Debrief was wonderful! We rested, shopped, took walks around town, had team time, morning and night worship sessions, and ate a TON of Nutella crepes at a local crepe place in town! I now understand why everyone is obsessed with that hazelnut goodness! =)
On Friday, the 5th, it was time to enter into the next step in our journey. Four teams went to El Salvador (including mine), and the other five teams went to Honduras for the month of October. We all left at 4:00—in the morning!! We had to be ready around 3:30 am. Ha! Welcome to the World Race!
Our bus/van vehicle we rode in was nice, but so small. We were all smooshed together without even any aisle room. No problem though. Cuddle time with a teammate and it’s back to sleep! Our trip was only supposed to be four hours at the most, so it wasn’t a big deal. The other teams were traveling up to 22 hours on buses and ferries to get to their destination! I felt lucky not to be them that day…however, I spoke too soon.
I woke up around 8:30 with us at a dead stop. Apparently the border crossing at this particular exit that wouldn’t be open until 3:00 that afternoon. Even our driver got out his pillow and started resting! We eventually contacted someone who told us a different route to get to another border crossing. Around 1:00 we finally get there and wait in the blazing sun for our exit stamp. Then we drive up a little bit, and…another traffic jam. Our squad leader tells us to grab our daypacks and walk down the street about a half mile to border crossing. Just as I was about to get out with only two other people behind me on the bus, the traffic cleared and we got to ride in the van with the breeze blowing us cool! Ah! Thank you Lord! This place is african hot and we have no air on the bus, so it felt so good!!
After paying to use their bathroom and waiting in line for almost an hour, we were finally in El Salvador! We drove another hour or so, and it started raining which means our packs are getting wet on the roof. “Choose joy. Choose joy.” That’s what we kept reminding each other all day!
Finally! Eleven hours later we are in Santa Ana, El Salvador! It’s 3:30 I the afternoon and we pull up to a Burger King. Yes! I have never eaten a Whopper combo so fast in my life. We barely had any food all day! As we finished our food, we’re looking around like now what? We had no idea where our contact was. We didn’t know when he was coming, if he for sure knew where we were, or even how to get a hold of him. Ok then…Time went on and a little after 7:00 they pull up! Yay! We drove to their house and it’s so nice! They live in a gated community and their house has a big common room, a flat screen tv in their living room, a pool in their yard, and ladies that come to cook and clean for us! WOW! We are surely blessed! There are three teams here with consisting of seventeen girls and four guys. The guys are staying at the contact’s house and the girls are sleeping at an empty house around the corner in the same neighborhood. We have no electricity, air conditioning, or hot water for our showers, but it sure beats the tent from last month!! =)
(Foyer at our contact's house)
On Sunday we helped out at a children’s festival their church hosted. It had rides, food, and games—similar to a fall festival at our churches back at home. Some of us girls got to help with worship in the morning, which was so fun! I also had the opportunity to help in the nursery, and the babies were so precious!! Our ministry this month will consist of visiting schools sharing our testimonies, singing songs, and doing dramas. We are also feeding the homeless on Tuesday nights through a ministry the church has, and we’ll be visiting local prisons too. I can’t wait to share with you how God works this month!
