Criminal Activity pt. 2

As promised, here's yesterday's adventure:

I had been looking at my schedule, wondering how on earth I had stayed so busy for so long, and understanding one of the reasons for my state of tiredness. Seeing a semi-free day, I decided to go up to the mountain, find a secluded place, and spend some time reading, praying, and just being.
Making my way up the scenic drive, I found a beautiful lookout area overlooking the city. Hopping the ledge, I skipped over to the edge of what looked like a cliff, only to find that the edge of the mountain looked pretty climbable. So bit by bit, stopping to take in the view every once in a while, I made my way down the side of the mountain, sliding, jumping, and crawling till I finally made it to the bottom. It was exhilarating!

Stopping for a break, I pulled out an apple and took a bite, basking in the feeling of accomplishment, enjoying the feeling of freedom. Then, all of a sudden, with the wail of sirens, and a flashing of lights, I turned around to come face to face with the police.

The leader of the group approached me warily, looking around in every direction as if expecting a trap of some sort. He asked for ID, then went on to ask for all my information: home address, school address, phone number, date and place of birth, my business on this part of the mountain, if I was an artist, if I was suicidal, if I was hiding climbing gear in my bag, how long I had been in El Paso, if I was alone, and on and on the questions came.

When he finally finished with questions, the young man stood looking at all the information he had taken down as if trying to find the next piece in the puzzle. After a prolonged pause, I finally took my turn at asking questions, first asking his name, then, explaining that I had checked for "No Trespassing" signs, I asked if what I had been doing was in the wrong. The young man looked at his two companions who just shrugged their shoulders, then turned to face me.

It turns out that they weren't sure who owned the property I was on, so they couldn't tell me if I was going against laws or anything.  The reason they had come out was that they had been getting phone calls regarding a stranded hiker, an unsafe climber, and a suicide risk that was climbing around on the side of the mountain; so they had been sent to check it out. Seeing that it was just me, a girl (they were surprised to find that I was 'of age'), they weren't quite sure what to do, but they assured me that they would check things out regarding the land and get back to me.

In the mean time, one of the older cops gave me a ride back up the mountain to my car. So much for peace and quite and time to think...but what an adventure!!


*some writers' licence has been used in the telling of this story

Criminal Activity

I don't have enough time to write the whole story right now, but I will tell you that I had a run-in with the police today.

Sand Storms

Some days I still wake up and I feel as though I'm in a totally different world. I head outside and instead of seeing immense amounts of space in every direction, there are mountains on one side and yet the sky still stretches out in every direction as if it will never end.

I know I've mentioned sand storms before. I've probably mentioned them every time we've had one. And I will mention them again. I'm used to snow storms, and how they can create white-outs, but it is such a foreign idea to me that there could be enough dust in the air to obscure anything. Yet it happens. As I was walking home yesterday, enjoying the wind whipping through my hair and the slight chill in the air, I noticed that I couldn't see the mountain. There is a mountain in the middle of El Paso. I know that for a fact. But yesterday, no matter how many circles I turned, and no matter how sure I was that I was looking in the right direction, the mountain was nowhere to be seen. In fact, everything looked sort of like this:

I was amazed at how something so small, just a bit of dust, could obscure something so obviously big. It was again a reminder to me that just because I don't see something, that doesn't mean that God doesn't have something big on the horizon. I just have to keep trusting. 

Busing It

As you can probably tell, I have been busy lately. Either that, or I've just sort of forgotten that I have a blog :) To update you on my life, I've been working a lot in the past couple of days; working the regular shifts, and then also working a day in between to take care of an 'on call' client in labour. I'm still enjoying what I do, and I enjoy it immensely despite the long hours and exhaustion. 

After getting off of work on Sunday morning, I wanted some fresh air and time to think, so I packed up and headed out to walk to church. For those of you who know how far it is from my house to the church would know that it was a crazy idea. 6 miles of walking after having skipped a couple of nights of sleep! Looking back, it was evident that I hadn't thought everything through right. 

