The HERE and NOW!

Thank you all for keeping up with my blog and my life here in Central America! I couldn’t be where I am at RIGHT this second without all your help through prayers and financial support you have so generously given! This blog is going to be a little different. I am going to break down a single day for you in my eyes…. So hold on; it will be interesting! A normal day goes a little something like this; I roll over as my first alarm goes off at 4:52, stumble out of bed to hit the snooze and bring my ipod back to my bed and lay down again knowing I will have to turn off the alarm again. It goes off again at 4:56, pushing the snooze button once more and waiting for my last wake up alarm to go off at 5:00 and mentally prepare myself for the run ahead. I know that it may seem ironic to set three alarms, but sometimes I am so tired I don’t even remember turning them off! Sometimes I am tempted to set 5! I then run around the school across my street; right in front of my house. When I got here in September my mom and sister would walk me to a park about 10 blocks away, but why waste twenty minutes walking there and back when I can just run safely across the street right in front of my house? I run about 10-12 laps depending on how my knees are feeling and how long it has been since I have run. I listen to songs like Planet shakers and Hillsong that are upbeat and get me excited to start my day and remind me how awesome our God is! One time I caught myself skipping to a song and ALWAYS catch myself singing out loud. It is a great way to get the blood rushing in the morning and I love feeling the cool brisk air on my skin as I run. It is the only time I am allowed to wear shorts in public; so it is quite a relief! I see the sun come up every morning I run, and I am able to see a few buses start their early morning route at around 5:20. I am usually done around 5:30 and then return to my house, let myself in with the key hidden in my secret pocket in my shorts. I then go straight to the fridge, guzzle down some cold water and enter my room and turn my fan on, lay on the cold tile floor with the lights off. I keep my music on and just meditate on what I will do for the rest of the day. I pray to God to bless my day and allow me to impact those he desires me to reach. I also pray for my families (here and at home) and my friends who are doing missions too. I know how hard it is to be away from home and know people who travel away from loved ones for a long period of time always need comforting so I pray that God comforts the souls who have listened to his command. I find this time very relaxing. I also usually do my daily bible reading during this time. I am reading the bible in a year challenge in chronological order and it has been such a blessing! I am in Psalms right now and God has granted me encouragement through the times I need it! I get in the shower right at six and enjoy taking a cold shower after the heat and sweat have left my body. We always have water in the morning, so I enjoy taking a shower at that time. I then get dressed in a pair of scrubs, walk out into the kitchen, make myself either a peanut butter and jelly, scrambled eggs, cut myself some fruit, or have some plain cereal in a bowl (with no milk). I then take what I have to eat, sit out on the back patio in a rocking chair and have a staring contest with our dog spikey and talk with Lucas (our bird). I just think about my time here, my favorite times, my not so favorite times, and the things coming up that will make my schedule a little more interesting. I picture myself packing my backpack for the day at this time as well. Monday’s is a day when I have church planning with the group of us young people who are starting a church here in Managua, so I pack an extra set of clothes and some baby wipes so I can half way clean myself after sitting in the clinic all day sweating. I then finish my breakfast, go back to my room, and lie on my bed in my scrubs directly in front of my fan thanking God again for the opportunity he has given me to be in such a great family and in his perfect plan! I brush my teeth, take my morning meds, put my phone, hand sanitizer, Chap Stick and 2.5 cordobas in my pockets, and head out the door! I wait right in front of my house for the bus; which comes every 15-30 minutes. I usually always get a seat because our bus is rarely packed at the time I get on. I get stared at everyday, but try to make the people see that I am comfortable by showing myself as confident on where I am going. When you show fear, people can see right through it. So I put my confidence in God and know he will protect me wherever I go. This bus route is quite interesting and we pass through some nice parts of the city and I realized that the nice neighborhood never has people just sitting outside their house watching the city start to get busy because these people usually have jobs and make an income sustainable for their living conditions. I then pass some not so nice parts of the city. One example is right in front of a hospital; where there are “Fritangas” (fried food stands) set up right along the hospital wall. I think, “wow, what a convenience, you can eat a fried enchilada after leaving your early morning blood test and seeing that your cholesterol is out the roof already!” I know these foods are off limits for me because I don’t know how they are made and was told when I got here to stay away from foods made on the streets because they are not safe for foreigners. When I get off the bus, I walk down a dirt road and sometimes I see people I have talked to, wave, and keep walking to my destination. Sometimes I have the joy of passing the man with no arms who rides his bike around selling bread all day. He has obviously adjusted his bike so that he does not have to use his arms, but just lean forward on a bar while using his legs to get him going. I then make it to the clinic about ten or five minutes till 8:00. I sit myself on the couch after my thirty to forty minute bus ride and two minute walk to the clinic. I then enter the pharmacy and start taking names of people who want consults and there are always people waiting when I get there. It costs 65 cordobas to see the doctor here. 24.4 cordobas equals one US dollar. You do the math. Cheap! But not to people here whom on average, make $4.00 a day. I then wait for the other professionals to enter the clinic. Sarita; my partner in the pharmacy; the woman in charge of everything at the clinic! She does it all; taking