Today was such a great day. For starters, my teammates made some delicious pancakes for breakfast. I then went and found the internet and was able to find a bootleg, terrible sound version of The Bachelor…such a nice escape…I love that stupid show. *I definitely don’t like that Courtney girl and I think Casey B from TN is cute…oh sorry. Ok. So, after some trash reality TV my team and I packed into the back of a pickup and went off to this little village.
We had been to this same little village before and so I was off to go find the kids I played with last time. As I was walking down the dirt-road, with chickens pecking all around, four little girls started walking my way. They were adorable. We started talking, which consist of me asking them simple questions in Spanish, ‘how old are you? Do you like chickens? Do you like dogs? Do you like cows?” that’s about all I know. After some small talk, they girls noticed Clyde (my traveling gnome) in my pocket of my backpack. THEY LOVED HIM! They were playing with Clyde like they had never seen any form of a ‘doll’ before. They built him a house and showed him to all their other friends. It was so adorable. My brilliant mom packed me some simple little ribbons (to let kids play with) and between Clyde and the ribbons these girls were in heaven. They had a real hard time saying ‘Clyde’ so they gave him a Spanish name but then I didn’t quite know how to say the Spanish name so they asked for some paper and a pen to write it down for me…since I didn’t have any paper, I just gave them my bible…I now have this adorable drawing on the front blank page of my bible along with all kinds of dirty finger prints. Best addition to my bible ever.
So, after doing some dramas, talking about Jesus, and singing with the kids we piled back into the little red truck and headed for our little mustard yellow house. One teammate bought a basketball the other day and so 7 of us went to go play some basketball down the street from our house. Well, it was being used by some locals. One thing led to another and there was then a tournament going. 5 on 5, first to 5 points wins, winners stay in and play the next team. My team was me, 3 other small white girls and one tall black guy! We dominated. We won every game we played. By the second game I looked around, here’s what I saw:
The sun setting and the sky filled with blues, purples, and pinks, the silhouette of a mountain not too far off, two basketball goal with multi-colored ply-wood back boards, and every local out of there house watching the game go on. Men, women, and children crowed the streets and sat on the sidewalks watching us play.
It was such great night. We made friends with the other guys playing and told them we’d be back to play again.
There is something to be said of living in one place for this long. I have developed a few friendships with the locals. Theresa Lopez, the lady we buy hot tortillas from everyday for lunch who always had a special treat waiting for us, Jacquline, the 21 year old who loves 80’s pop music and always has it blasting, and of course the local kids. They love to follow us or watch us when we are out and about. So, every now and then random games of tag or sprint races have been known to break out with the kids. I love seeing all these people on a daily basis. This little town has shown nothing but love to us and it is so fun to be apart of it. The roads are made of dirt, the homes don’t consist of much, it is a very simple way to live here in this small town, and the people are wonderful.
Now don't get me wrong, there have definitely been some hard days. Most of my teammates have been sick with a major stomach bug. Praise the Lord I have not felt the effects of this disaster going throughout the house. Please continue to pray for joy, health, and unity!
AND…so bummed the one day I have internet I forgot my camera card reader….so again, no pictures….next time. 🙂
