Sunday morning: Chris led a short devotional over breakfast, then we discussed our day ahead (which was another 2 hour bus ride after 14 hours of travel the day before.) Then we went to Emilio's church, Lighthouse Church of God. It was a fantastic experience. Every second if it. The loud music and songs brought a very emotional response from my gut. The lump in my throat was undeniable, and the spirit absolutely took my breath away. Emilio's wife Sony preached on obedience. It was very convicting. She says God woke her up at 4a with that lesson to teach. It was so poignant to all of us. I know He woke her up so that WE could hear that lesson.
After church we picked up a few LWI people and went back to the hotel for lunch. Then headed to Saba.
5pm brought a meeting with LWI Kim so she could tell us a little about how out week would go and who our teams would be.
We then had some more really fantastic worship with Gershan, Dennis, Mario! What a treat to have worship led Every morning and every night. And they are so enthusiastic with their worship style. I envy that.
The dinner was homemade fried chicken. I'm pretty sure those same chickens were the same ones that woke someone up that morning. Can you say fresh?
After dinner, Deborah (our hygeine helper/translator) brought us a deck of Uno cards, and we proceeded to get schooled by the LWI team. Mark Gerhinger jokingly says "Don't play cards with the locals."
Monday: Devotion at 6a. Breakfast at 6:30a. Left hotel at 7:30 for a 90 minute drive to Santa Rosa de De Aguan. It is a coastal village. Upon arrival we pulled into the property next to their secondary school. We quickly found out that the school runs from 1p-5p. The men started prepping well staff and Lisa, Deborah and I started out walking to a close home to use the restroom. This is someone's home. Not a public restroom. Not a gas station. She was very welcoming and happy to share her bathroom/home with us. It is very clean and tidy but also very third world. Makes me realize what an extremely lavish and indulgent life we live.
After our pit stop we went next door to the elementary school. It was 3 different open air buildings. The children were all dressed in their navy and white uniforms. The all had great smiles and were happy to help us carry our things.
We set up in a room and started a lesson with 1st-3rd graders. Deborah was our translater. I taught a lesson on germs, washing hands and hygiene. Lisa taught a Bible lesson on Jesus fishing with Peter. The children loved the glitter I used to show how germs spread.
They loved telling me their names and then hearing them back in English. They all had the biggest smiles and most beautiful white teeth.
Then we taught the older kids 4th-6th grade. They were equally as intrigued with the glitter. Glitter spreads and sticks just like germs.
After that we went back to the drill site. The men at the drill site were eating lunch when we returned. After lunch they started drilling. It is a loud process, but goes pretty smoothly and quickly. The guys drilled down about 150+ feet today. Took them forever to get through the clay, but when they finally did, we heard the cheers from the school we were in that afternoon.
Lisa and I both took a few turns drilling. I was a worried I was going to do something wrong, but everyone is very helpful to make sure you don't really mess anything up.
In the afternoon we got to teach the lessons to older students. The well is being drilled on the property of the local secondary schoo. It is not like a secondary school in the states. It is vocation specifc, and the age of students ranged from late teens to early 40's. These kids were so kind and welcoming. I look forward to seeing them all again tomorrow. Hasta manana!