May Report

We are on our third month here in El Salvador. Thankfully, we have not had to make nearly as many trips to San Salvador this month. At the beginning of the month, we rested in the knowledge that our visas had been submitted. About 2 weeks later we were able to pick up our three month temporary visa which means that no problems have been found so far with our papers. We were told to expect our one year visa in July.

Every month seems to bring a new set of challenges that help us to grow. Our first challenge for the month was that Hector and his family were in the States for half of the month. For the week covering 1^st & 2^nd Kings, 1^st & 2^nd Chronicles, I taught Monday, Thursday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. The Sunday lesson took 12+ hours to prepare. I have continued teaching four classes a week on all the other weeks of this month. Della has continued helped with the teaching for the ladies class.

While Hector was gone I managed to enroll in Spanish classes. They last two hours a day and occur every Monday and Wednesday. Della met with the director of the public school for Ataco and arranged to start teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). She now teaches English on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:00 to 4:00. I go with her for the classes and learn more Spanish from the vocabulary that she is teaching.

A group of sixteen came from Spring Meadows in Franklin to work with the Ataco congregation for a week. Our team spent several meetings planning and anticipating this effort. I helped with their transportation for their arrival and tourism day and planned to do more but our vehicle died. Della and I helped the group with a concentrated evangelism effort for four days in two communities of Ataco. After the morning evangelism the team would give a VBS and a campaign. We had 26 visiting families in the first community and many more at the second. They brought many bags of food and diapers to distribute to the communities. After they left, the mechanic managed to repair the van enough for us to try to sell it.

Our dog (Lobito) proved to be yet another stress. Every time we came home Lobito would have a new surprise waiting for us. Della decided that it was best to try to find a new home for Lobito. God provided the very next day. A man was walking a dog near our house with the same breed and Della asked if he would like another. This all served to remind me that I need to stay on Della’s good graces.

Della got sick while the group from Franklin was here but she is doing better now.  We have been greatly encouraged by Clifton’s arrival and the news that mom and dad are 100% sure to be here working with in early 2015!

In Christ,
Caleb & Della

5/31/14: Day 90: Reports

I spent the morning writing the month end report for us and Lucky. After lunch, Clifton, Della and I went walking around Ataco. We ate some desert and bought the Lego movie. Clifton bought some beats earphones saying they cost over $100 in the states but they were only $2.50 here. Turns out they were a knock off. It rained most of the day. When we got home I checked the movie and it was only in Spanish so Clifton and I went to swap it. I tried to make some special origami paper and failed, but I know how to make it work next time. After that I worked a bit on a lesson about Esther for Monday night. Della went to the ladies’ bible study at the church building at 4:00. After dinner we watched the Lego movie. 

5/30/14: Day 89: Big News!

Warner spent the night last night. Warner took Clifton, Della and I to go car shopping today. Clifton and I rode in the back and Della rode up front. Riding in the back of the truck was pretty rough. We were back there for about six hours and it rained on us. Our first stop was Warner’s house and I helped Alejandro make an origami tiger. After finishing we went on to San Salvador. We wandered around for a bit making phone calls. Meanwhile, Clifton and I were in dire need of a rest room. So we ended up looping back around to the mall. Then we went to the Toyota dealership. There Della and I experienced serious sticker shock. We had expectations of a more reasonable price with the knowledge of what Hector paid for his brand new 15 passenger van. Then we went to a used car lot and checked out a few. We wanted a 6 passenger vehicle but after looking for a while we started to think that maybe we could squeeze into a 5 seater because it is so much more affordable. We went to Wendy’s for lunch and then headed toward home. The mechanic called while we were on the way and said the van was running again. The mechanic agreed that we need to sell it ASAP to get anything out of it. It is running for now but will probably not be for long. He also told us that it is worth less than half of what we have in it. So we took our chance to get groceries and then ventured up the mountain to Ataco. We were also out of gas but thankfully we made it home around 6:00. Carlos and Linda threw a going away party for Lucky at the church building and we joined them for pupusas. Carlos and I walked to the landlord’s house after dinner to pay the rent. She said we can now pay it in Ataco; this is a lot more convenient. It has been a long day and Clifton is super tired after having to go to San Salvador the day after he got here. Della and I are still tired form working with the Franklin group last week. But we are very very thankful that they came. Della and I missed getting to tell them goodbye today. We will be in prayer for them and hope to see them all again soon.

