I hope no one is tired of me saying that today was another
wonderful day in El Salvador…because it really was fantastic. We continue to
not be disappointed in our activities and experiences each day.
We spent our build time today between the two houses in
progress. Great strides were made on both houses. On Santos’ house, work
continues to build up the outside and the inside walls of the house and
leveling out the dirt subfloor inside. Rich had the pleasure of clearing the wild
vegetation on the side of the house, which he managed to do with a pickax. For
some reason, I don’t think he’ll be using this method on his garden at home,
but his determination and hard work was appreciated.
At Julio’s house, out in the woods, the cinder blocks are
almost to the point of putting on the roof. The top layer needed to be filled
in, and there was a lot of scaffolding climbing today. It’s amazing how high six-foot
scaffolding can feel. We were also entertained by Douglas, one of our interpreters
who lives in the community. He kept
telling us impossible-to-solve riddles. It was fun for him, but not so much fun
for us. We finally had to cry uncle so he would give us the answers.
I had the pleasure today to sit with Berta, who’s son will
be living in the house in the woods. I brought over my photo album to show her
and we started talking. Thankfully, Douglas came over to help translate,
because with my lack of Spanish, the conversation would have been quite short.
Berta told me about her family, and that she has lived in this community her
whole life. She has been able to divide up her land so that each of her six
children will be able to live near each other, so that when she dies she knows that they are together. When I told her
that I was a nurse, she said that she wanted me to come back in December for
the Health Brigade- when a medical group will come into the community. I didn’t
make her any promises I couldn’t keep, but am always hopeful we’ll return again
next year.
Later in the day, we played futbol with some of our amigos. It’s amazing how they all know
what’s going on, because the community comes out in droves. While the serious ones
were playing futbol, there was also a pretty intense game of wiffle ball going
on. I’m not sure who won which games, but there was a lot of laughter and
high-fives along the way. It was such a happy afternoon.
Speaking of happy, Luis Fernando joined us for dinner
tonight. After discussing some of the struggles of the country and people of El
Salvador, he lifted the mood by stating that El Salvador is the 5th happiest country in the world. Agreed!
And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to
love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? -Micah 6:8
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