Sunday at El Sembrador

The days begin early at El Sembrador. Each morning the bell rings at 5:40, and the boys get up and get ready for breakfast at 6:00. But on Sundays they can sleep a little longer. On Sundays breakfast was at 7 . . . and for US it was at 7:30. (Every other day our breakfast was served at 6:30!) The men took care of cleaning up after supper on Saturday night, so us ladies decided to give them the day off and do the prep and cleanup. Monday started our schedule of KP duty for every team member! The cook for our team was a sweet young lady named Andy (pronounced Aundy). Lori had taught her American recipes, and she did a GREAT job keeping our bellies full of delicious food!

At 9:30 we went to the chapel for singing time. Then they divided up into classes for Sunday school. Patty, Katelyn and I went to the girl's class. They were mostly Bible School students. It was taught by David and Raquel---he teaches in the Bible Institute and also is in charge of it. It was a good class on the family ---Genesis 2:24,25. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother an be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." Three points to his lesson - illustration of a stool. It can't stand on 1 or 2 legs---needs a third for support. A man is the head of the family---he must LEAVE his mother and father and CLEAVE to his wife and be UNIFIED physically and spirituall.

Worship in the chapel followed Sunday School. Though we didn't know the language we sensed God's presence very clearly. We felt a common bond, because we are Christians. My Spanish is weak, but it came back to me a little bit so I was able to pick of some words and phrases and ideas of the sermon. It was a joyous time of worship.

We had lunch with the boys in their dining hall. Each boy is responsible for his own bowl or plate and spoon and cup. He brings them to each meal and then takes them out to the faucet and cleans them. We packed up plates and cups and forks for us to use at the meal with the boys. We spread out and sat with them at their tables, and enjoyed a delicious meal of fried chicken, slaw, and tortillas! Linda and I sat at a table with 6 other boys, two were named Darwin and Santiago. Those two were good natured about our broken Spanish and we enjoyed talking with them. One funny incident occured when I asked Darwin what foods he liked to eat and if they helped out in the kitchen. I told them some of the foods we liked to eat, one of which is asado, made from pork. I couldn't remember the word for pork, so I said "Como se dice ___(and I snorted like a pig)___". They burst into laughter and said "cerdo" - pig. I"m sure they thought I was "una Senora muy loca"!

After lunch Travis, Cooper, Seth, Jeff, Jonathan and Scott took the footballs we brought and went out to the soccor field to play football with the boys. They threw the ball around for a while and then taught them some of the basics of American football. They played touch football for a while. The boys caught on quickly and gave "our football guys" and the coach a "run for their money". No score was kept, but I think the Hondurans won!!!!! They all had a good time

Supper was pizza, salad, and cookies, at 4:45---early due to evening church. We had a rousing singing time. Our group even got up and sang "I've Got the Joy Down in my Heart"---3 verses in English and the last time in Spanish!!! I even introduced us in Spanish!

After church the boys played volleyball. Seth, Jeff, Johnathan, and Kate joined in. At 8:30 the bell rang for the boys to go to their dorm and get ready for bed. We met as a team for sharing/devotional time. It was a great day, though we all felt like we were receiving much more than we were able to give. The language barrier was difficult. We were anxious to start to work with our hands on Monday!