When we got home we gave mom and dad a report on the vehicles we found today. The plan now is for them to help us pay for the replacement vehicle and we will share it when they join us; which by the way is now official!!! As of today they signed the dotted line and the business is officially sold! They will for sure be joining us early next year! Also, since we have now spent the last 6+ months living with other people, Della is onboard for living with mom and dad! I can’t wait!!!

5/29/14: Day 88: Clifton Arrived!

All the preachers came over and I cooked chocolate bananas for everyone after my blog entry last night. This morning we went to the church at 9:00 and it was raining pretty hard. Daniel (Osvaldo’s brother) arrived to take me to the airport at 9:45. We made good time and arrived at 11:45. Clifton’s flight was on time but we figured it would take him another 30 minutes to get through immigration. So we walked to the subway and ordered lunch to go. Clifton came out and couldn’t find us. After about 5 minutes we managed to connect. He said that the immigration only took 5 minutes. On the way home we stopped at the mechanic that had our van. He wanted us to pay him because he ordered a fan. He said that the faulty electric system blew the old fan. I still do not understand why the fan should be replaced if the electric system is the problem. At this point we want to spend as little as possible on that van and sell it. We made it back home at 2:15 and rested for a few hours. Then we took a mototaxi and joined with the Franklin group. One of the members of the community came forward and asked to be baptized after the lesson. We stayed at Inmaculada and worked to take down the canopies. We loaded the truck when Hector got back and then had to go to Apenaca to unload it. We finally managed to get home around 8:20. We scrounged up some dinner.

It is good to have Clifton here. The encouragement is greatly appreciated.

Chocolate Bananas and the preachers

5/28/14: Day 87: Franklin Inmaculada

Della is much better today. We worked in Inmaculada today. Inmaculada  is slightly too far to walk from the house.  Hector split everyone into teams and then announced that he was going grocery shopping to be ready for his wife’s return Friday. I was teamed up with Logan and Fernando. We had several studies and a few invited us in for a bit. Fernando’s studies focused on John 1:1-4, 14 and Philippians 2:6-12. Logan begged and begged for me to mention him on this blog… so done. We worked until 11:45 and then went back to the church building for lunch. They served wonderful grilled chicken. After lunch I showed everyone my origami. Then we loaded the truck with all the canopies and sound system. I went with them to set it up and then rode back with Warner. I got Lucky to call the mechanic and he said the van’s electrical system was shot but wouldn’t be able to tell us much until tomorrow… At this point we do not believe it is worth fixing. I took a mototaxi back to Inmaculada at 4:30 to setup the projector and wait until the campaign was over. We were hoping to leave the canopies up tonight but some uniformed soccer players came and said they needed the field. Thankfully we had more help to take them down than we did when we were setting up. I got home at 7:00, tired, but not as tired as I was yesterday.

Logan and a cool tree

Cool nature shot

5/27/14: Day 86: Franklin Gave Food

Della woke up feeling sick so Lucky and I went to the church building to meet the group without her. The plan for today was to revisit the places we went yesterday and focus more on studies for those that showed interest. My team picked up a new member because Della wasn’t able to be an interpreter today.  We had several studies; the contacts were notably more receptive for the second time around. We worked until 12:00 and then walked back to the church building. I went home to check on Della and she was not doing so well. I went across the street and got her some 7 Ups and heated a bowl of soup. Then I went back to the building and told Hector to call me when he was leaving so I could go with him to setup the sound system. Then I went back to the house and Della said she could use a watermelon. I walked with Lucky to the canopies after cleaning and serving the watermelon to Della. When I got to the canopies Hector had already finished setting up the sound system and said I needed to setup the projector now (I was planning to do it at 4:30 when the VBS ended). It was at the house so I walked back to get it. Then I turned around and went back to the canopies and they told me that they needed the screen for a puppet show so I needed to wait until VBS ended. So I walked back to the house again (Still about a quarter mile) and rested until 4:15. After resting, I walked back to the canopies and setup the projector. There were 26 families that showed up from the contacts we made over the last 2 days! The Franklin group gave each family a bag of food. Then we all worked to the point of exhaustion taking down the 4 canopies in the dark. I was afraid someone was going to get injured by a pole.  We finished around 7:45. 

