Leaving our ministry in Latacunga was rough. Really rough. Saying goodbye to the kids was fine until some of them actually began to grieve our goodbyes. It would have been so much easier if they didn’t even notice our leaving. But as tears flowed down the cheeks of Vee, one of the girls I had been working with on the Ipads, tears flowed with many on our team. I didn’t feel for the entire goodbye and for half of the car ride. Indignant anger then began to rise, “I should be there now”, I told myself. Another hour in the car seething and we arrived at our new “home”, our new ministry, our new “family”.
I went through the motions but made myself as scarce as possible. It was hard to step into the lives and routines of all the rest of our Squad while still living in the ministry we were living in. The worst and best thing that could have happened at that point was team time that afternoon. We sat and talked, I with only one or two words. Then had a moment to pray while Cass played her guitar. I didn’t pray. I just shut my eyes for a moment and held my hand against them to keep them from any funny business. I didn’t know what to say to God and I had no intention of speaking with him on this matter. But, the Spirit is more stubborn than us and He must have been working in my heart. Slowly behind those fingers that were keeping funny business to a minimum, wetness formed. It slipped fast past my fingers and fell. The first tears since I could remember. I never did cry in the goodbyes, and as my anger shifted to sadness, I was free to grieve the loss of the life I made in Latacunga with a family I never expected to have. Anger had been easier than sadness…but it kept me trapped.
That night a couple friends on the Squad invited me to see the Nutcracker for free. They were doing a promotional where a German Ballet and the Quito National Ballet partnered to perform. We hopped into a taxi for the cultural center, ate McDonalds for the first time since NC, and went to the Ballet. I was so blessed to be invited and get the chance to get out and forget for a moment the worries of life.
I met our new kids here at the Quito orphanage. They are mostly normal needs kids under the age of five years old. It’s a big change, and they sure do take a lot out of you. But I am trying as hard as I can to be here and give it my all.
One last thing. I finally went to the doctor about my skin rash that formed after leaving the Amazon. It was a hassle. The man at the University Hospital spoke in half-English and told me that it was an “emergency jungle erection” and asked if my heart rate was elevated. I took that to mean jungle infection, and I would have laughed at the slip-up if he wasn’t so seriously stunned that I was breathing well. He gave me an address to follow to get help. Turns out that it was the Ministry of Public Health- Sector 8. I half expected to get met by guys with hazmat suits and be quarantined with my jungle bug.
However, the Ministry of Public Health didn’t even look at me one bit before writing down the address of a very expensive private clinic. I gave up and left for the clinic where I spoke with the doctor completely in Spanish about my ailment. After analyzing my marks, he asked me, “Le gusta los injeciones?”, literally translated, “do injections please you?”
UM….do they please anyone? So I told him not particularly. So instead he prescribed me some pills and a steroid cream. He says it is probably an infection from a bug bite and that I shouldn’t worry unless I get a fever. I should use the cream and pills for 10 days and if it doesn’t work I come back in for my cortisone shot. After 4 taxis, $30 worth of consultations, $18 at the pharmacy, 2 hours of online paper work with the incident report and the insurance claim, and a small nap while listening to a sermon, I headed off to ministry with the little kiddos here. With all the recent changes and the current place it is hard to believe Christmas is in five days. Doesn’t quite feel like it huh?
So….I played a Christmas song to make it better. I hope you like it…but if you don’t it’s okay, I am learning…haha.
