Odds and Ends

Entry to our Granada gueshouse

On the day before we leave Granada, I am surprised that . . .

·         I now see the family we live with as middle class. They have a car, a thriving business, and they send their children to a private school.

·         When there was no tap water this afternoon, it was OK.

·         A mere slice of sky above the route to school feels normal.

·         I don’t have to look for Mount Mombacho at every street corner to keep my bearings.

·         In Spanish, we could negotiate discounts for the ceramics and jewelry that Friends of Chinandega plan to sell at Pella’s Tulip Time and elsewhere.

·         I consistently remembered not to flush the toilet paper.

·         I am not tired of rice and beans.

·         I still feel hot and sticky every afternoon.

·         I still miss access to the Internet 24/7.

·         Marlo and I have not had a major fight.

·         I have won only 3 games of Gin to Marlo’s 11.

Granada Driveway

On the day before we head to Chinandega*, I wonder . . .

·         When the pair of 6-year-old—sons of our guesthouse host—ordered only single dip cones when we treated them at the local ice cream store, was it because that’s what they always get or because their mothers warned them not to be greedy guests?

·         Why in Granada the manholes are on the sidewalk instead of in the streets?

·         Why, in a country where it never snows, are the driveways built with one-inch ridges?

·         Would it would be appropriate to give the beggar on our street some food before we leave?

·         Why in Spanish does the same word (esperar) mean both “wait” and “hope?”

·         Why the Spanish does word for righteousness (justicia) also connote “justice?”

·         Why in Spanish, is the word for worship is similar to the word for culture (culto)?

I don’t have answers.

Last year, Nicaraguan missionary Carl Most told me, “Asking beautiful questions is more important than having answers.”

I think, perhaps, Carl would call those last three questions beautiful.

*Tomorrow we travel to Chinandega, where we will spend a week getting acquainted with five congregations with whom our Pella congregation is building a long-term relationship.