Holding Loosely

I had an experience today that I thought might be worth sharing with you so you can have more insight into what life is like here.


So, any of you who know me at all, know that I am a planner to the core.  My life is so routine it would make most of you sick, but it is who I am.  Coming here I knew I would have to let that go somewhat, as life is just not nearly as predictable.  I have grown a lot and think I'm much more flexible and adaptable than I used to be.  For instance, take what happened today...


I had two things I needed to get done:  1.  Withdraw money from an ATM and get it exchanged into local currency and 2.  Go to this copy center and ask if I could get my Bible study book cut and rebound.  My plan was to do all of this in the 30 or so minutes I had before lunch at the office.  I was sure it could work.  Here was my plan:

1. Get Eliana up, nurse her, get her dressed, get us bundled in appropriate cold weather gear, put her in the carrier, leave apartment.
2. Go to the ATM in the building next to me and get money.
3. Backtrack to the building on the other side of ours and get the money exchanged.
4. Take a number 3 taxi up to the copy center.
5. Go into center and see if I can get my book fixed.  If so, leave it there to get fixed while I go eat lunch.
6. Walk to the office.

Here is what happened:

1. Got Eliana up, nursed her, got her dressed, got us bundled in appropriate cold weather gear, put her in the carrier, left apartment.
2. Went to closest ATM.  It is not turned on.
3. Walked to other building where exchange office is to see if there is an ATM at the bank there because I can't remember.  No ATM.
4. Start walking back to go to the bus stop because I only have enough change to ride a bus.
5. When walking by building with turned-off ATM notice there is another ATM inside the grocery store.  Go in store, put in card, push the correct buttons, get a message saying there is no money in the ATM.
6. Walk to the bus stop and ride all the way to the end of the line.  This takes much longer on a bus than in a taxi but since I don't have any money, I don't have a choice.  Eliana was entertained by some young boys talking to her at least.
7. Get off bus and walk to different bank with an ATM that is usually well-stocked.  Get money, go inside and get it changed.
8. Walk to office to have lunch.
9. After lunch I walked to the copy center and found out they couldn't fix my book.

So, how did I handle this?  It really didn't phase me at all.  I just rolled with the punches and got everything done.  I've faced situations like this so many times now that one of my plans might actually be my plan not working and figuring out how to handle it.  I don't always handle it so graciously but I'm thankful for how God has grown me and taught me while living here.  It's nice to actually see improvement in some areas of life sometimes, you know?

Anyway, I hope this gives you a bit of a glance into what life is like here.  Maybe it will encourage you to let God grow you in a certain area you might be struggling with as well. I hope so!

For those of you who persevered to the end of this monologue...here is a picture of our cutie (and the one who was looking right in my face the whole time I was going through this situation) and her crazy her.  Love her!