The weekend, already!

"It is the process, not the outcome, that is glorifying to God. God's training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself. God's purpose is to enable me to see that He can walk on the storms of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying enough attention to the present time. However, if we realize that moment-by-moment obedience is the goal, then each moment as it comes is precious." -Oswald Chambers

I love this wisdom from Oswald because it reveals something about me that needs to change. So often I am looking to "what's next" and neglect the sacredness of the "moment." For instance, right now I am really enjoying my time in Honduras but am catching myself thinking of being back in Seattle and starting a new job. What I need to be recognizing is that right now God is allowing me to be a part of something amazing. I get to be a part of people's lives and their healing. I cannot possibly be fully invested here if my mind is in another place. Lord, help me to step back more and savor each moment, as my time here is sparing. Show me what it means to be obedient in the moment.

It's been a few days since I've blogged. Life is happening here! Let's see, thursday we had team meeting in the morning and in the afternoon Dierdre and I went to Northside. We walked along the gorgeous beach, then did home visits to Nila and Ms. Betty. Nila's sugar was over 400! Whew! Hopefully her Metformin this week will allow her to keep better control of it. Otherwise, she'll probably need to start insulin injections. Ms. Betty has a UTI (urinary tract infection) due to her foley, yet, we put in the foley to treat an ulcer and prevent further skin breakdown. Sometimes it's important to treat the greater of the two evils. Although it happens in the states, too, I've found the concept of "weighing the evils" especially present in third world health care settings. We got her some antibiotics for the infection as well.

I get frustrated about how much I don't know, and how many incapabilities I have. At times I feel completely inept! It's especially obvious in the area of nursing. I need to be patient with myself and realize that I am learning and getting better each day. Each experience builds on itself. I've got great teachers in Alisa and Dierdre, and soon a MD (Dr. Voorhis) will be coming. I miss Dierdre, as she has gone back to the states to fundraise and see her grandaughter be born. It was a blessing to have the last 2 weeks to get to know her and to learn from her.

As far as connecting with the locals, or "islanders" here, I feel like I'm on the outside of the circle, with glimpses of understanding or experiencing the inner circle. It's tough because learning names, building relationships and gaining trust all take time. On an island where relationships are everything, I'm frustrated that I haven't really built any. Six weeks is not much time at all to be here, yet, I don't want to use that as an excuse to not use the time I have to really love people. The love of Christ compels. On the other hand, I'm feeling very comfortable with the missionaries here and want to be as open as possible. I'm just not naturally a "talker." I shared my testimony on Thursday and was glad to be able to tell them on a deeper level what God has done in my life. It is so cool to me that those on Team Helene genuinely enjoy each other's company, sitting around for hours after meals just chatting, or playing card games until late into the night. We encourage and pray for each other every morning in devotions. Here I am experiencing communal living at it's finest - and I love it.

This week I was struck by the simplicity and poverty of island life, as well as the beauty of community here. There are no roads, or cars, or sinks in homes, or electricity & plumbing for most, or street lights, or air conditioners, or glass windows, or even proper roofs to keep the rain out. All of these things I take so for granted every day. But boy are there gatherings! I went to a birthday party for a 5 year old little girl yesterday and was amazed to see how many people were there! There were easily 100 people who gathered to play games, socialize and just be together. We also paid a visit to Papa Lee to celebrate his 94 years of living.

It's been a full weekend even though we've had an "empty house" (all but Larry, Sheila, Alisa and I went "down island" to Roatan to pick up Lucy, a past intern who is coming to visit for 2 weeks). We did some home visits yesterday. I got to meet Lowell, a dear man who's systolic pressure was up into the 200s Tuesday. Thankfully, it has come down to 150, but, we spent some time in the clinic figuring out what we could give him to bring it down (nitropatches, atenolol, etc.). We also wanted to know what we could give a pregnant women for hypertension, especially since our pharmacy is limited. Also, we have a few people with wounds that need to be tended every day who came to see us this morning. The crew is coming home within the hour and things will be hopping again (which is still a relaxed pace compared to life in the US).

Wow, I'm going into my 3rd week...already!!!!