The days keep getting more challenging. I thought that the construction on Monday and Tuesday would be the rough days, but it seems that as the physical stress decreases, the mental stress increases. Today Jamie and I, along with the Pastor Encouragement Team, met with 16 local pastors at the Hotel La Perla in downtown Leon. The idea was to give these overworked men and their wives a day of rest and try to encourage them in the work. We had an informal get together in the morning and then some children from the center danced for us. I’ll try to post some of Jamie’s pictures when I have more time. But during this time I was able to practice my Spanish quite a bit, since the interpreters had not arrived yet. As the week has passed, I’m enjoying my capabilities a little more. Now, besides asking for more food or if the concrete needs more water, I can joke with the locals. Not being able to express my demented sense of humor has been a bit of a downer, but now it’s coming out. I think Jamie was happier on Monday…

Bill introduced us and set out our plan for the day, which has changed about 100 times since we started meeting for the trip. But God is good that way, and what came out of it was so well received that we all knew he had a hand in it. Pat did a short talk on the Purpose Driven Life and was able to give copies in Spanish to them. Then we had lunch and got to talk a bit more while I scrambled around trying to get my DVD player to work with their television. I knew for sure I’d have problems, but the problem was with my dinky player rather than their equipment. After lunch I shared a little of my story and then played the Spanish version of Rick Warren’s introduction to Celebrate Recovery. I hadn’t seen the English version in a few years, and couldn’t remember exactly what was on it, but I could see the reaction in the head nodding of the pastors and the laughs at Rick’s jokes, so I knew he was connecting with them. Afterwords I answered some questions then Jamie talked a little about her experience. Bob wrapped it up by stressing to them the importance of not overworking and delegating the vision to others. I know this is a very brief summary but it’s hard to put a day’s worth of stuff into this posting. Part of it is that we’re still processing the emotions and substance of the day, so I imagine I’ll write more about this later.

This evening we drove to the coast for a dinner on the beach. Because we were such a large group we preordered our dinners this morning off a list. The translations and descriptions left a lot to be desired. There were a few shrimp dinners, like shrimp and creme, shrimp and mushrooms, medium fish and large fish. So, I ordered the large fish, and it was pretty large. Head on and with the tail, but it was very good. We had to ride about 45 minutes each way to get there, but it was nice to see the countryside and get away for a bit. Jamie and I haven’t really be able to talk much alone this week, and while we were on a crowded bus, the wind was loud and everyone was into their own conversations enough that we were able to talk for a bit. Or, not talk, but just sit there and enjoy being together without a purpose, without planning, without doing. Just being. After the mental exhaustion of earlier in the day, I was thankful for the opportunity. I wasn’t looking forward to squeezing into a school bus seat for that long tonight, but like lots of other stuff on this trip, it was an unexpected blessing.