Down for a few more days…

My little laptop is aparently allergic to the Arkansas air.  I’ve been told that the hard drive is beyond repair, which means that I have lost alot of data and have to buy a new computer.  Give me a few days and I’ll update when I can.  Happy New Year.

A little Scattershooting to catch up…

I haven’t had much time to sit down and write here lately so I’ll try to take a few minutes to catch up with a few things that have been on my mind.

If you have read the posts from the Jamaica trip you probably remember my roomate for the week, Josh Thompson.  Inspired by the poor and uniformed attempt at authorship found on this blog, Josh has finally thrown his hat into the public square.  Go check out what he has to say from time to time.  Josh and I have very similar opinions about many things and I share his heart and passion to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.  Take a look at what he has to say and post a comment or two…

Elisabeth and I saw The Pursuit of Happyness last night.  It was good.  I’m not generally what you would call um…compassionate, when it comes to the homeless.  I say that to my own dismay; it is obviously something I need to work on.  It is just that in most of my dealings with people who live on the streets I have found that they essentially choose to be right where they are.  I’ve known one young man, just a few years younger than me, also named Nick, who came to Denton to go to school, discovered the “joys” of hard liquor, dropped out of school, cut himself off from his family and lived on the street to avoid having any responsibilites that would hinder him from catching a regular buzz.  He was reached out to, ministered to, cleaned up, given all the help that could be offered only to voluntarily leave the program he was in because he missed getting loaded and sleeping under a bridge.  Last I heard from him, he left a message on my cell phone telling me he had hitched a ride to Colorado, still living on the streets, and still getting blitzed every time he could bum a few dollars from people around town.  Sure, you could argue addiction, but in Nick’s case the truth was that he thought there was something romantic about being a roamer, never tied down to one place and not having to answer to “the man.”  Going to school near downtown Dallas I encounter panhandlers pretty regularly.  Some of them I’ve talked to, given money to, bought food for, etc.  There are a few who occasionally hang out around the Starbucks across the street from campus which I have to admit is a pretty good idea.  Personally, I almost have to give them a little change if I’m going to spend $4.85 on coffee. 

Anyway, this movie shows how homelessness can happen to people who didn’t choose such a life for themselves.  Chris Gardner, played very well by Will Smith, isn’t presented as completely innocent so as to appeal to a bleeding heart.  He has his flaws, but through the course of the movie we watch him swallow some of his pride while clinging even tighter to his determination to make a life for he and his son, played in the movie by Will’s real life son Jaden.  I found myself rooting for the guy, though most of the movie gave me that sick ”can’t a guy catch a break” feeling in my stomach.

I saw the real Chris Gardner on Oprah when Elisabeth and I were flipping channels a few nights ago.  He seems like a good guy.  Things were rough for him in the early eighties when he happened by a guy parking a Ferrari.  Chris asked him, ”What do you do and how do you do it?”  The guy was a stockbroker and he told him ”You just have to be good with numbers and with people.”  That was when Chris set some goals for himself and went after them.  He was homeless for about a year, staying in shelters, and various public places around San Fransisco before he was able to get on his feet.  These days Gardner is rolling in cash, cars, and expensive clothes, but he still remembers where he came from, donating quite a bit of time and money to various charities and to Glide Memorial Church where he and his son would go to eat.  Oprah made a comment that his story was the epitome of “the audacity of hope,” alluding to the title of Barack Obama’s book.  Seems Oprah is part of the vast left wing conspiracy to get Obama elected…

Which brings up the next topic, Peggy Noonan has written a great article on Barack’s almost certain bid for the presidency.  I wasn’t expecting it to come so soon, but the boy seems to be dipping his toes in the water.  I can only imagine what a Obama/Mama Clinton ticket is going to look like.  Would Hillary settle for the number two spot?  Maybe Barack will be more like Bill and just get out of her way and let her do her thing…

On a brighter note, the Mighty Fightin’ Romos have clinched a spot in the NFC playoffs.  Now if we could get Tony to play defense too, we might have a shot.  News this week that Southlake Carroll head coach Todd Dodge signed a five year deal with UNT has sent a question sweeping around Denton, “North Texas has a football team?”  Dodge’s Dragons beat the tar out of my beloved Allen Eagles 38-0 last Saturday at Texas Stadium.  I’m calling it a third place finish for my alma mater and hoping that they’ll have a chance to bring the title home in ‘07, an even 10 years since I was paroled…

