Greetings y’all!
First on my list: I AM $576 FROM BEING FULLY FUNDED. THIS IS KIND OF FANTASTIC. The finances were the first thing I was worried about when I started the process of applying for the race. I thought there was no way I was getting fully funded. AND DO YOU KNOW HOW CLOSE I AM WHEN THE NEXT DEADLINE IS IN JULY?!!!!! We call this God saying: “Heee the money is all mine anyway so I’m gonna blow your mind” and giggling at my facial expressions when I look at my support account. God LOL.
I’d like to tell a story about which I am quite excited. Backstory first. So if you know me well at all, you know I LOVE to fish. LOVE it. Ocean, river, lake, creek, boat, bank, surf – doesn’t really matter. I just love it. Now, San Juan del Sur just happens to be in a little bay off the Pacific Ocean, and fishing boats are anchored out there all the time. I noticed several places where I could rent a fishing pole, and I just couldn’t stand it. I decided to do it for our off day, and it was cheap – $10 for the whole day.
There is a fabulous artisanal bread shop where we buy healthy bread every day to go along with our meals. We have struck up a relationship with the people who work there, which we consider part of our ministry. What’s awesome is that they aren’t our projects but our friends. And it is so much fun to watch them cook – my mouth waters and I have to ask them questions and talk because I love to cook too.
Now the day before I was going to rent said fishing pole, Leah and I were in the bread shop talking to our friend Juan. Just before we started to leave, I decided to ask the question I had been wanting to ask since we entered.
“So I have a weird question to ask you,” I began in Spanish, “Do you know any good fishing places around here?”
Juan looked slightly stunned. “I go fishing all the time,” he said. “On my days off, that’s what I do.” He pulled out his phone and showed me pictures. Then he looked at me with this giant grin on his face and asked, “You seriously like to fish?”
Giggling internally at the Holy Spirit, I said, “You bet I do! Sometimes I go on boats, sometimes from the shore, sometimes fresh water, sometimes salt water – in fact I’m off to rent a pole later today.” I had to double-check with him on the Spanish word for fishing pole.
“Yeah I do it from the shore,” Juan affirmed, “but I don’t use a pole. I go handlining. Then it cuts all around my forearms from when I get a big fish. I’ve heard poles are easier.”
“I figure they are,” I said.
“Well,” he said, still grinning from ear to ear, “before y’all leave” – yes I am translating his Spanish into southern – “I should take y’all out to the pier and we can fish. It’s a popular place and you can get some big ones.”
“YEAH!” I agreed, quite enthusiastically.
Meanwhile, Leah, who is learning Spanish at a rapid rate, whispered loudly to me, “Did you just make a fishing date with Juan?”
“I guess I did,” I whispered back. He knows a bit of English, so I hoped he knew we weren’t flirting.
“Just tell me when,” Juan said.
I sort of jumped up and down and kept saying “I’m so excited!!!!” After we bought our bread, we went outside and I did a jig. Then I looked back and Juan was hanging out of the door grinning. I was slightly embarrassed, but oh well.
SO WE ARE GOING FISHING ON SATURDAY!!!!!
To come … a story of when Leah, Katrina, and I fished with the pole …
