This is the "vampiro" that Mauricio killed with a sling shot outside his house (there were 2)
This blog marks the end of the first part of my eye campaign as well. We have finished the first three eye consultations in three different places in the municipality. I worked with an NGO here in El Salvador called FUDEM. I divided the whole place into three groups to get more people serviced because apparently there was some kind of eye deal done a few years ago and there were so many people that all of them didn’t go through and yadda yadda yadda. Anyways, it worked out pretty good. We helped about 215 more people than normal due to the breaking up into groups. Although the mayor helped as well by providing lunch for the FUDEM eye people and us, and he also helped out with speaker phoning in the cantons and in the pueblo.
FUDEM had their part down to an art. They got to the site I had chosen about 30 minutes ahead of time, and then I would show them where to set up. They had 5 different stations that would then begin processing the group of people ready to be examined. They would pass through my local volunteers from the ADESCO who were registering their name and age, and then to the eye and letters part, the machine measuring part, then the glasses measuring part, then the glasses fitting part, and finally the payment (if they could part). They already had reading glasses for a really good price ($2.26) and then the actual prescription glasses were going for $19 for those under 40 years and $32 for those over 40 years. During my drive though, they had a discount due to international donations… so all prescription glasses were $10. Sweet. Those who weren’t able to pay the whole amount of things were exonerated the part that they couldn’t afford. On that note, we got over 500 people during the 3 consults and 50% of them were able to get glasses.
The oranges we spent a morning cutting that we stored in my patio.
I was kind of proud of my towns here though. The FUDEM people told me even after the first consultation in the canton of Hacienda Vieja that they had never met people who were so generous as these people. That kind of caught me off guard because I don’t think they realize the irony of that statement. The people coming to give resources that are out of reach to one group people, saying that that group of people is the most generous group that they have ever met. Our people would go through the eye consult and then bring donations here and there of different kinds of fruits for them to take with them. They practically filled the back of the FUDEM truck with donations. It was pretty nifty.
A break time in the second eye consult in the canton of San Ramon
Chilling at the same consult.
Also before I forget, Aaron came by for a few days while traveling through Central America. La Comunidad was really excited to see him and talk about good memories, they really have a strong attachment to him. It was good stuff.
I took a pic of the phone I gave Francisco. The one that would shut off for a month at a time. Well not it has a new wonderful characteristic that cracks me up, can you tell what it is? hahaha
Anyways, after the last eye consult, FUDEM gave me a ride to San Salvador to help me on my way to my In-Service-Training for Peace Corps. We had it in the National School for Agriculture just outside of the capital. It’s a pretty cool place and the training was actually well done. They had sessions on vegetables and then on making marmalades from fruits. Then we had some business sessions, some pruning sessions, some GPS sessions, and some chemical treatment sessions (pesticides, fungicides, etc). It was all really helpful.
Me with a knife that I was playing with after cutting up Aaron's awesome cake that he bought from a new ice cream store in the main pueblo for the Lopez family.
I stayed the night in San Sal Friday night, and me and some of my group went out and actually caught the Indiana Jones movie (I personally wanted to see Iron Man, but apparently some of my group has been frequenting the capital a little more than me and had already seen the others). We also ran into a big group from the Embassy outside an “irish” bar. They were having a singles night, so we stopped and chatted there for a while.
I was up at 5 the next morning to make it back to my site by 8 for the scholarship meeting we had at the high school. I’m in charge of planning the trip for the scholarship students that Aaron’s parents are donating (the previous volunteer), so that is coming along. We are thinking the morning will be spent at the Mayan ruins in the country, so that will be cool.
Now things will slow down just a bit as far as large events to plan for the next month, but things are still here to keep me somewhat busy. FUDEM is coming back to give out the prescription glasses three times, and I have to convince the mayor to give us transport to the capital for the group of 50 people that need more eye exams. And well… other things to do as well.
I’m getting the itch to go visit another country for a few days soon, so that planning might start this month as well.
Check out this excerpt from President Bush on May 31 at the Furman graduation ceremony:
"I'm glad to be joined with my friend and outstanding leader of South Carolina: Governor Mark Sanford, Class of 1983. (Applause.) Governor, I'm not going to ask if you ever got caught "swimming in the fountains." (Laughter.) As the President said, 25 years ago, the Governor sat where you now sit -- as a member of the graduating class. As it happens, as he mentioned, the commencement speaker that day was my dad. Now, that means some at Furman will have heard graduation speeches from two generations of Bushes. It's a great step forward for the Bush family -- and a great step backward for your English Department. (Laughter and applause.)
