March 30, 2004
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Hey peoples!!
Jan and I just got back from an afternoon at the local hospital… We’ve been volunteering there one afternoon a week, and I am so enjoying it. I asked if we could be with the babies, and that’s been priceless. It’s a hospital for malnourished, mentally handicapped, or kids with cleft palettes, and various other illnesses, but they are not normal healthy babies. It just tears my heart out, yet I love being there with them too – today some of the babies recognized me and that is so rewarding…
It’s been so good to get a vision of other people like that since we’re down here – makes me realize how amazingly blessed I am and I feel so humbled that God has put me in the family and country situation and physical health that He has… Makes me wonder though how God can know that it is the best thing for an innocent baby to be born with such serious birth defects, while others are born perfectly normal… I know He’s God, and I guess that makes all the difference. I am so glad that He can see a bigger picture in ALL of life than what is available to my eyes can see!
Jan, Kris, Gina, and I spent a wonderful weekend… on the Caribbean!!!!!
Oh yeah!! It was so splendid!! We rode on boats on the Rio Dulce to the town of Livingstone and spent a few days there. The Garifuna people seemed so welcoming and the town so homey and it brought back so many memories of when Jan and I lived in Belize… On Saturday we went out on the Caribbean on a motor boat to a serious of waterfalls, then to a private beach… Ooooh, it was soo gorgeous! I never thought I’d see anything so beautiful with my own eyes!! There were hammocks strung between the palm streets, little thatch roofed huts, white sand, the Caribbean ocean to swim in…. 
Soo wonderful!!! The weekend went by so super-fast though; we were gone three days and spent 20 hours traveling on boats, shuttles, and busses…
I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to travel and see different parts of the world like this… I just thought of it this weekend that within one year I’ve swam in the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific, and the Caribbean. Wow, that was pretty cool!! Yet at the same time I am asking God to protect my mind and my heart and guard me too… I have seen so much perversity and wickedness through my various travels, and I pray that I will never ever get used to something that is wickedness in the sight of God. Not to even try to excuse people who don’t know better, but love the person while hating the sin that they’re involved in…
Spanish is going well… except today was very strange. It was one of those days when everything struck me funny and I spent most of the time laughing. My poor teacher, I told her I’ll try to be a good girl tomorrow.
Hasta luego!
clarita