Some kids at a study

The nighttime VBS

Cute girl at the nighttime VBS

Lucky working

Some families that received food

5/26/14: Day 85: Franklin Evangelism

We met at the church building at 9:00 with the group from Franklin. We split into teams, each with an interpreter. Della served as an interpreter but I am not far enough along. We canvased most of an area of Ataco called Triunfo. My team gave out around 50 invitations. One lady had several pets including a squirrel which are not common here. We worked until 12:00 and then walked back to the church building. We ate quesadillas cooked by the sisters of the church for lunch. After we loaded all the chairs in Warner’s truck. Della went home to rest after walking all day during the evangelism. Then I went to the school to setup the canopies while the Franklin group stayed and practiced for the VBS. I got sunburned and bitten by ants several times. It was a lot of work to setup the canopies. We finished at 2:30 and then Fernando and I went back to the house to meet a mechanic. The mechanic couldn’t get the van to start. He said that he needed to tow it back it down to Ahuachapán by pulling it with a chain. I reacted thinking that he thought I was going to drive while he pulled. He explained that he needed to come back in an hour with his assistant. So I went with Della to the end of the VBS to setup the projector for the campaign. Then I went back to the house (about a quarter mile) to wait for the van to get picked up. They arrived around 5:30 and managed to get it to crank. They pulled it out of the garage and it was puffing white smoke and dripping out the tail pipe. Then I walked back to the campaign and helped them take down everything. Della, Lucky, and I were so tired that we decided to eat at home instead of waiting with the group at the restaurant.

Cute little girl

Three of the evangelism teams

One of the ladies we invited

Putting up the canopies

Lucky leading the VBS

5/25/14: Day 84: Van Dead

Last night was the biggest rain storm I have had here yet. It rained most of the night and somehow managed to fly in through the closed windows and on my face as I tried to sleep. I got out of bed at 5:30 and found that the storm had knocked out the water supply for the town. Lucky and I carried all the groceries over to the church building at 6:30. Then I worked on cleaning the baptistery until 7:30. I went back to the house to eat breakfast and mini Carlos followed me and ate too. The singing was wonderful, constantly switching between English and Spanish. Della, Lucky, and other women of the church cooked and served hamburgers to everyone after service.

The Signal Mountain church is serving by building 3 houses for the families that have the most need here. Two of the families here are in severe need so that decision was obvious. There are three other families that all need a house but we could not decide which. So today while lunch was being served. Hector, Carlos, an elder from the Spring Meadows church, a representative from each family and I had a meeting. We read Acts 1:26 where they cast lots to determine the next apostle. Then Carlos wrote each of their names on papers. They accepted this solution and we prayed. The elder drew the name of the sister and she cried from joy. I felt super blessed to be in that meeting. I prayed that we were not leaving it to chance, but that we were leaving it to God.

After lunch Della and I went back to the house and rested a little. It rained a lot more. We went back to the church building at 3:40. I was told that our van was having mechanical troubles. I checked it out and I think it is just the battery. We went to dinner in Ataco with the group after service. They jumped the van and it started right up. Carlos is going to hopefully be able to find a new battery in Ahuachapán tomorrow. We got home at 8:30 and we will hopefully go to bed soon.

Hector called about 9:30 and said that the van was now overheating. He brought it back to the house and said that he tried to put more water in it. That it took like 5 gallons of water so it was bone dry. So this problem is unrelated to the battery… We now have no vehicle.

Lucky cooking hamburgers

The sister that got the house!

Della and Lucky about to eat dinner

5/24/14: Day 83: Franklin Tourism

Della didn’t get much sleep last night. We got of bed at 5:30 and left the house at 6:30. We stopped by the church and got six cases of water bottles and then went to a gas station to meet a brother from Santa Catarina Masahuat. The brother and his wife arrived shortly after we did at 7:10. I started to take Lucky’s suitcase out of the back but as I was opening the door I was told that they had walked. Apparently they had been walking since before 6:00 to meet us here. I had no idea that they had walked… I could have arranged for someone to go with me that knew the way but it was too late. So they jumped in the van and we drove down a dirt road for 25 minutes to reach the church where Lucky was going to teach today. We then rushed back and managed to make it to the hotel just before 8:00. The Franklin group had a 5 minute bible study and then we headed out. I had five people from the Franklin group plus me and Della in the van. I somehow managed to get pulled over twice for random inspections. Our first tourism destination was the El Salvadorian version of Pompey. The story is that a volcano erupted and the people evacuated because of the earthquake warnings but their entire village was perfectly preserved in volcanic ash. There were 12 excavated buildings that we were led through with a tour guide. Della interpreted for the guide to the group. The most interesting thing in my opinion was that they figured that they had excavated less that 1% of the ruins. The last building was a replica of a sauna that we said we could crawl into. About 8 of us went in and sang a few songs because the acoustics were good.  We then went to lunch at a lake. The area was beautiful and we ate on a very precarious dock. They said that they built it when the water was high. The water has been nowhere near that high for a very long time now.  Several other restaurants had built their buildings at the current level. I felt very uneasy the entire time we were eating. The whole place was just barely standing and it was high enough to kill us all if it fell. But the food was surprisingly good! Samuel’s team was playing in the world cup and he couldn’t help but watch it. The T.V. was about 200 feet from the group and someone said that they could hear Samuel cheering. After lunch we tried to go to some other ruins in Chalchuapa but they closed just before we got there. We ate a late lunch so no one was hungry for dinner so Hector got pizza to go for the group. Then we drove up to the hotel dropped everyone off at 7:00. Then I took Della home and drove to the church building. There I worked with Carlos, Samuel, and Hector to check that all the new sound system, drain the baptistery (kiddie pool), and move a ton of water bottles back to the kitchen.  I got home about 7:45 super tired.

