La Palma Girl

Hello Friends!!!

It has been such a long week for me. I'm exhausted. I have officially been here for THREE months. It doesnt seem possible. Time is just flying by. Part of me is thankful that it is going by so quickly because Im ready to be back home with my friends and family and part of me just wants to cherish every second that I'm here.

This week, my original tourist visa was set to expire. So Monday, Jose and I traveled to San Salvador to try to get it renewed. We came prepared with everything we thought we could possibly need. We were wrong. The Immigration Office told us we needed two additional documents and that they needed to be notarized and brought back the next day for me to stay legal in this country. We traveled the two hours back to La Palma and set to work on getting the rest of the paper work. Tuesday, we traveled back to San Salvador, back to the Immigration Office, and tried again. This time fully prepared. They told us it would take two days to process the Visa and that I would need to leave my passport there and come back on Thursday. Two days without my passport?! With an expired Visa? Not at all what I had hoped for. And I really was not looking forward to canceling class for a third day in one week. Especially on Thursdays because thats the day I teach in the Christian school. I soon found out that due to some tropical depressions we've been having, school was canceled nationwide for Thursday and Friday. So back to San Salvador we went. This time, I left with my passport and my new Visa. Finally. When this Visa expires, I will be home for Christmas break. I'm going to attempt to get my temporary rescidency card when I return in January. I'm already trying to prepare myself for the red tape that will be involved in that process.

About those tropical storms? We've been very fortunate and have not had any real problems because of them. Several other parts of El Salvador were evacuated and faced serious damage and there were some casualties. Most of my classes this week were canceled due to either rain or the Immigration Office. Thursday on our way back from El Salvador, we drove through the remainder of a mudslide just outside of La Palma.

Yesterday was Dia de Los Ninos. Or Childrens Day. The school had activities planned for the kids as well as program day (day where the program kids get their groceries and support). Due to school being canceled, I believe that has been postponed till next Friday. A good friend of mine learned about the work here and wanted to help. He has offered to buy all new sporting equipment and pay to have a basketball goal installed for the kids here at the school. This has been in the works now for several weeks. We're hoping to get the goal installed (if the rain holds off) before next Friday and present it to the kids. They have no idea that this is going to happen. These kids love to play outside. At every recess, theres always a soccer game or a baseball game breaking out. But the equipment they currently have is older and not in good shape. I will take lots of pictures of this and hopefully be able to post them next week. :)

Please continue to pray for me. Pray that I will see God's plan for me in La Palma and that I can accomplish as much as I can during my limited time here.

Acts 17: 26-27 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.