Melissa McCollum - 6/18/17

Today I made many friends. I woke up fairly grumpy because I hadn’t slept too well and my lotion had exploded and my suitcase was wet and the bathrooms weren’t quite what I wanted. But then the pastor who spoke to us this morning reminded me why I love this so much. Later in the day we went and did home visits which was quite the experience considering the vehicle and the roads and the soccer goals hanging off the back of the tiny pickup. But we reached our first destination and left the goals in the church and in there we met with the first family and immediately I began translating despite the fact that we had a translator standing a few feet away from me. From that point on I was translating for the rest of the day, not by necessity but because of the pure joy that it brought me and it made me feel at home. The father from the first house and one of the 9 year old girls walked us to the second house. On the walk down we talked to these two becoming friends and when we arrived at the second house we did the same as we had at the first. But on our way back to the car I was talking to the 9 year old and the smile on her face and the bounce in her step and the constant handing me flowers she thought would look pretty in my braid despite the downpour of rain made my day. We then proceeded to have water wars from the rain run off from the tin roof and her giggle was priceless. I got a hug goodbye from my new friend and then we piled back in the car and came back to the farm. There we proceeded to take a tour of the farm where I made another friend, Juan Carlos our tour guide, who cut us fresh fruit and we shared it then used his machete to cut me my very own pineapple and pitaya for the journey back. I don’t think my tongue has ever been so raw or my lips so chapped but at the same time the joy and peace I felt sitting in a hammock eating my pineapple off the core that was dripping juice all over me with flowers in my braids and staring at the mountains was one that I had only gained because of the friends I had made today and God’s love through them.