WOW…all I can say is that it is VERY HOT!!!! It feels like a South Florida summer without air conditioning. I actually think that it is hotter than in South Florida. It has been a LONG time since I have sweat this much, I’ll tell you that!!!
I have definitely had plenty of opportunities to practice my Spanish. The kids just LOVE talking to us and it just makes me want to understand them. I’m actually surprised at how much Spanish I actually understand. I have found that I understand a lot more than I can speak.
We went to church on Sunday, and it was really amazing!! The pastor is an amazing man of God. The church is in this REALLY tiny building….it looks like they built it in a storefront. We sat in plastic chairs and tried to sing along to the worship songs in Spanish. The best part about the service was that the people were SO OPEN to us. They came up and welcomed us all, and tried to talk to us. The pastor talked about giving your worries to God. He was speaking to US!! He was trying to comfort US!! He said stuff like he knows how hard it is to be away from home, but God brought us here for a purpose, and we should give our worries to Him! I mean, that was amazing to me! (There was a translator, in case you were wondering).
We started working on Monday with a family that goes to the church. Some missionaries came through a while ago and built them a house, but they didn’t get to finish it. So we are going to the house every day and trying to finish it. We built a fence on Monday and today the guys installed a gutter to collect rainwater. I haven’t been doing much in the way of hard labor, which is rare for me. I find myself more often in the role of making connections with the people. It is frustrating, though, because they don’t speak English and my Spanish STINKS!!
Last night, we went to play soccer with some of the men from the church. I had SO MUCH FUN!! Of course, I haven’t played in like 10 years and I am severely out of shape. I can’t remember the last time I played so hard!!
At church on Sunday, I made a connection with a little girl named Julissa (I have no idea if I spelled that correctly). She came up to me and just hugged on me. We couldn’t really understand each other, but she was just lovin on me. It was so dang cute. She is 10. Well, she was at the soccer game last night and evidently she was pointing me out to some of my friends on the sidelines and telling them about how she thinks I’m pretty and telling them how old I was. She just recapped the whole conversation we had on Sunday. I just thought that was so precious. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in completing a task that I forget the reason I’m here… I’m here for people like Julissa!!! J
Today I went to the house with the thought that I was going to do some construction, but I just ended up talking to the family…or at least attempting to. Somehow, even though I can’t always understand or make myself understood, I can always make them laugh!!
