Some of the best and the worst

This week has provided a broad spectrum of experiences - some of the best and some of the first. To start off, Sunday night I could hardly sleep because my head was so itchy. I spent all the next day combing through my hair with a fine-toothed comb and killing all of the lice I found. I think I found about 30 in my hair. Yuck! Ana and Sarahi had them, too but not as many. To make matters worse, after using the special shampoo that's supposed to kill lice, I found another three big ones that were still alive. So, the next day I went to Lolita's mom's house where she searched my hair for nits (or eggs) and more lice. She found two more live lice but no nits. But, the lice I found in my hair were pretty plump which means I've probably had them for at least several days. Each lice can lay about 100 eggs, so I'm afraid I have eggs but she just didn't see them because of my light hair color. You do the math.... It's rather uncomfortable not knowing for sure if my hair is clean. I continue combing through it, especially when I have phantom feelings that one is crawling around in there, but I haven't found one in a couple of days. Needless to say, it wasn't the best start to my week.
Some people have recommended some strange things to put in my hair, such as mayonnaise, listerine and tea tree oil. If I find any more lice, I'm going to try any and all of the above. Only problem is, I'm around people who have lice all the time, so there's no saying I won't get them again. I guess the good in all of it is that I have a deeper understanding of what life is like for a lot of the kids I'm with. Only, they don't have money for the lice-removal treatments, sanitary living conditions, their own bed to sleep in, and many of them don't really have available parents to help. In a way, I'm grateful for a bit of a taste of this. It's really not all that bad - just some discomfort and feeling kinda gross. But, now I can sympathize with what others are experiencing.
While I was combing out tiny bugs from my hair, my mind began to wander and I started wondering if Jesus ever got lice. I mean, He was 100% God but He "made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death of the cross." (Phil 2:7-8). He became like us to share in our experiences in order to show us His love in the most complete way. Part of me thinks maybe He got lice. So, I don't feel too ashamed. Many other followers of Christ endured worse treatment in His name.

I did also have a really great experience this week. It was probably one of my best experiences so far. We have a team in from Minnesota who brought down 200 pairs of shoes for kids in one of the colonias. A team of them came back in November to get kids' names and measure their shoe sizes and then they just came back with about 30 suitcases full of shoes and goodie bags full of toys, clothes, school supplies and all sorts of great gifts. In the past, I guess they used to just open up the church doors and have people come in and pick up their shoes and gift bags. However, some of the leaders of the church felt like this wasn't producing the kind of fruit they were hoping for. So, instead they decided we should go house to house and indivitually hand out the pairs of shoes. We were all a bit nervous about how this was going to turn out. There were several glitches to work out in the planning before hand, which took all of Tuesday morning, but we finally got to go pass the shoes out and it was just an amazing experience.
We separated out into about 6 different groups to pass out the shoes. My group got to go to about 5 houses total to deliver the shoes. You should have seen the faces of the children receiving their shoes and gifts. It was like Christmas times ten. They were just so thrilled. Some of them kept running in and out of their rooms shouting for everyone to see one of the toys they got. The moms were incredibly welcoming, too. I think it made all the difference in the world having us come to their home rather than having them just be one of a million that stops by the church. It really made them feel special. It was also a great opportunity to pray for the families, which we did in each house. One of the women told Lolita that this was her first time ever having Americans in her home and how excited she was. It was just a beautiful experience all together and worked out amazingly well. Praise God for putting everything together so beautifully! I'm so grateful for this church, too, who really lavished gifts on these kids. They really demonstrated cheerful giving by their actions. It was amazing.

So, I have to say this week holds two new records - my best and my worst experience so far! What a week!