Secunda Dia

Day two. Today was our first full day of working at the site. We made a lot of progress on the house, and the walls are halfway finished! Mostly our work involves applying mortar to the underlying layer, adding another round of bricks, and then filling the holes with concrete. We also sift and shovel sand to mix into the concrete and mortar, carry the cinder blocks (bricks) and kind of gent everything organized. Rebar poles are inserted into the holes on the cinder blocks and secured with concrete. 

I don't have a picture of the progress on the house, but here's what we ate for dinner yesterday. It was some sort of cold, sour pork and fried mixed vegetables. It was delicious!!

 We took a brief siesta (break) to go play with the children at the nearby school. We painted the girls' nails and played soccer with some of the other kids. Hayden Alexander was excited that my name is kind of like his. 

We also had he opportunity to sing some songs in Spanish during our devotional, and we included one of the engineers from the work site, Danillo. It was amazing to worship in multiple languages. We prayed together in both English and Spanish, and the Holy Spirit was loud and clear among us. It was awesome. 

We had another chance to dip in the ocean before dinner. The waves are the biggest I've ever seen. The riptides are super strong as well and it's definitely humbling to feel the sand pulled out from beneath our feet. 

 After dinner today, I had a really encouraging conversation with one of the employees at the Fuller Center. He asked me how I felt about tattoos (random, I know) and was surprised to learn that I have one. In Nicaraguan culture, women who have tattoos are viewed as lazy, kind of "trashy," etc. He also brought up that in Catholicism, tattoos are frowned upon because of the verse that talks about the body being a temple, and how it should be kept clean. I was able to explain the difference between legalism and grace, and how the conditions of our hearts determine whether our behavior is sinful or not. Since tattoos aren't explicitly prohibited in the bible, it needs to be discerned on a case by case basis. My own tattoo serves as a reminder to myself to lean into God's strength during hard times. It's also a great conversation starter with others when they ask about my tattoo's meaning. Definitely not sinful. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to share and have a real life faith conversation. I'm continuing to pray that God will open the door to conversations, conquering the language barriers. 

Thank you for praying for us, we definitely have been encouraged by your support!