Visitor, eh? from Canada, eh?

About a month ago, a 21 year old girl from Canada named Joanna Werner wrote us asking if we needed any help. She has a sister who is working in Cali, a different city in Colombia, and she was going to visit her for 2 weeks, but wanted to see more of the country while she was here. She had written lots of missionaries here in Colombia, but no one took her up on her offer. One of them recommended she write us, and she did, and here she is.

Before she came, she asked us if we needed anything for the camp or the house. So we mentioned the long shots of a chain saw, 3 swings with hardware, pretzels and chocolate chips, figuring she would maybe be able to carry down a 6-oz bag of chocolate chips and some pretzels.

Well, someone donated a very slightly used chain saw. We wrote right back and told her not to even try it, that we had tried to bring down a lantern that we had emptied the gasoline out of, and they acted like they wanted to arrest us, and wouldn't let us check it. A small spark and some gasoline fumes can be unwanted guests on an airplane. Makes sense in hindsight!

The Sunday before she left, she still hadn't gotten the swings. They live in a small city and hadn't found them. Sunday afternoon, her sister called and said they were on a sale in a city that is about 1 1/2 hours away. Well, they remembered a guy that lives about 1/2 away from them, who goes to church in that city. They found out where he usually spends the afternoon, since he stays there for both a morning meeting and an evening meeting. They called him, and he went and bought them and someone heard of it and donated the swings, too.

Alright, so on to the trip. She was scheduled to fly in on Wednesday June 12, leaving her house at 5:30am to arrive at Toronto at 8:30 am (by car), then a flight to Chicago, a 35 minute layover, a flight to Miami, an hour layover, and the last leg, the flight to Bogotá.

Well, she checked her slightly overweight bags with no problems, trusting the Lord that they wouldn't question the chain saw, which they didn't. Then she buzzed through security with the swings in her carry on suitcase. No problems so far. Only to find out her plane had some kind of problems, so they put her on a later flight through a different airlines. That one also had mechanical problems, so they gave her vouchers for the Sheraton hotel, attached to the airport, 3 meal vouchers, and a direct flight on Air Canada the following day.

So Thursday, she checked her bags, chain saw and all, with no problem, then went through the security. The security lady was a Christian, but noticed the swing hardware and could not allow the 4" screws to go through. The chief security lady came over, and told her sometimes they could sort of recall the checked bags, and she maybe could tuck the screws in there. Since she still had an hour and a half, she went back, and they told her it was not possible to bring back the bags once checked. She asked about just checking her other carry-on, and they said she could for $225. So she sat down, prayed a lot, and readjusted the packaging of all the hardware in her bag, and headed for security again, deciding to trust the Lord and see what happened. If she had to toss them, she would. The same lady was not there, but it was the same chief security lady, who looked away right as she walked up. So she plunked her backpack, the offending suitcase with 4" screws, her laptop bag, her purse and coat and shoes, and headed through. The security guy noticed the screws, but messed up on which bag they were in. Meanwhile she was praying like crazy, "Lord, if you want the camp to have these swings, help these to make it through". So he points to her laptop bag, and asked "Do you have anything sharp in here?". She said no, she didn't. He took everything out and carefully poked in every pocket and place he could find. Then he said "Hmmmm. I'm going to send it through again", which he did, and of course he didn't find anything, and she was off!!

If she had been on the other flight(s) on Wednesday, as they went through the states, they most likely would not have been overlooked 2 times, both in Chicago and Miami. She called it her Corrie Ten Boom smuggling experience! Not only that, but she managed to pack in 3k of chocolate chips (6.6 pounds) and as many pretzels :-).

The kids warmed up to her right away, and she home-schooled Julia and Lydia on Friday as I was teaching 2 teens on Friday afternoon and the ladies' group on Saturday, Sunday School on Sunday, none of which I had prepared for because I was busy cleaning at least the most obvious nooks and crannies of the house. Nothing like having a visitor to see your house through different dust-covered glasses. She reads books, takes them to the park, and does the dishes before I can even think about moving that way. A 21 year old with a maturity I will probably never attain to! What a huge blessing she has already been!

Tomorrow is a holiday, so we are going to take her to see some sights outside of the city, so she can say she saw more than just our house and Cerro Norte, and then starting Tuesday she is going to teach 3 weeks of daily English lessons to teenage girls in our house from 3-4:30. As several are not believers, she will try to incorporate the way of salvation and Bible memory into it. Please pray for Nancy, Monica and Patricia especially.

Friday, Nancy came with her friend Monica for our discipleship time. It went well, and she and her friend hung out with the kids and Joanna and I at the park until 5:20, when they left. I went in to make supper, when all of a sudden, Nancy appeared again with her friend at 5:40. They had stopped at a park on their way home, and were playing on a merry-go-round type thing. Nancy was pushing her friend, went to hop on, the board broke and she cut the side of her leg, about 8-10" long on something metal. It was wide and gruesome, but not deep. It was hardly bleeding. I cleaned it a little with a rag, and then with iodine. Nancy bawled like a baby. Davey kept saying "I want to see, I want to see, I want to see", and I kept telling him no, not to be a gawker. Give her some space. Anyways, I served them up some chicken sandwiches, and then went to remove the rag so they could leave for the clinic, of course Davey was right there peering over my shoulder. When he saw it, he ran away shouting "I don't want to see it, I don't want to see it, I don't want to see it!" David took her to the clinic nearby. Since her mom was watching her niece and nephew, she couldn't be with her. So her mom sent her insurance and medical information down with a neighbor boy. The clinic was packed, and they would only let one person stay with her. Since David had Meleah with him, he was out and the neighbor boy was in. She called us after they finally saw her, about 9:30, and she got a wonderful 10 stitches on her leg. Praise the Lord she is now recovering well, and tomorrow will go get the tetanus shot.

(Explaining the title....before Joanna came, Davey came home with a book from the library called 'Canada'. When I said "Canada"? questioning why he got the book, he said "I was at the library when I saw it, and I said "Ooooh, Joanna, eh? From Canada, eh?". I don't know how he knew the Canadians say 'eh', but somehow he did.)

Last Davey-ism. Davey thought he had an ingrown toenail, and Joanna graciously helped him soak it in some warm water. Then she decided to add some salt. And Davey said "Why are you en-salt-ing my foot like this?"

We had a lady named Nancy (not the same Nancy as above) over today. She is the pre-kinder teacher at the school Davey and Meleah go to. She said Davey is in her reading group and is doing great. Good news.

Hodge-podge of a blog for today!