And as the President mentioned, I have other family ties with Furman. In the early 1930s, a student named Willa Martin graduated from the women's college that was soon to become part of Furman. She went on to marry my mother's father. She also spent time as a columnist for the Associated Press -- thus beginning the long history of warm relations between the Bush family and the media. (Laughter.)
My administration also has another Furman connection. One of the first people I see almost every morning is a Furman grad and my Director of National Intelligence: Admiral Mike McConnell, Class of 1966. (Applause.) I asked Mike if he ever took part in the "Midnight Serenade." He said, I'd like to tell you, but that information is classified. (Laughter.)"
Funny guy.
Check out the video on this page of it... http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/05/20080531-3.html
13 comments:
Congrats. I didn't think you had it in you. Ha. To be honest, I thought you would be leading a rebel army by now. :)
Way to go Rhett! And I can't believe you already saw the video of the President. We got to go and it was AWESOME. It was all worth it to see the motorcade RACE down the mall towards the stadium.
Here's my favorite line from his speech. It's when he has just recognized that he's the recipient of much criticism.
"I, too, am a believer in free speech, and to prove it to you, I'm about to give you one."
To quote from your earlier blog, (with a slight change), in your face protestors.
Ok. Ok. Correction. The President didn't say that DIRECTLY to protestors (i.e. professors). But, that's the way I took it.
Imagine that, Cari thinking a comment was a direct challenge. :-) Sorry, I was a bit behind in my blog reading, but I have finally caught up. Well done Reete! You are making me very proud down there. Keep up the good work.
Back to comments from a couple blogs ago, I read both Out of Egypt and The Road to Cana and enjoyed them very much. While I know they are her take on what happened - they really made me sit down and think about the humanity of Christ and how he really was fully man.
I don't know if this hits more for me or if others do the same, but I tend to see the divine aspects of Christ more when I read the Gospels . This makes sense because they were written so that we might believe Jesus is the Christ. But these books brought an image of his humanity front and center, and I enjoyed that very much.
Cari - In regard to Memnoch, I picked up on the change too. Satan is TOTALLY different in the Road to Cana (RTC). In Memnoch, he is much more lovable and had the interests of humanity on his mind. In RTC the phrase "I will not serve" is appropriate. I also like the fact that he doesn't know how its all going to end and is afraid of that fact. Lastly, he (Satan) presents himself as Christ when he appears in the desert... I found that interesting in that its pride which really gets in the way for us (or at least me) most of the time... We want it our way, we think we know best, we want to be God. But thats another discussion entirely.
Anyway, good books and I am interested to see how she lays the next ones out. Especially in regard to James, her portrayal of him was interesting to me too.
Later Sea Cows..
Rick
Well, I havent read any of the books involved, but I will take you guys word on the fact that they are cool, haha.
John, Im still working on the army.... they might just be armed with something less....material. Congrats on being asked to speak for the Disciples of Christ meeting at Coffee Underground. Ill post it on the blog next post to maybe get you an extra person, haha. Heres a possible topic for you.... the devil. :)
I wish the students would have been ready though for the "We Object" by the professors with an "We object to your objection". That would have been sweet.
More soon. Gotta leave, or my bus will leave me.
Thanks for the shout out Rhett, but I just got bumped back to September. So much for being the flavor of the month. :) Longenecker became available and he can't do things in the Fall since he is busy at St Joe's... Blah, blah, blah. I mean big deal. So, he's written like 5-6 books...He's bald. Who wants to listen to a bald guy? haha.
Your suggestion of the Devil has me thinking...Here are some potential topics. I think the first one is my favorite.
1. The Devil: A Profile of Determination in the Face of Unspeakable Odds
2. Lucifer and Me
3. The Eternal Feud: Why Can't We Be Friends?
On Anne Rice...
I was never really a fan as I only read Memnoch, but I was never a hater either. Vampires just weren't my bag baby. I read the first of the Jesus books and remember liking it.
I agree with Rick that the humanity of Christ is something worth focusing on, and at the same time the hardest to imagine. Like us in all ways but sin...Well, what does that really mean and how like us is that really? :) Hard to imagine. Looking back through time, I don't think it was any easier to grapple with in the beginning.
The question of who is Jesus still goes on only now Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons replace Docetists and Arians. In a deep thought moment perhaps that is why the one thing he told us to do in remembrance was partake of his body and blood, lest we forget the miracle of the incarnation.
In the Mass, we bow our heads during the Creed at "was born of the Virgin Mary and became man." We bow at this mystery and again draw special attention to it. Yet, how much do I think about it. Not much, save for this blog. Go Rhett. :) And I guess the other Williams folks too. :)
On a side note: for those who are fans doesn't her conversion kind of freak you out? Talk about going all the way one way to the other!
