Sunday

Today we went to Dino Pan again for breakfast - very, very good! Then, we made sure we were back at the hotel lobby in time to test the connection to McEachern via Skype. It was so nice to see familiar faces on the computer! Juvenal and his family also joined us in the lobby - hope you were able to see him well! After we "left" the Transformation service, we held our own service in the lobby. Rosmeary had prepared fancy bulletins even - complete with English and Spanish! She, Alejandro, and Samuel led our service. Rosmery sang and has such a beautiful voice! After our service we waited for the bus.

During our wait, we noticed a building catch fire across the street with flames coming out of the window. To us it looked like a vacant, run-down building but we soon learned it was a residence. Samuel and Juvenal raced across the street while someone from the hotel tried to get a hose to reach and looked for a fire extinguisher (which was actually locked up). The flames became too big and the smoke too black so Juvenal and Samuel went around to the back of the building and heard voices screaming from the bathroom. Samuel actually was able to tear the bars off the window and then break the glass. Two adults and two children were in the bathroom with no way to otherwise get out. There was also a car in the front opening and Samuel was able to get that out to avoid an explosion. The mom and children were hysterical - Alejandro prayed over them and we provided them with water before the ambulance came. Praise God that noone was hurt as this could have very well been a disaster. The homes here have one door in the front and typically bars on all the windows. We have now dubbed Samuel our mission trip escort, bodyguard, banker, chauffeur, and now fireman! This is one of many times that we have been so thankful for Samuel's presence.

We took a quick trip to Makro (just like Sam's or Costco) for some shopping of items to take home and then left for lunch at Tropi Pollo and then on to the ballfield for a softball game against the Punto Cardon church. In Punta Cardon (which is fairly close) they have a community ballfield and they were sure ready for us! Every year we (Juvenal's team) play them and we switch off the trophy for the winner. Steve, Brian, Shaun, Joseph, and Kyle were the players from us - however, they soon let Alyssa join. Not sure how this was going to be perceived, as the women do not really play ball with the men - and here we have a blond girl on the field! She soon proved her worth though. Juvenal was very specific about where he wanted everyone on the field - despite Shaun's suggestions. After we were losing by a big margin, he let Shaun go in the outfield - his specialty. With Alyssa on first and Shaun in the outfield, we started scoring! Wahoo! Still, the win of the game went to Punto Cardon and we celebrated by handing them the trophy. It was really a great time of fellowship! We then headed back to the hotel and had dinner at the hotel restaurant. Our dinner have been very late each day - typically can be 8:00 - 10:00pm.