stories of life

Week 3:

(Note: please skip this first long story if you don't care about the details of my soccer stadium experience- I like writing as a way of remembering, but you very well may not care about the details!)

-¡Fútbol!

One of the highlights of the week was going to a futbol (soccer) game in the big stadium on Tuesday night with Dr. Hector Canales and his brother Juan. Honduras vs. Paraguay. I was going to stay home and not do anything exciting, because for one thing I didn't yet know Dr. Canales very well (little did I know how that would change!) but I realized that I should go out and have fun and have a good Honduras cultural experience. It was one of those "A Million Miles In A Thousand Years" moments (for any of you who have read this book by Donald Miller). What started out in my mind when asked if I wanted to go was, "sure, I'll go. It was nice of him to ask," and ended up to create some of the funniest memories I have yet as I experienced one of Honduras' favorite activities.

First of all, when we got there, the crowd of people from the parking to the stadium entrance was overwhelming and I was focusing all my attention on not getting separated from Dr. Canales as I pushed through the crowd. Thankfully he caught on soon enough and had me walk in between him and his brother. When we entered the stadium there were food vendors everywhere set up with their portable stands. We climbed up the the big cement stairs to the first level of seating, and as we neared the top, the noise got louder and the lights got brighter until we reached the top and the big field was in front of us. We made our way down close to the front rows, right next to the marching band. Dr. Canales told me that the stadium could hold forty-five thousand people, but only fifteen to twenty thousand would be there that night. There was music and shouting and announcements going on as we sat on the big cement bleachers waiting for the game to start. There were people of all ages getting excited for it to start, and I'm pretty sure I was the only one of them who wasn't Honduran. Kids and adults alike walked up and down the rows shouting out what food and drinks they had to sell- pizza, cotton candy, grilled corn, plantains, and turtle eggs to name a few.

As the game got started, the guy sitting on the other side of me than Canales noticed that I wasn't Honduran. He smiled and said, "Americana?" I told him yes I was, and for almost the rest of the game he was full of questions for me. It was hard to understand him sometimes with all the noise, but it was good for my Spanish. He told me he had twin boys who are 14 and they were sitting a few rows in front of us. He then started buying me all these food and drinks that I didn't even want, but I took them to be polite. I looked over to Canales like "what should I do?" and he just smiled and shook his head.

(Skip forward to Friday night, a small group of us were at dinner, and I was telling my friend Grace about the guy buying me all the food at the game, so she jokingly asked Canales why he wasn't looking out for me. He responded with, "I was listening to their whole conversation and I didn't hear anything inappropriate so I thought it was fine!")

The game started to get more intense because we were losing 1 to 0 and it was getting closer and closer to the end. About twenty minutes from the end, it started to rain a little. Oh right, I remembered, it rains every night here! Why I thought it would be any different that night I don't know. A lot of people started leaving then, and the other smart people had umbrellas and tarps to hide under, while Dr. Canales and I just stood in the rain (Juan shared an umbrella with three other people) as we watched our team struggle to fight. Soon the rain came down harder and harder and I didn't even care anymore about being wet, it was all part of the experience. The rain only got harder, and lighting started flashing and thunder boomed. Just a few minutes before the end, Paraguay scored a second goal, and it was then that we decided it was time to dash. Or rather slowly make our way out with the rest of the crowd. Now that everyone was totally wet and just wanted to get to their cars, and it was so dark and pouring rain, I was once again concerned about getting separated. I'm not as good at pushing through people (yet) as the Hondurans. I wanted to hold on to Canales but thought that would be weird, so I just tried to follow. Thankfully, before we had barely even left the bleachers, he saw my struggle so he put his arm around me until we got away from the chaos. Phew. We waited at the bottom of the covered steps for Juan, and when we didn't see him coming for a few minutes, we started for the car through the parking lot and sidewalks that were turning into little rivers. As we plodded along with the rest of the crowd, laughing at our very wet state, Canales said with his Spanish accent, "are we having a hurricane or something that we didn't know was coming?!" At least we were having fun. We continued to dodge cars and people and then heard people start yelling and shouting. Another goal for Paraguay. 3-0. It was a sad ending for our team, but we had fun and have hope of doing better next time!

