Sewing Day 2

Whoot! Today was great! Last night we had an insane thunderstorm, it was so windy and pouring rain for over an hour, crazy stuff! This morning I was more coherant than yestarday which was good and our ride to Rio Frio was awesome and a mini worship session because Carlos (one of the guys) brought his guitar on the road. When we got.there we set up, rounded the kids up and one of translator's daughter, Diana, got a crash course in translating, since we were down one and she translated the story of feeding the 5000. It was a fun, totally new and interesting experience for both of us. After the kids did their colouring and I showed some square knot bracelets but it wasn't as well received as the beaded one but they still loved colouring, playing catch, frisbee, baseball (we used our hands instead of a bat), and just running around. By the time lunch came around Carlos didn't want kids, Gustavo seemed to have adopted 2 for the day and the Carly (I think that is her name) had done manicures and we were all ready for a break! Lunch was fantasic again, as usual! We had a good rest and went back to do it all over again. In the afternoon Carlos did the story, I am not totally sure what it was but I think it was about different cows and a pastor and one left and the pastor looked for it and brought it home. He had kids act it out and they loved it which was awesome! Then they coloured, some did knotted bracelets, Diana made one up herself and a bunch of them loved that one and a few sid the square knot one. I learned that boys tend to catch on quicker after you show them something once or twice whereas with the girl that I taught it took verbal instructions and demonstrations which made for a more interesting time. The kids were fantastic, we were basically completely cleaned up and packed away 15 minutes early which was fine because the women sewing are super efficient so they were ready to go resulting in perfect timing! We got a little breal before getting back in the truck! There was a storm heading in as we were leaving and I thought it would be great if it rained, like a pre-shower, but that isn't how things work in El Salvador. It was super windy (plus driving down a highway), then it spit a bit (felt like pellets because of the speed) and then it poured. And kept pouring. We were soaked through in about 5 minutes and cold for the rest of the ride. I thought it was fantastic about 15 minutes after being soaked because really there was nothing else to do but enjoy it. Us Canadians were more worried about being in a metal truck but the El Salvadorians were worried about getting sick. When we got back we had a few minutes before dinner to dry off, then we ate, did some prep for tomorrow and Carrie took us to the local ice cream place, amazing ice cream! Julie eats like a tank! We went to the grocery store after and we got sunglasses, Julie's from the other night were gone but we found other ones and much more. Upon arriving back we unpacked our one lost bag for material for tomorrow and was interupted by a friendly, curious gecko on Julie's bed. Julie started screaming for a shoe, she just kills things that get in her way, and after we determined it was only a small gecko, no larger than a pinky, she still screamed, while jumping up and down, "Can you get a shoe?!" Then Julie (Trussel) put it under a glass and possibly hurt its leg and Julie still screamed, "Can you get a shoe now?! You've already maimed it!" But we saved.the little guy and put him in the hall and we all just about peed ourselves laughing. "It's cause I didn't pray!" was Julie's reason, she hadn't prayed today that God would keep the geckos in the restaurant where we ate instead of the rooms. The gecko had pooped on the folder used to remove it from the room and Karen's question was "Do you have to declare gecko poo when coming back into the country?" and the rest of us were classified as tree huggers by Julie because we didn't want to kill the gecko. All in all it was a crazy, hysterical day and there are pictures to prove it!

Sewing Day 1

We survived day one of the sewing centre! It was some crazy stuff!! After a late night prepping and then an early morning, I was not feeling my super best going into this. The horns of busses and trucks started blaring early, working the sounds into my dreams, resulting in a state of confusion and not a great hour of sleep. When the alarm went off I stayed in bed too long having me rush pack for todah but I got everything I needed. We had breakfast, met the rest of our translators and started the trek to Rio Frio. Riding in the back of the truck is basically the only part of the day where I feel cool and not sticky, I was almost so cool I wanted a sweater! When we arrived all the women and children were there and readh and we scrambled to finish setting everything up for them. In the morning I had about 12ish kids, probably more though, but thankfully I had awesome people helping, some teens from the local church and of course a translator! The morning kids were super outgoing and stuff which is awesome but difficult when trying to keep them entertained. I love playing with kids but keeping kids entertained is not my favourite thing to do. At one point one little boy looked so tired/faint so I picked him up and ended up playing frisbee with another group so I got my workout doing squats with a kid on my hip, I am so sore! I was so thankful....I stoppped writing mid sentence to help with prep stuff and am not totally sure exactlt where that was going but basically everything was awesome, I think I could have been going towards lunch though. Lunch was fantastic, we served all the ladies and kids and sat down to eat and I scarfed it down like I hadn't eaten in days, they have THE best rice here, I could eat it all the time! Eventually we had to do the morning all over in the afternoon, it honestly felt like living two days in one, it was crazy. I counted 18 kids in the afternoon but I am sure we gained one or two more and I lost most of my helpers because the actually have a life to attend to but the kids were a lot calmer which was fantastic! We read a Bible story, they all coloured (even the boys) and then they all made beaded jewelery (even the boys!), it was great! One kid was always crying/wimpering but thankfully it wasn't contagious and it wasn't to bad :) When the day was finally over we piled back into the truck, I was really hoping it would rain for a preshower, and had a nice cool ride back to where we are staying. Dinner was fantastic, I prayed so I could keep it short so we could eat, I was worried the other team members might pray too long :P After dinner we finished figuring out the cards and now has led to finishing a blog in my room but I am off to shower and sleep because I am tired! Here are some pictures from today, they should be pretty self-explanitory, if not ask a question or two :)

