life -

Leah was the first to bear children for Jacob, in fact she bore Jacob 4 sons before anything came through Rachel's line!  Due to the names of these sons, you know that Leah was suffering in an earthly way, feeling very unloved by her husband, for the bible says:

Leah because pregnant and gave birth to a son.  She named him Reuben, for she said, "It is because the Lord has seen my misery.  Surely my husband will love me now."  She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, He gave me this one too."  So she named him Simeon.  Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons."  So he was named Levi.  She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise the Lord,"  So she named him Judah.  (Gen.29:32-35)

Now, let's process that last sentence and how great our God is...the first chapter of Matthew gives the lineage of Jesus.  You only have to read Matthew 1:1-3 to discover that Jesus came from Judah, son of Jacob.  God richly blessed Leah, who was unloved by her husband, by sending His Son through her!!!  Leah never knew here on earth that she would be the ancestor of the Most High, she never knew how God would bless her & what an amazing blessing it was!

Daniela decided immediately that she wanted to work on Leah's story.  I let her know that if she needed any other help, just to let me know.  While we were discussing the story, Dulce moved into the little girls' house.  She is a big girl that was helping out over with the medium girls and I'm not sure yet why she came this way, but I do know her fairly well & her name (which means "sweet" in English) completely fits her personality and character!  She'll be a great addition to the home.

Alina & I called home briefly to talk with everyone and then watched a movie with the big girls.  When we came home and opened the door, I heard noise in the kitchen.  We went to the kitchen but didn't see anything.  I moved a few things around, certain that I had heard the mouse...but nothing happened.  I went to the bedroom to put my purse on the dresser (where I normally keep it) and when I walked back into the kitchen, Alina was frozen in place staring at the top corner of our kitchen (above the cupboards) and she said "There's the mouse."  I didn't see anything and she said it's tail is dangling from that hole in the corner, too afraid to point.  I looked up and saw a tail...it wasn't a mouse - it was a RAT and a BIG ONE!!!

Aaaaaaahhhhhhh....that's Honduras.