Escapades in El Salvador, Day Cinco: From sunrise to beachside

This morning marked our last morning at the orphanage. I decided after being a little late yesterday to go out and watch the sunrise. Today, I was right on time and got to enjoy it from start to finish.  Getting up to watch the sunrise was a popular activity. Matt, Kalynn, Daniel, Leah, Liz, and myself all got up to enjoy the sunrise this morning. I was able to get some awesome pictures of the sunrise while I was out there. At one point, I decided I wanted to walk down to the courtyard area and snap some photos of the various buildings for posterity's sake. When I walked to the courtyard, the multiple dogs that inhabit the orphanage began growling at me and stalking near so therefore I took the hint and headed back up to the boys' house rather than get bit. After the sunrise, it was time to head inside to get ready for the day and get all of our belongings packed up. After packing, we headed to the kitchen for our breakfast. Happily enough, no dogs attempted mutilation of me this time. I'll count that as a victory. 

Before our team left, we all gathered inside the church with the kids. Miriam read a letter to our team with the help of Walter thanking us for everything that we had done. Following that, Milena had all of the kids sit down against the wall and called them up one at a time to hand out their new shoes. It was really fun to see just how happy and proud all of the kids were of their new zappatos (shoes). On this trip, I had brought an inexpensive pair of lime green sunglasses with the intention of leaving them with one of the kids so I was wearing them today. I decided that I wanted to give my shades to Harsen. It was fun to leave them with a kid that seemed to like me and that I had the opportunity to spend some time around. After that, it was time to get our luggage and pack up the trucks and say our final goodbyes to the kids before hitting the road and heading to La Libertad. That experience is always a little sad for me and I never like going through it.

Our trip to La Libertad took about two and a half hours to get there so we all enjoyed a pretty relaxed car ride with quite a few sleeping on the way. We headed straight to the Remar orphanage in La Libertad. I had been there once before but most of our team hadn't so it was fun to see them enjoying their time there, especially in the babies' house. It's hard to go to the La Libertad orphanage without ending up with a baby in your arms. Our team eventually worked our way up to a lunch area in the adjoining school where some of the staff had prepared us homemade pupusas. I was really excited for the pupasas since they're an El Salvadorian delicacy and I hadn't gotten to eat any on this trip. Following our lunch, Antonio, one of the staff members from the La Libertad orphanage showed us around the area. Antonio actually is twenty years old and had spent most of his life there. He was severely burned on his face as a child and spent extended time in the US having surgeries and rehabilitation. He actually is fluent in English as a result. It was fun to see the self-sufficiency of the the La Libertad orphanage and see their greenhouses, row crops, and livestock. Following our tour, we actually met two missionary couples who were serving on-site for the day and had a good time talking with them. Once we left the orphanage, our group headed to the La Libertad markets and got some ice cream before heading to Atami, the beach resort where we would spend the night.

The Atami eating area. The pool is just to the right.

Once arriving at Atami, we all headed for the beach to enjoy the great ocean waters. The tide had washed in some very sharp rocks but once we were able to swim past those into the deeper water, we had a great time. The sea was a little angry but no one drowned so it was a great afternoon. After leaving the beach, a lot of us headed for the pool at the center of the Atami complex and enjoyed the warm water. Following that, we all got cleaned up and headed to the eating area for dinner. While waiting for my order of coconut shrimp, I was taking the opportunity to watch ESPN in Spanish. The top story of the day, even ahead of the World Cup, was "El Rey vuelve a casa." Even in El Salvador, where LeBron is playing is a big deal. Following our dinner, a group of us consisting of Daniel, Leah, Kalynn, Madi, Valmori, and I decided to go exploring and go for a walk. We ended up finding this great trail that headed along the cliffs above the water which was lit only by the beautiful full moon. That was a really fun time of being able to bond with the younger members of our team and also take some fun group pictures!

After our walk had ended, I headed back to the eating area to sit down and journal and figure out my highlights of this trip and the things that I learned.

• I wanted God to remove me from my comfort zone on this trip. I will always proclaim that it takes a lot to make me feel uncomfortable but God helped it happen. I'm grateful for all of my awkward experiences on this trip because it made me want to rely on God more through it all.
• I was hoping to be able to speak better Spanish on this trip. I feel like that goal was accomplished because I found it a little easier to pick up one word here or there with the kids and I could figure out what they were talking about. Also, I could communicate back a little which hopefully made the kids feel loved and appreciated.
• I wanted to build good relationships with the younger members of our team since I'd been working with Transform on Wednesday evenings. I feel like I was concerned when looking at our team initially that I was the odd man out and would struggle to fit in as the only Northland person. Despite that, I felt like I played a role on our team, got along with everyone well, and was able to have a leadership role on our team since I'd had experience in ES before.
• I gained further appreciation for just how big God is and how much He loves us.