We Finally made it to the dry car that we very quickly made wet. Canales told me that he's been in worse rain at the stadium before... geesh. Juan finally came and we were off on our very slow drive home through the dark and rain. THAT was a memorable experience.

I got home soaked and cold but with a happy face. After I got clean and dry, I saw the BIGGEST roach speeding around my house. Oh God, I prayed. These are the times I hate living alone! This was the second roach I've found in my house, and far too big and fast for me to deal with. But I had no choice, and by His strength and the help of a broom, I defeated it. Getting stronger every day... Oh, and I just got up from writing this to get a drink and saw a baby gecko run behind my microwave.

I wish I had pictures to share from the game, and wished before I went that I could've taken my camera, but I didn't know with it being so big and being for work if it was a good idea. Because of the downpour, I'm now very glad I didn't take it!

The next day after the game I was talking about it with my friends Jose and Jozzeth at work, and Jose said that in October Honduras will be playing against the US. Which team should I cheer for?

-Maintenance....

Just two weeks in to my life in the apartment, and I've already had my living room partially flooded twice, my toilet sprung a leak and wasn't fixed for several days, and then after that my fridge broke (which also wasn't fixed for several days). The fridge was warm but the freezer was about the temperature of the fridge, so I had nothing frozen, but I put all my fridge foods in the freezer. Thankfully I have an amazing landlady (Mayra) and she brought the necessary repairmen to fix both the toilet and the fridge. Sadly after they fixed the fridge and freezer, I came home to some frozen lychees and tomatoes that I had to throw out. And Mayra told me that there's nothing to do to fix the flooding- all the houses have problems when there is wind and rain.

Thankfully I had a good attitude through all of this and am remembering that this is all part of life and I am experiencing almost no troubles in light of what my friends and family back in the States are going through who are having so much flooding.

-Upkeep...I thought I was already good at this.

I thought from doing much housework, grocery shopping, and taking care of kids back at home in the States, that it would be a breeze for me living by myself. Well in some respects it is, but in some other respects, it's much harder. I don't have my dad here to kill the roaches and fix the toilet. I don't have my mom to cook or siblings to help me clean. It's me. Just me. And I love that I'm getting this experience, I love that my apartment is so small and is generally easy to take care of, but I just surprised myself at how much "housework" actually goes into life even in a house made up of just one small kitchen, one small living room, and one small bedroom and bathroom (actually two bedroom but I never go into the guest room).

On a daily basis I am doing all the normal things like making my own meals, washing the dishes, scrubbing the counters, taking the trash out, and on a weekly basis sweeping and mopping all the floors, cleaning the bathroom, and doing my laundry. All of this is normal stuff that I'm used to doing, I guess it's just more time consuming than I expected! On top of this, I try to get enough groceries at the store to last me a week when I go with Pauline, because frequenting the grocery store is not a highlight of life for me.

I like to keep it simple, but I'm learning that being responsible for a house and a life can only be simple to a certain extent....

In the midst of this adjustment, I am realizing how much I admire moms. I don't even have kids or a big house and it just feels like a lot sometimes. I've always admired moms, but I see them in a different way now I think. Whether a working mom or a stay-at-home mom, it's busyness and work that doesn't end. I must say that right now I would make a terrible mother. But that's why I'm not one right now! I'm thankful that there are different seasons of life, that God prepares us for each season we are to enter. I'm realizing now that I'm really grateful for the season that I'm in right now! I'm remembering to enjoy each season and not take any for granted, because just as the seasons change from summer heat to fall colors to winter snow to spring flowers (clearly I'm referring to life in the US, here there are two seasons: hot and rain :) so life continues to change. Enjoy the moment you are in.