Which leads me to confess that yes, I am rapidly closing in on a 28th birthday.  It isn’t really a big deal except that any birthday leads to an evaluation of where I’m at in life and where I’m heading.  The answers to those questions are up in the air.  Like any young man I have a tendency to compare myself to my home-owning, baby-having peers and of course to my father who on his 28th birthday was just a year and a half away from having his more handsome, smarter, and more loved second son.  Don’t bother sending me any gifts, just make a donation here or here…

I’ve been thinking alot the last few days about the two dudes from Dallas and their yankee buddy that decided to climb Oregon’s great Mt. Hood.  I’m not the type to write something like this off as “they got what they deserved” like I’ve heard a few people insinuate.  Nor do I like the whole “at least he died doing what he loved” line of thinking.  I imagine that if I were skydiving (something that I love but have only done twice) and the chute didn’t open, my last thought would be more along the lines of “Man I’d love to be home with my wife reading a book and drinking coffee,” rather than “Hey!  What a way to go!”  I guess the thing that I wonder about through this whole story are the thoughts and regrets that must have run through Kelly James’s mind as he watched his two friends head back down the mountain to find him help.  I wonder if the last time he turned on his cellphone it was to call his wife and kids and tell them goodbye, only to find that reception is a little sketchy in the middle of nowhere.  I can only hope that it wasn’t an excruciatingly painful ordeal for him.  Earlier this evening I was clicking around reading about the whole mess and I found out that Kelly’s brother is a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary.  The family has set up a blog to keep those who are praying for the climbers informed…

On a lighter note, as one of a certain select few, a member of the elite group of people known as “Internet users,” I have been named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2006.  I was shocked and honored to find this out, even if I have to share it with the likes of you…

Well, that about wraps up the Scattershooting for the evening.  Thanks for indulging me and if you don’t hear from me between now and then, Merry Christmas.

It ain’t Christmas till Bing sings…

Every year around this time I try to squeeze in a few hours to make something hot to drink, find something sweet to snack on, and chill out on the couch to watch White Christmas.  I know it sounds corny, but this movie just helps me ease into the spirit of the season.  I’m not usually a big song and dance kind of guy, but for some reason listening to Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney croon and watching Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen dance brings home the reality that it really is Christmas time once again.

“Phil Davis (Danny Kaye):  How can a guy that ugly have the nerve to have sisters?

 Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby):  Very brave parents.”

So, here’s your chance.  Take a few minutes, click on that little “Comments” button right beneath this and tell me what your favorite Christmas movie is.  Why is it your favorite?  What part do you like best?  I won’t make any judgments about your character based on your favorite holiday film, I’m sure there are some very intelligent people who can enjoy Elf and It’s a Wonderful Life. 

A valuable way to spend time online…

For the last several weeks, I’ve been playing with this website called librarything.com.  If you’re not familiar with it, it is a great way to organize your books online.  Seting up an account is easy and adding books is not only simple, it is just a little bit addictive.  You can check out the libraries of other members who may have some of the same tastes in literature as you and the website itself will create suggestions as to what to read next based on what books you own.

One of the neatest features, if not the most useful, is the UnSuggester.  This will take a book that you own or have read and tell you based on that particular work what you probably wouldn’t enjoy.  For instance, if I owned Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology (which I don’t but it is on my Christmas list) and I entered it in the UnSuggester, it would tell me that I probably wouldn’t like Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (which I bought for 5 bucks at Wal-Mart, read it through, and then promptly threw it in the kitchen trash).  If only I had known about the UnSuggester when I bought that book…

Another thing that might come in handy is the ability to print out a list of the books that you own.  This would come in handy for me anytime I find myself in a used book store and wind up buying something for $2 only to come home and find that I already have it sitting on my shelf.  This occasionally happens when you own books you haven’t gotten around to reading.

 Anyhoo, if you’re interested you can see my books here.  The list isn’t complete yet but I didn’t really have anything of substance to write about this evening even though I felt the urge, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to share the fun of librarything.  The bibliophiles out there will appreciate it.  I took my last final exam of the semester earlier this evening so as things cool off around here I will try to post something new.

Black Flag Day…

Ever have one of those days where you wish you would have had a little warning that morning that the whole thing was gonna bite the big one?  Like a black flag hanging outside your window, telling you to go back to bed and try again tomorrow.  Wednesday was one of those days.  It didn’t take long to realize this, by 8:01 in the morning, I knew I was toast.

