Snapshots in My Mind

These things come to mind as I think back over the last few days:

• Juan Jose greeting us with a big smile when we pulled up to the school in Teo Monday morning.
• The Church of God in Teo that built new walls around the old church and awaits some help for a new roof so they can knock down the old walls and worship in a bigger place.
• Pat sitting on the step of the La Montanita school surrounded by kids as she reads a book to them in Spanish.
• Kay and Pat and Dee-Dee and Larry playing with the kids after Martha's Sunday School session.
• Becky sitting in a dark classroom at La Montanita wearing sunglassses as she and Pat worked with a woman seeking a pair of glasses so she could see clearly--and with Sonia, the teacher in Nueva Esperanza, watching their antics.
• Sam working with Kathryn to screen the people coming for eye testing.
• Daniel hustling back and forth from one eyeglass fitting table to another, interpreting what the people were saying as they tried various prescriptions.
• Maynor explaining to a group of kids how they DON'T SWALLOW IT!, but SWISH, SWISH, SWISH in your mouth for 30 seconds before you SPIT the foul-tasting fluoride rinse.
• Francoise smiling as she watches a satisfied customer leave with new glasses and a smile.
• Russell holding the paper in front of a customer's one eye while the other eye looks through the focometer, trying to find the pattern on the wall to focus on.
• Paul hustling to arrange all the eyeglass boxes systematically, set up the three eyeglass fitting stations, and train us neophytes in the fine art of how to satisfy the customer.
• Juana DuBon as she presented us with a big serving of coffee and pineapple pastries from the La Montanita bakery.
• Paul saying "I've been all over the world, but I don't think I've ever been as far out in the boondocks."
• The kids in the family of the overseer of Martha and Gary's property, getting real pleasure out of being able to say "Hello" and "Bye-bye" and getting us to respond.
• The comments around the dinner table at the team meeting as we reviewed the day and what we learned.
• Lorraine talking about how we might be able to help a little disabled girl to enjoy her attraction to music.
• The heartwarming joy we all received as we cut our PB&J sandwiches in half to feed the kids in La Montanita, then realized we needed to cut them into quarters, then got the apples and sliced them up, then got all the peanut butter crackers and distributed them, and then had enough to have a couple of crackers for ourselves.  We didn't have quite twelve baskets left over, but it seemed just as miraculous.  
• The way the school teachers can get kids and parents to line up, stay in line, and be quiet.  It's truly amazing.
• Vilma Cartagena talking about how she is trying interactive Bible story teaching in her church.  She mentioned that the previous week she had taught about Jesus feeding the five thousand, which just happened to be the example literature we had marked in one of the books we brought.
• Standing on top of the hill at Buenas Aires enjoying the afternoon breeze and looking over the whole valley below--Pinalejo first, then Quimistan, San Francisco, San Marcos all laid out in the river valley with the mountains just behind.
• But most of all, I continue to be amazed by the way God brings together people who are of just the right mix to be God's People where He puts us.

Allen

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