Dear friends and family,
This has been such an amazing week so far! Today, we woke up at a measly 5:50 in the morning,
which shockingly feels really late here. Then, we went to mass at 6:20 a.m. in the chapel. Mass has not run longer than 30 minutes so I’m thankful for Brother Phillip’s insanely quick homilies. Our entire mission trip group has started getting really into the songs during mass…especially “Alabare”. I will probably be singing this everyday when I get home because it’s so catchy. Mrs. Almerido added some pizazz to the song to by clapping wildly with the beat. After mass, we went off to the worksites. My worksite is San Luis Moreti. It is by far the best worksite out of the four, no exceptions. I thought an hour drive was bad, but with the amazing view, the drive only feels like 5 minutes. Today at the worksite, we worked so hard. I don’t think I’ve ever made so much concrete in my life. Even though today was hard, there were so many laughable moments and this was the first day where we were actually able to see progress. It was also really fun to laugh at each other trying to carry the insanely heavy concrete…and fail miserably while carrying it around in buckets. I can already tell that the church we are restoring is going to look beautiful. The locals that were there were so amazing and at times I forgot that we were speaking different languages. We also had the BEST beans and pork today. After we finished working, we cleaned up, boarded our bus, and headed back to the retreat center. This was the first day that our group was back at the center before everyone else. Now, we’re off the supermarket next door to get some Costa Rican coffee (shout out to Mom and Dad – y’all have some good coffee headed your way in 7 more days). Although I miss everyone at home, warm showers, and the bipolar Texas weather, I am having the best time here and can’t wait for tomorrow!
Sincerely,
Mallory Jennings