Weird thing was, at 7:55 I didn’t think the day could get any better.  It was warm outside, mid seventies and the weather guessers were promising a wintry mix by late evening.  I like that about Texas, we order up our winter and have it all delivered in one day, no dragging it out for months at a time like in yankee country.  When its time for cold, we go all out, dropping 40 degrees in about an hour.  In a few months, summer will come in the same way it left.

Traffic was light, I had a cup full of 100% Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, and I was actually looking forward to getting back to work since I had been away for two full weeks.  All I had to do was show up at the office, say hello to all the boys because I’m sure they had missed me, and then get on with a day full of solving all of the world’s plumbing problems.

And then the train came off the tracks.

I pulled up to the office and only one other truck was there, which is unusual.  I hopped out, a little curious as to what was going on, and wandered in through the back door.  James was on his way out and when he saw me he stopped and let out a big sigh.

 ”Where is everybody?”  Usually the place was full of people babbling on about a new toilet that had just come out or a tankless water heater they had installed in record time the day before.  I generally ignored them and made my way through with a few “Good mornings” and polite smiles so that I could waltz into the grand office of the big boss and start telling him how to do his job, moving stuff on his desk, and generally complaining about having to be there.  Rich is a good natured guy and he’d usually look at the clock and make a comment to the effect of “Hey!  It’s the late shift.”  Even if I was on time.  If I was early, he’d adjust his glasses, lean back in his chair and ask if the wife kicked me out of the house last night and I had slept in the parking lot.  We’d shoot the breeze for a few minutes while I flipped through the latest HandyMan magazine that he’d been saving for me the last few days and he’d run down the list of phone calls I’d been putting off making.  Then he’d give me my first work order, read off the other jobs I had on the schedule, cause he knew I’d always ask and then tell me to “have a good one.”  Some days he’d follow me out to my truck until the ringing phone beckoned him back to business and I’d always think but seldom say, “I’m glad I don’t have your job.”

“You haven’t heard?”  James answered.  “I left you a message on your phone.”  I had turned my work phone off the Wednesday I left, knowing that I would be in Jamaica for a week and then back in school.  I had looked at it several times since I returned, thinking about checking to see if there were messages, but each time I had decided that I would just deal with it upon my return to work.

“I haven’t heard anything, my phone has been off and I didn’t even turn it on on my way in this morning.  What’s going on, man?”

“Rich passed away last Wednesday morning.  Died right here at the office.  He stopped answering the phone, so me and Larry called Shane to find out what was going on.  Shane came by here a little while later and he was dead.  I tried to call you.  I’m sorry, man.”

I slumped down in a chair next to James and a flood swept through my mind.  You know the one.  It’s where half a million thoughts and at least a dozen emotions that you didn’t know you felt hit you like a tidal wave of confusion and shock.  Stunned disbelief.  Surreal.  Suddenly I wasn’t sitting in our office having this conversation, instead, I was watching it on television and every bit of dialogue was in that melodramatic breathy whisper that the fruitloop from CSI: Miami uses.  I hate that guy.

Shane is Rich’s son and our office manager.  He keeps the show running and he’s in and out of the office all day long running errands and taking material to all the guys.  I imagined him walking into the office, figuring the phones had stopped working or that his old man had run to the can and gotten tied up.  Instead he found him gone.

Perhaps selfishly, I thought about my dad.

I held it together, not wanting to look like a sissy in front of one of my fellow macho, manly man, blue collar co-workers.  James left and I went out to the truck to turn on my phone.  It was loaded with messages that I sifted through in a daze.

“Nick.  It’s James.  I’ve got some bad news…”

“Brother Nick.  It’s Ron.  I don’t know if you’ve heard what’s going on, but I’ve got something I need to tell you…”

“Nick.  Paul here.  By now you’ve heard…”

“Hey Nick.  It’s Shane.”

And that’s when it finally hit me.  Even though I was alone, I did that silly squint and head tilt where you try not to acknowledge that there are tears about to spill all the while trying to balance them on your eyeballs, hoping that they’ll evaporate before anymore show up.  That never works.

