I can't believe you all are still out of school because of the bad weather! Will you even remember your teachers' names when you get back? I have so many things to tell you, I don't know where to begin, so I'll start with what we did on Sunday.
Sunday was kind of a lazy day. We ate a late breakfast and stayed around the hotel in the morning. We ate sandwiches for lunch in the outdoor pavilion and then got ready for church. Church doesn't start until 3:00 in the afternoon, so we had all day to get ready. We drove to Pastor Manuel's church which is about 45 minutes away. We got there a little early, so he gave us a tour of his backyard (he lives right by the church).
First we saw the fruit of the cacao tree. Can you believe this is where chocolate comes from?
Pastor Manuel opened the fruit and this was what was inside. It looked like lots of seeds, each with a thick white covering. He took one out and popped it in his mouth, so I decided to try one too.
This is what it looked like close up. You eat the covering off and are left with the cacao seed inside. I thought it tasted like a green banana! Hundreds of years ago cacao seeds were as valuable as gold, and people used them for money. Charlie, maybe you should try to buy Pokemon cards with cacao seeds and see how that works in the U.S.!
Next we saw an entire field of pineapple growing. Can you find the small pineapple in this picture?
Finally, it was time for church! Donnie Mitchell said a few words to the congregation. His interpreter, Jose, translated everything he said into Spanish so everyone could understand him. There was a lot of music in the service. Our team even got up and sang Jesus Loves Me!
At the end of the service, all the children sang for the congregation, just like you all do in children's choir. I thought you all might like to hear them.
We all visited in front of the church for a few minutes before we headed back to the hotel.
The children were so friendly! They love to pose for the camera.
You all would have made friends with them right away!
Monday morning we got up very early and boarded the bus to the worksite. It takes about an hour to get there from our hotel, and it is a very slow, bumpy ride! The worksite is the hospital in Chocolá where members of our group are renovating a house for Dr. Sergio and his family. Do you remember at the Super Bowl party when you had the Queso for the Casa nacho bar to raise money for the house in Guatemala? Well, THIS IS IT! Unfortunately, it's hard to get a good picture of it because it is behind a very high wall.
Donnie Mitchell, our team leader, walked through the house with me though, and this is the video we made.
Do you recognize this guy? It looks like Pastor Cliff to me!
Here is Cynthia Mitchell working hard on the wall.
This is what the house looks like from the street.
This little video shows you the main area where we work. There are seventeen of us on our team.
Most of the team works on the house, but Doc, Brittney, Karlee, and Miss Amy work in the dental clinic, and Meredith and I work with the children. Both Doc and I also have interpreters that work with us because very few of the residents of Chocolá speak English.
Here are Miss Amy and Karlee getting ready to get started for the day. Jose, their interpreter is in the yellow shirt. This little girl is getting ready to have some of her teeth pulled, and I don't think she is very happy about it. Unfortunately Doc pulls teeth from many of the children because they eats lots of sugar and don't brush and floss!
Meredith and I worked with the children outside the hospital. These little ones are working on learning their colors in English. They study English a little bit in school, so most of them did very well!
We also did an activity about dental health. They watched a video on the iPad showing them the correct way to brush and floss, and then they made paper teeth with dental hygiene instructions on them.
These three are working on their tooth project.
The finished product!
I'm going to have to stop for now. We love you both and miss you very much! I sure hope we can bring some of this warm weather back to Tennessee with us!
Love,
Sweetie and Doc
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