Messages from Monte

I really have not had much to say over the last week, but here is a quick update. I was sick most of last week. I woke up around 2:00 AM Tuesday with stomach cramping. I eventually slept a little while longer, but was pretty much up the rest of the night. I got up and made breakfast. Unfortunately, I also ate breakfast which killed my stomach. I ate about a half-cup of soup that night which I very quickly regretted. I didn't eat again until late Thursday night. I am fine now, but wow was that a miserable state of being. The week had some excitement, though, mostly good. Jose had a birthday Tuesday. Central America had a party Wednesday. Nate turned ten on Thursday. Then there was the one thing that put a real damper on the week. Janeksa, a teacher here at the Christian school, lost her husband (31 years old) to a Semi VS Motorcycle wreck. I won't share the details because it is not relevant, but I will say they handle these situations quite differently than we of the U.S....

The last week has again been full of excitement. The week started with some negative excitement, but ended really well. We found out Tuesday that the country of El Salvador was under siege by gangs, sort of. A public bus was stopped somewhere on its route by a gang. All the people on it were forced off, and then they torched the bus. This was actually much better than in June when the same situation arose, but they made the occupants stay on the bus - killing 16. The recent attack came with warnings: if the buses continue to run, more buses would be burned with the people still on or drivers would be shot. This was in retaliation for a bill recently passed by the government (not yet signed by the president) making it illegal (punishable by up to 13 years in prison) to belong to a gang. For some reason the gangs did not like that too much. So we were scrambling about the transportation situation of bringing the U.S. team from San Sal to La Palma. Luckily, the government here has a fed...

Wow, what a week it was. I'll pick up where last I left off. The Wednesday night family meeting did not disappoint. We had 52 people in our house. We crammed as many chairs as we could fit into the large room at the end of the house and were able to seat 44 people there. The remaining 8 were either in seats just inside from that room or standing just outside. The singing sounded terrific with that many exuberant voices in a crowded, concrete-walled room. Harmony doesn't really exist much, but the heart and spirit more than make up for that. We served the cookies and coffee which were both a hit. I believe it was the first time many of them had ever tried no-bake cookies. The night was chilly by their standards so the coffee was also very welcome. By the time everyone had gone we were worn out, but it was all very worth it. I hope it went a long way towards resolving some of the curiosity of "la casa del Americanos." Saturday was also a full day. The ...