Shane’s message was to inform me of the when and where for the funeral.  Turns out it was Tuesday and if I had only turned on my phone when I got home, I could have been there for my friend.  Technically, Shane is one of my many bosses, but I think of him as a friend.  He was at my wedding.  Anybody who will sit through a wedding or graduation when they don’t have to be there immediately moves into friend status.  Look it up.

The dust hadn’t settled from the lead cars being derailed when the caboose hit.  Guilt.  I felt really, really guilty.  I could have been there.  I should have been there.  I know there is nothing that I could have said or done, but when I’ve been in similar situations, it’s nice just to have people who will be there.  People who feel even a fraction of the grief you feel.  It helps.  It takes some of the hurt away.

Instead, I was showing up a day late and a dollar short.  Needless to say, it set the tone for the entire day.

I talked to my friend Joe later in the morning.  I had called to ask him some completely unrelated questions but ended up dumping the whole thing on him.  Including the poor pitiful me feelings of guilt.  He listened patiently and then just said “Providence.”

“You believe in the providence of God, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Then you know that if God had intended you to be there or needed you to be there, you would have been there.  He’s sovereign.  He’ll put you where he wants you when he wants you there.”

Providence is God’s loving care and governance of the universe he created.  Charles Hodge once said, “To suppose that anything is too great to be comprehended in His control or anything so minute as to escape His notice; or that the infinitude of particulars can distract His attention, is to forget that God is infinite…The sun diffuses its light through all space as easily as upon any point.  Likewise, God is as much present everywhere, and with everything, as though He were only in one place, and had but one object of attention.  He is present in every blade of grass, yet guiding Arcturus on his course, marshalling the stars as a host, yet calling them by their names; present also in every human soul, giving it understanding, endowing it with gifts, working in it both to will and to do.  The human heart is in His hands; and he turneth it even as the rivers of water are turned.”

I believe it, but the tension lies in the fact that I still feel like a turkey.

Have you ever stood in a room where there was a mirror in front of you and a mirror behind you?  You know that in theory the reflection will continue to bounce back in forth endlessly.  You stare into the mirror knowing that you stare into eternity, positive that the reflections are infinite.  But you can’t see it because your fat head is in the way.  No matter how you move, all you see is your ugly mug and the back of your head.  This is how I feel trusting in God’s providence at times like these.  I know that God is in control, that he not only sees the eternal, he has ordained it.  But I want to see!  I want to know how far this thing goes and yet I am the one getting in the way.  Reading this probably makes no sense to you, but this is the only way I can describe what goes on in my head.  It’s a funhouse, in more ways than one.

Lord I believe.  Help my unbelief.

I’ll miss Rich.  He was alot of fun and we had many good conversations.  I used to get caught up hanging out in his office when the day was done and I should have been on my way home.  He had great stories.  Many of them that I could never repeat.  He let me tell my stories.  I let him talk about living right, being healthy and not taking things for granted.  He let me talk about Jesus and he asked good questions.  I laughed at all of his preacher jokes that he’d download off the net just to goad me a little, even though I had heard them before.  I listened intently as he talked about his motorcycle.  He listened with just as much grace when I talked about my church.  He’d tell stories on himself from when he was in the service.  I’d brag about my wife and he’d tell me to never forget those feelings.  He’d brag about his grandkids and I’d tell him to let them know how much he loved them.  Once I made it a point to tell him how much I appreciated what he did.  It was on a day that he had driven me particularly crazy.  He raised his eyebrows and thanked me, I think it made his day.  I called him on something he knew better than to do.  He listened to me and admitted I was right.  He told me to shave more often and I did.  I encouraged him when he was losing weight and dieting.  He praised me for getting an education and reminded me that it was important.

The last time I saw him, the Wednesday before I left the country, we talked for about twenty minutes.  I told him to have a good Thanksgivng, spoil his grandkids, and to eat lots of turkey.  I wish he could have.  I wanted to hear about it this morning.  But today was one of those Black Flag days.

Back to business as usual…

It has been nice to be home for the last few days and catch my breath.  I’ve probably worn my sweet wife out with stories and pictures but she has been incredibly gracious and patient with me.  I’ve been trying to finish up papers that were due after the trip and prepare for final exams next week so I haven’t had the chance to really recap everything that happened.  I will say that it was a wonderful trip and the Lord has taught me a great deal.  I hope to return someday and if any of you are interested in going, the Taylors make the trip several times per year.  I’ll be happy to get you their contact information.

