The Rainy Day!

Hi Blog Friends, this is Leah & Ricky. The story of today actually begins at 3:40 AM, when the whole hotel was rudely shaken awake with a HUMUNGENORMOUS explosion of sound and shake...it was incredibly scary at first. When the rain finally began to POUR, we were relieved to confirm it was just thunder. The thunder went on, the rain went on, and the wind picked up. The storm lasted all night.


In the morning when we were in the bus, ready to travel 30 minutes to a new clinic location, we get the news that the roads were too dangerous to travel on. The town was flooded and the rain was not going to let up until the end of the day. The leaders tried to come up with an alternative plan. We asked if there was a school we could visit, but TODAY was their first day of vacation break! Finally, the local Pastora suggested we go to the Retirement home nearby. We were so excited when the home gave us permission to visit. God is so good...when we thought our plans were ruined, He gave us something even better. Here is Austin to tell you more...







HOLA!!! I am Austin. Today is Monday? Yes, it is Monday. Jake´s 17th birthday :]. Our plan today was to set up another medical clinic at a new church. There was a HUGE giant storm and the roads to that church were flooded. Instead, we went to a Retirement home. We made bracelets for them and painted the ladies nails. We performed several dramas for them, which they really enjoyed. The workers told us that one of the biggest struggles they have there is boredom, so it was wonderful that we were there.



To our surprise, the local tv and radio news crew arrived to capture what we were doing! They took video and audio footage of us spending time with the elderly, and interviewed the Pastor and Richard.



We all had fun even though our plans had been changed. While at the Retirement home, we met an elderly man who was 98 anos!! He had no teeth. I personally love when I visit retirement homes because the elderly people seem to have a childlike innocence about them. Even though I really couldn´t understand what they were saying, when you look into their eyes you can tell how thankful they are that we were there with them and that we took the time to help them. One man that I was talking to told me that he had never seen a North American before and that he could tell we were foreigners because of the way we talked. We also made them balloons, which I think was their favorite part.













After we left the retirement home, it was still raining so we went to get lunch. It was very good. The team sang "Happy Birthday" to Jake and Leah and had them blow out a candle on a little Uruguayan dessert. (Jake's birthday is today, Leah's was on the 27th)







After lunch we went back to the church we were at yesterday to set up the clinic. It was still pouring rain, so we did not expect to have many patients. But several people did show up during the 3 hours we worked. Since we had a little free time during the clinic, we spent some time bonding with the Uruguayan and Brazilian friends with a little game of WALL BALL. It was great!!!





After the clinic, we walked around our Brazilian town, looking for a place to eat and to buy postcards. We ended up having delish steak sandwiches and french fries for dinner. We ended the night with some wonderful worship and devotions, as usual.



Tomorrow we head back to Montevideo. (9 hours by bus!)



(McKay, Amy, Tayler, and Ricky rocking the pharmacy)




Be sure to also ready Kellinee's post...you get 2 posts for 1 today!!!