The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
(Warning: random, disjointed thoughts below)
The Good…
*My family is reunited!!! Yay! Emmiline and I really enjoyed our adventure together, but we deeply missed the rest of the family.
*Choosing to have a better perspective. When I discovered multiple, large piles of horse poo in my yard, my good friend reminded me that it’s free fertilizer… not only that, but I won’t need a lawnmower. Those horses can eat a lot of grass! Truth is though, no one uses a lawnmower here (except for the soccer fields). It’s amazing what a difference a positive perspective will make. Now I’m seeing blessings and beauty everywhere. (Can’t wait to lay eyes on my Beauty… she’ll be here soon! I don’t even need a good perspective to appreciate her beauty.)
*This may sound crazy, but the couple that lives across the street from me are Christians. That’s not the crazy part. The wife is a missionary from Michigan doing something similar to what we’re doing! All of my Ohio peeps, no need to do the predictable Michigan-bashing… I’m quite blown away that the Lord would bless us like this.
*Still deeply humbled by the quality of friends that the Lord has given me… always blows my mind.
*Have gotten to pray for and bless quite a few strangers already. For example, Charlie who is from Canada has cirrhosis and requires a cane to walk. I asked him what he was doing here, and he said, “Searching.” Obviously, that was a divine set-up. I believe the Holy Spirit touched him in pretty awesome ways when I prayed. After I prayed, I asked him how he felt, he looked at me, smiled and emphatically said, “Great!”
*Carlos is a new friend. His home was broken into while he and his family were asleep in it. I was able to give him some gifts, some cash and pray blessings over his life. I got to remind Him that the Lord loves him deeply.
*I’ve gotten to use a machete quite a bit… that increases my manliness points. 
I’m hoping to get a cheap, little motorcycle as my primary means of transportation. That’ll increase the man points as well.
I’ve got the helmet… I’ve even got the facial expressions as I learn to drive like the locals… (just need an old motorcycle.)
In addition… have killed many scorpions, destroyed active wasp nests and avoided the poo-throwing monkeys. (Man points did drop when I rode an extremely effeminate women’s bike into town, but it sure felt better on my feet after walking so much!)
*Can’t communicate how friendly the people are here.
The Bad…
*Got horn-swaggled by the seller of our home. Between the falsehoods (stealing of appliances, lying about things that worked and furniture missing) and her negligence, I’ve already had to pay over $6,600 of unexpected expenses, but I’m still waiting for a few repairs that will be adding to that.
(At least I’ve got my little Buddy to “help” me with the projects that need to be done.)
*Apparently, the crime rate is quite a bit higher than I had thought, and I already knew that it was very high. Good news is that it’s rarely violent crime. People just like to steal here.
*The heat is quite a bit more intense than I had expected. I know, it’s Central America, but I didn’t expect for Emmiline and I to have so much heat rash.
*Had the strange realization that only one person in the entire USA could find my me / my home if necessary. It’s not on any maps. It’s not on Google Earth. Should you need to call Search and Rescue for me, try Caleb Roe.
*Quite a few major expenses I wasn’t expecting… anything left at the house that plugs into the wall is basically in need of significant repair (other than a small coffeemaker).
The Ugly…
*Well, the first “ugly” is my hair. The humidity here has given me some seriously BIG hair. Think 80’s hair… sorry, no pics of this yet.
*Next, and much uglier, my entitlement issues… wow!
Would say that I’m “working on them,” but as of now I’m just painfully aware of them. Did not realize I had so many… feeling entitled to a car, to air conditioning, to wifi, to hot water (sometimes running water at all), at times electricity, etc. Well, it’s been hard, but very good for me. It’s rather gross seeing ugly things about yourself. The “Ugly” section here is much worse than the “Bad” section. The “Bad Stuff” is minor compared to this. Grateful to be aware of this ugliness within me (as uncomfortable as it is)… trying to surrender it to the Lord.
Lastly…
What in the world are we doing right now? What fills our days?
Well, will give full updates on that in another blog post soon. I will say that it’s been exponentially more busy than I had expected! Bud and Charli seem to be the only ones with time to lounge!
Making very good progress toward our monthly support needs. If you or your family are interested in partnering with us financially, we would extremely grateful for your gift. One-time gifts are also extremely helpful. Many of you have graciously expressed that you were going to start supporting, just wanted to let you know that now would be a really great time.
Learning much as we go…
So much still to learn…
He is with us and for us.
Much love and blessings to all.
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