I never expected a cold shower to feel good, but man, in this heat, it sure does! We’ve spent most of our second day sweating.
Yesterday afternoon, I was able to go swimming with about 30 children that are associated with El Ayudante, the organization we’re working with. It took me back to tour days, wading through a pool with three children clinging to each arm. (Okay, maybe not that many.) The only difference is that these kept shouting, “Hey! Muchacha!” instead of “Auntie!” to get my attention.
Today, Drew and I went our separate ways to our separate teams. He to construction, and me to a school. I didn’t envy his job in this heat. My team traveled over bumpy roads covered in trash and finally arrived at a small building on a corner. We went inside to find about twenty smiling faces, greeting us with,”Buenos dias!”
Some of the cute kiddos we worked with
We then spent the morning teaching some short Bible lessons, doing crafts, and singing “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy…” in Spanish. (Yo tengo gozo, gozo, gozo, gozo… It’s been in my head all day… all together now! Yo tengo gozo…) I had the special chance of acting out a Bible story for the kids, along with another team member. My acting skills aren’t so hot, but I think it passed this morning. We passed out a snack to them, and watched some of them put it away to take to their families later. Then we took them outside and played with the frisbees they made during the craft time. I even got to kick a soccer ball around with some of the boys.
Drew and the guys mixing concrete with shovels
While I played with cute kids, Drew was working hard. And I mean hard. He and the rest of the construction team spent all day in the blazing sun and ridiculous heat mixing concrete… with shovels.
He told me about how he spent a large part of the day talking with the foreman. Between Drew’s limited knowledge of Spanish and the foreman’s limited knowledge of English, they managed to have a good conversation.
I have a feeling we’ll both sleep quite well tonight.
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