This Week

So here we are, about to embark on another week. It's Sunday night afterall and Monday's a comin' no matter what we do. And still you know nothing about what we've done this week. So here's goes a brief update I'd like to call "Can I Just Say":

...Cars seem to have an understated but highly frustrating intelligence. Our car, all last week had a problem. Quite often, as we were driving, indeed, once we were well on our way, the car would suddenly shudder and die. For no apparent reason. With very little lead up. Each time we would call our mechanic (the mission has a mechanic on call), he would come out, drive it around with no problems and send us on our way. Unbelievable. On one occasion, the car had died on us 3 times in less that 2 miles but when he got there and drove it for 20 minutes, there was no problem. Eventually though, the car could not hide from the hands of the mechanic, died on him, and is now fixed. Only took a week.

...Our previously mentioned mechanic is not only an incredibly gifted guy (self-taught by taking apart an engine and large generator before rebuilding both to perfection - discovered and invited to teach at the vocational school, which further funded his obtaining a degree in mechanics, and he is now our guy at the mission.) He also is the Dominican half of Kid N Play as he can often be seen sporting the overalls with one side unclipped and work boots.

...I'm not sure how it happened, but last Sunday night, Kel and I walked outside to see our friend home, and realized that the burning smell that had been wafting into our house for the past half hour was OUR garbage can, its contents ablaze in smoky, toxic, obnoxious flame. I think it may have something to do with the guys who were hanging out smoking on our corner, but, I hate to point fingers.

...There is a need for a good landscape gardening vocational school here. Every time a tree gets "trimmed" it ends up looking like a tornado spun through, left the tree in the ground but cracked all the branches off 8 inches from the trunk. I'm not kidding you. I can't count how many trees Kelly and I have observed get "trimmed" in our time in Barahona, leaving trunks in the ground with not a single branch still left on it and each scar looking like a giant twisted the branches off instead of using the saw that he had been given for the task.

...Doctors and Nurses are incredible people. This week we had a team of highly talented docs and nurses come down and do surgery on everyone that they could possibly squeeze into a week. I watched people go from light recognition to sight good enough for reading by our ophthalmologist. I saw our orthopedic correct a man's foot that was bent permanently outward at a 45 degree angle at the ankle from a previous accident. His leg is now straight. I heard from our ENT's of tonsils they pulled out that looked like egg yolk because they had been so permanently damaged by repetitive infection. I watched joy return to people's lives. I watched families who had no hope of surgery because of the economic hardship, receive desperately needed care for free. I saw God acting as the Great Physician through the hands of this team. Incredible. Phenomenal. Emotional.

...Working here is tough but so rewarding. I am convinced beyond any shadow of doubt that the Hampton's will leave more blessed that we were a blessing no matter what we do. Everyday we have to struggle through the language barrier, set our American mindset aside and find ways to help without taking over. The focus of our jobs seems to shift daily and we often feel lost in the flotsam of those shifts. Yet God persistently reminds us to open our eyes and each time we are graced with beauty so abundant and so extravagant that we can't help but be enamored by it all - the people, the work of the Body of Christ, the landscape, the time we have to think about what we really want from life and from our marriage, the fantastic gift of questions that are liable to keep us up at night and never be answered. Dios es grande!

...There should be a rule that everyone has to find a place that makes them feel relaxed, and go to it every week. We go to the beach every week. On Sunday afternoons. Sometimes on Saturdays too. We bring a book and stay for a couple of hours. Not too long because life beckons but we are able to see that the time at the beach is part of life and is beckoning too. It slows us down enough to see that life is not about pace but about posture and prospective because from those things, your pace is set and so are your priorities which drive your ambitions.

...Our neighborhood is becoming comfortable with us. This is especially evidenced in the young girls that fill our house in the evenings now. They come to see Kelly. They laugh and talk to her. They teach her Spanish, clean (seriously, they do dishes and sweep our floors), and read the Spanish children's books that Kelly has been collecting. It is hilarious and so endearing in my eyes that I find myself more in love with her because they are so drawn to her.

...There's so much more. I really should be better at writing. We passed the week caught up in the frenzy of the Doctors and Kelly observing the new special education teachers in the villages, teaching English, reading, me meeting about the spiritual ministry to teenagers and trying to get a little bit of sleep. I do want to say thank you though because something happened this week that was a gift from you and you need to know about it. We hired an amazing woman to do our cooking and housecleaning. No kidding, I'm not sure how we got lucky enough to get her. She should have clients winding around the corner. She also works for the mission cooking and cleaning so will be helping us in her free time. We have arrived at a moment where we are feeling very busy and this will be a huge help to us. Laundry takes us over 4 hours to do. She'll do it now. Shopping takes us about an hour a few times a week. She'll handle that. Cooking can be a lengthy process and we often don't balance our meals well. She'll now keep us on track with balanced meals. Cleaning our house doesn't take long, but also isn't something that we want to do at the end of our days. She will twice a week. Thank you. Thank you.

Ok, I need to sign off. We love you. Write to us. Email us pictures. Tell us about your week. Comment on the blog. Pray for us and know that you are being prayed for.

Love,
M&K