El Salvador- Thurdsay, June 16th

We went back to the church to work on painting the ship.  We went up to the third floor to do the work.  Eliana was initially pretty fussy because she was ready for a nap.  She was able to sleep about 20 minutes with all of the different noises while we painted the pirate ship blue. 
 

We went to lunch at a mall that is very similar to what we have in the states.  We had pizza from Bassaro.  There were several restaurants that are found in the states at this mall.  The more important thing was being able to talk with Evelyn and Marco.  We found out that they have two children named Marco Jr. and Mariana.  Mariana is adopted.  She was adopted at the age of 9 months old.  She is now seven and in first grade.  She is learning English and Spanish at school.  You can tell that they love their children very much.

When we came back, we asked the 3^rd grade teacher if we could use her room for Eliana’s nap time.  I nursed Eliana, and she went right out.  She then napped for an amazing 2.5 hours!!!  We were able to finish the entire painting in that time.  I love to paint!  It was nice to be working alongside Kyle and communication and teamwork to run smoothly.  When we try and cook at the same time, we tend to butt heads.  But this project worked very well.  People came by to see the giant painting.  I didn’t think it was all that impressive, but the people were gracious in complements.

At one point, Kyle went to go do something else while I painted.  The 3^rd grade teacher came and talked with me.  Between her broken English and my broken Spanish, we were able to connect over teaching.  She explained that her students were gone for the summer but that the teachers were still working on cleaning out the rooms and preparing the inventory for next year.  Later that afternoon while Eliana was napping, she brought us each a piece of cake since they were celebrating the day of the teacher.  I thought it was so thoughtful.

We had about an hour before church would start.  We decided it would be best to go pick up papusas a few houses down.  Pam sent Emily and Michelle with us.  I like when children are around.  I feel more comfortable with trying out my Spanish.  We found out the girls’ ages (11 and 13), that they live next to the church, and that they are in the 5^th and 7^th grade.

I was impressed by Pam as we ate dinner outside of the church.  She greeted everyone by name.  Several people came by to talk with her.  We have been welcomed warmly by the church.

Once again, Eliana opens the way for communication.  One of the ladies that was a greeter wanted to hold Eliana.  She said she hadn’t held a baby in a long time.  I love seeing the joy on people’s faces as they interact with her.  During the greeting time in between songs, Eliana visited the three ladies that were in front of us.

 Eliana turned out not able to make it through much of the service.  She made it okay through the singing, but then she was ready for bed.  To try and ease her crankiness, I pushed her back and forth in the stroller.  It had worked on Saturday to put her to sleep, but it wasn’t working to well on Thursday.  I tried walking with her, but she was getting more vocal.  Kyle went outside with her and walked her.  He listened to parts of the sermon through the windows and talked with people outside.  I listened to the sermon, catching about one out of every 20- 50 words.  I learned a new word, sangre which means blood.  Steve was preaching out of Hebrews.  While talking to Steve before lunch on Friday, he explained his sermon.  He taught about how a guilty conscience can only be cleaned by the blood of Jesus.  All other things fail.  Blood on a shirt stains, but blood on the inside cleans the body.  The blood on shirts is like the sacrificial system before Jesus came, it was only a symbol pointing to Jesus.  When Jesus came, his death and resurrection enabled his followers to be cleansed.