It is raining the hardest since I have been here. The power has blinked more than five times. (I am on the laptop).

Tomorrow should be a fairly standard Sunday except I need to be there very early to clean and refill the baptistery. Hopefully I will get a little rest in the afternoon after driving all day for two days.  

Lucky holding a bug

The bug that Lucky held

Cool Lizard

Della at the museum standing in the pregnant pose 

Excavation #4 Storage Room

El Salvador national bird checking out the ruins

The Sauna 

Shaman hut

Sauna Replica

Franklin group outside the Sauna Replica

Another cool lizard

Lunch music

Hector eating crabs

The dock we ate lunch on

The ruins (View from the road behind a fence)

5/23/14: Day 82: Franklin Arrival

First thing I did today was fix the shower. Thankfully it didn’t blow up again. Carlos arrived at the house 9:10. I took Hector’s dog and we dropped it off at Hector’s house on the way to the airport. We made good time and only stopped once to get water on the way. Near the airport we saw that there had been an incident on a bus that resulted in at least two fatalities. The group arrived at 1:15. We loaded all the luggage and then Hector asked me to lead a prayer for the group. On the way back we got caught in traffic because it was being rerouted for the bus incident. It was pouring rain on us while we were stuck in the traffic. We arrived at 2:45 at the mall to eat lunch. Hector and Samuel stayed with the van while the group ate at Tony Roma’s. I was the closest they had to an interpreter so a few orders got a little mixed up. We were back on the road again at 4:00. We stopped on the way to the hotel to check out a look out and get a group picture. We arrived at the hotel at 6:45. The hotel and the surrounding garden were beautiful. I stopped by the church building on the way home to drop off the speakers.

Samuel is spending the night with us.

I came home to the cleanest house ever and ate wonderful butternut squash soup. Della and Lucky worked all day on the house in celebration of the fact that we no longer have a leaky dog in the house. 

We will not miss you

Spring Meadows

5/22/14: Day 81: Peanut Butter Dreams?

As I was taking my shower this morning the electric tape melted around the wires! There were several small explosions! I yelled and it took quite a while before anyone came to check on me. Della said she didn’t realize that it had come from our bathroom. It blew both fuses in the line! I didn’t get hurt but it sure scared me. I thought maybe it won’t happen again and I wanted to finish my shower. I told Della to flip the fuses but it blew them right back. We left at 8:30 to go to Ahuachapán to do some major grocery shopping for the group coming. On the way down Della asked Lucky if she dreamed about the Painted Veil (the movie they watched last night). Lucky was sitting in the back and she heard “did you dream about the peanut butter”. It was totally funny, wish you were there. We went to a different grocery store than our normal and with Linda’s help we filled 4 carts full. Then we went to another grocery store and filled another! We were tasked with getting all the food for the lunches next week. I am going to the airport with Hector tomorrow to get the group from Franklin Tennessee. We worked on the groceries from 9:00 until 2:00. We went to Apaneca to put the food in Hector’s fridge, but his maid was not there so we had to go back to Shucutitan to get her. Then we went to a super cool restaurant because we were all very hungry. The prices were good for the amazing grounds that they kept up.  After lunch we all came home and took a nap. We had gotten hot waiting in the van at various points in the morning. We met Hector on the way to the evening small group bible study. He looked exhausted; he arrived here last night at midnight and slept in the airport. His van was full of pillows. Della, Lucky, and I continued on to the study. I led it while Lucky interpreted and afterwards they served hot chocolate to everyone.

