anticipation

I spoke with the pastor in charge of the disabled adults' group Saturday. He would prefer that I see people individually, which I had sort of come to myself. I want to know what someone's goal is, not what I think it might be. Here's the catch: he thinks 100-ish people will come. I said I'd come two days. That works out to two ten-hour days without breaks of any kind and 12 minutes per person. Let me put this in perspective: I see people I'm going to see again for 45 minutes the first time. I'm likely never going to see these people again and I have an interpreter (which makes this possible, but does add onto time spent). Add to this that I'm still a bit unclear about cultural expectations and how to keep things succinct without being rude here and you might understand why I'm a bit uneasy about the whole thing. I don't doubt that it's something I want to do, merely that it feels daunting. I've already given up seeing all 100 people; it just won't happen. But I hope and pray that the people I do see I can help on some level.

I'm not sure when this will happen; I'm trying not to do both days back-to-back, as that feels exhausting, both physically and mentally. But we haven't heard which days he'd prefer, so I'm still waiting for that piece of information.

The sweetest/funniest moment talking to the pastor was this: He turned to the interpreter and said, "I'm excited to have her come, but I'm a bit worried about her heart." [I had cried when I was talking about a girl with club feet, a problem that is "always" corrected in the USA and affects so much of her mobility, not to mention how she is perceived in society.] I told him I'd bring Kleenex.