I was trying to study!

This 3rd level of Spanish school, "Grade C", never seemed to quite make it all the way into my head. Maybe it's because during the first 1.5wk of this grade all my free time was consumed with trying to solve my passport/visa problems, and thus snowballed from there. Well, whatever the cause, I never completely "got" grade C. So, last Thursday, the eve of my Grade C exam, I made sure that nothing was scheduled for my afternoon or evening except studying. I was in school until 12:30. Lunch was from 1pm-2pm (it's culturally relevant to have a slow and prolonged meal time). So I hit the books by 2pm. Then I rec'd an email from An-Hui, my previous Guatemala house-mate who's from Taiwan. She said she was really upset and needed to talk...she'd be at my place by 4pm. OK...2 hours to study until she arrives.

For An-Hui to open up to anyone is astounding. I've never seen her share with anyone before. By nature she's very quiet and shy. So, when she entered my house I was really surprised, delighted, and sad, (all at the same time), when she collapsed into my open arms and sobbed. I mean SOBBED! Fortunately, I discovered that nothing extremely tragic had happened. However, in her eyes, her world was falling apart, and she expressed feelings of worthlessness. (Who of us haven't been there at least a time or two?) We sat on my bed until 6:30pm crying, comforting, and talking. But here's the rest of the story. At some point during our conversation, I was alerted by a staff member in the HIS office that my bus reservations (I made to return to El Salvador) just cancelled my route. Thankfully An-Hui was understanding that I needed to tend to this issue immediately. Then, as I was awaiting a response from the bus company, a school friend (a missionary from S. Korea) sent me a Skype message that he needed to talk to me immediately. OK....get the picture? I've got a friend in tears on my bed, I've got a call saying that I need to make other transportation arrangements immediately, and another friend saying they need my assistance ASAP. Good grief! And some folks wonder why my hair stands straight up!

I ended up putting off the other problems so that I could focus on An-Hui, all the while knowing that my study time was dwindling. But also knowing that God calls us to relationships...and I've been working and praying about this particular relationship since the day I arrived in Guatemala. So, An-Hui left my house around 6:30pm with plans for me to meet her for dinner the next night. So then I went to dinner as per usual from 7pm-8pm. Then I returned to my room to try to solve the previous problems of the bus and my S. Korean friend. Around 9:30pm I got back to the books in earnest, knowing it was going to be a long night, and God would have to provide. Indeed, I hit the sack around 1:30AM knowing that I had done all I could, and set my alarm for 5:45AM per usual. And to think that I had my afternoon and evening completely freed up to study. Oh well, that's life.