The road to El Pachon....Monday, October 19th

Driving...

It seems like the greater the anticipation of something, the greater the enjoyment of it. It has certainly been so with this trip. With the longest travel time of any of our Mexico trips to date, and certainly the furthest distance traveled, we had much to expect from God. Fellowship along the way has been sweet, but our eagerness to get to work has been steadily increasing since we left. Another mirror to the life of Elijah. The first calling recorded from God is a command to go into the wilderness to be fed by ravens. We felt much the same, with just the traveling and meeting of our own basic needs occupying our energies, we were itching for the opportunity to invest, and excited to arrive to our destination.

The road was beautiful, and we were even more delighted to explore our accommodations. A log cabin built entirely of palm tree trunks! The host family, a couple with two young sons, moved into their parents home, unoccupied because the owners were away on a trip, and gave us use of their home for the three days and 4 nights.

We had meals at the grandparents, 2 doors down and across the street. It was an outdoor cabana, comfortable because of the warm weather, and fresh because of the many trees and flowers surrounding it. An enormous bogenvilla tree with its twisted trunk shaded the patio, adding to the retreat-like atmosphere. Zelina stayed at this house, and cooked in the kitchen.

We were fortunate enough to have one of the only houses in the village with a bathroom inside the house. A newfangled invention, the locals usually build a small outbuilding for the purpose. The first morning, Zelina shared stories of her adventures with midnight trips...in the dark...carrying her own water. =) Talk about adventure! She came over to our "house" for showers.

Paula and Joby stayed at an older couple's house down the street and around the corner. They had a guest room, and were more than happy to have company. The lady of the house was happily chatting away, in spite of the fact that Paula gently told her "I don't speak much Spanish." The welcoming spirit of everyone is delightful!

That first night we set up the clinic so we could start first thing in the morning. Set up went well, and everything was going smoothly until we tried threading the compressor tube under the crack between the window and the wall. Because the walls are made entirely of hollow, unfinished concrete block, there were giant holes from the bottom of the window all the way to the ground. A mishap with the tube sent a very important connector part down the hole all the way into the wall. Ooops! Prayers were sent up and we finished setting up the rest of the clinic. We were concerned though, because all of the handpieces, drills, etc. required the compressor to run properly. How much could we accomplish if we couldn't get the piece? Does God have another plan in mind?

We freshened up and enjoyed a delicious dinner from Pollo Feliz, "Happy Chicken" that Señor DeHoyos and Zelina brought back after coming back from grocery shopping for the week. During this time, Jamie and Joby went back with Octavio (the owner of the log cabin) to the church to try to see what they could do to retrieve the compressor part. The pastor gave permission to make a little hole in the wall, and Jamie shined the flashlight from the top down, and Joby dug around in the cement dust. An answered prayer...a part retrieved! Praise the Lord! We went to bed with full tummies and happy hearts.