They always think I'm exaggerating...

You know how in books when one event sets up an event later in the book, it's called foreshadowing?  Well, in real life it's called "God is in the future and He knows what He is doing".

Things I've told my friends:
1. I always have spare keys because I lose my keys alot. (I lost my keys for the weekend a few days later)
2. I rarely buy glass jars because I fall alot. (That day I wiped out in the street on the way home from the grocery store)
3. The primary reason I bought a phone is because I get lost alot.
Usually, they just smile and laugh and assume I'm exaggerating...

     Today, I took the wrong bus. If I knew more spanish, I would have known I was getting on the wrong bus, because a nice lady tried to explain it to me before I got on the bus, but...I don't speak that much spanish.
     Apparently, there is a #18-1 bus (the one I was looking for), and a #18-2 bus.  The #18-2 bus is supposed to go to a hospital right down the road, but it never comes up my street, or at least it doesn't during the afternoon, so I didn't know it even existed.  So tonight I hop on the #18 bus thinking I'm heading to the AgroMarket at the mall, but it never actually gets there.  In fact, it turns the other way.    
     The busses are kind of round-about anway, and I just figured that maybe it just went around and came in the other direction.  So there I am, standing on the bus and it just keeps not getting there, and not getting there...and eventually, I'm starting to realize that it's not going to the mall. Then I figure, well, busses go in a set route, I can just stay on it till we get home.  A few minutes later, the bus goes over a overpass.     
     Fortunately, there is only one overpass in Asuncion, and I happen to know that it's downtown.  I also start realize that all those people that got on the bus aren't getting off, and they are starting to glance at me with "why are you still here?" looks.  I also happen to know that some busses go out of town. Like, waaay out of town, and they don't always return till the next day, that or they go to the bus terminal and you have to get off. I don't know enough spanish to get stuck in either place. That would be bad.
     Finally, once we are way past anything I recognize, I decide to hop off near a taxi stand and call my friend. Thankfully, she answered and told me I could just catch another #18 and take it bad to the hospital that I can walk home from.
     Here comes the "boy, I'm glad God knows me so well" part.
     Flash back to two months ago, right after I get here: One of the teachers who lives here and is married to a Paraguayan man drove a few of us to get cheap cell phones in a place called "Mercado Quatro".  It's basically a big street market with lots of little stands outside and inside buildings. Think massive flea market. When we got back, Elizabeth remarked a few times that Mercado Quatro is kind of far away, especially by bus.
     Flash foward to 7:15 at night, now time.  I hop on an #18 heading the opposite direction I was going earlier and we are shaking along (it was a very old bus). Suddenly, I realize that we've turned and are heading away from school again!  Then I look out the window and realize that I'm either in a shack town or the closed up Mercado Quatro.  I immediately text Elizabeth, who immediately calls back and tells me to find somewhere to get off and she's sending her parents to get me. That's what you want to hear when you are in a shifty looking part of town...
Thankfully, her parents were able to come get me. Ironically, if they  had known exactly where I was, they could have told me a bus to hop on right there that would have taken me right to the school! Oh, well...

What sad, lost people eat for supper in a gas station

(and hope they don't get food poisoning from)

Plus, I get some brownie for lunch tomorrow! :)

     While I was sitting in the gas station, all I could think about was how God worked tonight to keep me safe.  First, if I had never been to Mercado Quatro then I would not have been able to recognize it in the dark.  Second, if Elizabeth's parents had not been able to come get me, the bus would have dropped me off eventually near the school, but in the dark, I would not have been able to recognize the familiar landmarks because it would have dropped me off behind the grocery store, not in front. Third, my initial money on my phone expired, and I was just able to get more last week without the phone I would have been stuck.
  Finally, I tend to get lost a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. Always have. As a result, I am used to figuring out how to solve the problem, and here I always carry money with me so I can either call someone or take a taxi to get home. I also was able to stay calm in the assurances that I knew I could contact someone, I knew the address of the school, and no matter what happened, I had a Father with me at all times.

Psalm 139:7, 11-12
⁷ Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall^[a] on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
¹² Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.


So that's my big story of the day, it was kind of fun, kind of exciting, and in the future, I think I'll stick with the #55 bus!

Prayer Requests:
Jacqui, our new roommate will be arriving here on Thursday!!!  Pray for her safe travel tomorrow and her acclimation to the new country.
The school will be getting a 5th grade teacher and a student teacher very soon, so please pray that their paperwork will go through quickly.
The school still needs a High School science teacher, please pray that God will bring the right person into the position in His time.