[SI Devo: Ephesians 4:1-16 & Psalm 8]
Lord, You awake us to clear skies this morning. Looking more like dry season... finally. That means warmth. A lot of warmth. & heat. God as we serve You under the heat of the day, let us know that we are doing Your works and that You are shining Your light on us. Father let us drink enough water & gatorade so we remain hydrated and healthy. & relieve Melissa and Matt of their (& Isaac!) already existing colds. Let us have healthy bodies & healthy hearts to focus on You throughout this beautiful day.
Psalm 28:7
"Abre mis ojos"
Matthew 28:18-20
"I love you, I need you, though my world may fall I'll never let you go."
Hosea 6
Psalm 23 & 29
Desayuno: pancakes & fruit. Our small group cooks breakfast in the morning (tomorrow). We have high expectations to live up to. The weather here changes quite quickly- it was sunny & cloudy off & on all day, but thankfully no rain. Matt began the day (after bkfst) with a nap... trying to knock out some of headache & sickness. After Lindsey/Penny & Jaime were done with the spackle, Krista helped me spackle more of Camry's room (after we sanded down the spackle from yesterday). Camry was hanging out in there some, so we got to chit-chat a bit. She's awesome, and we're great friends now. I will miss her when we leave! Snacktime was around 10:30 and we had banana bread pudding- it was like banana bread but a lot more squishy inside. Quite good, as everything else here. Lunch was lighter than usual- but great! Choice of ham sandwich or PB&J, & fruit. Of course, I had a PB&J and cut it into triangles because I thought of how my mom did that when I was little. I love her greatly. Everyone got back to work after snacktime. Krista and I had to wait for the plaster to dry after we applied more, so we spent time with Kathy, Penny (who was helping her with her book editing), Katie (who was copying the pictures on the Sharp's desktop computer to the zip-drive), & Camry (who was half-doing homework, half-getting distracted from homework). We had a great time just chatting and watching the... *drumroll* amazing progress on the sidewalk!! Tons of people (everyone except us, Becky, Stephen, & Macy -> who were by the street digging up a laundry line deep in the ground) were working on the sidewalk today and taking part in its progress.

Since it remained dry all day, they were able to mix the sand, gravel, & water to make concrete- via the volcano method. Bright sun, lots of water... no dehydration thankfully, but a good number of sunburns (& aloe to follow) despite multiple applications of sunscreen). They finished mixing, pouring, & smoothing the concrete over the rebar... mainly because it'd be really hard to start it back up again.
Lunch was late because of this, but no worries! They said we were done for the day after lunch since it was almost 2:30, so we chilled out for a bit and headed down to the river! I was in charge of Camry, who was in charge of Princesa. We walked (we being almost all of the team, & some of the kids here & Nando) through the jungle to get there- loads of mud & great squishy noises. Rain boots were SO utilized.


We got to the river, & it was/is gorgeous. Water flowing freely over innumerable stones down large expanses - truly the Lord's creation (as all of us are).

I was not planning on getting wet, but God made it really clear that He had other plans for me. Camry brought her Barbie boogie board. Mind you, we were fully clothed - I in my work clothes for the day. I changed into sandals to walk through the water, & it didn't take much convincing for Camry to get me to get more wet... to the point of laying in the water and coasting downstream (over large, painful rocks) to where the rest of the group had headed by this point.

I loved every minute of it. Jaime was nice & clean, then fell off the rock upon which she was standing and flowed just a bit. Laughter ensued. Stephen was about to take an epic picture of Isaac, when Penny told me to splash Isaac as it was being taken. So I did, and the best expression appeared upon Isaac's face. I really hope Stephen captured it successfully. We wrapped things up, snapped a couple more photos, & headed home. Jonathan & I rocked our sandals while carrying our boots. Luckily- we took the road home. I headed straight for the shower upon returning, & oh, it was good. Note to self- sandals are still sitting in one of the showers. I hope they are indeed getting rinsed off thoroughly. Some chill time - Alyx so graciously french braided my hair once again (I'm glad she enjoys doing hair). Dinner was dark rice & beans, rice, beans, beef, watermelon, pineapple, & guacamole with the kool-aid-ish juice. Wait wait. Nope. Totally wrong. Scratch that & reverse it. Okay. I was trying to determine why the sandwich seemed so much more recent than the rice/bean/guac mixture. Notable? Yes, but no. It's because the rice/beans were lunch and the sandwiches were dinner. Yep. Correcto. All is right with the world. Okay. Dinner, then lots of hanging out until worship. All of us, plus Nando, Antonio/Anthony, & a tired Gabriel (who totally is younger than the 9 he told us) on Russell's lap. Adorable. We sung so many wonderful songs to the Lord. Most of my favorites, but they're all God's favorites. In between songs, there was a pause to say verses, prayers, stories- whatever touched your heart as the moment. [In the margin of this page, I wrote "squished bug" with an arrow pointing to a small smudge.] This was really great to hear about God's grace & salvation over us, then sing of it and our thankfulness & love to Him simultaneously, almost. The worship lasted about 2 hours, & I believe the worship on this trip is really focusing my heart on what is real & true. Thank you, Lord, for using Isaac to lead worship this week & for inspiring us to break out into Your praise by song throughout each day. Russell spoke about how he observed Gabriel jump right into the water today - carefree - while he tested the water first. Let us trust God & have faith and freedom in that He takes care of us. Isaiah 43:1-3 -> "Fear not..." We're halfway through the week, & we only have one more workday to go. I'm on my 3rd camera. God, use us on this last full day in Shiroles to Your will & let us accomplish great things. Bless Kathy, Curtis, Camry, & all who live here for being so hospitable to us... all for doing God's work in their home.
:) con felicidad ---