I started my last day in Tocopilla with a classroom full of Spanish speaking 8th graders all to myself and ended the day with a new pair of earrings and a heartwarming goodbye.
Monday, November 6th
- Woke up at 6AM for a run.
- Sat on the coast facing the Pacific Ocean at 7AM and realized today was my last day with this view.
- Walked half a mile to breakfast with my team at 8:30AM (our typical routine).
- 10AM Arrived at Escuela REPUBLICA to teach an 8th grade English Class with my teammate Tim.
- 10:05AM Realized that the English teacher was at home sick and Tim and I were alone to teach thirty Spanish speaking 8th graders for an hour and a half.
- 10:06AM Panicked.
- 10:07AM Quickly put together a “lesson plan” with Tim and attempted to settle the class.
- 10:10-11:30AM Had the absolute best time with some of the coolest kids I have ever met. Taught English, watched 8th graders beam with pride as they spoke English properly and wrote accurate sentences, took hundreds of selfies.
- Ate an authentic Chilean lunch at 1:00AM cooked for us by newlyweds from the church whose wedding we had just attended two days before.
Team photo from the wedding
- Attempted to pack my 11-months’ worth of belongings back into one giant backpack from 3:00 to 5:00PM
- 7:00PM Presented our host and his wife with a picture and 7 hand written cards, in Spanish, thanking them for everything they had done for us throughout the past month.
- 7:30PM Hugged and cried.
- 8:00PM Walked to a woman named Veronica’s home to enjoy a dinner she and her family had prepared for us.
- 8:15-10:00PM Laughed, cried, enjoyed an abundant meal that likely cost more than the family spends on themselves in a week, looked through numerous photo albums of Veronica’s family and held hands with Veronica as she told me I was very special to her.
- At 10:05PM Veronica’s daughter stopped us from leaving and ran back into her room to grab something.
- 10:06PM The girls on my team all received a present we will treasure forever. Veronica’s daughter gave the four of us personal earrings from her collection as a gift to bring on our journey. A selfless example of someone who has nothing, giving everything to people she hardly even knew.
- 10:15PM Crying again.. tears because this gift touched our hearts in such a special way.
- 11:00PM Laid down on my sleeping pad next to Emily and Rachel to go to bed in Tocopilla for the very last time.
Goodbyes are hard but the first month of my world race was absolutely incredible and I’m so excited for what’s to come!
My team and I are in Vina Del Mar for five days to recharge and prepare for our next ministry. We head to Mendoza, Argentina on Monday! I can’t wait to update everyone on what life in Argentina looks like!
“So do not throw away this confident trust in The Lord. Remember that great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.”Hebrews 10:35-36 *Shout out to my sister Leah for sending me this verse this morning!
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I will leave you with a video of my precious 8th graders practicing the English sentences we had written on the board. They are the CUTEST!
