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Commitment and Flexibility

"Commit to something, but always have extreme flexibility to change." -My dear friend and teammate Jena Hooks 

Once upon a Wednesday…I was asked to go to town to the doctors to attempt to translate and to get some medicine for the Nicaragua cold that has left the whole team sniffling. Since this interfered with my plan of putting a fresh white coat of paint on the ceiling of the walkway, I wasn't feeling ready to have a flexible plan. I was nervous to translate, and I went anyway. Haha. As we made the 20 minute trek to the bus stop, we saw it pass on the road up ahead. We missed it by only minutes. We waited on the side of the road for the next hour and fifteen minutes for the next one. I was becoming a little more flexible. 

Once the bus came, we met a nice tour guide that offered to guide us up the active volcano.  After being sore for a week after hiking the dormant volcano Maderas….I think I will pass. It was neat to see her recognize our leaders from meeting at the corner house coffee shop previously. We are having an impact on the town as well. 

After our conversation with tour guide, we arrived ready for lunch. Any trip to the doctors involves a minimum of two hours in the waiting room, so we wanted to be prepared ahead of time. I got the rare treat of peanut butter and jelly at a Canadian cafe. We walked to the clinic and were pleased to see fewer dogs then other places. We waited the standard couple hours, translated symptoms while waiting, and got he regular blood pressure, weight, and height measurements. From the limited conversation. I think they weren't exactly pleased to have more people coming through. We informed ourselves with the latest health posters in Spanish and expanded our Spanish health vocabulary. We also got to pray for a lady with chronic headaches. It was a good time. When our names were called (we responded to a variety of pronunciations) we moved out of the heat into a little air conditioned room. It was wonderful. I stayed for each girl after myself to help translate, and it was such a fun time. I can't even remember why I laughed so much, but it was great. 

My day changed from not wanting to go to town, to laughing with the girls and the doctors. God answered prayers for peanut butter and jelly, turned my bad attitude into joy, and showed me that he works in the little things. I can trust him in the big things and the peanut butter and jelly days. I had to change my commitment to paint and be flexible.   

…and they all watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in Spanish happily ever after.. 

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