April 11,2010 A Long Week

This has been a busy week. We worked on Missionaries on Monday, Tuesday we screened Tio Juan Girls. They are beautiful and precious. There are so many dental problems and it sometimes feels like we can't really make a difference but I guess it is like the starfish tossed back in the water. It matters to each individual even if it seems like a drop in a very large bucket. Those children deserve to have their teeth taken care of as much as my children do and their parents can't take care of it, we can. Wednesday we went to the Tio Juan Orphanage for Boys and screened 54 boys in the morning. Then we took a break and actually went to lunch at Tacontento. We usually work through lunch. Boy I need to take one of those tortilla machines home. She just cranked those corn tortillas out and they came out round and perfect and then she put them on a grill--so good. Then, of course, it was back to work until early evening. Thursday we worked all day on Tio Juan boys and didn't get home until 7:00. When we don't leave the clinic until 6:00 the traffic is really backed up and it takes a long time to get home. We were so tired and hungry we were glad we had some leftovers. Come to think of it, we had leftovers the night before too. Thank goodness for left overs.
On Friday we took a break and went to Antigua with the Masks and another missionary couple, the Browns from Prescott, who are going home this Friday. It was great. Everyone needs a McDonalds in their town like this one. Of course you need the beautiful weather to go with the fountains and beautiful gardens. I bought some necklaces for my little granddaughters but after I got them home I thought maybe I bought them for them last time I was here. Oh, well, they will have a gift for a friend.
Saturday, we took our morning walk and I fell thanks to my wonderful lack of depth vision) I felt like I was mortally wounded but actually I think I am going to live and learn to be more careful next time. My children won't be surprised. They know I fall all the time. In fact I usually do it without much damage because I have learned how to fall. This time I didn't see it coming. So there I was , lying in the middle of the sidewalk waiting until I could move. It was kind of embarrassing but I'll get over it. If I weren't still sore, I'd be laughing by now.
Paul never seems to have enough time to get all the things done he needs to do to finish the legal stuff for the clinic so Saturday, since we played on Friday, we were working hard.
I was baking bread and desserts for the next week and cleaning and Paul was doing paper work and telephoning. Our neighbor, Dr. McArthur came over and said, "Hey do you want to go flying." A member of the ward who is the patriarch has a plane and wanted to do a little flying that day. So, I pushed Paul out the door and told him he would just have to do paper work and phone calls another day because opportunities like that don't come knocking every day. They just flew to Quetzaltenango and back and were home in a couple of hours. I wasn't even finished with my work. That afternoon, we went over to the clinic and put the rest of the charts in the computer for the boys we screened on Wednesday. Our days are very busy and neither one of us thought we would be doing dentistry all day, 4 days a week for our mission, but it is what it is.
After we came home from the clinic we did our weekly shopping. It was 7:00 by the time we got home and I was very glad I had baked bread and put soup in the crock pot. Then, of course, I had to wash all the vegetables, lettuce, etc. in disinfectant, dry it, and refrigerate it. By then it was 8:00-another long day. We sat on the couch and tried to study the next day's Sunday School lesson and Relief Society Lesson until we kept finding ourselves falling asleep and reading and re-reading the same scripture. Yes, pretty funny.
I don't feel like I am able to contribute much on the spiritual side because I can't speak the Language. Paul can speak and teach at church. I study all the material in English and Spanish but I can't understand much. I try to go out on the patio where the children and missionaries wait for their appointments and talk a little but Mostly I can just be a dental assistant and cook. I was trying to think of something else I could do when I realized, I can't do much but one thing I can do is pray. The Bible dictionary says that Our Father in Heaven has blessings He wants to give each one of us and He is just waiting for us to do our part; be humble enough to ask. So, as each child sits in our dental chair, I say a silent prayer for that child and ask for blessings in their lives that they might need. Many of the children at the orphanage have parents and families but they can't afford to educate them and care for them. They are just as deserving of blessings as my own children. It isn't their fault that their circumstances are different. Right now, they are within the realm of my stewardship, so at least I can pray for them. So until I learn the language I will have to be content with what I can do.