Wow, I'm am loving El Salvador more and more every day! Today was our first Saturday and the first time we got to go play :) 2 cool experiences today:
The first was a cool hike 16 of us went on called el Imposible. Yeah, that means the impossible if you were wondering. It was about a 2 hour bus ride to a national park up a huge hill. The park was in a lush rainforest with lots of foliage and animals. We went on a 5 mile hike to see ancient indian ruins and an awesome river we were able to swim in. The beginning of the hike was all downhill and pretty easy but very steep. By the time we got to the bottom our knees were sore and we were sweating like crazy because of the humidity. Don’t worry, that was only the beginning. We stopped at the river to eat and play in the water then hiked up to another spot where we could play in a part of the river where two rivers join together. It was AMAZING!! So beautiful!
On the way home we had to hike uphill to get back to the start of the hike. It was crazy! I have never sweat so much in my life, and my knees are pretty sore today. Our guide told us that there are over 400 kinds of birds there and 300 trees, many of which have only been found in that specific park. There used to be tigers there but are now extinct. There is another animal called a tigrio, which is smaller than a normal house cat, but wild like a tiger. All in all it was a fun day.
The second thing was a chance I had to share my testimony with our microbus driver (like a big taxi). On the way home Mallory and I were banished to the front because we tend to get carsick so we were sitting right by the driver, Roberto. A song came on his cd that I liked and I asked about it. Turns out it was Christian music and he proceeded to tell me about his beliefs. I started talking to him about the gospel and found out that the missionaries used to teach him 5 years ago but had stopped coming suddenly one day. I asked if he’d like them to come by again and he said he would. The conversation proceeded and eventually he committed to coming to church! We talked for over 2 hours about the gospel. He used to drink and didn’t do what he knew he should but a few years ago decided he needed to dedicate himself more to his wife and 2 daughters, who are 3 and 5. Anyway, I was really grateful for the chance I had to share my testimony and I’m excited to see where it goes.
Oh, about Mallory being banished to the front. When we were leaving home we’d been driving for maybe 5 minutes, and Mallory, who was sitting next to me in the middle of the 5th row of the van suddenly said, “I know this probably isn’t the best time to be saying this but I don’t feel very good.” We offered water and adjusted the AC on her, but she started looking frantic and pointing to the door and the window. Someone yelled “open the window!” so someone did and she jumped over them and threw half of her body out. Chunks started flying, landing on the jeep behind us. People passing by gave us strange looks and the jeep turned on their windshield wipers. She got back in and after a second said “Well that was weird!” She was completely fine after that! It was pretty funny!
Anyway, I’m so excited to be here and am incredibly grateful for everyone that helped me get here! You can still make donations to HELP International with my name in subject line of a check because I wasn’t able to raise all the money I needed. Thanks again and I hope everyone is doing well in the US.
Love, Annette
Awesome, and gross at the same time!
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