lindddiiiisimmmmaaa

So this place is beautiful.  I mean, it's BEAUTIFUL.   We drive around and I see new stuff and I literally cannot believe that these fabulous jungles and waterfalls and mountains and rivers, etc. are my new homeland.  Stunning.

At the guesthouse right now we have (and have had) the most amazing students from ONU that are working in the barrios.  Last week there were 22ish and this week I think there are over 40.  And they are awesome.   They love on the patients and play with the kids and are excited and on fire and ready to go.  And it's infectious.   I LOVE working with them.   They couldn't BE any more organized (yayyyy thanks Kyle and crew!) and we are handing out lots of vitamins and toothbrushes and pain meds and goodies to the folks who live in these gorgeous places where we hold clinics.

A couple of them hung out over the weekend and we drove up some mountains to a phenom waterfall and hiked (ummmm some of them hiked- i lounged with the kindle by the waterfall) and chilled and took zillions of pix of the stunning landscape.   Seriously- do I LIVE here?  Ridiculous!

 Friday night we caught a most excellent concert at the Central Menonita Church of two worship bands and then Alientovivo, Nef and Jhonny's band.  They were AWESOME and the church was literally shaking at its seams.    Rock on, fellas!

Today we drove about an hour up into the hills near the Presa (dam) to a remote little town where the people hugged us and shook our hands when they stepped to our little consultation stations.  They smiled while they told us about their headaches (that have lasted 12 years) or stomachaches (since 1982).    They seemed to be a very kind and resilient community that also brought us bags of avocados and chinolas.   I LOVED it.    I walked with the translators to a woman's house where she probably cooked us all of the food for that day.   It was delicious and I ate rice and beans in her front yard staring at the mountains in front of me thinking again that I can't believe I live here and get to experience this and why-am-I-the-idiot-who-always-forgets-her-camera.    But whatever- pictures could never do it justice anyway.  It wouldn't ever capture that kid's ear that had pus spilling out of it, or the guy with pneumonia that Sam saw, or the quiet 19 year old that broke the lock on a door so we could use two rooms at the school (we reimbursed him!).    Pictures couldn't tell you how happy I was climbing the hill back to the clinic site with Nef and Jeff eating this sweet little fruit thing that I forget the name but they almost look like acorns and kinda pop in your mouth and you have to spit the seed out before you choke on it and I spit it all over my scrub top anyway.   Yeah.  

And we saw 90-some patients and then drove to the dam and looked out over the water that kinda feels like someplace in Switzerland with mountains rising out of it.    And then we climbed into a cave and saw bats flapping around and ran back to the bus and laughed and then slept (some of them slept, anyway!) most of the way back to the Guesthouse.    That's how today went.   There's some book out now- I think it's called 13 or 1000 Gifts or something like that.    And I feel like I'm living that book- that my life is full lleno full lleno of these gifts and they are handed to me like the avocados today.    I SOOOOO don't deserve it but I'm not taking it for granted.  I'm taking this all in and loving it.

It's a little overwhelming and breathtaking and craziness.   And sometimes I stress out at night reliving my day thinking of everything I wish I had done better or changed or said differently.    But mostly I sigh and think that I have the greatest life of anyone that I know..that I love Jesus and He loves me too...that I have the most wonderful community down here already...and that it's only just beginning.......  

Game on.  Here we go.