A Day in December

Maybe you have heard about missionaries and subscribe to their updates, maybe you have gone on mission trips or been a missionary.  I wanted to unravel some of questions of what does a missionary do with a look at a day in the life of Tabitha.   This is not what every missionary´s life looks like and it is of course only one day, Tuesday December 6th 2011.  

8:00am  Drag myself out of bed and to the coffee maker wondering why I'm so tired yet again.  Soon the rich frangrance of only the best coffee in the world comes wafting through the house, yes that is right - ecuadorian coffee, the day is already looking better. 

9:00am  At the office for our morning prayer time. 

9:15- 10:15  Frantically answer and send messages to people asking why I have not written them and why I have not completed projects that they have asked for.  Also lets not forget about the email saying that that there is still room to send one of our ecuadorians to the OM Ships in Jan!!  YES!!  Also the summary of all the things that I do in OM for the lawyer who is preparing my visa renewal papers.  

10:15am Leave for the Children's Hospital where I go every tuesday for ministry.  This time Marcy, Mafer and Yessi went with me, it is nice to have a team.  We walked in the hot ecuadorian sun to the first bus stop to catch the #12.  There are no seats so we squash ourselves into the already overcrowded standing room.  A little grandmother gets in after us and starts her speech on why we need to give her money.   We slide between the people to get off at our next stop for the #42.  Thankfully less people.

10:45am Upon arriving to the hospital I put on my light purple smock that the volunteers use, explained to the guard that the three ladies following me were also volunteers though they didn't have the purple smock.  We waited for the only working elevator to take us to the fifth floor.  A little lady about the size of a tall gnome stared up at me the whole way, I think she was trying to figure out what a gringa was doing in the hospital.  We arrived to the newly painted wing for children with Infectious Diseases.  

Here I asked the nurses about Melissa.  I had talked with and prayed for Melissa several times before.  She was so thin and the last time was hooked up to many machines.  They told me that she passed away just a few days after we lasted visited her.  The last thing she asked me was to bring her coloring pages of butterflies the next time I visited.  

11:00 - 12:00  We divided up and began to talk with the children and their care givers.  I got to talk with Michelle.  She is 13 and was there with her uncle.  She also was very thin and her face was very swollen.  She seemed to be in pain.  Every time I visit I bring a picture children's bible to read stories to the children.  I asked her if I could read to her about the story of Christmas and she gave me a small smile and moved her head slightly on the pillow to indicate yes.  We read about Mary and the angel, Jesus' birth and the shepherds, then I asked her if she knew why it was so important and joyous that Jesus was born.  When she said she didn't know why, I read to her the story of Jesus' death and resurrection.  She told me she wanted to know God too and we prayed together, she could barely breath out the prayer after me but I assured her it is what is in her heart that counts.  After praying she had a beautiful smile and a small tear in her eye.  I hope to visit her again before I go home on the 15th.

12:00 -12:30The head doctor calls me into a surprise meeting with her and two other foreigners.  They want to do summer camps for children with illnesses in Ecuador and are looking for an organization to partner with.  They are not religiously affiliated but are not against working with groups that are.  Interesting possibilities.  The return home was uneventful in #13 bus.

1-2pm  LUNCH! only I haven't had time to go shopping lately so it was peanut butter and crackers, good thing I like peanut butter! 

2-6pm  Back in the office.  emails about the OM Ship, training, insurance, people interested in our mission school, other interested in the volunteer program, a couple of error messages from my computer, freezing screen, unfreezes, more error messages, screen freezes, stays frozen, hard shut down and go home.  

6-9pm  Turn on my laptop.  Open my email, 2 minutes later it opens. For the next 2 hours I try to respond to personal emails and catch up on current news in the world.  Got the fan on high as there is no airconditioning and the computer overheats easily.  It wouldn't be such a problem but as it is dying a slow and dramatic death, well it is only slightly frustrating after realizing what it would be like without a computer all together!  Went out to a yummy little hole-in-the-wall empanada shop two blocks away to get supper for me and my roommate, still need to get groceries.  Get frustrated with the computer, turn it off, there's more to life than internet. 


9-10:30  Draw a picture of a little boy from another orphanage where we used to work while listening to Jars of Clay Oh My God.  I wonder where he is now?  He was so little then and already so hard hearted.  Why are there so many injustices in the world?  I read three chapters in a book loaned to me by a friend called Note to Self.  It tells me to keep singing, I like that.  Look out all you who get sick of me singing the parts of Christmas songs that I know, over and over again!  Time in prayer.  Ok I think its better to go to sleep now.  Tomorrow it starts all over again. 

The song stuck in my head:  Joy to the World

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.