But I set out on my way, whistling and enjoying myself. After walking a good 2 miles, I realized that I wasn't going to get there in time. I thought through the people I could call for a ride, but the sound guy was busy, my small group leaders would be in the middle of Sunday school, the college and career leaders wouldn't have room with the two car seats in the back of their tiny car, the youth leaders were facilitating the youth Sunday school as well, and the bass player was in practice. So I kept walking for a bit, pondering what to do. 

I was just coming to terms with interrupting my small group leaders with a text when I saw a bus stop ahead of me. Knowing that I had three dollars in my pocket, and seeing that there was someone at the bus stop, I went up to the young man and asked him for help. I don't know what he thought of me, obviously college age and not knowing how to use the bus, but he readily explained everything to me, which buses went where and which bus I should get on and how much it would cost. Then he gave me two quarters so I wouldn't loose $.50 because of my dollar bills. As I got on the bus I confirmed my destination with the driver; and turning around to thank the young man I found that he had disappeared. 

Though it may be that he had places to go and people to see, I'd like to think that God sent him there to that particular stop so that I would be taken care of. 

The Traveling Duo

These past couple of days have been so full of blessings. One of the biggest of these blessings I want to share with y'all.
I've been in Texas for about 5 1/2 months now, and though I have a lot of friends here, I still miss my friends from back home. I got word that some of the missionaries from my church would be passing through the El Paso area around this time, and I got quite excited to finally be able to see someone, anyone, from my 'former life'. Then the reality of my life hit. They would be arriving on a Wednesday at lunch time, and leaving before 8 am the next morning...and it just so happened that I would be working on that specific Wednesday and wouldn't get off until Thursday morning, after 8am. So my friends would be in my city, and I wouldn't even be able to see them; in my mind that was worse than if they had never come at all. I was disappointed.
But then God stepped in.
I was at work when I got the text from Mr. Unrau that they would be trying to stop by the clinic when they arrived. I knew they were arriving around noon, so I worked as hard as I could to finish my appointments before noon rolled around. And then, just before the clock struck 12, a new client walked in, and since I was the only one not in an appointment, I was sent to do her appointment, and initial appointments take 2-3 hours! Though I took the client without grumbling, inside I was thinking I had just lost my chance.
But again, God was working in the background.
Instead of arriving in El Paso at noon like they had been expecting to, the duo had taken a bit of the scenic route, and after doing some shopping, Mr. Unrau and Alexander arrived at the clinic at 4:45pm, just fifteen minutes before the end of my lunch break. Though in writing, 15 minutes seems like such a short amount of time, in the experience of those 15 minutes, it felt like so much longer. Being able to fellowship and to share and hear about the way God has been working in the middle of my work day was such a blessing, and then to be prayed over. Wow! What a blessing it was. What an outpouring of God's love!

Irony

On my way to work, I often take different routes so that I can escape the red lights. While it doesn't always help, time-wise, it does let me see other parts of the neighbourhood. Sometime during the first months I had seen a storefront that made me laugh, and the other day I passed it by again and enjoyed the irony of the word choice and name of the store. I wanted to share it with you, but my lack of camera put that on hold until figuring out how to link up to google maps street view. So THIS is the store.

*translation: 'esperanza' means 'hope'

Stone Salad

You all know the story of the stone soup, right? (And if you don't you know how to google things probably). Today I had an experience like that. I had received a bunch of lettuce the other day from a friend who had found it in the dumpster, so I had volunteered to bring salad to my small group get together this evening. The only interesting part, I only had lettuce, and anyone who brings salad to a function knows that you can't just bring lettuce. You need something to bring colour and flavour to the salad.
As I was washing the leaves in the sink at the clinic after getting off of shift, one of the other midwives asked about what was going on. Explaining that I was bringing salad to an evening get-together, she 'tsk'ed me, saying that I couldn't just bring the lettuce, I needed tomatoes and cheese with it. Then she went over to her food stash and pulled those things out, handing them to me. Next, chopped onions were offered, and then some extra spinach. A carrot also appeared on the counter beside the growing bowl of salad.
So now, because of the generosity of others, I am able to share what I have with others in a 'respectable' fashion :)