Tuesday

This morning, we woke up bright and early to a lovely breakfast made by Mari, our Colombian cook.  After eating delicious pancakes, we had some time to do devotions before we left.  Being so close to the ocean makes devo’s so much more peaceful.  After our morning prayer, we had a rough start because the language barrier caused some confusion with the taxi driver.  However, that was the only minor problem and from there on out, our day was FANTASTIC!

We went to paint at Cristal Rey Church.  The first blessing of the day was that the heat wasn’t nearly as bad as we expected it to be.  We were indoors, so we could feel the breeze while we painted.  Partway through the day, we headed outside to eat an excellent lunch they prepared for us which was fish and coconut rice. 

 

 We weren’t used to the scales and bones which are usually taken off in America, but thankfully, they spared us from seeing the fish’s head. In the middle of our lunch, we were taken off guard because the pastor, Jorge, had a parrot that was given a bath in the upstairs window by Jorge’s wife.  She sprayed it with water to clean it, and during the process, he fell down into the courtyard where we were eating.  He couldn’t catch himself because his wings were clipped, but Jorge picked him up and allowed us all to meet him and hold him. His name was Paco!

 

Another type of animal that we saw throughout the day, which we’ve noticed a lot, is a crazy amount of sick and malnourished dogs roaming the streets. They chill on the beach, in the middle of the road, and wherever else they feel the need to go. It breaks our hearts that we can’t do anything to help them L They’re so cute.

Around 2:00, most of the team went to a Christian school for another painting project, but some of us stayed behind and finished up at the church (Bonnie, Aubrey, and Elyssa).  Jorge and his beautiful family were so blessed by the work we got done today.  We painted the entire inside of the church in just a few hours and built great friendships with this family despite the language barrier.  Before we left, Jorge prayed for us, which was really powerful because even though we couldn’t understand his words, we could feel God’s presence.

 

Meanwhile, the team at the Christian school has accomplished painting 7 rooms so far, and we’ll be back at it tomorrow painting 4 more rooms. When we first got there, we played soccer with the children while we waited for the rooms to be ready for us to paint. We had conversations with the older teenagers who had learned in school how to speak English. It was nice to speak to people who know our language, but it was also hard to relate because their culture is so different. For example, the only time they ever play soccer is with friends; they don’t have any school sports.  Also, while painting, it was nice getting to know one another and how each of us have come to God.  Our group gets along so well; we are truly blessed to have each other! Every night we come together to debrief, talk about highs and lows and of course worship together!

-Hailey and Elyssa