Hoppy Baybay To Me!

It´s Friday! This week has flown by, thanks be to God. Last weekend was our first weekend at the beach house, and wow was it amazing. The house is located in Hacienda Pinilla, which is a very nice community of huge houses and ritzy hotels and golf course. When we pulled up to the beach house, ¨Casa Matapalo¨, we were all excited to see its close proximity to the beach – literally walk out the front door and it´s maybe twenty yards in front of you. The house itself has four bedrooms, three of which have six beds in each room. We were well spread out and comfortable, that is for sure! The downstairs was an open sitting area with many tables and chairs, as well as the kitchen, a bathroom, and then the master bedroom and bath on one corner. All of the house is open air, just as with our houses we live in. Lots of fans. Anyway, after we arrived they told us that we were going to have our meals at the hotel, and that we could eat ¨¨everything¨. So we made our way to the hotel, and wow! We were served a full course meal! It took three hours to eat! We were served refreshments, I got Fanta in a glass bottle, and then various little courses before our appetizer, main course, and then dessert. It was Carrie´s birthday, and we were chatting with the waiter, and he said his birthday was the day before, so he reappeared in a few minutes with a tray of tequila shots! That was a bit awkward, because half of the people at the table had visible looks of í´m not going to drink that¨and then others were excited. He brought out limes and salt as well and taught everyone how to do it… turns out half the group didn´t take the shot, which I was afraid would be an insult to the guy, so I took a sip of it when he was looking, more as a thank you, out of respect, than with any desire to taste it. But now I can say I have tasted tequila, and wow, that was gross. Afterwards, we were all stuffed and turned in quickly – we had a big day ahead of us! That Saturday Brian arranged a free zip line canopy tour for all of us! Yes, I swung from a cable thousands of feet above the ground so I could look at monkeys and canopies. I have done it, I can say I have done it, and wow I am never doing it again. That was the most traumatic thing I have ever done… I was so incredibly nervous and uncomfortable, but what an experience! We were so close to about five monkeys, they liked to throw things at us, and the zip line workers were hitting on us, what more could you ask for? Anyway, I have pictures of that because I didn´t think anyne would ever believe me if I said I went on such a thing. Ada and I became better friends on that trip because she was equally afraid of heights. The dynamics in our group are certainly interesting and sometimes clash, but it has been really neat to spend time with such different people. Anna and I have also become better friends, and I can truly say I have a sister in Christ to swap encouragement with any time of the week. Of course, I have to pick up the phone to do so during the week, but that´s not too much work. ¨-) So the beach…. After zip lining we went to the beach out front of our house and had a blast! The water was so nice and cool and there were rocks lining it. We also have a 24 hour security guard stationed with us at the beach and at the entrance to our house… I felt completely safe. We swam until the rains came, and then some of us went to the hotel early to email and stuff before our next full course dinner. Sunday we woke up and went to the beach one last time, which is where my dreadful sunburn came from. To make a seriously long story short, I got a really bad sunburn on my legs (although not on my knees because I made sure to apply a lot of sunscreen there) to the point of sun poisoning. I didn´t have blisters, but the pain was deep and the color is still rather reddish purple. Yanith took me to the doctor on Tuesday, which I am so thankful for, and my ¨mom¨ Rosa bought me a cream to put on my legs that the doctor said she would have given me. She also gave me pills for the pain and told me to drink lots of gateorade for rehydration. So I wasn´t able to go to the school because they told me I had to rest and keep my feet propped up. That was certainly an experience. I have never had that happen when I wasn´t around my family to take care of me. Of course I had plenty of worried people around me, but they were speaking Spanish, looking at me like I had the plague, and giving me things to rub on it (someone gave me a laxative to rub on it… umm, no thank you!). I certainly learned then what it meant to turn to God as my Healer. I prayed and cried and prayed that everything would be fine and that this wouldn´t kill my trip or my skin for that matter. It was difficult to sleep, but I managed and in the meantime watched a lot of tv and read books. I was able to get into the Word a lot, too, and really learn what it means to have God answer my prayers. He healed me in his time and comforted me, giving me enough sleep and nourishment so that I was able to teach some throughout the week. What an amazing experience. I learned of the healing touch as well as what it means to screw up knowingly (aka not putting on sunscreen when I know I am as pale as a ghost) and having God pick me up, dust me off, and make everything better.

Anna, Eva, and I went for a walk on the beach Sunday and we had a very interesting talk about Christianity. Eva is Jewish, and so we got on some really testy subjects like abortion and free rights, but I think it was handled maturely. Anna certainly knew how to defend the Christian faith. When Eva said she didn´t understand why anyone would think they had the authority to say what is right and wrong, Anna said she didn´t believe any one person had the authority here on earth, but that she knows who does have authority. I had never thought about that line of defense before and was really encouraged by that. Then we continued to talk about the differences in Judaism and Christianity and it came up about Christians believing they are right and that everybody else was wrong, to which Eva believed that as long as she was okay in her faith and believed, that others can believe what they want to believe. That was a saddening thing to hear, and I so earnestly wished to get through to her that it´s not just you that you should be worried about. I don´t quite know how to put it all into words, but it was sad to try to explain with humility that Jesus Christ is the way and the only way. Judgement and acceptance, tolerance and love. It was a seriously deep conversation for a walk on the beach, don´t you think??

Anyways, I need to keep typing! Anna and I swapped stories and I shared with her some honest thoughts I hadn´t admitted to myself out loud…. I have learned while I am hear how this is all God´s planning for me to be here, and it is his strength that is keeping me going. I certainly wouldn´t be here still if I didn´t have his strength and comfort. I could not do this on my own – I would opt for couch potato in my air conditioned, American home any day. But I know that hthis is where God wants me and I just have to keep leaning on him and I will experience so many wonderous things from him. I constantly remind myself why I am here – it always goes to the word love. God is love. I want to love these children. I want to learn to love God and these kids and my family and the people I meet. Love, love, love. I need a t shirt. God answers prayers. It´s beautiful. I prayed through Isaiah 41: 10 constantly this week, leaning on God for strength in every way. I feel much better today, although my legs are still colored red. It certainly could have been much worse.

Random last thoughts: This weekend should be fun – my ¨sister¨and some friends, including some of the gang here, are going to Liberia to see a movie, hopefully pirates o the carribean! Oh, and wow, I can´t forget to tell you – my third grade class and teacher sang happy birthday to me, but it sounded like ¨Hoppy Baybay¨. It was hilarious! I haven´t tired of rice and beans yet, although I am getting pretty close. Literally rice and beans at every meal, yall. Eggs and chicken accompany it, along with fruits like apples, bananas, pineapples, papaya, and pears. Oh, and sweet tea, because my family loves me! Okay, now I really have to go, but one last thing – I found a radio station that plays some American songs, including Journey, You are the wind beneath my wings, and I will always love you. Amazing. I miss American music. And worship music especially. I sing to myself the parts I can remember, though. ¨-) I miss you and love you all and I am praying and thanking God for you every day!

--Amanda