Well, after that lovely adventure and breakfast with Bobby, off we went to church. It was a bit of a ride, but we were all in one bus this time, and who minds a long ride when you have lovely company and a guide who stands and faces you all and calls you, "My friends," all the time? The scenery out the window was beautiful, full of mountains and volcanos and trees. I met one of our translator team members named Jorge and got to talk to him on the way as well. As we pulled up in front of the church, we could see the Church standing outside the front doors. As we began to dismount the bus, these lovely brothers and sisters cheered and clapped, gave hugs and kisses and "Dios le bendiga"s. One mamá gave me a hug and then said "besito" to the little one on her side. I then received the "tiniest of kisses" (as Jenna put it) from a precious little boy we later found out was named Brayan. We met Pastor Miguel and then went in to worship with this family.
The praise team did a wonderful job, and we continued to be welcomed royally. They held a baby dedication with several mothers from the CSP (Child Survival Program) connected with the church and held in the building across the street. Pastor Miguel gave a passionate message about new birth, and he was right on (granted, a bit hard for the translators to keep up with at times). "Better for a man to be born twice and die once," he reminded us, "than to be born once and die twice." He invited anyone who had not been born again to come forward and receive that second birth. Several mothers from the CSP-some of whom and just dedicated their babies to God-came forward and gave their own lives to Him as well. What a blessing.
As we left (knowing we would be back to these people tomorrow), I think we already knew that this was a special place.
On to lunch in Ataco, a town with stone streets and a gorgeous view of the mountains. We walked in through the back of the restaurant and sat down at two long tables (taking up a majority of the space in the restaurant). Live music outside and the meal chosen for us, this turned out to be a lovely lunch. It was here that I began to get to know the people in our group. We really got to have conversations at lunch. Jenna and I got to talk to Jason, who we found out was a newly-hired music teacher. Well, that started off a good long conversation about education. Lunch was delicious, and I began to like this Salvadoran food.
This also happened to be souvenir day, so we split off into groups and wandered the shop-filled streets of Ataco, looking, laughing, testing musical instruments, and asking "¿Cuanto vale?" Looking down the streets, the view was just beautiful. Everything was so colorful, with people, shops, and the mountains in the background, all foggy and green with a white church tucked in on the mountainside. Cars lined the streets, and most dogs just roamed free. The people seemed to work together so fluidly it was hard to tell who were family and who shared shops. After venturing around the streets with Jenna, Jason, and Susie (another from our translator team), we loaded up the bus and made our way to Santa Leticia, our lovely hotel for the next several days. As we walked up to our little cabin room, I knew I liked this haven better than the fancy hotel (as nice as it was) from the night before. This place was incredibly peaceful, just out where we could hear the birds. It was so simple, so unassuming, so restfull.
We had a bit of time to explore and get settled before going up to the restaurant on the property for supper. Supper was, again, delicious, and we enjoyed sitting around the table with our team. We enjoyed one another's company, and then people began heading back to their cabins.
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