Sunday in El Salvador

Day 2 complete! We are all clean and feeling so much better and less sticky from the weather! This morning a bunch of us were up super early because of the time change, I chose to not be effected and just kept rolling over and trying to sleep. After a leisurely breakfast Carie picked us up to head over to Rio Frio. On the way we picked up some of our translators and enjoyed a cozy ride up in a truck packed with people and supplies. We arrived at the community centre where the sewing centre is currently being built beside it. A mass of women and children and a few men greeted us along with the pastor of the local church and the pastor of the Catholic local church. We set up our projects, did an introduction, had the women sign up for their projects and the trip began. The turn out was great, I have a bunch of kids and others who I get to hang out with all week which should be a blast and very interesting, to say the least, but I am SO excited! We had lunch made by the pastors sister, which was amazing and then set up where we would be working for the week. I didn't really have anything to set up so I played with the missionary families kids and tried to stay as clean and dry and cool before church as possible, only one got wet, we all had to brush some dirt off and nobody was cool, but we tried! I love going to church in El Salvador because everybody is so incredibly passionate! We were late but everybody was so welcoming and helpful when a bathroom was needed and we needed to find seats. Stewart preached about how our God is a sending God and it was a great reminder of what we are doing here and an encouragement to the people here. After church we met the mayor, greeted a bunch of the locals and started back to San Vicente to have dinner at Polo Compero (an El Salvadorian KFC). Dinner was fun, I played x and o with Elis, one of the kids of the missionary family and just had a blast. We stopped by the local grocery store to pick up somr stuff on the way back and got stared at and surprisingly met a guy from Iowa who spoke perfect English, not something you find everyday in El Salvador. Since getting back we have been organizing sponsorship cards from Canada for the women here, so not as easy as we thought it was going to be, prepping name tags and I am off to pull together my stuff for tomorrow and go to bed. Early brealfast and heading off to Rio Frio by 7 tomorrow and it has been a long day! Oh and the only picture I took on my phone was of a crazy, scary spider outside my door this morning, enjoy!

Prep Success!

We finished putting together all of the baskets for the women! Other than the scissors, which we will use all week, we cut all the jersey and batting and there are girly things, like makeup and nail polish, a Spanish Bible, fat squares and a sewing kit we made before we came down. We had a delicious hen, rice and potatoe salad type thing for dinner and of course pop :) After dinner, mini debrief and figuring out what Sunday would be like we finished up the baskets and had a lovely visit from Patricia, one of our translators. We also attempted to take the zipper out of jeans that had been used for quilts but it was brutal. Many seam rippers were broken and I completed one, maybe, with help from my mom, it was pathetic. We are off to see the centre where we will be working this week and then go to church, should be tons of fun! Can't wait to tell you what today had in store for us!

Arriving in El Salvador

Well we made it to El Salvador! This week 5 of us from Canada flew down to join a missionary family to teach women how to sew in Rio Frio at a new sewing centre. We left at 7:30 this morning with 11 overweight checking bags, overweight carry ons and made it through customs with no extra charge and every bag made it down (except one but that will be here tomorrow). Overall it was good plane ride down, longer than I remember but with 20ish less people on the team and none of them your best friends, it probably won't be as loud. Mrs. Hooper and Mrs. Tiessen did talk the whole way dpwn though and not incredibly quietly :P Anywho we are off to prep for the week!! Hopefully another update soon!