Siguiendo a Aprender

These last few weeks have been interesting as far as my language skills are concerned. I’ve gotten to the point where I can communicate almost everything that I need to and can understand much more. This, of course, is exciting but can also be very exasperating. I’ll be in the middle of a conversation and realize I don’t know how to say a phrase that I would usually use in English and that would fit the situation perfectly! My vocabulary is lacking greatly as well. So I am able to communicate much better but I am also realizing how much I lack. These past few weeks I have been working the morning shift, which begins at 6:45. This has taken a little getting used to, and I’ve had to keep reminding myself to pay attention to the conversation around me and not let my mind go back to sleep. I’m also working on the first floor now which is always busier than the second floor because it receives most of those that are received in the walk-in clinic area that need immediate care. There are also a lot of people that are recovering from surgery. I’m slowly becoming more useful; mostly as my language skills increase but also because I’m beginning to understand the hospital system better as well.

Two weekends ago we had the opportunity to be involved in a continent-wide evangelistic effort called “Impacto Esperanza.” The plan is to pass out millions of small magazines with topics about problems in daily life such as failure, problems with money, marital problems, and of course the impact that our faith has on these situations. Thus the title, which roughly translates “The Effect of Hope.” Our work on this particular Sabbath was to pass out these magazines in an area around the Sanatorium. Shastin and I helped a small church that usually meets in the Sanatorium on Sabbath afternoons. We met that morning for a short worship service and to listen to a message recorded by the president of the South American Division about the evangelistic effort. We then spread out to areas that had been assigned to us. Shastin and I were alone in one area, which made things interesting, but we managed pretty well. There weren’t many people at home, or at least that answered their doors, so we began handing them out to people on the street. It felt a lot like Benton Harbor Street Ministries at Andrews. But the most interesting thing happened during the afternoon. One thing that happens here in Asuncion that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before (at least not on such a large scale) is begging, selling, and washing of car windows at stoplights. At almost every intersection of at lest moderate size, there will be people hawking food or washing your car windows without being asked in exchange for a few cents. The food vendors will even get up in the public transportation busses to try to sell their wares before jumping out of the moving bus as it rushes off. Some have even taken to performing impromptu circus acts. The people that resort to doing this are the poor of the poor. It’s not surprising to see seven, six, or even five year olds out working the streets with their parents. I once saw a very pregnant woman with three children out washing windows in the street at 9:00 in the evening. This group decided to utilize this sad reality to spread the good news of Christ. So we took one of the major intersections of the city (Pettirosi and Peru) and did the same thing but instead of asking for money, we handed out our magazines. It was a weird feeling being on the end of things, dodging cars and motorcycles. Some people were really open and would actually start looking at the magazines while they waited for light to change. Others would take them grudgingly or ignore us. There is an evangelistic series this coming week. We pray that God moves in a mighty way throughout South America.

The next day we had plans to go on an antique train that runs on steam with Rafael Zambelli and family (an amazing Argentinean family that have taken Shastin and I in many times on the weekends) as well as the Biaggi family (another Argentinean family), but when we got there we found out that there were no tickets left. Of course we were all disappointed and were talking about what else we could do but then we found out that the new president of Paraguay was going to be riding on the train. We waited for maybe 30 minutes for him to arrive. When he did get there, he arrived with even more security than was already stalking around: the “not so secret service” you might say. When he got out of the car he was fairly mobbed by the people and the press. He talked with the conductor of the train for a second and then was hustled over to help plant a tree and then had a quick photo op on the front of the train. It was all a big race! But what was really amazing was that we were able to give him one of our Viva con Esperanza magazines! Carlos Biaggi positioned himself with his little daughter Julie where the president would have to pass by to board the train. When Lugo (the president) did pass by, Julie (his 2-year-old daughter) gave him one of the magazines. We even have a somewhat grainy photo to prove it. Who knows where that magazine will end up. It was amazing that he even took it.

This past weekend I had one of the most “exciting” experiences of my life. I got off of work on Friday around 2 p.m. as usual, though a little bit late because we were absolutely packed that day. From Wednesday until Friday the hospital was full beyond capacity and was even turning patients away. This Sabbath we played special music for Sabbath school in the church and Jan and Kevin are both gone (Jan to the states on business and Kevin to UAP to visit a friend) so I asked another person named Addis to accompany us. I took the music to her at a revival meeting that was being held at the church. I actually didn’t know what the meeting was until I got there but it turned out to be very good (another fun result of not understanding everything that is said). The pastor was talking about living in the end times and what that means for us. It really mad me think about the way I live my life. But when the end of the meeting ended no one offered me a ride to the Sanatorium so I decided that I was fine walking the streets at night. I sent off a quick message to Shastin as I started out letting her know that I would be back soon so that we could practice the music. The night was brisk and I was enjoying the walk. The streets are fairly deserted at night in Asuncion and I passed only a few people. As I was walking along, maybe ten minutes away from the Sanatorium, a man on a motorcycle slowed down and politely asked me what time I had. Being the gullible person I am, I stopped and looked down at my watch. “It’s 9:30,” I said. He then asked me how far it was to a certain street. I didn’t hear the street name very well so I moved closer to the motorcycle to hear him better. It was then when he thrust his hand into the dark space inside a duffle bag he had on his lap while at the same time ordering me in a low voice to give him my cell phone. I was so surprised that it took me a second to realize what was happening. I was being mugged! Looking down, I saw that something was pressed closely against the fabric of the bag. The realization that I was being held at gunpoint gave me a start and I must have jumped a bit because the man reiterated his demand, this time saying “tranquilito, tranquilito, saca tu cellular” (Take it easy, take out your cell phone). This I did without really considering doing anything else. I wasn’t about to risk my life for a $30 phone. He asked me how much money I had as well but fortunately I didn’t have any at all and he didn’t take notice of my watch, which I had neglected to take off before leaving the church. With that, he was gone. And I was left with nothing else to do but to walk back to the Sanatorium. I’ve been through the whole process of a police report and blocking the line. Fortunately the night guard at the Sanatorium helped me a lot and told me everything that I had to do and where I needed to go to report the robbery. So there you have it, I’ve been mugged for the very first time. I thank God for His continual protection! With God as my protector I have no reason to fear…anything. I do, however, believe that God gave us brains for a reason and I won’t be walking on that street alone after dark anymore!

