Moving from Xela to Ezell

The last few days have been absolutely amazing. I am going to start with Thursday and bring you up to date. 

Thursday, we went to language school for the normal five hours and then went home for lunch. We met in the square in Xela and took off for the volcano. Baul is not an active volcano, so it was pretty safe, but we climbed it. That's right...we climbed a volcano! It was beautiful and amazing. At the top there was a giant slide into the bowl of the volcano! Not 100% safe but so much fun. After that we had a devo and talked about our last semesters and where we are spiritually right now. It was really cool to see how all of us were at almost similar places between applying for school and being super busy. It was a huge blessing. I was tired when we got down though, so the conversation with my host family was quite short that night. 

Friday we packed up and went to our last day of language school. Nery, my teacher was nice and fun, but he REALLY liked to make fun of my accent. He thought it was really funny. For the last hour, we took a break from subjunctive and played charades with some of the other students. My phrase to act out was "Hasta la vista, bebe!" It was great. Nery and the other teachers were so funny! Loved it. Then we had a big lunch and it was more food than I had seen all week. It was a real sized plate, not a saucer, but I couldn't eat it all. Then we got in the van and truck and left for Clinica Ezell on the coast. I didn't know what to expect, but we are like staying at a resort. It is so much like Samoa, I can't get over it. 

Right when we got there, we got into our rooms and then walked around the grounds and found some coconuts. We played some rugby with them and then took them to the guards to open for us. They were glad to and the water inside the coconut tastes so good. Very refreshing. Then it started raining, so what did Nate, Carrie, Garrett and I do but play soccer in the torrential downpour. We had a lot of fun, per usual. I hope that we can do that again. We got completely filthy in the mud and it was excellent. :) 

Then we had dinner and started orientation. We had a devo and learned that most of our group really likes to sing, which is really fitting for me. Then the next day we went on a scavenger hunt around the town that we are in and then to a...get this...chocolate/coffee/pineapple farm--can you imagine anything better for me?? Awesome!! We stopped in a little town on the way home and saw a "zoo" that had monkeys, turtles, an alligator, a coati, and a racoon! It was so weird! The racoon and the coati shared a "habitat"... I have pictures that I will put up eventually. It was Andrea's birthday so we stopped at an ice cream place and had some great ice cream. They dipped it in chocolate (like Dairy Queen) and then rolled it in nuts! Love it! Dulce de leche once again! It's bad though, I can't stop talking about South America.... 

After that we did more talking about medical evangelism, why we are here, our spiritual histories, and all sorts of intense stuff. It is such a huge blessing to be around these kids who are in such similar places right now in their lives. Garrett and I actually get our MCAT scores the same day and have dedicated to going to the internet cafe next week in Chichi to finish our applications together. Perfect! It's just so encouraging!

Today we got up and had orientation and then church with the locals. They sing like the Samoans too! At the top of their lungs and completely off pitch. It's hard to sit through musically, but it is so joyful, I can't help but smile. Then we had lunch and more orientation. We have gotten to know the directors for Chichi and they are so nice to talk to. We had a lesson on k'iche (the Mayan language today) and it was sooooo HARD. My Spanish is improving, but my k'iche is completely hopeless...

Tonight we are going to do more of the same thing and hopefully more singing. There is a girl in my group that really likes to sing too, so it might not ever be silent ever again! We ship out to new families on Tuesday...I'll try to keep you updated. I can't wait to be in the clinics!! Ahhh! Living the dream. Thanks for the prayers and support! 

*k-baby