My next career. 

 

Josh Thompson sharing with a group of kids at school.

 

Josh preaching the word at a general school assembly.

 

Little cuties eating Skittles.

Canterbury.  Not a pleasant place.

 

Dr. Hunter sharing the gospel.

Daniel sharing the word on Sunday night.

Thank you all for your financial support and mostly for your prayers.  God did great things and taught me a great deal.  Continue to pray for the men and women who came to Christ and for Kesla and his wife wife as they minister to these people.  Kesla has some very real and practical needs and I am praying hard that God will supply him with what he needs and trying to figure out how I can help meet those needs.

The Journey Home…

I wish I had the words to convey the excitement and anticipation that I feel right now.  We are supposed t be packed up and ready to go by 10:45.  I have been in the lobby with my bags packed since 9:45.  Mrs. Taylor walked by and said, “Now there’s a man who wants to see his wife.”  She has no idea.

Yesterday afternoon was such a fitting end to all that has taken place.   Just being able to sit and watch football, celebrating Thanksgiving thousands of miles away from family and friends, with the brothers and sisters in Christ who are now so dear to me was an incredible feeling.  I took these pictures just as the game started, but at halftime, we all moved to the hotel bar where Dr. Hunter and the Taylors had set up Pizza and Ice Cream.  We made a ton of noise, converted a few Jamaicans into Cowboys fans, and irritated the sin out of a couple from Atlanta that just wanted to see T.O. embarass himself.  It was much fun.

I anxiously await getting to share pictures and stories with you all.  Thank you for your prayers and thank you for checking here every so often.  One evening I noticed that I had 176 hits on this site, I welcome comments from you, even if I don’t know who you are.  I hope you’ll come back and find something edifying on this site even when the pictures from Jamaica stop popping up.  (There will be more, including a recap of what I’ve learned.)  See ya’ll soon, back in the great country of Texas.

Happy Thanksgiving…

Well, it has been quite a week.  Yesterday we had some very needed time to just relax and chill out.  I spent some time shopping with a few friends, eating lunch, and shooting pool.  The weather has been pretty nasty so we couldn’t swim in the ocean.  I wasn’t too concerned about it though, the rain has been nice and going to the beach seemed like way too much effort.  At one of the craft markets, Josh Thompson saw a Bible sitting on this dude’s table and bagan a conversation with him.  We ended up spending 15 or 20 minutes sharing the gospel and team teaching about 5 people through 1st John.  Very much fun.

Today we headed out to Bogue Hill Baptist Church for the last medical clinic.  I helped Tim and the two Joshes (Joshi?) fill prescriptions from Dr. Kerry Inzer.  He treated about 50 people, many of them children.  The team ran out of children’s cold medicine on Tuesday and so there wasn’t much we could do for the sniffles.  Dr. Kerry would send the kids out with a prescription for Skittles.  Apparently, two Skittles twice a day for the next week will knock out a runny nose.  Except the green ones, you just give those to your friends.  Afterwards, our driver, Tommy, took us to the Richmond Hill Hotel, a resort that sits on one of the hills that overlooks the bay.  From the parking lot of the resort, you can look across a valley into Canterbury, where the poorest of the poor live and where machete fights are commonplace.  We’ve been told that even the cops don’t go there unless absolutely necessary and then they don’t go alone.  Some of our group spent some time there this week and so it was quite a contrast for them to stand on the grounds of this beautiful hotel and look out into the depravity of Jamaica’s lowest.

Pictures take a long time to upload onto this site, so I will do that when I get home.  Right now priorities require that I go watch the Fightin’ Romos destroy themselves some Buccaneers.  We have pizza on the way and ice cream to follow.  Our Thanksgiving lunch was curry goat or curry chicken (I had chicken, though I did try some goat) out of a styrofoam box, so the Pizza and football is an exciting thing.  Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m practically a dentist: The Sequel…

Not as good as the first one, but they did get the original people to play the same parts…

I told you about Vanessa yesterday, here she is being examined by Dr. Park and Josh Mayfield.  Dr. Park specializes in pediatric dentistry, so he worked his voodoo and suddenly this little girl melted in his hands.  After the first stick of the needle, she didn’t squirm or shed a tear.  I cried more the last time I went to the dentist.  Afterward, she and I sat on one of the exam tables and made latex gloves into balloons while her mom got fixed up.  I was actually in this picture but I looked uncharacteristically dorky, so I cropped myself out.  People only want to see the cute Jamaican kid anyway.  While Dr. Park was charming Vanessa into submission, Dr. East was coming close to losing a finger to a hysterical 7 year old boy.  His grandma held him on her chest, threatening to beat him stupid if he bit the nice doctor and still Jeremy had to hold his feet and Daniel his little arms while I tried to pin his head down.  Not the most fun we had today, but by the end of it, the kid was fine.

