The waiting room: yet another upside to social medicine.

Amber and I spent 3 hours in the waiting room at the local clinic this afternoon. We were the first ones in line to see the ONE doctor that was attending to the entire emergency room. We were being really good waiters up until hour 2, when our fellow waiters started getting a bit disgruntled with all the waiting and fed up with the one doctor attending to bleeding people who were rushed in ahead of the rest of us who had properly put in our time in the waiting room.
(I think that's when it dawned on me that perhaps the locked gate and armed guard separating the waiting room from the hospital is there to protect the one doctor from being bombarded by sick and angry not-yet-patients who are desperate to get out of the waiting room).
One elderly lady appointed herself as spokesperson for the rest of us in the waiting room whether we wanted her assistance or not. You know her. We've all been trapped in a waiting room with her at one time or another. "That elderly waiting room lady," is a character that knows no cultural bounds. We'll call today's lady Carmen since she's Venezuelan.
Carmen talks and talks and talks...informs the armed guard that she must get back to see the doctor because she has hypertension and that bleeding car accident victim can just wait his turn like everybody else. The armed-guard must meet at least one Carmen each day, because just ignores her complaints and doesn't even look up from playing games on his cell phone.
But Carmen is a rule-follower and knowing full-well that we were in line ahead of her, she knew she had to get us in to see the doctor as fast as possible if she wanted to get herself to that promised land behind the locked iron gate.
My favorite moment was when she took the liberty of informing the entire waiting room that I needed to see the doctor right away because I was quite obviously in great pain since my face was so pale. I just smiled and translated the comment to Amber...who was the one who wasn't feeling well and had brought me along as the translator.
I really wanted to inform Carmen that my pallor was more likely due to my ethnicity than illness, but I decided against it in favor of keeping our hard earned place in line.

At the window

This morning I've been watching the snow fall outside my window here in Bozeman.
It's been almost 2 years since I've seen this sort of weather and I can't help but think that God had blessing me in mind when He made today's weather.
Yes, I have very much enjoyed seeing friends in my time here, but one of the biggest things that I've been silently enjoying is the weather. I know it sounds silly but I am absolutely loving walking around in my friend's puffy winter coat, all zipped-in and warm except for feeling the cold air on my face. Call me simple, but I love it.

Bloggin' for Jamie

This one goes out to you, Jamie B.
I'm actually writing this post from Bozeman, Montana. I'll be here for a week to be a part of some wedding celebrating. It's a bit strange to be away from life in Venezuela, but it's such a blessing and joy to be here with so many dear friends.
The day before we left Venezuela I was able to have a really fun conversation with a girl who's very involved in the ministry, Elvia. I challenged her to consider being a part of a delegation of students from Venezuela that we are hoping to send to a worldwide conference in Korea. (Check it out at http://www.cm20007.net ). We are challenging about 15 students from Merida who are committed to the ministry and the mission of seeing university students reached for Christ.
Anyway, it's a short story without an end, but it's something that I get really excited about. I love challenging students to take steps of faith, and for the students that accept this challenge it will certainly be a faith-building experience as they attempt to raise $3,000 each to cover travel costs. It's a lot to raise for a US student, and for our students in Venezuela it's exceptionally daunting...that's over one year's rent on my apartment, if you want to put it into perspective.
That, however, is what I LOVE about this challenge. Truly, these students will be trusting God for something impossible and I can't wait for them to see Him show up.

Getting it.

Sometimes we come across those people who are just ready to hear the Gospel. Pedro was one of those people. I met him at our weekly meeting on the humanities campus on Wednesday. He had come all the way across town from the pharmacy campus just for our Vida Estudiantil meeting.
Amber and I lead a discussion group for new people during the second half of our meeting. This past week Pedro was the only new student. He shared with us that he had come to the Humanities campus several times with the intention of coming to our meeting, several times had stood in the doorway and never entered thinking, "What am I doing here?"
Amber and I looked at each other and exchanged a look that said, "We know exactly why you're here," and we began to share the Gospel with him.
Now, we share our faith all the time. And we even see lots of people receive Christ, but I'd say Pedro (like Natacha) is one of the most striking instances of someone being ready. As we shared with Pedro it was absolutely incredible to watch his face. When we explained how man is separated from God by sin and there is nothing we can do in our own effort bridge the gap, it hit him like a ton of bricks. His face fell and he truly felt the desperation of our situation without Christ. And the joy that came to his face when we explained that there is hope for reconcilliation with God! We showed him a diagram that shows Jesus as the only bridge that can cover the distance between a Holy God and sinful man. I'm sure that if Pedro could have jumped into the diagram and run across the bridge he would have at that very moment! It was a beautiful thing to watch the Lord at work in Pedro's heart that day. Please pray that Pedro continues to respond to God's pursuit of his heart, that he will get connected with students in our movement and begin growing in his faith.