New Things

So many new things happened this week:

- I had to eat new food
- we were around people who spoke Spanish all the time
- I learned how to use two different kinds of drills
- I learned how to put the walls together for a house
- I tried to carry pieces of the house (but the locals came to take it from me)
- I learned how to interact with the children
- I learned how to interact with my teammates
- I ate pupusas for the first time (didn't love it)
- I rode in the back of the truck (it didn't make me feel to great)

This week has probably been a time where I experienced the most new and different things all at once, and I feel this experience has been bigger than I thought it would be. I feel like the sacrifice to pay my own way and help raise funds was worth it. I had planned to go last year, but it didn't work out. I wasn't upset by that. But now, having been here for this week, it has been so worthwhile to finally experience so many new things.

Kayli

Number Two

This being my third trip to El Salvador, i'm always cautious of where and when I am going to use the bathroom, usually I just hold it until the hotel. I honestly don't think I have gone number two outside of the "comfort" of my hotel room... until this week.

Baño experience numero uno 
So picture this, we're sitting in Pollo Campero, the whole team, us Canadians, translators, and drivers.
We are about part way through our meal and it hits me... I gotta go! but I think to my self I'm not at the hotel can I hold it? If I choose to hold it how long will we be here? will I go in my pants?? anyway,  I see Matt move towards the bathroom and I decide "hey he's going i'll go too" so Matt and I have an awkward bathroom head nod (you know the usual thing guys do in the bathroom). Then I take my seat upon the thrown. I hear Matt exit the washroom. A minute or two passes and I come to the conclusion that I am finished in the baño. but to my not so great surprise, there is no toilet paper other than the single shred on the floor. Not having my phone being in El Salvador I was unsure of what to do. So I waited, and waited for  twenty minutes. Watching shoes as they came in hoping for someone to save me from my boredom and discomfort. I even resorted to saying "hola" and waving that single shred of toilet paper under the door to which I just received El Salvadorian giggles. At last as the team is getting into the vans to leave they notice I have yet to return from the baño and  I hear the voice of my father asking if I had fallen in. Of all places to use the baño and Pollo Campero doesn't have toilet paper.

Baño experience numero dos 
I brought my own toilet paper this time! See i'm learning. this bathroom trip consisted of me wanting to hold it but seeing Matt decide to go and then realizing it just be safe because he's going, Ben also tagged along to this trip. When we got to the baño Matt went first and Ben and I noticed we could see his head through the top. I went last and got to enjoy Matts thunderstorm and birdsong to help make the bathroom outdoors as comfortable as possible. My problem with this baño was not the lack of toilet paper but the lacking of a certain commodity we take for granted... a toilet seat. The toilet was just a cement bowl causing the users to squat.

Two Things I Learned:
#1. Always bring toilet paper to the baño. No matter where it is.
#2. Toilet seats are just a suggestion.

Quinn

Key Giving Ceremony

Today was the key giving ceremony. On Sunday we met 14 families, and today all 14 families recieved the keys to a home that they can now call their own. It was so exciting to see all of them together. I think for most, it was so hard to believe that this was actually happening for them. 

During the ceremony, Pastor Pastor said a few words that really helped me relate to how these families were feeling. He said, "It's a feeling of being overwhelmed because it's always been a thought that it would never happen to you. You feel it and you touch it and you still can't believe that it's true."

They thank God for these houses, but they kept thanking us too. And I kept thinking that it was God who provided the funds for these houses, and it was God who worked through us to build these houses, and He should be be getting ALL the glory. We were just the hands who did the work, and in the end ALL the praise needs to be turned back to Him. 

Thank you for all your prayers from home, they are such an important part of this trip.  We couldn't do this without you.

Julia