DAY THREE

Day 3 Friday.

Friday, Lizzy had a lot of work to do for Karen, administrative duties, research, and tons of not so-fun clerical catch-ups. She felt bad, but it was no big deal.

Matt took a walk and we caught up with him and went to a lively bakery/coffee shop. Bright and colorful place (cant remember the name for the life of me), huge turnovers, decent coffee. It looked like a pretty happen’n place. Matt chose to entertain us by asking “guess which hand the ketchup bottle is in.” I guessed wrong 2 out of 3 times. The game was followed by another couple ‘happy birthday’ messages to Beths’ graduating-from-college-brother Mark. In this mish-mosh of happenings she showed us pictures of her recent Mission trip. Amazing what God can do in a 'closed-to-christian-communist country'. It was astounding and encouraging that God has a dynamic, purposefull, networked plan for his children. The church, no matter how humanly imperfect, no matter how widespread and diverse is at the tip of his fingers.

We ended up walkn’ around the square, er uh the marketplace for a while. Mostly turquoise stone wear and common Santa Fe symbols wrapped into a ’tourist package’; howling desert coyotes, cactuses, and chilies. There was a demonstration on the lawn over the issue of Tibet vs. China, with grotesque banners and pictures of what looked like war timely because the Olympics in Beijing was to start today. Tibet has wanted for a great while to be independent from China, and there have been protests and marches against the communist nation. Many Tibetans have been killed maliciously and it doesn’t look like their freedom is going to be any time soon. In short the Chinese Olympics are being boycotted by people and groups because of the issue.

Hmm. Not by us. We picked up some pizza’s for the oven and tossed salad- and in front of the opening ceremony we went. It was a 'limited-captivating'. I say limited because to see a 360 degree performance in a flat 24 inch TV really limits your absolute attention. Before it was all officially begun, half of the house went to bed. The one-on-one time got Elizabeth and I talking. It seems Ive gotten to know her, in her world, on this trip. Life unpredictable, private and professional priorities jumping over board and switching places regularly, digging up strength to trust God for every step. Some how we got stuck on the ‘loneliness factor’, which apparently can take a big toll on one so far away from home. It was a good talk, and turned out to be a good venting time for both of us.