Deve

As we close our first work day in El Salvador, all I can say is that God is showing Himself incredibly present in this place. It is a privilege to be here with thirteen others and to recognize the uniqueness (can be interpreted as quirky or strange) each one is and yet God is using us to bring life, joy and hope to this small mountainside community.
For those of you who know and pray for my wife, Amanda, you should know this. She spent the whole day working out in the sun, and she felt fine. She is sleeping well and enjoying this experience in a greater way than I could have imagined (me of little faith)...she is inspiring me.
Personally, I continue to look at the faces of the people we are surrounded by. Their excitement to welcome us and their willingness to set aside whatever they are doing to help us provide very profound "love your neighbour as yourself" moments to us. You could feel the excitement in the community build as we neared completion of the first house.
Yes, the weather is hot to work in...but I love it. The food, much of it has been a new experience (including rice, beans, fried banana and cheese for breakfast)...but I find most of it really yummy, besides which the jalapeno peppers here are really spicy hot and they serve them for every meal. The travel to and from our worksite is frankly, a little crazy (standing in the back of a pickup barreling around corners where the shoulders give way to a seemingly perilous drop down the side of the mountain) but fun all the same. Transporting tools and materials to the build site seemed very unorganized from our, North American, perspective. But I think that's because we are always so time conscious, trying to accomplish so much at one time...likely too much.
Our truck got a flat tire so we had to make several trips, from where our supplies our stored, to the job site. There's a steep paved hill which stops at a stream. Crossing the stream meant walking across the rocks in the middle while children bathed on one side and women washed clothes on the other. Carrying the siding and other materials back and forth, up and down in the heat of the sun was certainly a challenge but we did it. Percy (age 66) and I made one trip together. He is amazing, consistently working, always smiling and eager to help do whatever needs to be done.

Well, that's it for me tonight, time for sleep...5:40am comes early no matter where you are in the world!