We were up at 4am this morning and were picked up by 430am to help the local ladies prepare food for today's celebration.
We arrived at Cary and Stuarts house and along with the local ladies started to put salsa and juice into bags. Here if it's liquid it's put into a little plastic sandwich bag and tied at the top, you then bite of the corner and squeeze or suck out whatever is in the bag.
Us Canadians were very very slow in tying the bags compared to the El Salvadorian ladies. We bagged over 1300 bags of salsa and the same of juice. I was working along side Carolino, who is deaf and only reads lips a little bit. We had a lot of fun with hand gestures as she tried to teach me to tie faster....either she isn't a good teacher or I'm a horrible student, I didn't improve much.
We came back to the hotel at 7am for breakfast and were gone again by 8am to continue with food prep and set up at the stadium. Some of us got in there and learned how to make pupusas, I'm sure some of you lucky ones with get to try some when I get home. Rob got right in there and mastered the are art of pupusa making. The ladies absolutely loved it. Men down here just don't help out in the kitchen. He must have made over 150. I got in there too...some of mine were nice and round.... Others not so much. But they all taste the same not matter what shape they are! It was a lot of fun talking to the ladies and getting to know them and translating all of their jokes back and forth between them and the Canadians. In all we made approx 4000 pupusas! I was speedy Gonzalez and made about 50 of those haha.
As we made them we sang some of the Spanish choruses I know and the ladies were so happy that I knew some Spanish songs. Knowing their language really goes a long way with the people here.
The other guys were gophers for a while getting more beans and dough and being totally goofy making all the ladies laugh.
The crowds began to arrive around 11am and it felt like we were not going to have enough food! Over 1300 showed up, these are all the families who received a house since October of last year! It's incredible to see, in one place, all of the lives that have been changed in just the last six months. It's an incredible thing that Shelter does for these people.
There was some worship music and speeches to celebrate the success of the past building season. And as the speeches went on the heat increased. I think today was the hottest of the week.
It was amazing to be with all the people today and give all praise and glory to God for all the work that has been done.
Can't believe today was really our last day with the people. Tomorrow is a day of rest at the beach!
This has been quite the week. A lot of it has felt like I've been watching a movie and I'm sure it will take quite awhile to digest and process all that I've seen and experienced. I'm incredibly thankful for each and every moment.
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