Its been one month(ish) since I got to El Salvador and started this race and I can hardly believe it! Time has flown by and sometimes I have to remind myself this is only a trip because life here feels so normal. Although this is the most incredible season of my life so far, it hasn’t been easy. Living with people I’ve only recently gotten to know is a rougher challenge than I imagined but God has still been so faithful to show up and flood me with blessings and joy.
Within the first 3 days of being here God blessed me with the beach twice. Both trips were quick but meant so much because the beach is so calming, refreshing, and it’s a place I see God in. His presence is there and it soothes me. Leaving everything familiar to be thrown into a big gross city was hard but God knew what would help and blessed me well.
One day we went to Boqueron. A VOLCANO. We hiked down into the crater. It was the coolest hike I’ve ever been on and one of my most favorite experiences. We got lost a few times but good came from it. The first time it allowed us to stumble upon a sweet man named Santos(saint) and his spinach garden inside the crater. The second time we got lost we found a family of locals hiking this intense hike in crocs of all shoes haha. They let us hike up with them and I’m extremely grateful because they showed us the path and because they taught me a lot of endurance.
Another day a few of our teams headed to the beach. This day was now the best day of my life to date. Healthy real fruit smoothies and burritos (my favorite things ever) were so cheap so I bought quite a few. The biggest blessing of the day though was surfing. I’ve always wanted to surf so I rented a board and gave it a try. I loooooved it and had the time of my life even though I didn’t know what to do. That was the most refreshing day and much needed at that point in the race.
The other day a few of our teams went for another adventure. This time to a WATERFALL YEEEEE. Juayua waterfalls are the raddest falls I’ve been to. On the hike our guide showed us these leaves that blessed us all with smells of fall. When we got to the falls she showed us a few tunnels we could swim through. SAAH COOL. The coolest thing was that the water coming down the falls is 100% pure and drinkable, so I got to drink it. Yummmm. I always find God at waterfalls in the form of joy and I can’t stop smiling.
After the waterfall we explored the town its in and God kept pouring out his blessings. This town was so cute and showed so much more of the Salvadorian culture and life. The best part of the town was the random fireworks that went of in the middle of the afternoon. It made me laugh because it was such a funny blessing at a random time. The other blessings of the day included eating chocolate frozen bananas(hallelujah), seeing a man with a huge snake on him, rain, little crabs, and baby pineapple plants. All silly little things, but things that blessed me.
The football team we are a part of visited a children’s hospital one morning. The whole day we danced for the kids and did our best to make them laugh despite the language barrier. What touched me the most was dancing for these little girls hooked up to machines stuck in this room. They were dealing with the saddest of conditions and had the most reasons to be sad but they were the happiest and they laughed the hardest.
This isn’t even all the ways I’ve seen God but this post is already too long so I better stop. Hopefully you read the stories and feel even half as overwhelmed with joy from the blessings as I do.