Clifton arrives in one week!!!!! 

Picking the best

I look so cool!

Garden house

Angry Pony

Pretty Flowers

5/21/14: Day 80: Breakfast Dinner

Spanish class wasn’t too exciting. I am not going to have another Spanish class until June 2^nd and that is the day of my first Spanish exam. After class I went to the pharmacy to try to find some iron supplements for Della but they didn’t have any. Then I went to the grocery store and back home. When I got home I worked on a lesson on Nehemiah for tomorrow night. At 1:30 Della and I left for ESL class. Della had 14 students today. I took a short nap after class and then we went to church. Della and Lucky watched a movie and we had pancakes for dinner when we got home. 

5/20/14: Day 79: Another 3 Months!

We called immigration and they said that our 3 month cards were ready for pickup! Our one year card is still in process so this will keep us in the country until they are done. We arrived at Carlos’ house in Ahuachapán at 9:00 for the weekly team meeting. Linda (Carlos’ wife) served us breakfast. Then Hector Skyped in from the states and we talked about all the plans for the Franklin group that is arriving on Friday.

Next week is going to be so much work that I can’t even think about it. I will be driving our van to the airport on this Friday, next Friday and Saturday. I will be driving every day to get the food because Lucky is in charge of cooking all the lunches for the group. I am in charge of all the electrical equipment that they need for the evening campaigns. This Saturday is a tourism day so I will be out with the van checking out cool ruins. Samuel is going to stay the week with us next week to help with the interpreting. The schedule for next week has every minute of every day accounted for.

The meeting lasted until 11:00 and they gave us fresh mangos from their three to eat on the way out. Lucky, Della, and I then traveled to Santa Ana to get our 3 month cards. We managed to find our way with only a few minor wrong turns. We got back to the house at 2:00. Della and Lucky went out to celebrate getting the cards while I took a short nap. Bryan came over at 3:00 and we worked on origami until 6:00. Two guys knocked on the door at 4:30 and asked to come in and check out the house. (The house we are renting is currently for sale). They said they had permission from the land lord. So we tried to call but couldn’t find the phone number. He said they were just looking and it would be a while before he bought anything. The house has been for sale for over 2 years now.

We watched a movie on the projector and then went to bed. 

5/19/14: Day 78: First ESL Class

I told my teacher that I wanted the Spanish class to shift a bit to focusing on helping me to read. I learned the alphabet and got about halfway through the consonants. About midway through he asked me how I was able to preach without knowing Spanish. I told him that Lucky was a really good interpreter. He said that he would like to try pretend interpreting. So I started going through the sermon I gave yesterday and he interpreted for an audience of no one for about 10 minutes. He said that the message that was shared yesterday was powerful. It was cool how God gave me that opportunity to share with him. After class I came home and rushed to get a study on Ezra put together for tonight. At 1:30 Della and I left for the first English as a Second Language (ESL) class in the public school of Ataco. We met several of the teachers and saw Bryan on the way in. The class had 6 boys and 6 girls around the age of 15. Della was the teacher and I sat and learned Spanish. Della worked mainly to find what their current level of knowledge was. The class lasted two hours. Then we went home for a few minutes. We went to Shucutitan at 5:05 and I gave the lesson. I felt bad for Lucky because she had a headache while she interpreted for me. We had homemade pizza for dinner when we got home and Bryan came over and ate with us. After dinner, Bryan and I worked on origami until 9:30. It feels like it has been a long day.

We have still not heard anything from immigration about our papers. They were supposed to call us and tell us to come and get our card. If they don’t call soon we will be hitting our 90 day deadline on June 1st!

Prego Della Teaching

Della's students

Cool lizard I caught a picture of

This is actually a very small spider in real life

5/18/14: Day 77: First Ataco Sermon

I woke up and quickly rehearsed the sermon. I left to get Samuel from Ahuachapán at 7:30. When I got to the church I had to scramble to meld my slides in with Paolo’s songs. The sermon seemed well received. I spent about 12 hours working on it. The sermon subject was earnest prayer focusing on Elijah from 1^st Kings 18. The teens were supposed to listen to the sermon and not have class but at the last minute they decided they had to go to our house and have Carlos come up with something to teach them on the spot. I was a bit disappointed that they choose to do that. The sermon lasted the appropriate time but then we had to come up with several filler songs while we waited on Carlos to get back to make the announcements.  After service we gave Edgardo the keys to the house so he and his family could continue with the painting. Then Lucky, Della, Carlos’ family, and I went to Ahuachapán. After dropping off Carlos’ family we proceeded to lunch at Pollo Camparo. Then we took Samuel home. We stopped by the grocery store and then went home. The painting was going well and I read most of the book of Ezra while they worked. At 3:40 we went back to the church building and I delivered the sermon with Lucky interpreting for the afternoon service. After the service we went home and ate nachos with cheese and meat. I worked on lessons for tomorrow and then went to bed.

