4/19/14: Day 48: 600+ Youth Rally

Sleep did not happen. The girls were giggling all night long. We out of bed at 4:50 AM and worked on getting ready to go. I packed two coolers full of ice and water bottles and Lucky cooked breakfast. The girls started on their showers at 3:00 AM! Paolo slept well through the night and took his time getting ready because he said Osvaldo would be late to meet us in Ahuachapán. I started loading the van to encourage Paolo to hurry up. While I was loading another teen (Fernando) came running up to join us! All ten of loaded into the van but Lucky made us get out for a group picture. We arrived at Ahuachapán at 6:15 and Osvaldo got there about 6:45. He showed us how to get to the youth rally so we decided to forge the path on our own. Paolo navigated like a pro. We made great time and then Paolo said to slow down a bit for Alex. I looked back and Alex looked like he was seconds away from hurling. I slowed way down and somehow Alex held it in. Most of the teens slept the entire way. We got to the rally at 8:00 and had plenty of time to talk and meet new people and eat. It started at 9:00 and Osvaldo’s crew rolled in at 9:10. Osvaldo’s brother Daniel passionately led the rally. Daniel preached three 45 minute lessons!  Samuel (Osvaldo’s other brother) led some songs and asked me to give the closing prayer with him translating. After the prayer many people came up and tried to practice their English with me. There were a few games too; Carry the egg with the spoon in your mouth, hold the match and answer questions until it burns. Javier decided he wanted to play the match game and got a pretty good burn out of it. There were about 600+ teens there from all over El Salvador. Every one of the 300ish girls that were there had on skirts/dresses. It took some encouragement for our teens but I am glad they all listened. The teens slept half the way back and then sang for the other half. They had such a good time singing that they asked if I could take Fernando home first to Apaneca so they could all be together longer. I got home, exhausted, at 6:30. Tomás and his two sons are spending the night. Tomás is preaching here in Ataco tomorrow because Hector is still out with the Puerto Rico group. We had no food left in the house after feeding all the teens so we had to walk to a nearby restaurant.  

Today went really well. I was dreading the drive to San Salvador with 10 people in a van that only holds 7.

Della said that the Pan y Café went really well this morning. They even got to serve the police officers.

Also, our dog now has fleas.

Ataco teens with the team shirts!