Day 4! I’m getting to that point where I don’t want to leave:(

 I’m truly starting to fall in love with the community and connections with the people here. A week will never be enough time, so I won’t waste a second! 

Which is why today was a little hard! It ended up ending as a rest day and I had to remind myself, that I have to take time for myself in order to be my best self. 

But to start off our day we ofc had our morning devotional, Dan led it today because Steve went to the mother recovery home, where they help the mothers of children who are in the system, to help them get back up on their feet! I decided not to go and to sleep in since we were up so late, and I’m glad I did because I got some more personal time with other members in the group. 

Afterwards we made our way over to the main orphanage that we’ve been at a lot! Our leaders asked us if we wanted to do more work, play with the kids or both and ofc we said both! 

So we made our way over and within seconds, the kids started coming up to me asking for a “foto”!

 (Side note; I was so happy because Temu ( the little boy from yesterday, yellow shirt) came running up with a huge smile on his face,  he said hi and waived almost bashful like. I was able to get a photo of him before him ran off!

The kids are learned how to use my camera which is good and bad lol! It means they like to grab it and try to walk away with it and they get so excited and grab it while someone else is using it. So I’ve definitely had to perfect my Spanish and sternness when I say one minute, or 1 at a time please! But those sweet pictures of the me and some of the kiddos were taken by some of the other kids and it just fills my heart! 

After I put my camera away, one of the little girls grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the court they have, and started playing catch! She saw my bug band and thought it was so cool she asked to keep it! It made my day how something so simple could mean so much! As we were trying to talk, I had pulled my phone out to translate, and she got so interested in learning English words for things like ball, girl, and lady. 

But as I started making my way to the baby house with my group, temu stopped me and I asked if he was going to go to school today and he said yes! I told him no fighting and he started laughing and tried boxing me😂  as I pulled out my phone to talk with him, he said he had a lot of fun yesterday and that he really x10 liked hanging out with me. (Funny part: Google translate heard him tell him friend “this is the girl I was telling you about”😂 and once he saw it caught it he tried to hide the phone and he got all bashful!) it made my day tho because to me it was just a simple tic tak toe in the dirt, or making a joke, but for him it was everything! 

As I kept trying to leave, he got sad and asked if I could come back and play chalk with him since he didn’t want to yesterday. I felt so bad because we have to stick together as a group so I couldn’t stay, but I’m hoping to do it with him tomorrow! So he gave me a hug and I headed out!

As we went over to the baby house, I’d say most of them were less then or around a year, and there was a newborn! I never thought about it before but I wasn’t prepared for the already hard language barrier to get harder! These are babies who don’t really know you, they wanna play but i dont know what i don’t know! If they talk, and if they do… I couldn’t really talk TO them! But I got to hold the newborn baby, and then there was this little girl who just loved doing her own thing, so ofc I gravitated towards her. As we made our way outside, we played on the swing, laying in the grass and pretended to cry, we(she) rode around on a bike! She was such a sweetheart! 

And as we started walking with them back to their beds she lost me for second and started looking around for me and took my hand! As I put her in her crib she started to fuss but I just stood there with her until the caregiver was able to help her get settled. It was such a relaxing part to an already energy filled day! 

After this we made our way to another house with kids a little older, where we had planned some activities for the kids to do before school. (Ofc I had to say goodbye to Temu tho, and he promised me so fights today at school so crossing fingers) 

Kristy brought giant bowling, Darrin brought hover soccer balls, and I brought army men and rubber bands (shoutout to my mama for the idea;)) the kids had so much fun! After games we got together and ate some homemade Posole!

(Fun fact, they leave the bones in the soup and you can sip the bone marrow out. Ofc I did it tho, you only live once… but never again😂) 

After that is when we went back to the field to try to get some more done. It’s cool to see all the progress we made but tension gets high when your outside for hours, covered in sweat and dirt, your body is aching, and you don’t always have all the things you need for the job. But we all worked together and made do. I was proud of myself for listening to my body and not pushing myself to far, since we still have 3 days left! 

I will admit tho, the second I saw a cockroach the size of a domino chasing towards me, I got all my energy back and I used it to run the other direction. Mind you there was prolly like 5 all at once! Plus a ton of fire ants. And as I was cleaning up leaves I saw that a roach was just chillin on the back of my shoe. I swear I was running off of hard work and dedication bc normal me would’ve freaked out but I just shook it off and watched it scurry away! But thinking back to it… 🤮 (Hope you liked that mama, the cockroach part was just for you!😂🫶🏼) 

But I didn’t let that Deter me from finishing the job! We got a lot more done and should be able to finish it up tomorrow! But after being out in the field for now 2 days in a row, they brought us out some homemade popsicles! And when we got back to the hotel they brought us some FRESH homemade coconut water. They even cut up the coconut and put it in a bag. 

It did not taste the way I thought it would, I was so co fused bc it tasted like nothing and the texture was not what I expected. But the coconut water was amazing! I’m really hoping to find something close to it when I get back home. I’m not normally a picky person but I WILL be picky about that!

Around this time is when everyone started winding down and relaxing for the night. I layed out by the pool, enjoyed the crisp 88 degrees with almost no humidity! It was the perfect way to close out a very busy day. 

Tomorrow I’ll be doing another coffee run with the group! Find some more fun snacks to try! Then we’ll be doing some more of the field and other projects. Playing with the kids and babies again, before coming back to the hotel to shower and then hit the town as a team to see the rich history and to shop a little more!  Good thing I was no where close to my 50 pound bag limit cause you best believe I’m filling that baby up!😂 

So grateful for today and the lessons I learned, the growth I had, the people I met, the connections I made, and the life long memories I’ve made! I thank you god for blessing me with these talents that I can use towards your good name and truth!🙏🏼💗 GN!