Today was a really cool day! It started out with devotion and quiet time, everyone split up for about an hour and spent time in God’s word, worshiping, praying, or just being quiet. It was a really cool time. When we came back together we talked about what we were thinking about or felt God was putting on our hearts. It was cool to hear about what others on the team were thinking about the experience here and how everything was going. It was also the first day of a three day program at one of the churches we’re partnering with. Before today, I hadn’t ever really tried having a real conversation with someone that speaks about as much English as I do Spanish (approximately four words). Today I got the opportunity to try and talk to a couple of the kids before we went to do worship, it was INCREDIBLE. We were able to talk about our favorite things, and learn things from each other, I now know that a woman’s shirt is called a blusa (pronounced “blue-sah”), and a little boy named Fouricio now knows how to say accent (side note: apparently Americans have a cool accent). It was a really cool experience, part way though the program he kind of ditched his group and came to hang out in the craft area so he could try and talk English to a few of us. I don’t think I’ll ever forget him, he helped me warm up to the other kids and not be so “in my own corner”. At the beginning of the week I was kind of freaking out about talking to people who I couldn’t understand and who couldn’t understand me. After today I feel equipped to talk to them, a simple “hola” and a smile, thumbs up, or high five can create an instant connection that doesn’t require you to be able to fluently communicate though words.

-Abbie Holck