more delightful surprises

Today I had an appointment with the otorrinolaringologo. That is how you say ENT (ear, nose, and throat doctor) in spanish. Wow, enough learning for one day!
Anyways, that went well... hopefully I won't have to have sinus surgery anytime soon, but there's always that possiblity. But that wasn't the delightful surprise. Nor was it delightful (although it was a surprise) that the computer system fell right as I was finishing up and therefore they weren't able to print off my prescription and order to get another x-ray.
After waiting in lines of people with the same problem, and watching the poor receptionist get more and more distressed, I decided to go out for a while and hope that the system came back up while I was gone. So I started walking along Avenida 19, which is lined with brick sidewalks and evenly-spaced maple trees, expensive car dealerships, kitchenware stores, and spas. I was thinking about getting my nails done, but didn't want to pay the prices of the high-end salons around there, so kept walking until I saw a promising side street.

Halfway up that block, the ornate facade of Jacques' tea room juts out. It is... luxurious... and cute... and inviting. Above and a bit behind the facade, enormous brass letters read "JESUS." Jazz music drifts out from the glassed-in front sitting area. I walk in and immediately like the place. Small tables, walls lined with Mucha prints so close together that their frames are nearly touching... a little further in there is beautiful bread, scrumptious pastries, heavenly merengues, and red velvet carpet going up some stairs to another sitting area.
I stop, in awe of the delectable sight.
Then continue upstairs and choose a seat at the counter, where I can take it all in. A kind-faced, gray-haired man is at the other end of the dark wooden counter. He asks if I wouldn't like to sit at a table. No, I prefer to look down at the rest of the tea room. He has an accent. I ask where he is from. France. He is Jacques, the owner of the establishment. I am from the U.S. His colombian wife studied in Charleston, South Carolina. I'm from North Carolina! I meet his wife. They find out I'm a missionary. They are Christians, their children go to the same (american) school as some kids I know, they go to the same church as some friends of mine. Jacques invites me to follow him outside to meet a friend of his from their church and to see the name "JESUS" hanging above his bakery.
Once back inside, upstairs, I eat a delicious -- DELICIOUS -- cinnamon roll and drink a fruity tea, read some, and go downstairs to pay. Jacques tells me that God paid for me today, and they give me a little card with a Bible verse on it.

After this delightful surprise, I felt very blessed and walked back to the clinic smiling. There I turned in my forms to the now-calm receptionist, waited half an hour (reading), then was called up to the desk to learn that the system fell again! Oh well, some things shouldn't be surprising...