Kenya to Mexico

It’s been a week since I’ve been back from Kenya now… or more? Time is a bit crazy, as is my life right now. So much is up in the air, I feel like a trapeze artist. Life keeps going on, though.

The day after I came back, I was walking with my friend Becky, de-compressing, and we saw a blind man struggling to make his way down the road with a bag and a guitar. My first thoughts were quite uncharitable. “Probably just pretending…I bet he’s trying to break into someone’s house.” Every time he came to a gate, he would shake it. Becky was a bit more Christian. “Maybe we should see where he’s going?” We stopped and asked him, and he was trying to find the hospital two blocks away where his son was. Twenty minutes later, we found ourselves in the room of a 24yr old man who was in the last stages of AIDS. We were able to pray with him, and then took his father downtown where he plays the guitar for money. It was heartbreaking. You never know what’s going to happen when you walk out the door. I’m going to try to go back this afternoon to the hospital to see how his son is – pray for Fermín, please. (
Sat…I just came back from the hospital and Fermin is in a coma, they don’t think he’ll be here much longer).

I’ve been told that the time of paring has come. I’m going through my “stuff” and keeping only the necessities. But what those are, I do not know. Pictures? The quilt my mom made me? Books? Clothes? You can always buy more clothes, eh? Is a pillow a necessity? How about gifts others have given you? Is one more righteous the less goods one has? lol… God knows that is not so, but it does make travel much easier. And how does one go about saying “goodbye” to family and friends again? I don’t like it, not one bit. At least I have a few more months left…?

The FYMers come back today from their sallies out on projects. The last church was a mega church from Atlanta, GA, with a youth group of 300 that came down, and I’m sure not all the youth could come, either. I’ll be glad to have the students back, and they are glad to come back too, I’m sure. A bit of order and their own beds to sleep in will be nice, although it means I’m back to Spanish classes, cooking meals, writing devos and managing drama. (
Sat…it’s not nice to play pranks on people who are low on sleep and high on stress…:( hindsight is 20/20 as they say.)

So, until next time…God is good, even when we can’t see around the corners

PS. If you get the chance, see the documentary “Invisible Children,” it’s worth your time.