Bush, Bin Laden, Onions & Umbrellas

Hello! It's been a hard slog on the road to El Sombrero but I've made it. Venezuela isn't the place to be at the moment. I watched the President on tv last night deliver a speech to 1000's of screaming fans on the evils of the USA. There were Russian 'Sickle & Hammer' flags flying and a huge sign calling for Bush to be assasinated. It was frightening to watch. I have to be very careful not to be mistaken as American. The hospitality is still up and down, though I've been blessed with a number of free meals at restaraunts so for that I'm grateful. On the lighter side of life I did manage to spill a can of condensed milk over my bible and diary, which are now sratch and win tickets. I've been a big winner so far!! I also had a guy ask me yesterday why I was carrying a picture of Osama Bin Laden in my itinerary folder. I almost choked on my orange juice as I explained it was actually St Pio (Padre Pio) from Italy. I don't think he was convinced. I also managed to arrive at a town with one shop & as I sat on the shop steps getting my money in order to buy dinner the owner closed up and refused to reopen! So for dinner I ended up having 3 bran biscuits, a small mango & half a raw onion - now there's a challenge for any celebrity cook! My story of the week though comes from a town 100km east of here where I was sitting on some steps eating lunch. On the other side of the road I watched a lady enter a house with an open umbrella that was too large for the doorway & thus jammed. She turned & looked at the umbrella, ROTATED it and tried again. I thought to myself, "You didn't just rotate a round abject to get it through a square frame did you?" Sure enough, she rotated it again and tried to pull it through. At this point my jaw dropped and I could see her thinking about the problem at hand. I thought, "Don't you dare rotate it for a third time," but she couldn't read my thoughts & so, for a third time, rotated the umbrella & pulled hard. Thankfully, a person form within the house came to her aid and twisted the umbrealla through the doorway. For the past four days I have been contemplating this moment in human history and trying to understand what I saw. I'm still baffled. Happy St Patrick's Day for next week & please keep me in your prayers. Please pass on the invitation to pray for unity at 4:01! God bless, Sam.