Prayers and Blessings!

Well, I never thought I’d be saying this…but I’ve dealt with being homesick this these past few weeks. I think what started it was that I was not feeling useful in my job. I still have problems understanding a lot of what is being said, so my usefulness is limited. We also found out that we won’t be able to learn how to put in IV’s (one of my dreams) or give injections, so I think I was just feeling let down. I began to wonder if I had made the wrong decision in coming here. Am I really going to be able to be a force for God, be able to do anything for Him at all? Why am I here? These were the kinds of questions that were running through my mind. Combine that with not being able to communicate effectively with anyone and that gives one a pretty dark outlook on life. But there is a reason for trials in life. Each morning during my devotions I had to hash it out with God. It took a while, but eventually I came to peace with the situation. I realized that if God has put me here, and I know He has, he has a plan. And with God, the journey is never a downward journey. It is always a path to greater heights: heights of faith, heights of friendship and a deeper relationship with God, and at times heights of achievement. Realizing that there was no reason to fret over whether or not I had made a bad decision in coming here, realizing that God is there constantly guiding me, realizing that all I have to do is pursue God with all of my heart, gave me peace. That peace didn’t immediately make me see the world through rose-colored glasses but it gave me the strength to keep going. It was absolutely amazing to me the hunger and thirst that I’ve had for God in these past few weeks. It’s something that I’ve never experienced before. I pray daily that this hunger and thirst for God does not leave me.
Fortunately things have gotten a lot better for me lately. God blessed me in the area of language this past week and something clicked. I’ve been able to communicate a lot better. Still on the level of a small child but it’s a step in the right direction! It’s coming easier to think of how to organize sentences. This increase in comprehension and ability to speak a little bit better has made it easier for me to be useful in the nurses’ station. I am starting to understand more of what is said by the patients and thus am able to take care of some of there calls without having to call another nurse to help. This is an entirely new feeling for me, essentially having a job and not having any studying that absolutely has to get done. But I’ve found something about myself, I actually really like to study when I don’t have to! Go figure! Not that I that absolutely hate studying normally, but when I can pick something that really interests me and applies to what I want to do. I enjoy discovering new things. In this case it’s the Spanish language, which applies very directly to my life here. I’ve been trying to study as much as possible. It’s become very clear to me that I am a visual learner. If I can write a word down and see it a couple times I can usually remember it fairly well; but if I just hear it, it takes a lot longer.
This last weekend was interesting because we helped a couple, Jan and Kevin Nick, to lead out in Sabbath school in the “Iglesia Central.” Jan teaches at Loma Linda in the School of Nursing and Kevin works in the Geology department. It’s kind of funny, because I’ve actually heard of Kevin before in one of my classes at Andrews University because of some work he did in Peru. They are here because Jan is helping with some of the nursing programs here in Paraguay. Anyway, I said my first prayer in Spanish, which was interesting. I had to write it all out beforehand because I definitely didn’t trust myself to make something up on the spot! We also read the mission story. And guess what, it was about the United States. Yep, this quarter’s offerings are going to help missions in the U.S.! We also did a special music, which went surprisingly well for the amount of time we had to practice it. That evening we went to Sociedad de Jovenes (a vespers type meeting that happens every Saturday night) as usual but this time we stayed afterward because there was a group of people going to the Chaco region of Paraguay to hand out clothing and bring a bit of food as well. We left at midnight and drove through the night in a rattletrap old bus; one of the “collectivos,” or public transportation buses that they have here. We got there around six in the morning and got to look around a little bit at a school that ADRA had built. The woman that organized the trip is a truly amazing woman that seems to have gotten the school off the ground mostly by her shear willpower. She showed us all of the buildings that she had had built while she was there and the improvements that had been made. Soon we were off once again, further into the interior and away from the main road. The phrase “eating dust” became very real to us as the bus began to pick it’s we around and, yes, through gigantic potholes on a dirt road. One of the biggest problems for the people living in the Chaco is the lack of water. It only rains two or three months out of the year and the rest of the year is completely dry. The water table there is also extremely saline, meaning the people cannot access water via a well either. There are also very few rivers, and these dry up to hardly nothing during the dry season. They have to have water brought in by truck, which causes even more problems. You can imagine what happens to water that sits in big plastic containers for weeks on end. The indigenous people that live there all look a lot older than they are; a combination of extremes in weather and untreated medical problems. It was good to be able to do something for them, even if it wasn’t that much. Many of them have no hope of raising their status in life because they do not have ready access to education. The trip back was enlivened by the youth director, named Alejandro, who decided it would be funny to put toothpaste on people that were sleeping. Everybody ended up with some of the stuff on them…I got my glasses and stomach pasted while I was asleep. However, what goes around comes around. Alejandro ended up with minty fresh hair, not my doing I might add!
Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. I am in constant need of prayer as I learn more of the language here and try to let God work through me in whatever ways possible!