What do those eyes belong to?

I walk with some friends at 5 am. Both of my friends I walk with live on the other side of the suspension bridge. So I have to walk to the other side of the bridge by myself. I have a system. There is a light at the beginning of the bridge, so I open the gate, get on the bridge, close the gate behind me, then I shine my flashlight all the way down the bridge to make sure there aren't any animals (snakes, tarantulas, monkeys...) waiting for me. Well, the other day, I was in a hurry so I closed the gate and began walking down the bridge while I got my flashlight ready to shine down the bridge. I shined the flashlight and at the other end of the bridge were 2 eyes looking at me. So I stopped, (I was probably about 20 feet from the gate at this point) my heart started beating a little faster, I continued to shine my light on it, trying to figure out what it was, then it began running toward me. I turned around and took off running toward the gate. Of course when I got to the gate, I could not open it. I was pulling instead of pushing, my heart was racing. I could only imagine what was running at me. So I got out of the gate, closed it, turned around and shined my flashlight to see what it was. And I quickly learned I was running from a little Kitten.

Second snake sighting

Well, so far so good. I have seen my second snake, and it too was dead. This is a coral snake (I only know that because someone told me) and unlike my first snake sighting, this one is poisonous. It was found outside the back door of the house behind me. The lady who found it was in her car (a big van to be exact) and saw it standing up. She ran it over 2 times with her car and it was still standing up in strike position. The neighbor came over and chopped its head off with a machete. I know it looks like a baby, but from what I have been told, it has enough venom to hurt you really badly.

Beryl Koch (Nov 18, 1919 - March 6, 2008)

Beryl was an angel sent by God to participate in the lives of so many people. She was always helping, always serving, always showing God's love to those around her. Some of my fondest memories of Beryl are the way she told stories of Jesus using a pan of rice when I was in preschool and kindergarten, making fuzzy lambs in VBS, her winning the watermelon seed spitting contest at a church picnic in the Szoke's backyard (this little tiny lady and she could outspit big boys), having high school youth group at her house when she didn't have any children or grandchildren in the youth group and making us homemade donuts (and lots of them because there were lots of big boys in our youth group). I remember she always brought fresh flowers from her garden to decorate the church sanctuary and Sarah Szoke and I always got to take them home. Some of these things may seem so trivial or just normal daily activities, but they made an impression on me and we will never know how many other people these trivial things made an impression on as well. I have surely learned many lessons from Beryl's life, one big one is when serving the Lord, no matter how trivial or mundane the act may seem, someone may be eternally touched. I am thankful to the Lord that I was able to share my life with Beryl. I will truly miss her but I know I will see her again some day and what a day of rejoicing that will be.

First trip to the jungle

On February 27, I was informed that I would be going to the jungle the next day. I had fears. Fear #1: the plane. As you can see from the photo, the planes we fly on are not big. They fit up to 6 people, but only 800 lbs of weight not counting the pilot, so this is a very small plane. Plus, it is a nonpressurized cabin. My only experience, up to now, with a nonpressurized cabin had been in a helicopter and I did not like that at all. I could only imagine that this would be worse, we would be higher and flying over vast areas of nothingness where if something did happen (a crash for example), no one would find us for days.
Fear #2: The jungle. I have never been to the jungle, have only seen it in movies (and we all know everything in movies is reality). I did not know what bugs to expect, what to expect from the people, would they feed us, and if so, what would it be? I have heard many stories about the food in the jungle, boiled grubs, cold piranha soup. Our plans were to just go for the day, but if the weather didn't cooperate with us, we would have to stay overnight. Where would we sleep, there is no electricity, so what bugs, or other critters, would climb into bed with me while I was sleeping?
Fear #3: being the doctor. What illnesses would they have that I have never seen before, will I know how treat them? If someone is really sick and needs to be flown out to the hospital, will I recognize that patient? What if they don't speak spanish (which they didn't, but I had a translator), how will I know what is wrong with them?
28. The ride in the plane was fine, it was very smooth and I was not afraid aSo with all these fears, I set out for one day in the jungle on Febt all. The community was very welcoming, it was a very small community of about 15 people, we were able to see everyone and treat all their ailments, which were very mild. No one was really sick, no one had anything that I didn't know how to treat. There was a storm in the afternoon, but it cleared in time for us to leave that day. We didn't eat anything while we were there. I didn't see any scary creatures, only some beautiful birds.
Overall, it was a great experience. In and of itself, it was not a very productive trip, but for me it was. I am now over my fear of the jungle, so when I have to go for 3 days, sleep there, bathe in the river, eat the food, I won't be so afraid. I now have had a taste of what to expect, and I enjoyed myself.