I love going out into the town at night, when it's cool and the stars are bright and everyone is relaxing.
On Tuesday evening, I went with the Aldens and their team to eat dinner in Rio Esteban at Rosy's. Rosy has a restaurant right on the beach, and if you make reservations, she'll get people to help her make all the food and have dinner ready for you. She serves seafood - shrimp, conch, lobster - as well as chicken, coleslaw, fried plantains, ceviche, and rice and beans. It's all delicious. Plus, she makes incredible lemonade. I heard her secret is adding a little vanilla.
We ate dinner on the second story of the building. The roof was thatched, and the walls were just railing and posts. There was a great view of Rio Esteban and the ocean.
Afterwards, as I was standing in the back of one of the trucks on the way home, I realized that I have finally completely fallen in love. Hearing Laila, one of the little students from the bilingual school, shout, "Hannah, Hannah!" as we passed her house warmed my heart like a cup of hot chocolate does on a winter day. The breeze in my face and the stars in the sky, the lonely horse on the side of the road and the snake that slithers away as we drive by - I love all these things.
Thursday afternoon, the bilingual school marched through Balfate along with all the other schools in our area. When the school bus, which was 40 minutes late, finally stopped by the hospital, it was completely full. Normally, non-school people can get a ride on the school bus too, they just have to pay. But today, the driver told the other people waiting with me, "Solo la gringa." All the kids had their marching costumes on, and were holding their batons or pompoms or umbrellas or drumsticks.
It took almost an hour to get everyone from all the schools organized and ready to march. That day, many people were holding umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun while we waited and then, when we finally got going, while we marched. We walked all around the town and at the end of the route each school did a little final presentation for the school directors. After my school finished marching, Delmy and Deslinn, two teachers at the bilingual school, and I stood with the crowd and watched the other schools go by.
When I finally got home that night, it was dark outside. I thought I might miss my bus stop because I don't normally come from that direction and out here in the country, there aren't exactly signs and noticeable landmarks. But I didn't.
Thursday morning I left with the Younts to drive to Siguatepeque, a city which is about seven hours away in the mountains, for a missionary conference. We bought two bags of lichas to eat along the way (I love those things) and stopped at a gas station to have lunch at the restaurant there.
A licha seed, the meat part, and the whole fruit
The conference was great. There were probably 20 missionary couples/families as well as about 10 or 15 single people there. The speaker for the adult sessions was David Howard, and he and his wife came from the States to speak. He is Elizabeth Elliot's brother and was Jim Elliot's best friend. He and his wife were missionaries for 30-some years in Colombia, I think, and he had a lot of stories to tell and wisdom to share, besides the fact that he was a great speaker.
He talked about Peter - his calling, his failures, his restoration, his growth, and his triumphs. I know a lot of people say that Peter is their favorite Bible character because he messed up and so he is more relate-able, but I think he really is one of my favorites after this weekend. His life is such a perfect example of God's grace, his love, his power. I think now one of my favorite Bible stories is in John 21, when Peter sees Jesus waiting on the shore for him after he's just fished all night and caught nothing. I had never thought before about the fact that this was the first time that Peter had really talked with Jesus after his death. After having betrayed Jesus, he probably had given up hope of ever having the same relationship with Jesus again, of being close to him again. But here, Jesus sort of starts all over with him and says, "Follow me." He lets him know that he's forgiven, that he loves him.
One highlight of the conference for almost everyone was the temperature. It was cool enough in the mountains (75 degrees in the morning, maybe?) that I wore a sweatshirt every morning and evening, and at night you couldn't just sleep with a sheet. You had to have a blanket or you would freeze. This was SO wonderful. Even though I'm used to the heat here in Balfate now, it was so cozy to be able to wear long sleeves and wrap up in a blanket. We all had fun with that.
I had such a great time hanging out with all the girls and meeting new people. It was so nice to have a free weekend to just spend time with each other and get to know one another and make memories.
Sarah, Jenna, me, and Rebekah
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