I am starting to itch. I see my teammates squirming. Linnea woke me up and asked me to scratch her back. I wonder when I will learn, how many times do I or we go out to the beach and forget our sunblock? My shoulders will start peeling pretty soon, and memories of sunburns past surface.
We went to the beach Monday morning and returned Tuesday night. We stayed at a house that is owned by friends of the Schweitzers. We needed a break as our ‘concentration camp’ ministry wears on all of us. Going from the barrios to the dump and back to the ‘Quinta’ can get to be a grind. This truly starts to feel like work, and we lose motivation, or lose sight of the big picture.
Being stuck in a small brick edifice begins to feel like a cell, as the guard dog is loose at night. I have never really been afraid of a dog, but this dog is unpredictable. I have already been bit by him, and have been bit by dogs a number of times already. Just yesterday I was giving some of the little girls in the barrio hugs when a dog ran out and latched onto my arm. I put the girl down and went to kick the dog, but he was already running home. Tipper is the name of the guard dog here, half doberman half lab. Half nice and half crazy. So each night we are crammed together, most of the team in the clinic and Linnea and I in the little nursery.
By this past weekend, I knew we needed a real break. So Glenn drove us in his mid 80’s Ford Econoline Van, same issues as the econolines I grew up with. The roads are awful, so our 35 Km drive took over an hour and a half. We got to the house, and on one side of the street was desert and the other side was beach, with the house in between. Fishing boats that looked just like the boat we restored in Guyana lined the beach.
We spent the time laying in hammocks, body surfing, and feasting on simple sugars and trans fatty acids. If it was wrapped in plastic we ate it. For dinner we had whole fried fish cooked for us by the woman who takes care of the house. This meal was incredible, I even ate the eye balls, the fish head and the fins. We had fried bananas and some kind of salad. This meal was also very ‘expensive’, 75 cordobas. At 18 cordobas to the dollar, we spent less than 5 dollars each, and still stressed about our food budget.
For some of our team this was their first time at the beach, or first time in the waves. Amanda had never walked around tidal pools, and I have never seen so much life in one. Amanda was excited about some crabs, and when she turned to tell us her foot slipped and brushed some sea urchins. She didn’t seem like she was in much pain, but then looked down, and she was really bleeding. Linnea spent a couple hours pulling spines out of Amanda foot in the afternoon.
The morning we left for the beach, I thumbed through Seth’s “Warrior Journal” and came to the story of David in 1 Chronicles 12:23-40. This is when the warriors from all the tribes are trying to make David king, and they all come together, and David throws them a party. For three days, these warriors partied together. This drew the tribes together. So we took this opportunity to just enjoy each other, relax, and build our relationships.
Monday night we all went to the beach and were reminded of God’s beauty and God’s creation. In Psalm 27:4 David reminds us that the reason for the battle is to seek God, to dwell in His presence.
We drove home in the old van, I was driving, and dodging pot holes. Heat from the engine pouring out on us and gas fumes. We started saying “Ro-Ads” and having a good time, when someone drove buy saying something and pointing. When that happened one more time, I pulled over and sure enough we had a gas leak. We made a phone call, and at the same time a mechanic came and helped and said it was not a problem. So I turned the key and nothing. Now the battery was dead. We wiggled the connections and finally the starter cranked stubbornly. So we got home after an adventure in Diriamba, as the one way streets are not marked, and as I sit and type, all is well and the van is being worked on.
Yeah, I love this stuff….
