Monday, February 28

After a relatively slow morning, Santa Elena took me and Luz Marina to the river to show me how she washes clothes. Luz Marina and I quickly returned to the house to change into swimming clothes and then spent a few hours playing in the river. It was so beautiful and peaceful, and I felt God's presence so clearly there. Luz Marina loved showing me tall rocks to jump off of and tricks she could do in the water. Yelena soon joined us and she brought a ball for us to play with. One of the women washing took a break and the four of us played beach volleyball for a while. We had a blast, but Luz had to leave to go to school after a while.

Yelena and I went back to swimming, and soon she decided to do some of her own laundry. I hung out in the water for a long time just soaking up the sun and resting in God's arms. When we finally made our way home, we got cleaned up and then visited Jake and Courtney. We spent quite a while at each of their houses and then went home in order to be there when my host dad got back from Managua where he works as a taxi driver. Santa Elena was feeling pretty antsy, so we went to the neighbor's house to grind some seeds to make juice for dinner. She taught me how to use the grinding stones and I tried rather unproductively to help. Once the seeds were ground, we went back to make dinner, and Santa Elena showed me how she cooks on the fire stove.

I was supposed to give my English lesson at 5:30, but dinner was just getting ready then, so Santa Elena said the kids would just have to wait. I didn't really like that idea, but we just ate quickly and left in a hurry. A bunch of kids were waiting when I got to the house where my lesson was to be held, and Courtney and I taught a basic lesson on numbers, colors, and letters in English. It was pretty rough, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. We took lots of pictures with the kids and when we got home I took pictures with my host family.

Their son came home from Managua to meet me and see his family. It was kind of awkward, but then some of his friends came over so it was a little more relaxed. We all sat out and watched the neighbors burn a huge pile of trash and brush, and then we star gazed for a while. It was a beautiful last night...this week flew by and I'm really going to miss it here! I can't believe I'm leaving already tomorrow!