Our First Real Work Day

Whew! What a day we had today. It all begin with a 6:15 walk up 661 steps to the lighthouse not too far from our hotel. The majority of the group was brave enough to venture up before visiting the local school to play with the children before class starts. The view from the top is phenomenal. I wasn't one of them. The remainder of us meet at the school and played basketball, soccer, football, and jump rope with the students. They are so full of life and love. They thoroughly enjoy every bit of our presence and its amazing to be around people so warm. The especially love taking pictures. They push and shove to get to the camera. Once the bell rang we sadly returned to our hotel to have breakfast and complete our daily devotional in preparation for the day ahead. With only one truck to drive us to the orphanage, the team piled in the back of the bed and headed out speeding through a windy, in construction road. A small group began to walk to the orphanage until the truck returned to get us. Along the walk a puppy followed us all the way. He became part of our group and Nicole named him Roadkill. Walking through the town is so much fun to me. You see people walking through the streets, riding bikes, and sitting out front of their homes. Everyone says Bueno Dia with a smile. Their copper skin and black hair are all so beautiful. You can even see donkeys, chickens, pigs (& piglets), dogs, and cats. Eventually the truck came and we all climbed in. Of course, I was the last to climb on and the truck pulled off as I was on the bumper. I almost fell off...close call. Wait, is there a message there? We brought Roadkill and took him back to town. At the orphanage, we were introduced to the house parents. The children are spread amongst two homes which are really nice inside. We also meet Flores and Pablo, brothers whom are instructing us to mix cement and lay brick. They make it look so easy but everyone soon realized how difficult it was. The sun was shining which is abnormal during the time of year. We all sweat through our clothes and some burned their skin. It's funny to see the red patches on calves and arms. Teresa, unfortunately got ill and had to lay down. The rest of the team continued to work on buildng the retaining walls. Our break for lunch was, for lack of a better word, spectacular. Our team is also divided amongst the two homes. Each family prepares our lunch daily and they cook all morning. It so awesome that we are here to serve them yet they are serving us. It was just like being in a restaurant but even better. When we enetered the home there was a huge sign reading Bienvenidos. Our window panes were displayed on the walls. There was a vase with roses and a card welcolming Kensington Church. The table was set and soup awaited us. The food continued to come out and it was just delicious. I don't see how people work after eating those meals. Siesta anyone? Our work day ended and we moved to the local church where there was a childrens program almost like a VBS. There was songs, verse memorization, and a bible teaching. The children learned Exodus 20:4 "No hagas de nada un idolo" and had two craft projects relating to the story. We ended with snack and HUMMER trucks which they love. Back to the hotel we went for dinner. But of course we had to shower. There is literally a layer of gunk on your skin; a combination of sweat, sun block, brick dust, cement, and mud. Dinner was great as always but right before the presentation of life tokens the power went out which proved to be good because the candles made the environament more intimate. Life tokens were presented by Nicole, Joey, and Teresa followed by prayers for each individual from Teresa, Jenn, and Donna respectively. Worship went a little differently because we didn't have the music due to the lose of power. However, we practiced our Spanish songs and Kelly led Amazing Grace and Sing, Sing Sing. Of course she did! We laughed as we mocked each other...Jenn and her exclaimation points and Kelly and her loud singing. Some returned to their rooms and some stayed behind to play games. We played UNO and Jorge joined us. His one opportunity to actually use Spanish and he yells out "One" when he was down to his last card. We all burst into laughter. Green and blue look so much alike in the candle light. Who would have known. Eventually the power came back on and after reflecting on our days thus far we decided to get some rest to prepare for tomorrow. What a blast!

On the behalf of our entire team...we miss you all!
Isabel

P.S. Bonnie, your letters are awesome! Congratulations Nancy and Kevin! from Jennifer