Day 50: Beginning of The End

Things went pretty well today! I didn't sleep very much last night, but it was a pretty chill day. 

We went to the Ferria Verde en la mañana. If you remember, it was the hipster farmer's market thing we went to several weeks ago. This time, some of our group apparently ended up on their instagram, but I didn't see it. We hung out and saw the hipsters and drank some hot chocolate and smoothies and kombuchas. 

Afterwards, Esther, Katie, and Izzy headed home while James, Evan, Andrew, Matthew, Tannia, and I headed to the mercado central to look for some souvenirs. It's a gigantic indoor market with a bunch of different types of shops. There are shops for meat and vegetables and spices, there are shops for cooking utensils, there are shoe shops, there are cigar shops, there are restaurants, and there are a bunch of souvenir-type shops. We wondered around, looking at all the souveniry souvenirs. I wonder if there's like a Sam's Club for souvenir shops. Most of them had the same things, just slightly different or in different combinations. Maybe there's a big warehouse somewhere. 

After some walking around, we went to a little restaurant and sat in a tiny booth and almost all decided to order chifrijo, which is a meat and rice and beans dish in a bowl. We weren't feeling very hungry, so we asked the lady how big they were. She made the size of a very small bowl with her fingers, so we all ordered our own...but we were all of us deceived. For they were secretly not very small bowls at all. 

After lunch, we walked some more, then headed back to the apartment and chilled for a while. I got very close to taking a nap, but then we headed to the CDI so James could take a look at our work and we could do any other last projects. The CDI team was James, Evan, Izzy, and myself. The others were the Grocery Team. Divide and Conquer was our plan.

At the CDI, James approved of our work, then we did some more wiring-type-things. Izzy and I painted for a little while, and she shared a good encouragement with me about the last week. I didn't realize I was feeling discouraged until I got encouraged, so God moved through that. 

The CDI looks really good right now. Other areas still need some paint touching-up, but it looks really good. I'm so pleased by how this week went. I think we were incredibly helpful to the church here. This was easily the busiest week we've had. Our team did a great job, both in productivity and in attitude. 

It rained really hard for a lot of today. 

We walked home in said rain and the grocery team got groceries. We had leftovers for dinner and watched some Ted Lasso. Everyone kinda drifted towards their beds, since we're sending the guys to the airport at, like, 5:30 AM, then having a July 4th hiking and grilling type party tomorrow (July 3rd)

After this week, we'll have two very strange weeks and then our last week, which may be normal-ish, but it's the last week, so it won't. Then we're heading home. That feels really weird to say. And it feels strange to think that we have more time left than a lot of trips had total. I think it'll be important for us to keep focused and keep our momentum going. 

I need to run 5 miles tomorrow. I hope the rain slows down. 

PRAYERS
-for us to walk in step with the Spirit
-for good team dynamic
-for safe travels for our men tomorrow
-for good rest for them and us and Lagos and Ana Raquel

-for a good hiking cookout tomorrow
-for good prep for our camp next week(end)
-for our team to stay focused and keep momentum
-for our last 3 weeks to be the most effective weeks we've had
-for our relationships with God

The bros eating together

Souvenir shopping

A flower shop!

For my nieces :)