Day 204.

Today, I...

"saw an obese homeless man sporting a shirt that said 'DANGER: Educated black woman'."
-- Brenna and Megan, two fellow missionaries

missed my family. It's a hollow feeling inside your gut that is harder and harder to surpress as my return approaches.

realized I am going to miss praying in McDonald's. Today Brenna, Megan, and I wanted to go get some fruit salad (DELICIOUS here) instead of doing our weekly Bible study with Kathy who just returned from the States last night and told us she needed to rest up. We saw a soda, a family-owned restaurant, advertising "Enselada de Frutas" so we went in. Turns out they didn't have any fruit salad. We found another soda brandishing the same delicious combo of papaya, canteloupe, bananas, mango, watermelon, strawberries, ice cream, and Jell-O (yes, Jell-O). They didn't have any either. From there we decided to check out an upscale ice cream place, but they were closed. Grudgingly we headed over to McDonald's to try the new Guayabita McFlurry (scrumptious Costa Rican chocolate filled with guava jelly). It turned out to be rather tasty and after an hour of great conversation and fellowship, we closed our time in prayer. As soon as we finished, a young woman approached us and asked if we spoke Spanish -- she wanted to know if we would pray for her friend's unborn child. We went over to the expectant mother (she couldn't have been older than sixteen or seventeen) and prayed for her in a combination of English and Spanish, thanking God for the miracle of this tiny seed of a life and asking Him to comfort, calm, and keep the young mom-to-be. If Kathy wasn't exhausted, if the other places had been open or had stocked up on fruit, if we hadn't decided to close our eyes and talk to God, none of that would have happened. Amen.

learned that I'm not a huge fan of green, unripe mango and handfuls of salt.

smiled when one of my students presented me with a necklace, blue star earrings, and a Mickey Mouse valentine. I suddenly understood how Jesus felt when the poor woman parted with her few precious coins.

--Hannah