Even though I've been here for 5 months now, I'm still having all sorts of new experiences. I know I'm waaaay overdue for an update, so I'll try to have another one posted in the next week or two to bring you all up to date.
Back in January we decided to put on their much-anticipated VBS, headed up by Bri and Chelsea, for all the village kids. We went throughout the village to pass out little invitations because we hoped that we would have a good turn out. We definitely underestimated our numbers though. – The first day, we had 150 kids crowd into our little church, singing songs, doing puppet shows in Miskito, telling Bible stories, and finally giving them their promised snack. Every day we would ring the bell and wait for the kids to stream into the church. Every day more and more kids came until we ended with a grand finale on Friday with at least 200 kids! We were afraid we wouldn't have enough snacks for all of them since we'd only planned on 170 kids max. So in the middle of VBS, Edda and I ran to Polla's (the little supply shop in Francia) to grab another bag of cookies with the promise of repaying later that day. I'm so glad we did VBS; I feel like I know so many of the village kids now! One little boy, his name is Sumo, somehow thinks I am his mother. – He'll run up to me shouting, “Mamikam! Mamikam!” (“Mother!” in Miskito) and follow me wherever I go. We taught the kids “I've got Peace like A River” and Bri, Chelsea and I learned a song in Miskito as well! Sometimes now when kids spot us in the village they'll start timidly singing out one of the English songs we've taught them. It's very encouraging to me!
Along with having amazing new experiences like that, I also had another new experience that wasn't quite as thrilling. I was running around with some kids a few weeks ago, chasing them through ditches, up trees and around on the ground. I kicked off my flip-flops so I could run faster (mistake #1) - these kids are so stinkin fast! Well, I probably shouldn't be so liberal about chucking my shoes. When we finally started to wind things down, I noticed my toe felt a little strange. I looked at the bottom of my foot only to discover a huge sore – at least that's what it looked like. When I looked closer I noticed that it looked like little angel-hair pasta twisted up under the surface of my skin. The kids all gathered around and peered down at my foot then looked at me and announced: “Liwa!” or, “Parasite!” in English. Great! No more denying the fact that I don't have parasites. There was a huge worm that had moved right in and made himself at home in my toe. I wasn't in any pain, but at the same time, I didn't really want to share my toe with any worm for any longer than I had too. As soon as possible, I got the doctor to dig it out for me. That was the end of the worm, and as far as I know, I am happy to report that I am now worm-free!
A lot has changed recently at the mission. We got two new SM's. Chenai is a nurse and she arrived last week. She's already extremely busy in the village making house calls and taking care of patients in the clinic. The other SM is a Docter from Brazil. His name is Dr. Gerson and it's so exciting that we now have our own doctor on the hill!
Along with Chenai and Dr Gerson, the International Rescue and Releif program from Union College arrived last week! They spend their semester here doing survival training, jungle medicine, and structural development. I'm really excited to have them here! - I love meeting new people and it brings a lot more life to the hill when we suddenly have 28 people here instead of just 10! We are going to be a lot more active in the area now as well. With Union, we'll travel out to about 10 other villages to bring health care where they normally don't receive any. This includes week-long river trips and long hikes to get to these remote places - SO EXCITING!
