Convenience

I really wonder how "real" missionaries do it, and did it a generation or more ago.  By real missionaries I mean of course those that fit the mold that I grew up with...living in the jungle somewhere without electricity, certainly without internet, and eating bananas every day to survive.  

I can remember when we moved here what it was like, it was not that long ago, but your drink at the grocery store were fairly limited.  Coke, Pepsi, bottled water, maybe a few other things like the occasional Gatorade, but choices for canned carbonated beverages were almost non-existent.  This extended to chips, cheese, milk (not available in a gallon jug when we got here, just bags), and a list of things that overall seemed to get bigger every time you wanted something, and try not to even think about holiday related items.  There were a few cereals available (for a hefty price) but for the most part, if you wanted international fare...you better bring it with you.  That was back in the day when groups sometimes would bring some of what they wanted or would need for the week.  

I thought about that last week at a local grocery store marveling at their selection of coke/pop/soda.  It was not US level...but it was huge.  It does not even all fit in this picture.  

Ah progress.

Same thing goes for construction supplies.  Long gone are the days when dry wall and phillips head screws were strange, new and not purchasable here.  Sure, there are some things (like Romex) that still have not caught on, but for the most part, what we need we can get here.  Take this picture of the tile for the Milk Project building (so close, so close, we can almost taste finishing, and I think we will borrow from wherever we need to finish even if donations do not keep pace...you can pray about that) with all the tile and needed spacers and other supplies being purchased here locally, cheaper I might add, than I could have in the US.  

I bought enough Romex recently to put on a clothing container to supply us for another several years...but otherwise, it is much more cost feasible to buy just about everything else here for construction.

So it is a golden age for availability.  A world economy.  

Well...almost.    

I still routinely get called to play detective on things.  It is an odd part of the job...to be the last resort sometimes or the last resort that knows the right people or websites, to find what we need to keep things going.  

Last month...it was a car part, some bit for a TV and some cell phone parts.  Some modest success there, although one part that was supposedly specific to the model right down to the serial number would not fit. 

This month it is this bulb for our slit lamp.  The company that makes the slit lamp (optometry piece of equipment) went bust, and given the narrow field to begin with, I have had quite the frustrating path so far to find a replacement.  (and believe me...when we find one, we will be getting instead three or more.) 

And then yesterday...the blue screen of death for our ultrasound.  We got it to boot up again...but today same problem.  And apparently our fantastic little unit is not a brand of ultrasound that anyone else in Honduras has ever seen/used.  That may make things even more complicated.  

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Not sure that is an interesting post or not, but it is part of what we have to do...sometimes quite satisfying when you can fix something or find what is needed (sometimes even when things are available here, they can be several hundred percent of what the cost on the internet is) and sometimes quite frustrating when it just does not work out.  It is a reminder though that ultimately some things are out of our hands.  I can plan, I can search, (sometimes I even remember to pray) but ultimately there are large swatches of life that are out of our control.  It helps to foment planning for the future, but also sometimes helps to not be so dependent on the material things that cannot be ordered with one day shipping...or even 30, 60 or 90 shipping sometimes.  

It is also a reminder to be thankful for what infrastructure development (in general and in helping other countries), access to internet, economic investment, and a growing "world" economy can do for all countries, especially countries that have economic disadvantages in some areas.