Christmas Eve 2017 came upon me while sitting on a “hill” (aka 13650’ Elevation Mountain) in El Alto Bolivia. We spent it at the Girls Rehab Center where we have been doing ministry this month. We wanted to do something special for the girls so we put together a spa day for them.
Three things I don’t like are spas, touching people’s feet, and pink- I don’t like the color pink. Christmas Eve all three things were a part of my afternoon.
On the Race you never know when you might need rope: clothes line, tying down packs and other uses that remain to be seen. So one of the last things I picked up, before leaving the States, was para cord rope. I got it at Wal-Mart and the only color options they had were pink and black. I was pretty sure that black was a more common color and harder to keep from getting lost so I opted for pink, even though I don’t like the color (I haven’t seen anyone on my squad with pink rope).
Fast forward 3 months and we are trying to think of something to give the girls at the house and the idea of bracelets came up. (My team mates Meg and Averi make bracelets with paracord and a lighter by melting the ends together.) The problem was we didn’t have enough of one color rope for all the girls. Enter pink rope, donated to the cause.
Back to spa day our idea was to start with a facial then have them move to the mani/pedi station where we washed their hands and feet with a sugar scrub (sugar and lotion). I was one of the people at the sugar scrub station, yup touching peoples feet. After that they could go get their nails painted and hair braided.
At first they looked rather skeptical, especially when we started putting the face mask on them but when they put their feet in the warm water and we started rubbing their feet with the sugar scrub they started smiling and saying “rico” (rich). As soon as we would finish one girl another would take the seat for their turn.
The entire thing took about 2 hours and to finish it off Averi made bracelets for everyone with the pink rope. So the three things I don’t like (spas, touching people’s feet and this pink rope that I was not particularly fond of) served more than its purpose by becoming a Christmas gift, by offering hope and showing love, to girls who are away from their families this Christmas season.