-Ace

A "difficult" part of transitioning my life here has been having to leave Ace at home alone all day everyday and to see him so hot all the time. He's used to being around people all day and getting to run around a lot outside. Mostly all the dogs in my neighborhood have a yard to run around in, but we live on the second floor! I frequently bathe him to keep him cool, and we go out on a walk every afternoon, but I've found he can only handle about twenty minutes in the heat outside at a time. I at least glad that he is here with me, and he's getting used to the new life, so really if this has been one of the hardest things, I don't have much to complain about!

-Getting Connected

On Saturday morning I went to a ladies' brunch which was a group of ladies from ICF, the missionary church that we've been going to. I met some new girls there and am getting to know people better which is awesome! One of the ladies, Tara, works with many orphanages in Honduras, and I was telling her about CURE and how she can contact us if she has kids with orthopedic problems. She was very happy to hear that and told me that recently they had a girl who broke her finger, and it was never set so it healed very crookedly. I'm thankful that I get to share about CURE and for the possibility of bringing in more patients to get healed.

-El Dia De Los Ninos (Children's Day)

So just like we have Mothers' and Fathers' Day in the US, Honduras also has Children's Day! The staff at CURE told me that it is a universal holiday, so we must have it in the US. I assured them that as far as I know from spending my whole childhood there, we surely do not have it! How we got gypped of this holiday, I don't know!!! However, Saturday was Children's Day here,

so on Friday at the hospital after clinic, we held a celebration for all of our patients who were there that day, plus a class from a local school came. Dr. Canales' mother came and did a Bible class with the children, then we had a big pinata and ended with a cake. It was fun to see the children enjoying the day so much.

-It just keeps getting better. And better.

Each week working at CURE gets better. It started out with the craziness of getting the Bridgemans and myself into our homes, and then trying to make a daily schedule that fit into the hospital's routine. Now that I'm getting to know the staff better and am fitting into life, work is not only super fun but it's fulfilling. I've met some of the most beautiful kids that CURE serves, and I love capturing their faces on the camera and sharing their stories. I also get to help translate some days for Dr. Jay in the clinic which has been great, and although a little difficult still, my medical vocabulary is growing every day. For the first two weeks I wore "office clothes" to work, but now that I've started helping in clinic I get to wear my scrubs, and that's a great feeling. Learning how to cast, clean wounds, and remove stitches are some of the things I've started out with and I can't wait to keep expanding. I get to work with and learn from such fun people and sweet kids which makes me look forward to each day more and more. I used to look forward to the weekends so much (and still do) but on Friday I actually had the thought, oh man, I'm not going to hospital for two whole days!

During these past three weeks, sometimes I just stop and tell God, I am so unworthy to be blessed with an experience like this, to be with people like this, I can't think of anything better. how can I ever thank you God enough? what could I ever do? And then I realize, nothing. There's nothing I ever could do. Everything I have and am is by His grace alone, and I think that's the point: God wants me to be in a place, always, weather it's a high or a low, that I realize it's all about HIM. it's all from Him, through Him, and for Him. sometimes when His will is that we go through hard times, it's harder to see the blessing. Blessings in disguise usually are only seen with hindsight. if only I would learn from my past experiences! But I think that's how we're supposed to feel when we're in the center of God's will: when I am overwhelmed with love for life, it's a gift to me to remind me I am totally reliant on Him for every beautiful thing. when I am overwhelmed with life and just want to be done, it's a gift to remind me that when I have no strength, He is my strength to carry me through and bring me out stronger. No words can accurately say how grateful for this season of life. I think if I stay here too long, I might never leave.... and now that I've been told that there are very good nursing schools in Honduras... :)

Last week: Dr. Jay and Dr. Canales casting Belkis, one of our clubfoot patients.

This week: Dr. Jay putting a new cast on Belkis. She's a screamer, so as I took this picture he was saying, "really, you have to get me on camera torturing a child?"

My first day of clinic, last day of office clothes! Dr. Jay removed pins from this boy's foot now that it is healed from surgery, and Jose was teaching me how to clean and cast it. This poor patient, he was the loudest screamer we had in all the three weeks I've been here. Good patient for me to start with!