Day 3 - The Road to San Marcos

We spent the day on the road to San Marcos. There were a number of places along the way where the road was reduced to 2 and sometimes one lane where landslides had covered some or all of the road. There were other places where rocks and dirt still lay on the edge of the road where they fell, creating some interesting traffic patterns. The drivers continue to monitor road and weather conditions in order to minimize the risk of substantial delays due to the roads being blocked. Over all the trip went smoothly, though, and was only slightly longer than usual. It rained off and on all day which was nice for riding - it kept it cool and people were able to catch up a bit on their sleep.

In San Marcos Pastor Neri and his wife greeted us with a nice chicken dinner and hot tea and coffee at their church. After dinner the team was distributed to their home stays for the night. The steady rain made the process a little more challenging, but the students continue to impress us with their resiliency and patience. Tomorrow we start service again at 8:30. Hopefully the rain will stop, but either way we will be ready to go.

Here is some input from a few students. We shared the blog entries and comments from the first 2 days with the students today and gave them the opportunity to share with you what their experience has been.

Thanks for the supportive blog responses - they are very encouraging for everyone.

Good night!

Sarah Wiczek
I carried on an entire conversation with another teenager in Spanish! She sent another girl to get her instrument and then she played it for me and let me play it too! I am pleasantly surprised by my ability to communicate! The days get long, but we get through on God’s strength!

Mary Richards
Being on the medical team has certainly been interesting. When I ask a question like “le duele”( do you have pain), people answer by speaking very fast! My listening skills are getting much better.

Jessica Krocak
Were driving up mountains/driving through a cloud right now, its so freaking awesome! Anyways, I’m just glad we didn’t fall in a sink hole and that we didn’t fall off a mountain due to a mud slide J . MUY BUENO!!!

Justin Satterberg
We’re not that far from home. There is only Mexico between us. I’m reminded of America’s influence and proximity with every Pepsi sign. We’ve been preparing for months to become influential Christians, and have strangely found it more simple than expected.
Yes, the leadership team has worked endlessly to organize schools and elsewhere for the children’s team and mime team to perform. (Volcanoes, earthquakes and Tropical Storm Agatha have given the medical and service team plenty to do wherever we go.) I am so proud of these students. Our time is well used with the sick, poor or lost, and we all work hard, but our inevitable travel delays allow for conversations, soccer games or just a hand shake or smile - and when we do so with the love of Christ, I realize how God, simply loves us… and how we, simply can love each other.
It encourages me to exercise my God-given influence and share the love of Christ. A Pepsi sounds really good right now, too.