Go ahead, ask me about my day.

Today I've got a good story.

This afternoon we had to go to a meeting at Travis and Alicia's. They have offered to watch Samson while we're gone but they have two cats. Today seemed a perfect opportunity for the big meeting with the cats, too.

When we got there, Randy, Jenn, Matt and Mary were all in the lobby waiting for the elevator. It arrived after a minute or two and we all got in. It was a tight fit, with the dog crate and all, since the elevator is only about 4x6 at most. The door closed and then nothing. we made sure we'd pushed the button and tried pushing other buttons.

All of a sudden we went up. Just a little. Then the door opened and...there was a big concrete wall there.

At the very bottom you could see the door that goes to the lobby but only about a foot of it. And here in Brazil, there are generally doors on every floor of the elevator that are locked and only unlock when the elevator arrives on the floor. It just had some little holes in it.

So it was the six of us and Sam. None of the buttons worked. We tried pushing the alarm button and the button to call the doorman. Nothing.

Matt figured out that his cell phone worked so we called Alicia and told her to call downstairs. While he was on the phone, someone in the lobby opened the door to get on and discovered us.

In the minutes that followed there was all sorts of opening the door to check on us and passing messages on--we're calling the repair man, the repair man is coming, the repair man is stuck in traffic, etc.

We passed everyone's bags through to make more space and eventually Travis showed up and we gave him Sam. (The dog crate didn't fit through the hole so we just put it up on its size, effectively doubling the available floorspace.)

Eventually some genius downstairs figured out that it would be better if they left that door open so we could, you know, BREATHE! (There was a fan in the elevator, but after all, we were six people stuck in a tiny elevator. In the tropics.)

After even more time, one of the maintenance guys brought an electric fan and stood there holding it up for us. that helped a LOT.

Anyway, we were stuck in there over 50 minutes, all told. We had a can of Coke Zero which I sacrificed for the team, passing it around. (we also had our lunch: a frozen pizza that I had cooked but we hadn't had time to eat so we just brought it with us but the pizza was sausage and onions and didn't seem like a good thing to eat in the situation so we passed it with the bags.)

Finally we were freed...to get to walk the seven flights of stairs up to Travis and Alicia's!

 

Don't we clean up nicely?



We're on the home stretch before furlough though it's hard to feel like it. Yesterday we had another women's ministry event. I procrastinated again (but at least I procrastinated with a partner this time!) and ended up with way too much last minute work. I'm going to get the hang of it one of these days. So I'm recovering from that today. PLUS this weekend is our ICOS one-year anniversary celebration so we have a lot of work to do getting the building ready. I'm trying to preserve my energy because our furlough is marathon length but at a sprint speed. We have to hit the ground running with little time for recovery. We only have a couple more things to finalize and then I'll post a schedule for you...hopefully within a day or two. It's on the to-do list, along with about a million other things. And yet here I am, blogging. I guess that's my cue to jump up and start getting stuff done. More later!

FYI

Hm...there's a lot about the past couple of weeks of my life I wish I could write about. They've been some of the toughest times ever. And yes, I am just going to leave you to sit and wonder about what's been going on. Sorry. But here are the good things:

- Everything is going to be okay.
- I am making great strides in my fight to leave my pride behind and be more open about my weakness.
- Our furlough is going to be at just the right time.
- Our mighty God is hard at work in the lives of His children; loving us, refining us and holding us in the shadow of His wing.

Next month you have a rare opportunity. You can turn a guilty pleasure into a way to help others. Plus, those adorable kids my brother works with will be there!

Team Banquet

Team Banquet, originally uploaded by russandval.

Tonight we got together to celebrate the past two years on the field. It's hard to believe that as of tomorrow we will have been here for two years. How time flies. Maybe I'll sit and reflect on that some time soon. But not tonight- I'm exhausted. I spent last week at a conference for missionary women put on by Continent of Great Cities. A certain roommate (who will remain nameless but is a teammate and was a former co-worker and member of Mayfair with me) kept me up until all hours of the night!

Everything but the kitchen sink

I finally saw one. After surfboards, puppies, and ice cream carts made it onto the bus with me, somebody brought a kitchen sink (a big one) on their commute to work. They even asked someone to hold it while they paid their fare! Random, but so am I. On my walk yesterday, people were handing out flyers for a weight-loss company. It was called "Hunger", even more ironic. I thought about people around me trying to sweat off ten pounds, while millions wanted nothing more than the chance to be overweight. It seems crazy and unfair, and it probably is. Take care of each other, and try to share your leftovers with those who need 'em.  Peace.