Trip Update 6

Saturday morning we slept in until...8:30! Woohoo! (By the way, if Todd ever knocks on your door with doughnuts, tell him to go away! ...and then go find the doughnuts cuz they were darn good! :o) We were able to relax a bit that morning. Todd and the guys were working on a song, Pino went on some 'errands' all day, and Abot, Jordan, Mindy worked on Abot's song. I listened, gave my two cents, and journaled. It was so nice to relax like that!

Then Mindy and I left to go help decorate for the birthday party of our friend there who was turning 15. We spent a few hours decorating and then headed home to get ready for the party. We were also going to spend the afternoon pampering our friend with a manicure, pedicure and doing her make-up. I was totally unprepared for what it would look like. I had anticipated a nice relaxing afternoon, gently massaging her feet and hands, slowly painting her nails and deliberating over which colors to use for eye shadow. What it looked like was a sweaty mass of girls rushing to be ready by 7:00...we started at about 5:30! Now you and I both know that you cannot fit all that into an hour and a half. And we didn't. We fit it in to about three. It was still the fastest I've ever worked and I think the reason it actually worked was because one girl was doing her hair, one was doing her make-up, one was doing her toes and one was doing her nails....did I mention that all took place at the same time? No wonder my hands were shaking as I was doing the french mani!!!! Ay de mi! :o)

Then we had to figure out how to get dressed in the midst of that (by the way, never wear a tank top that someone else has worn already on the trip - it doesn't make for a pleasant evening :o). All in all, we ran about 45 minutes late. I was a mess and totally not relaxed but stressed out and chose to laugh instead of crying. I'm so glad I did because it only got more...interesting. We climbed into the same cargo truck from the day before with a bunch of the people already in there (another note to self: know what to wear when climbing into a cargo truck, right Juanita? We had an interesting time!! :o). After waiting for yet more people, we finally were on our way. When we arrived, Ton climbed down and began counting to see how many cattle, I mean people, were packed in there. There were 61 of us! Yes, we were shocked. This was quickly replaced by terror at the swarms of mosquitoes that greeted us at the party. Fortunately we had all forgotten our bug spray (a bummer since I usually carry it to most parties I go to). :o)

We sat down and the evening began (Ody, GREAT job on the decorations, my friend!!!!). The parents honored her, her brother honored her...grandparents, friends...it was amazing! She sang a song in English which blew us away, rededicated her life to Christ. Everything was so God-honoring! Mindy had had the idea that we would each take a letter of her name and honor her with a description of a characteristic of her life. Mine was 'L' for 'Luz' (or 'light'). Juanita graciously had translated my few sentences so that I could read it without translation. I think the whole thing turned out well and I hope she was blessed by our desire to honor her.

Then the dancing began! Abot and Steph taught me and Juanita how to salsa and Carice reminded us that it 'happens' without thinking about it. Thanks, Carice! ;o) I can't remember being so sweaty, so dressed up and having so much fun! The whole evening was amazing!!! We rode back on the same truck (in TWO shifts, though, thank the Lord!) and ate the yummy rice pudding that I had missed at dinner! :o). Then it was time for bed!