Sunrise & Sunset in Ch'ol [wednesday]

This trip is just flying by so fast!! I can hardly believe that it is almost over already… I mean, didn’t I just get here?!On Wednesday we spent our last full day out in the jungle. The last day in the village is always sad for me, because I never know when or if I’ll be back. But Benito Juarez was a great village! All the girls got to sleep in a beautifully decorated church, and my bed for 2 nights consisted of 2 pews pushed together. They weren’t quite the same height, so the middle was uneven, but that’s all the adventure of sleeping out in the jungle!Early that morning we split off into teams. One team was going to stay there and do a children's program, while the other set off with Nathan to Pactiune, which was the same village we had done a program at on Tuesday.I was on Nathan’s team, so 6 of us went off together for the hour-long ride down a one-lane dirt road. As soon as we arrived, kids surrounded the car and peered in the windows at us, but we had to practice singing “Here I am to Worship” and “Before the Throne of God Above” in Spanish before we could get out. We were scheduled to sing at a tent revival that the village had going, and those were the songs we chose.After singing, we split up into 2 water filter teams and installed several filters throughout the town.On Tuesday evening when we were there, we had noticed a cute cow tied up outside. That morning we stumbled upon its tail outside, and then we ended up eating that cow for lunch! I guess that’s what you call fresh beef! Some of the ladies of the village cooked up a giant pot of beef stew and everyone attending the revival meeting, plus us, met together at the long tables in the dining room to eat. I’m not crazy about seeing my food alive and living before eating it, but the stew was pretty good!Meanwhile, back in Benito Juarez, the rest of the team was putting on a grand finale program for all the kids. Along with all the normal that we always do like crafts, skits and games, they also handed out candy to all the kids and had a lot of fun with water balloons. It was the last program of this trip, so they tried to make the most of it, and the kids certainly enjoyed it!The day ended with singing. And really, what better way is there to end a day? We all gathered together in the kitchen, with a small audience of village people looking on, and sang pretty much every song Nathan knew how to play on guitar, both English and Spanish. And then the sun set and we headed off to our hammocks, church pews, and the floor for one final night of roughing it… and our last night in the jungle.~Katie, for the team