Practicing flexibility

[Amigas del Señor]

From Sister Confianza

Monastic life gives a nice framework for a daily routine of work and prayer. However, it can sometimes lead to rigidity. As someone who thrives on regularity, I am suprised how important flexibility also is in monastic life. We have to be open to the unexpected. This week is case in point. 

On Friday we finalized (for my sake) our plans to travel on Tuesday. Then the weather changed. Sunday evening, a green alert was announced for the departmentos (a little like states) where we were headed - in fact, a yellow alert for Cortés, where Daniel is going. That means rain, quite a lot of rain. By Monday afternoon, all those departments were on yellow alert, and Colón, where we live, was green. Daniel's mom sent him a notice that a certain river between Tela and San Pedro had overflowed and vehicles couldn't pass. Even if we left on Tuesday, he'd be stuck in La Ceiba with us. The rains are forecast to continue through Friday, so we decided to postpone traveling for a whole week. Here, the rain is much needed and we are grateful, but it hasn't been coming down very hard.  If we didn't have internet access we wouldn't have known about the other areas, and would have had an even more challenging time!

Because we didn't get all the information until late on Monday, we spent the day working hard to prepare. We washed lots of clothes, cooked a big batch of tortillas, and of course baked a wacky cake to celebrate my birthday and more. I was pretty tired by the end of the day. 

Tuesday morning, we all slept in. After Lauds, Sister Alegría asked me to do a project with Daniel: putting up a new gutter where the roof has rusted away to be able to collect more of the rainwater. I gave a resounding "No!" That's not like me, nor is it monastic obedience. I had to ask myself where it came from. During breakfast I figured it out: the sinus infection I've been fighting for several weeks is still lingering, even after a round of (admittedly not first line) antibiotics. 

So, instead of leaving for an overnight trip, Daniel and I ended up going to Limón for the day. I got a consult at Centro de Salud and another round of antibiotics (two full weeks of amoxicillin this time). Daniel was charged with making sure I got there OK and took care of myself. We did well, and after a Coke to help with the headache and tiredness, I had strength to hike two miles back to the monastery.

Today we are taking it easy - no cookfires and just a little laundry. Daniel and I took a nice walk this morning (to help with the achy body after yesterday) and were even able to put up the gutter with no problem after lunch!

We will continue to take care of ourselves and enjoy this extra time together with three of us. 

Oh - and I received a very strange birthday present yesterday. Honduras received orders from the United States for the extradition of ex-president Juan Orlando Hernández on drug trafficking charges. Many of us have thought that he ought to be extradited (as president, he made a special agreement with the US for the extradition of drug traffickers) but were cynical of it actually happening to him. He has been taken into custody for the lengthy judicial process in Honduras before he goes to the US for trial. Maybe we'll tell you more about the whole situation another time.

Bendiciones,

Sister Confianza

Amigas del Señor Monastery
Limón, Colón, Honduras
 
https://amigasdelsenor.weebly.com