totally gratified!

At the end of yesterday i said to bob.. wow this day has been totally gratifying!

Let me see if i can paint a picture for you.
on cruise ship days bob and i share the work load at the shop.  he goes in the morning and i go in the afternoon.

So what is so gratifying about working at our 'made in roatan' shop?? It is the people and it following His still small voice throughout the day.

Luma is one of the artists in the shop who does paintings and we wanted more variety so I said to Zenola (who was at the shop with me) that I wanted to walk down the road to the Methodist Market to see if he had some for me.

I also wanted to look in shops for some things to send the kids from the states (cheaper then sending from Roatan!)  I was looking for a tshirt with a barracuda to send to Mattie.  Shhh don't tell him!   No one had it so I was going from shop to asking "Tenge que la camisa con una barracuda?"  Suddenly an american couple tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I lived on the island.   I guess my speaking in Spanish was the clue I don't know.  Or maybe I am starting to LOOK like an islander.   Either way, I said yes.   They proceeded to say that they had a very big problem and needed my help.  I was all ears (not literally of course!)  They told me that had a huge duffle bag full of shoes, clothes, and toys to give to the kids here but they missed the customs officer and now they won't let them bring it off the ship.   They were very upset, and felt it was clearly for here and not Mexico or Belize.   I wasn't sure what to do but I said I would go to the ship and talk to them, as an islander and see if they would allow me to take it off the ship to distribute to the needy.

As we were walking along, I started to pray.   I told Him I didn't really know what to do.  What should I do?  (here is a clue about hearing from God:  ask Him questions.. He usually answers when we are listening)  So suddenly it popped into my head, "call Miss Peggy at Clinic Esperanza."   Cool!   So I did that and within 5 minutes the problem was solved!!   Praise God!   She told me to tell them to take it to Customer Relations, and tell them it was for Clinica Esperanza, Miss Peggy, her phone #, my phone # and it would be released in 2 weeks.   They were overjoyed!!!!   :-)

I called Peggy back later and I said, "so how does it feel to know that He knows you have the answers to life's problems!!"

I walked back to the shop (tshirt-less) but happy to know that I was an instrument in His hands.   All we need to do is be willing to help and ask for the help we need along the way!!  :-)

We had our BEST day at the shop.  It was incredible.   So many people stopped in, caught the vision and bought the local fair.   It's exciting.   I love talking with the people.   Everyone wants to know why we are doing what we are doing and we have many opportunities to share our hearts and our passion to help the islanders to help themselves!   I didn't realize the shop would become a ministry but it is becoming just that.

 
On the way home I stopped at Miss Norma's to bring her some Canadian  flower seeds.   She is a wonderful gardener in Flower's Bay  (actually I think she lives in Pensacola)  Anyways, we had such a great visit.

She makes the most delicious sugar cookies and last I visited she gave me a bag for free.  This time I bought a bag ( a big bag full) but she only charged me .60!!  I tried to give her more but she wouldn't take it.  How do these people ever make money??!!   :-)   She has some cow manure that I am going to go get once the weather dries out a bit.   As I was leaving her place this huge black and brown PIG went squealing it's way around the front of her house.  I said, 'Miss Norma, you got a pig?   cos it just ran away!!"  She said, "nah that ain't my pig, that be neighbor's pig!"   She didn't seem alarmed that it was running like mad down the road. I was hoping to get a picture of the big pig on my way home but it went into hiding somewhere.   I am thinking.. did someone say "pig roast??"   :-)

Bob met a wonderful Canadian couple in the morning that he told me about and they came back in the afternoon to buy another necklace.   We had such a wonderful visit together, she couldn't decide on the necklace to buy and I told her that Yourgin made one to look like a sunset with the dark horizon and she said, oh yeah I saw that right away.   I told her.. well that is the necklace you should choose because you saw what the artist saw.   Sounds like a fit.

Her husband was showing me pictures from Carambola Gardens and showed me a hummingbird shot.  Now folks, I gotta say, it was not the best shot ever so I said, You like hummingbirds??!  Oh they did.  So I went to and got one of enlarged photos of a hummingbird  in a 8 x 10 matte and said, "here take this!"   They said, Oh we can't just take that!!!   I told them they could because I was the artist and if I wanted to give it away I could do that!  They almost cried.   I just started to laugh and they joined in saying they won't forget us.  I don't them ... just don't forget the Lord because that's what really matters!

Small things matter.  It isn't big things. It is small things like helping, like listening to God, like giving instead of taking, and at the end of the day I tell you my smile was pasted on!   Yes totally gratified I was!!


And then to top off such a great day we were invited to Don and Jeanette's for a wonderful dinner made by Kris!   Great times with great friends!!