It’s now the second month of the race,
and I am so blessed to be in Honduras! But right now, I want to write
about El Salvador. I remember thinking the first week how badly I
wanted to get out of El Salvador, how much I wanted to get away from
everyone and everything-quite the opposite now. If anything I miss it terribly. I didn’t think the same people I had been calling strangers for so long
would suddenly be the people I now call brothers and sisters.
Funny how that happens.
Since I love lists, I wanted to make a
list of things I’ve learned so far during my first
month on the race.
-
Never go anywhere without toilet
paper…and I mean anywhere. -
Everything is louder in
Apastapeque…ALL THE TIME! If it’s not the crying baby next
door, it’s the car with loud speakers advertising Lord knows what.
If it’s not the cars with loud speakers, it’s the kid at 6AM with
the honking bike selling mangos. If it’s not the honking bike, it’s
the rooster who doesn’t ever know what time of day it is, and if not
that, there’s almost always someone puking their guts out at 3AM.
(must…get…earplugs!) -
Holding a complete stranger’s baby
is completely normal. Don’t be alarmed if it happens to you. -
Still confused on my identity
here. I’m obviously not a Gringa, so I’m not sure what I am yet, no
one really knows… -
Chances are, you’re not the only
one who wants to strangle everyone you’re living with at least 10
times a day. That feeling just naturally comes and goes (love you
guys!) -
We all should’ve gotten Rabies
shots…just sayin’. -
Not our laptops. Not our iPhones.
Not our awesome Chacos. Nope, people still just want your watch.
Still not sure why. -
15 cents for a chocolate banana is
a steal. 35 cents is too expensive, never settle. -
Learning how to be a better future
wife by hand-washing clothes and chopping vegetables correctly has
been a plus! -
Justin Beiber is a hit.
-
The Dona-waffle is definitely up
there with Justin Beiber. -
As much as you want to pass up the
beans, you just gotta suck it up and be a trooper, I mean the toilet
already is! -
Coldplay in the ears works for any
travel occasion. -
You start to miss really stupid
things back home…like bacon, decent indoor plumbing and fresh air. -
Fact: I’m still a wreck.
-
Thank God for Jesus sending His
Holy Spirit. I know He’s here, not just back in the states, and He’s
even crazier than I thought. Never will I put Him in a box. -
Giving up is never an
option…ever. -
Try as we might, we cannot save
the world all at once. I know, it sucks. -
You have to fight like hell for
your squad to keep it together here. We’re all in this together. At
times we may fight with
each other, but always will
we fight to the bone for
one another. -
I learned how much I want to take
each of these things home with me:
But you wanna know something guys, that
entire list is useless to our Father. He doesn’t care in the least
bit about how much of that I mastered. Because I hate to say it
friends, but it’s more than who knows the most theology these days.
It’s more than who can drive out demons and heal the sick left and
right. It’s more than who we’ve clothed, fed and sheltered, more than
just how many church services we attended, how many Bible verses we
were able to memorize, how many people we got to say a little prayer.
And it’s more than our ministry and our mission trip even.
You really wanna know the first thing
God wants to know each day and the first thing He’ll ask us when we
get to the pearly white gates?
Did
you learn to love?
And that….well that I’m still
learning every
day folks. 🙂
