July 10, 2015

We made more progress on the school today, with the help of the master builder from Villa Japon, Dimas.  More people from the community came to help.  One boy, Alvarado (maybe 16 or 17) helped me set blocks.  He was very soft spoken and fast speaking, which made it difficult for me to understand what he was saying.  A lot of our communication was through gesturing to one another, which I though was pretty cool.  If we continue the same amount of work, we will most likely finish the walls, and maybe even start on the roof, which I feel really good about.  The work is much more intense compared to SSP because we are building from the ground up, as opposed to just repair work.  After lunch, we went back to Miraluz to Doña Sofia's house and learned how to make tortillas - from corn!  We started with boiled corn, ground it into a paste, added water to make Masa (dough), shaped them to tortillas and then put them on the fire.  They were the most delicious tortillas I have ever had in  my life!  And we put some queso on them; ooh!  SO GOOD!  Of course we ate as soon as we got back and I'm still stuffed, nearly 4 hours later.  Elsa has been doing a lot of translating for us and she said that Doña Sofia is so happy to see that we are so united as a team already that she was moved to tears.  It warms my heart when I hear that because it means that I am playing at least a little part in enriching someone's life here.  Doña Sofia is so nice and welcoming.  She was patient with us as we went through the process of making the tortillas; and we've only been in the community for 3 days.  I can already feel like it's going to be hard to say goodbye.  It's so fun to see the youth interact with the children of the community also.  I can tell how much this experience is changing them which is truly amazing.  And I am getting to see more and more of each of my youth's personalities as we bond as a team.  I am so glad we were able to make this trip happen!

Howard (another chaperone) & Nancy show off their beautiful work!

Roger was our Master Builder.

Axie, taking a break from working to play with some of the children.

Axie with Moisé, one of the children who stole our hearts.

Eileen (one of our youth), having fun with some of her new friends.

Nancy & Elaine (another one of our youth), grinding the corn into masa as Doña Sofia (right) supervises.

Another beautiful sunset at Mundo de Fe (see the volcano in the distance?)