SOME WHINE TO GO WITH TOM’S WISDOM…

My ramblings from El Salvador

 

The traveling part of the trip was pretty dull and uneventful.  Thank God!  The guest house where we are staying is right next door to the Diocesan Offices.  It’s a big, old stucco house.  It has beautiful archways to the downstairs rooms.  Upstairs are 4 bedrooms.  Ours has a king sized bed…no bunk!  We also have our own bath with a shower.  Nothing elegant but everything we need.  Mima is the name of the woman who owns the guest house.  She’s a short, stocky woman who smiles all the time.  She makes us breakfast and supper each day.  So far the meals have been great.  We had some cereal and fresh fruit this morning.

The houses have no screens on the windows.  On Monday we spent all night swatting mosquitos.  Last night we thought we’d get ahead of them and put up some netting we brought.  All we had with us was duct tape!  The first time it fell down it took some paint off the wall with it.  The second time we just slept with it laying on us.  Not very comfortable!  Tonight we may have to sleep with Deet!

 I also broke down and showered this morning!  I just couldn’t do it yesterday!  The water is so cold and it comes out in a trickle.  I have to remember to use less shampoo. It takes too long to rinse!  It’s hotter in El Maizal so the water will be warmer! 

We went to the phone store yesterday to get our El Salvador phones.  We also got the thumb drive internet service.  We can’t get a contract with the company until we get our immigration papers!  That may take a few weeks.  The human rights person from the Diocese, Juan Lopez, is working on it for us.

Every one of the office staff has been wonderful.  They all go out of their way to make us feel at home.  It’s comforting.  We haven’t had a chance to see the Bishop yet.  He’s been sick and hasn’t been in the office for a few weeks.  We’re hoping to see him Sunday.  He has a private Chapel in the Diocese office and does private service on Sunday for his close friends. We’ve been invited to attend. That’s it for now.  We start school on Monday…no more English! It should be a very quiet time for Tom!

Peace to all,

Dianne

All shall be well, all shall be well, all manner of things shall be well. – St Julian of Norwich.

You know that we can drive ourselves sick with worry. In the last few days besides dealing with the sorrow of leaving family and friends, we had become a little more than consumed with the details of the actual trip.

When is the shuttle to Logan coming, will it be on time, is all the luggage under 50 lbs, we have 8 pieces of luggage will customs freak out. We’ll never make it through customs in El Salvador without emptying every tote. What if they confiscate my medicine?????????

Look at the pictures. Self-explanatory right, lots of luggage, us, family and what’s that other thing?

It’s the pants button of a gordo missionario. Well when I was putting on my pants at 2AM, pop goes the button on my pants. For some reason I didn’t completely have a meltdown (such small things can light a fuse in people, especially me when stressed). I just tightened my belt, picked up the button and walked over to Dianne and said, “Maybe this will be the worst thing that happens today and not the proverbial harbinger of what the day will be like, hah, ha we chuckle nervously.  In my head I used St Julian’s quote as a quick prayer to soothe myself.  

Then what transpires in the next 12 hours is one uneventful trip. Not a single problem rears its ugly head. In El Salvador they had me open one tote that was full of tools that probably made the x-ray machine choke. A customs agent looked, asked a couple of questions, smiled and sent us on our way. The Diocesan driver (William) was outside waiting and folks that’s it. Lo siento (Sorry), no lost luggage, no missed connections, no strip searches, interrogations or Locked up Abroad great escapes.

I believe the moral of the story is,  God does directly  intervene in our lives. Did he pop the button, probably not, for those who’ve read the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis; maybe my tempter popped that Button, waiting for my anxiety to boil into anger.  Instead, God calmed me down long enough to joke with my loving wife and then remember St Julian’s prayer so I could then just put my trust in His help. Maybe we pray for forgiveness too much, when we should pray for his help before we lose our cool, forget to trust in Him and do something we need forgiveness for.

I’m not proposing this is easy and I’d like to think I’ll always do that but I know I won’t. It’s just that sometimes his interventions to help us are just as subtle as the tempters attempt to lead us away from Him.

todos deben estar bien, todos deben estar bien, todo tipo de cosas será bien

 

Salud

 

Tom & Dianne Wilson