2 years would be a long time!

(So after my first 2 weeks here I´ve decided that 2 years on a mission would be VERY LONG. Way to go missionaries, you are amazing. )

Hola! I’m not going to have time to address everything I said I would… but this is what I’ve got so far….

It’s been 2 weeks and I’ve lost the unconquerable - “I’m an adventurer who loves cold showers and sleeping on cot’s , I should go sign up for Survivor ” – attitude that dominated my first blog. My hand aches from the hours of pick hammering rock – I can hardly unscrew the lid on my water bottle, it feels like red ants are marching through hot sauce that somebody has thrown all over my shoulders (I’m sunburned), I’m frustrated with the language, ( Spanish is going fine… but the students like to speak English around the house and that is NO BUENO!) and I’m surprised I haven’t lost one of my organs during the continual bouts of explosive diarrhea (Having diarrhea in a house where the toilets usually don´t flush can create some major contention.) Sometimes I just want to take a nice warm shower, curl into a ball in my comfy bed and hibernate in my air-conditioned bedroom at home (Instead of taking a freezing shower and then sweating to death on the cot here in El Salvador).

To quote my dad, “This too will pass.” Alo-vera and peptobesmol are my best friends. My body will recover – it always does. I’m determined to get this Spanish speaking dilemma resolved. I’m going to be reading a whole bunch of books in Spanish, have 24 hour English fasts and I’ll continue to speak with any native that I get the opportunity to speak with. Puedo hacer eso!

I do not at all regret my decision to have come. My whole life I’ve known that I have been blessed beyond reason…. But this is the first time that I have been able to witness firsthand the magnitude of my blessings. I’ve seen 90 year old tooth-less women living in tin shacks, amputees without legs begging on the side of the highway, and hundreds of other people who have endured life void of the “luxuries” that we take for granite every day. The heart wrenching poverty and slime of this third world country overwhelms me with gratitude for my wonderful, wonderful life. I now have the opportunity to repay humanity (and Christ) for my innumerable multitude of blessings I’ve been given by trying to give back to the world.

This is my favorite picture of all the pictures I have taken so far. The names of these ladies are Rosa and Mercedes. I met them while they were waiting in line for their eye examination. I asked Rosa ( the lady in pink) how she was and she informed me that she was sick. She told me that she could not see, hear, and that she had a pain in her heart. Still, she was an incredibly sweet and upbright lady to talk to. You can see her kindess eminating through her smile. When we did the eye examination on Mercedes she couldn’t even count the number of fingers placed right in front of her face. I don’t know that she has ever owned a pair of glasses.

About 6 months ago there was a terrible earth quake that destroyed the crops and almost all of the homes of san – Vicente. Hundreds of people died. These people were simple farmers… after the earth quake they lost everything. They didn’t even have a shack to call their own. We’ve been working with a company called habitat to rebuild 50 of the homes so that they can move onwards with their lives.

5 hour bus ride with no air conditioning. 6 hours of digging without any shade. 90 degrees and humid. It. Was. HOT!!!!!

My grandparents owned a cabin on the shore in California so I’ve spent many years developing an intense appreciation of the ocean and its sublime beauty. But the water is Northern California is FREEZING, though it never stopped me from getting in, I’ve always craved plunging through the warm waters of a tropical shore. I was even willing to let my future fiancé (whoever he is) buy my ring at claires so we could save money for our honeymoon and go somewhere tropical and exotic. That said, you can understand how I was absolutely ecstatic to finally submerge myself in the balmy waves. Seriously, I almost cried.

A big reason why ¨You should be jealous.

I got sunburned... of course.