Me and Samuel preaching

Edgardo painting our house

This is the same origami model
The one on the left is made with my special paper

5/17/14: Day 76: Painting House

Della and Lucky left at 6:30 for the ladies’ seminar. Lucky prepared the coffee urns so all I had to do was plug them in. At 7:00 I started the coffee. At 8:05 I called Lucky and she called Carlos. She called me back and said Carlos had to go to San Salvador. So at 9:00 I had washed out the coffee urns. I worked on the sermon from 6:30 until 5:00 with few breaks. Edgardo and Javier came over at 1:00 to paint. We paid them for the job earlier but we never had time for them to do it. They painted the bedroom and half the living room. They left at 4:45 and Lucky and Della got home at 5:15. Della was exhausted so she took a nap and I bummed around on the computer until time for bed.

Cool beetle

5/16/14: Day 75: Advice

Surprisingly, the cat did not return today. Samuel and I hung out until 9:30. Then Della, Samuel, and I went to Ahuachapán. Samuel showed us some parts of the city we had never seen before. We found two new fabric stores for Della. Then we went to the grocery store and Samuel pushed the kart around for us. We took Samuel to Osvaldo’s house at 11:00 and continued back home. Lucky taught her teacher’s seminar today because there is a ladies’ seminar tomorrow. Della and I went to the church building to get her and everyone that lives near Shucutitan when her class ended at 5:00. We proceeded to have teen time at Carla’s house after dropping everyone off. Lucky interpreted while I taught about Rehoboam. Then we played a game where a situation was given and one teen had to give good advice, another would give bad advice, and a third would give even worse advice. Everyone seemed to have the giggles tonight.

The situations were:
- Dog ate my trash!
- I am at school and the building has caught on fire
- The cashier overcharged me on my purchase
- (It was all girls playing the last one) I caught my perfect boyfriend picking his nose and eating boogers.

We got home about 7:20. Bryan came over but I told him I couldn’t hang out tonight because I needed time to prepare the lesson for Sunday. Edgardo may be coming over tomorrow to paint.  

Cool beetle

5/15/14: Day 74: Cat Intruder!

When I woke up I found bread strewn across the kitchen floor and some containers of food eaten into on top of the counter. We decided it couldn’t have been Hector’s dog because it is only 6 inches tall. We finally concluded that it was either an enormous rat or a cat. I think it might have managed to slide in through the garage door. We looked over the house but couldn’t find it anywhere. We will have to be more careful with our food now. Lucky, Della , and I left the house at 7:00 to go to San Salvador. Traffic was surprisingly low and we arrived at the mall right on time (9:00). Samuel said he had been there waiting for an hour because he expected bad traffic but it wasn’t. Della said she had been dreaming about Taco Bell for the past three days. Lucky and Samuel took the van to go to the visa extension office while Della and I stayed at the mall. Della and I went to the fabric store for her to get some materials to make some maternity skirts. Then we went to Simans. Della said she needed to pick out the baby’s first outfit to make it feel more real. I wanted her to buy one with a tractor on it but she said no… Lucky and Samuel finished and met up with us while we were still deciding.  Lucky said that the visa extension office said she needed more papers including a letter from a preacher. That is ridiculous, and Lucky tried to call them tons of times before but they never answered. So she decided she is just going to pay the fine. Pray that that will go well and Lucky will be able to return to El Salvador when she is finished with her business in the states.  So Della picked an outfit with birds on it and then we all went to get ice cream. We got home at 12:50 and Samuel came with to spend the night us. Samuel and I played some Minecraft and hung out a bit while Della and Lucky took a nap. At 5:30 Samuel translated for me at the small group study. After the study we ate omelets for dinner and banana bread for desert. Then we watched the movie Jumper. 

Cat Intruder on the counter!

Cat Intruder ate our bread!

Samuel did the dishes while I set up the movie

Charlotte's new outfit