care of paying the laboratories we buy medicines from, the inventory of medicines, and the money we have at all times. She has been working for the doctor for 10 years now. The doctor is obviously at the clinic because it is out of his house. The cook, Nestor is starting our lunch already at 8 and making foods for people who buy stuff while waiting in the waiting room. The dentist and her assistant come in around 8:30 and the other doctor comes in around the same time. The doctor who is in our clinic drawing labs is there by 7:30 everyday. As the day goes on, I usually give a couple injections here and there, get to clean a wound every now and then, sometimes get to do a home visit and see people I have missed or gotten to know well since I have been here. We then have lunch around noon and then I get to rest a little on the couch before we get back to work and push through the rest of the day. I leave the clinic around 4:15 everyday and try to catch the bus that leaves around 8:30. I then get off at a place about 20 minutes away from home and catch a taxi and get them to drive me to the place me are meeting for the new church. We pray and talk about how our day was; usually enjoy a small snack and some bottled water and then get to talking and praying and next week we start evangelizing to get people to come to our church! We will go to neighborhoods and invite people to our new church! I am excited for this to start! Please pray for this process to hurry along! After this meeting I either get a ride home from the pastor and his wife, or get a taxi home with another guy in the group because it is dangerous for a girl to travel alone. I then get home, check to see if we have water and usually we don’t so then I grab a bucket from the back patio, fill it up with the water we have sitting in a large trash can and lug it to my bathroom. I then take a bucket shower, get on my computer, and check my e-mails from hospitals, CFCI, or anyone else who decides to write. I sometimes talk to my parents or friends via facetime or skype. I update my facebook if anything that day has stood out to me or snap a picture to put up on instagram. I then eat my dinner. Usually alone because the family here eats in their rooms. I would prefer to eat in the kitchen; one less way of attracting animals or insects into my room. My favorite meal is gallo pinto, tajadas, and sweet tea. This is very common here too, so I am in luck. I then enter my room; either watch a movie on my computer, a sermon, or read a book until 9:30 or 10 rolls around. I then journal about my activities in the day and talk to God the rest of the time before I fall asleep. I get up the next day to do it all again! Some things obviously change, but not much! I have been so thankful to meet the people I have since I have been here and make the connections I have. I was recently shaken by something God chose to show me while reading my bible at night. In James 4:13-14 it says ““Now listen, you who say “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is you life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.””(italics mine) I realized, God is so right! We are here in the moment and I need to focus more on the HERE and NOW instead of what I WANT to do in the future! He holds my life! He knows my desires and hears my dreams! He knows exactly where I desire to be and what I want to make of my life. If ANY of that is in HIS plan, it WILL happen. I just need to take one day at a time. Pray for the people in my current life. Pray for the prostitutes that try to flag down cars to make money for their children, the children who spend all day in the hot sun begging for money on the busiest highways and streets, or the people who live in a house the size of my bedroom here. I need to thank God and be so submissive to Him and His voice that nothing else matters but doing His work. I then went back to read James 4: 7-8 where it says “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you, Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify you hearts, you double-minded.” I submit my life to Him. I have trusted Him since I have been here to guide me in the exact manner He desires for my life and thus far, I have had no obligations or second thoughts about the things He has taught me. I am not learning more about ME here, I am learning about HIM. His precious love for his children and his comfort he always offers when we succumb to his desires and his will. I have found myself in tears many nights just thanking him for my time, but also in tears many times needing his loving arms to guard me and protect me and just wrap around me to hold me from the loneliness I sometimes feel. I hope that this encourages you all to just submit your lives to God! He knows what He is doing! Trust me, I have been living in HIS plan an not my own for about 8 months now and I know He is a much better person to be in control of my flesh and human desires. I will admit, it is and has been hard, but I wouldn’t change anything from these 8 months. I have been places I would never have gone if I would be living the way I WANT to live. I have met people who are inspiring and have changed my life by the way they live their lives. I have also seen some pretty amazing things happen through God. He has moved me and made me realize that I have to succumb to Him if I want to see change. I can’t change my heart, I can only decide to listen and be lead by Him and watch Him work miracles in my life. He has done so! I truly believe He has saved me from a road I would hate to be on right now! I have swerved off the road a dozen times in my past and will continue to do so because I am human and have a flesh that desires things God doesn’t. I am assured though when I think about God and his amazing and saving grace. I am so in love with Him right now and have never been more amazed at His goodness and love towards me! I am getting close to ending my time here, but these last three and half months will be my best yet! I have no doubt! With God anything is possible! God bless you all! Stay tuned for more updates! Miss you all! See you soon! Prayer requests: I will be able to make another trip to Costa Rica again before I leave (God has opened doors and I believe my future will be living as a missionary and maybe in Costa Rica) Please also pray for the church we are starting to bring in true, real, broken people to God to lead home! Pray for my family here! And praise God I have had no more health problems! Thanks!

Month 7 video and update!