Ahh, finally some conversation on Anne Rice and her books!!!
Rick, when I think about the books and their depiction of Christ's humanity, I wonder if it isn't just our perception? I wonder if the next book(s) will impress upon us His divinity? For the first thirty years, He lived a normal human life (minus the sin--I love Yeshua the Sinless).
Will the next books impress upon us His incredible supernatural power? I wonder.
Regardless, how incredibly difficult to write a book putting the Savior in compromising situations, have Him handle them sinlessly (which seems like an impossible standard for US to judge) and yet at the same time, keeping Him from coming across as holier-than-thou.
John, as for Rice's conversion, it's interesting that you bring that up. You can read her testimony for yourself at her website, www.annerice.com. Having read most of everything she has written under her real name, I can say that her stories catalog her spiritual journey pretty well.
I get the impression that life has made her think long and hard about God. It has caused her to question everything. And, in the end, thanks be to God that He interceeded in her life in such a way that she was completely changed. I feel quite convinced that the books she has written about Christ are a direct product of her life to this point. I don't know that they could have been written otherwise.
Disclaimer--I don't pretend to know her personally or agree with her views on particular topics. I am just calling it like I read it.
This is awesome!
Regarding the conversion, I didn't mean to apply that it was not genuine. I think I read her story awhile back, and I recall there being a long searching but rather quick finding.
All I am saying is that must have been one crazy confession!
Overall, I guess I am impressed by the magnitude and the seemingly depth of her conversion.
Back to the books...Is anyone concerned about her having to make up a lot of the info as we don't know what really happened? Or do you think it will be more tricky writing and interpreting events depicted in the NT?
Well well, hello Anne Rice, how are you? Once again, I say that all of you are more informed on all the Anne Rice works, and I only have having read her story on her website on my side. Although, as usual, I´ll throw a few things out there.
The general idea that has come up from you guys about the difficulty of writing books based information we don´t have. I do agree on that, thats why is it possible Cari that he had a competely normal life up until his ministry, but thats just a guess, he could have made a quiet rucus here and there in Egypt :).
More to Johns point though at the end, I think it will be more interesting to see how she forms the story in her last book that will have to in some way "interpret" the events recorded so much in scripture. Should be fun stuff.
I laughed at your comment John on the long searching and then sudden finding of Truth. Reading Augustines story right now in Confessions is the epitome of that. The process was what defined that moment, and made it all the more real. He asked all the hard questions and experienced all the hard answers in the process, which culminated interestingly not in the moment of "conversion" for him, even though it was key, but in his Baptism. Those who suffer the most in the process usually come out with more fervor after.
I also liked John how you couldnt resist the docetist-arian link, church history, always a nice touch. I read somewhere in the Fathers one time where they said that you could judge the assimilation of the meaning of the Incarnation of a group, by the degree of emphasis they put in the Eucharist-Last Supper (whatever you want to call it).
Go with "Lucifer and me".
John - You make me laugh. I would choose option 1 for your discussion. I think Anne is in safe waters in giving her take on the items not covered in the NT. From here on out it gets very interesting.
Cari - I am interested where she takes this stuff too. Whether she meant for her readers to focus on the humanity of Christ in her writings or not, it certainly hit me directly in the face. Although it would have added a nice flair to the temptation in the desert if Christ had pulled out his light saber and whipped Darth Satan to bits. Oh well, I guess that I can include that in my book...
Rhett - You can tell Anne has put some time into understanding the social and historical context in which Jesus probably grew up. One point she makes very clearly is that even people who sat there and witnessed Christ's first miracle couldnt believe it and actually refused to. I often wonder what I would have done back then...
Mr. Megan,
Put in that situation at Cana, I imagine you would have tried too much of the wine Jesus had just made.
I meant to mention earlier John that I think you should go with the first option on your Satan discussion, too.
Here's taking Christ's first 30 years and asking another question: what did you think of her having Him not know who he was from the beginning? That He learned He was God.
Rick--it makes me think of your point about Satan in the desert. In Rice's book, Christ and Satan are the same at that point--they do not know how this plan will be carried out. (At least that was my take.)
I guess part of it makes sense (the learning part). He had to grow, like any human would. He had to learn to talk, etc. He had to study the Law and the Prophets. At the same time, I want Christ to be all-powerful, all-knowing, all-EVERYTHING from the beginning. I guess it's really a reflection on me. :-) (Insert joke here.)
John--I think you are right about the command to remember. The Lord knows how we are. The Bible is full of commands to remember things, to pass them on to our children, to make them a part of ourselves.
Rick, if you want to see Jesus take down Satan, I need to give you another book. It's got some pretty good stuff in it.
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