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 federal branch of the police whose sole purpose is to protect tourists, the Policia Tourismo. Lori and I went to the local office here to speak to them about the situation. They were SO helpful! We had three uniformed (armed) escorts and one other who was not on duty but rode with us anyway. They were all very friendly and a REAL joy to have on the trip to and back from San Sal Friday.
While in San Sal we got to do a little shopping for the "stuff" we can't get here. That was nice. We even got four cans of Dr. Pepper for the next special occasion. :) We also got to eat in the food court of the MetroCentro. This is a mall spanning 2 city blocks, 3 stories on each side with a walkway crossing over the highway. I definitely got my exercise that morning. Only went to a few places, but they were not really close together. I got to eat at Burger King there, though. Ultimate Doble Whopper! Yum. (BTW: doble is not misspelled.)
Friday night we got to eat at the Hotel La Palma with the U.S. team. Always great food and terrific service. Then a short devotional thought from Ralph before we headed back to the house. Pretty good day, that.
Saturday was a FULL day. Lots of activity at the church compound. For almost 100 pictures of the day, you can view this photo album on the Lalli Family Mission site. I got to give the boys (and two men) haircuts. The highlight of my day was the mother who came to me asking for me to cut her two years and five days old son's hair - his very FIRST haircut. Talk about nervous! He was great - as were all of the boys. There was one boy (the first one whose hair I cut) who was probably three or four, who cried and tried to rip off the cape, but I just hugged him and told him everything was alright and let him hold me and smile at him a minute or so, and then things were fine. They all fidgeted less than Nate when I cut his! Even Jose! ;)
You don't realize it by reading this, but I had to break away for a few moments to open a gate for the guys working on the water. Just got back from stomping a scorpion.
There is more to say, but no time to say it now. Sunday was great, too. Read about it in Erin's blog or on the La Palma blog.
Tomorrow promises to be another good day.
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 federal branch of the police whose sole purpose is to protect tourists, the Policia Tourismo. Lori and I went to the local office here to speak to them about the situation. They were SO helpful! We had three uniformed (armed) escorts and one other who was not on duty but rode with us anyway. They were all very friendly and a REAL joy to have on the trip to and back from San Sal Friday.
While in San Sal we got to do a little shopping for the "stuff" we can't get here. That was nice. We even got four cans of Dr. Pepper for the next special occasion. :) We also got to eat in the food court of the MetroCentro. This is a mall spanning 2 city blocks, 3 stories on each side with a walkway crossing over the highway. I definitely got my exercise that morning. Only went to a few places, but they were not really close together. I got to eat at Burger King there, though. Ultimate Doble Whopper! Yum. (BTW: doble is not misspelled.)
Friday night we got to eat at the Hotel La Palma with the U.S. team. Always great food and terrific service. Then a short devotional thought from Ralph before we headed back to the house. Pretty good day, that.
Saturday was a FULL day. Lots of activity at the church compound. For almost 100 pictures of the day, you can view this photo album on the Lalli Family Mission site. I got to give the boys (and two men) haircuts. The highlight of my day was the mother who came to me asking for me to cut her two years and five days old son's hair - his very FIRST haircut. Talk about nervous! He was great - as were all of the boys. There was one boy (the first one whose hair I cut) who was probably three or four, who cried and tried to rip off the cape, but I just hugged him and told him everything was alright and let him hold me and smile at him a minute or so, and then things were fine. They all fidgeted less than Nate when I cut his! Even Jose! ;)
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| Before: Two years, five days old - First Haircut! |
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| During |
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| After: He was SO good, he got a dulce. |
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| One of the two adults whose hair I cut was Jose! |
You don't realize it by reading this, but I had to break away for a few moments to open a gate for the guys working on the water. Just got back from stomping a scorpion.
There is more to say, but no time to say it now. Sunday was great, too. Read about it in Erin's blog or on the La Palma blog.
Tomorrow promises to be another good day.
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