We're all kind of like beans

The adventures continue...if you know me well, you know adventures are pretty much my favorite.  I think adventures can come in all shapes and sizes.  A lot of the time we are too busy to recognize the little adventures and to see the beauty in what we're actually doing.

This week started off in the clinic, where I gave my first shot in the butt and casually rode a horse that belonged to one of our patients.  I am learning a lot more medical terminology in Spanish, Conny is the best teacher around.  It's so fun to just soak in the little things. 

Tuesday, Dr. Michael didn't come in because his daughter was sick.  I was sad, but saw it as an answered prayer.  Instead, I spent the morning with Estela; she taught me how to make beans.  A food that I eat on the regular down here.  Little did I know when they buy the beans, they are dirty, and not like American dirty and need a rinsing, like Nicaraguan dirty.  There are pebbles, trash, rice, and just bad beans.  Estela goes through by hand and sifts through all the beans picking the pebbles, trash, and rice one by one.  She then gives them a thorough cleaning with water, she probably rinses them 10 times.  As I was helping I couldn't help but think, this is kind of like God and us.  When we let him, he picks out the pebbles, trash, and even rice in us.  And it's not all at once, it's a long process, that may not always be that evident or noticeable, but slowly and surely He's is making us more Holy, more like Him.

This week we traveled to a village for a clinic, it was pretty awesome-- I love getting to be a part of this team.  It's so fun to work with these friends to serve other Nicaraguans, I also love that we're never too serious.  We're never in a rush. We're always picking somebody up off the side of the road. We take time to ask each other to what's up, and listen to the answer. 

This week, we also went and spent sometime with some missionaries that live pretty close.  It was awesome to hear how God is moving in their ministry, and to see their life here in Nicaragua.  I made a new friend name Abigail, and she loves life and her cat a lot.  I think we can all learn from Abigail that you might as well embrace where you are, because you aren't going to be anywhere else.

Friday was our friend Angel's birthday (in case you didn't know, I love birthdays).  We started our morning by shopping for his surprise party that night ( I love surprises even more).  Ana and Ixcell attempted to teach me how to cook and then it was time for our music debut.  We spent the afternoon in the village of Pueblo Rotundo we praised Jesus with the songs we had practicing and then Grant and I preached on the importance of accepting Christ in your life.  It was a beautiful afternoon.  It is really crazy to be called missionaries.  I think because so many times I find myself being served by my Nicaraguan friends.  My prayer as that I learn to love them the best ways I can.

Then.. the party.  I'm pretty sure Angel was really surprised.  We had a ton of fun eating cake, and yummy food, as well as ending the night with a good old fashion dance party.  Angel is such a free spirit, he has a generous heart, he is one of the best human's I've ever seen with a broom, and his attitude never stops making me laugh.  I am thankful he was born.

Last night we had a sleepover with our friends.  The kitchen was taken over by the men, as soon as I walked in I was yelled at.  Grant taught them how to make pizza, and we didn't eat until 10pm.  It was such a fun night, we watched Charlie St. Cloud in Spanish.. and I still cried.  The electricity went out in the middle and that was just another adventure too, as we sang under the moon.  We didn't go to bed until really late, but the girls insisted on waking up early to make breakfast.. a little gift from God the electricity was out again, so we all went to sleep until it came back on. 

I also finished the book, When Helping Hurts this week. I've learned a lot about poverty from this book; and the fact that in order to serve the material poor we must recognized where we are impoverished in our own lives. It has been a humbling read for sure.

My prayer for this week is that I would continue to spend my days learning more about who Jesus is and learning about what that means for my life.  I pray that I am like beans and that God is slowly picking out the sin in my life and teaching me to be more Holy.