Day 12

[From the team’s blog…]

Today, we went to two different schools, both of which we walked to.  One was a Baptist school and the other a public school.  We did two presentations at the public school, and one at the Baptist school.  At the public school, we taught them the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.”  They were a very rowdy group of kids that we got to play with and attempt to control.  Also, at this particular school, Tom´s engineering skills were tested a bit as he tried to set up the volleyball net around a tree, but he succeeded in putting it up.

For lunch, Tom and Sara made tacos for all of the administration and staff who have helped us this past week.  It was interesting to have one side of the table using their hands to eat (the Americans) and the other side of the table eating tacos with a fork and knife.  One of the best parts of the meal was the Taco Bell mild sauce packets!  Anysia had never had it before and made the comment, ”I didn’t think the first time I would have Taco Bell sauce would be in Paraguay where they don´t even have Taco Bells.”  One of the group´s lunch rituals has been to eat apples and dulce de leche.  The Paraguayans are disgusted by the thought of this but, nevertheless, we got some of them to try it.  And guess what?  They loved it!  They definitely asked us for more!

After lunch, Sue gave the girls a tour of a neighborhood built upon a trash dump, and  this is where Saturday´s morning presentation will be.  She was preparing us for what we would see…all of the poverty.

We then headed to La Hermosa, the Baptist school.  We all loved the Christian atmosphere there.  It was really nice to watch and listen to the students say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing their National Anthem.  The girls actually got to demonstrate a little 2 on 2 play and found out that the kids really liked to watch them do the volleyball roll.  When each class got the chance to play, it was so fun to chant for each grade and get involved with the kids!

For the third and final presentation of the day, we headed back to the public school.  There, Kendra and Courtney shared their testimonies along with 2 of the kids from Nuevo Horizonte.

For dinner, we went to Sue´s house and wrapped up the devotionals she had been taking us through.  We also reminisced about how the trip has gone and all that we’ve done.  Shortly after, the girls, Tom, and Sara headed to the movies.  We were supposed to go to a Spanish Christian concert; however, the lead singer was sick, and the band got stuck in Texas due to tornados.  So, we saw Pirates of the Caribbean in 3D.  The movie was in English with Spanish subtitles.  We actually got in our theater just in time for the previews to start, so we got stuck in about the 4th row near the front.  Needless to say, tall, volleyball girls were a bit uncomfortable, but they still enjoyed the movie!  It was a nice break!  We then went to our third ice cream shop of the trip, a restaurant called 4D.  Boy, was it delicious!  Afterwards, it was time to head back for some much needed sleep.  The only problem with the night…the temperature dropped significantly, and we were all freezing.  Other than that, we were ready for our last day of presentations.

** The top photo is Tom and Sara’s apartment.  The bottom photo is one of the view’s from their apartment.