Josh and Daniel are prepping all of the torture devices prior to an extraction.  I think Josh is about to quit Criswell and head to dental school.  Daniel preferred to just escort people in and out of the room, figuring that once they had met him outside, the dentists didn’t look nearly as scary.

Dr. East was really cool about explaining to us what he was doing.  I think he really wanted to let us pull a few ourselves, but we just never had a good opportunity.  He is the reason that I want to regrow facial hair and buy some scrubs.  New man-crush.  You’d like him.

From left to right, you have Dr. Jeff Taylor, Dr. Todd East, Dr. Blake, Nikki Vedro (She’s a nursing student), Dr. Chad Park, and Dr. Kerry.

Tonight, we had dinner with the Taylor’s good friend.  Every opportunity to be outside in Jamaica is taken, and here we dined on the porch listening to the crickets and frogs and the sounds of laughter from down the street.  This was the first nice neighborhood we’ve seen in Jamaica.  Some of those in attendance are trustees of Ambassador International Ministries and there were several who spoke to thank the doctors, as well as us.  Dr. East asked to speak and talked about how amazed that he was at the dental team.  He said that he thought that he knew how to be compassionate with people until he met us.  It was nice to hear that he felt we had been some help to him and Chad.  Side note to the wife, Todd is 42 and his first kid just turned a year old.  He said to wait to have kids and not to worry about having my wisdom teeth taken out…such a wise man.  Here are the docs again, this time at dinner.  They clean up okay.

Our dental team.  I was very proud to be associated with these people the last few days.  If I was supposed to be “heading them up,” I had the easiest job in the world.  No one ever slacked off, no one ever wanted to quit, no one was ever selfish or irritable.  They each gave everything they had.  From left to right is Josh Mayfield, Dr. Chad Park, myself, Miriam, Dr. Todd East, Jeremy, and Daniel Hancock.

Tomorrow is a day to take a break, catch up on some classwork that is due when we return, and to just find people to talk with.  I look forward to it and I need the rest.  I wasn’t expecting that we would be as busy as we are, and that was one of the reasons I was dreading this trip.  But, very little time is wasted around here, and when we get the chance to chill, we’ll take it. 

Please pray for Elisabeth and Mady on Wednesday.  They will be driving to Arkansas alone.

I’m practically a dentist…

Today, the good doctors and our gang from Criswell spent some time pulling teeth.  It was fun.  Dr. East looked at me when we were getting on the bus to leave and said, “You’ve got blood on your pants, that’s cool.”  All I could do was say “Yep.  Pretty cool.”  I was amazed all day at the dedication of these two men and their ability to work with limited equipment.  It was neat to not only share the gospel with people, but also to meet very practical needs as well.  The flow of people was constant and we had to turn several away who will have to return tomorrow.  We are starting earlier and plan to go late to get in as many as we can.  The dentists are leaving on Wednesday so hopefully we can get alot done tomorrow.  The first patient in the morning will be Vanessa, a five year old who has to have a few teeth removed.  You can pray for her, she is terrified, and her mom will probably be holding her the entire time in the chair while Dr. Park works on her. 

Miriam was able to lead a young lady to Christ.  I don’t remember her name.  Pray for Miriam, she is registering all of the people who come to the dental clinic on her own and she has to deal with some nervous and agitated people.

This pretty much sums up how all of us felt at the end of the day.  To get the full effect, you really need to hear the dumb laughs that go along with the eyes, but you get it. 

 The rain was a little fierce today and flooded some of the roads so that we were unable to go to Canterbury, where we would actually have to park and hike across a gully to get to the community.  Too bad, I was looking forward to it.  Josh got to share a devotion with about 940 kids at a public school today and I understand that there were a few students and parents or at least a parent that prayed to receive Christ.  It has been an exhausting day, I was up past 3:30 am because I couldn’t fall asleep.  I doubt I’ll have that problem tonight.