July 30- Day 4

Today was a hard labor intensive day! We went to Chivida, a town about an hour away. We went to the complex that life challenge is setting up as a missionary training school. I was put on the team that worked on the girls' dorms, we made the landing that leads into the doorway of the kitchen area. We mixed the cement the old way-gathered plywood then placed sand, gravel and concrete mix with some water and mixed it using shovels. NOT EASY! I used muscles that ache so badly right now. We completed 3 landings! which is a huge fete especially since the rock and sand were about 1/2 a football field away and had to transport the materials using a wheelbarrow, with several trips each time for the sand and gravel.
After construction was completed we had lunch then headed over to the community center for VBS. The children at this VBS site come from homes where their parents are druggies, alcoholics or drug dealers. It was amazing to see the differences between yesterday's VBS site and todays. There were little to no parents there and the kids were wound up. Probably from the drugs they are inhaling in their own homes. In the end though everyone came together to accomplish the task. We decided that as leaders that we wouldn't stay to do a community outreach. The team was beat from a hard days work, and staying would have meant being in Chivida til 11 pm then driving an hour back. We left and stopped at a park for debriefing, and then off to Carmen's for dinner.
When we returned from dinner we sat outside and just sang for a little bit. It was nice just to be able to relax and fellowship with everyone. Although everyone was tired no one went to sleep, it was a "good tired" as everyone was laughing and having a good time with each other. Currently it is 11:10 and some girls are still outside hanging out.
Some of the most memorable moments of the day;
-chanting "Felipe, Felipe" for the best driver...he does well considering there are no street signs here!
-laughter in the van, it energizes me every time I enter the van
-singing acapella on the balcony
-mixing and pouring concrete
-eating spicy food at Carmen's
-learning more Spanish each day
-the everyday chant "DIRTY MATTRESS"
-"horseradish is the stuff you put on roast beef" after one of the girls asked for the 'horseradish' medicine. it was kind of like ben gay but had a horse on it...hence horseradish. (oh the things we say when we are tired!!!)

goodnight...i am ready to wake up tomorrow for the final day of construction and VBS and give it my all.
It is hard to think that our time here is halfway through...these are experiences I am never going to forget!