Rambling Thoughts Late At Night

I prefer the evening hours of the day much more than the morning. I read a funny quote in Readers Digest that said, “If God would have wanted us to enjoy the sunrise, it wouldn’t happen any earlier than 10am.” So true. Rachel’s more of a morning person…probably more out of necessity with the kids than anything else. Actually, Rachel’s more of an all day person…friendly and joyful at all hours of the day. Amazing!
It’s raining hard tonight. I’ve always said that I would take 30 days of rain over a single day of snow. It seems that my wish has come true. It makes life interesting without a vehicle. We plan our trips to the market and when to hang our laundry out to dry around the amount of clouds in the sky.
Our landlord, Jose Luis, is becoming a fast friend. It turns out he is an amazing artist, a prodigy from his youth. He gets hired quite often to design and construct elaborate floats for the many fiestas and parades here in Tlaxiaco. His latest project is a giant replica of Noah’s Ark. When I told him I was going to be building some book shelves for our room he got really excited and suggested we could share a workspace right in the courtyard of our building. The shelves went together quickly so I offered my assistance with the Ark.
We’re having great fun working side by side. He’s very patient with my Spanish and when I get frustrated he can often be heard encouraging me by saying, “Poco a poco.” Which means, “Little by little.”
He also loves to break away from work in the late afternoon for a late lunch. He’s taken me out to some amazing hole-in-the-wall restaurants here that I probably would have never tried on my own. The other day he and his wife invited me in for a meal. Turns out, though he and his wife are about twice my age, in many ways they are young in their Christian walk. We ended up with a Spanish Bible on the table between us, and we had our first Bible study together. I shared some of my favorite passages with him, and he with me. It was a good reminder of why I’m here in Mexico. It’s not just to force myself and my family to live a hard life. It’s to build up my brothers and sisters in the Lord and share my love for Jesus and His Word.
I’ve come to realize that one of my biggest difficulties with the Spanish language is the accent. It usually takes me about 10 minutes of warm up each day to really focus and understand what Jose Luis is talking about. It reminds me a lot of those puzzles that were real popular in the late ‘90’s. The ones that you had to stare at for a long time before the hidden pictures would come into view. If you lost focus at all, you were out of luck. I was only ever able to see one of the pictures. A dolphin I think. Anyways, that’s what Spanish is like to me right now. In and out of focus, but getting clearer each day.
Zaisy woke up sick this morning. We prayed for her and trusted the Lord to heal her. It was a long frustrating day. The Bible tells us that when we pray for the sick, they should be healed. So often they’re not. Frustrating! This evening, however, she rose up and said she was going to start dancing and praising the Lord. Boom! Sickness gone and done with and she was fine. What if the healing from the Lord is always available but for one reason or another, the sick person chooses to hold on to it? Like an evil pet monkey on their back that they like to feed snacks to. Not doctrine, just something I’m thinking and praying through right now.
I best be ascending the three flights of slippery stairs to brush my teeth at the outdoor sink and get in bed so I can be of some help to Rachel in the morning.