Beach Day & Final Thoughts

After a long week of building we were finally able to relax yesterday in San Pedro Masahuat at Las Hojas Resort & Beach Club. It's a beautiful hotel that sits right above the ocean. I spent much of the day visiting the animals in the resort. They had monkeys, parrots, iguanas, an alligator, and a raccoon. Yes, they actually had a raccoon that was trained and slept in a tree. It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen. My favorite animal was the monkey though. I felt as if he didn't want me to leave because he kept grabbing my fingers and holding on to me whenever I tried walking away. When I finally did walk away I went to the beach just to soak in the sun. I ended up falling asleep because it was so relaxing; it was definitely much needed after the strenuous week we all experienced. 

After lunchtime, later in the evening, our bus driver surprised us by showing up to greet us all. He wanted to say goodbye before we all left El Salvador because he wasn't able to the previous night when the clutch blew out in the bus. He gave a very touching speech and told us all that he hasn't had this much fun in a long time. He was thankful that we invited him to our bowling night and he was also so inspired by our willpower to participate in Habitat builds that he's going to volunteer at build sites every Saturday on his day off. To hear that from him was such an encouragement and only reinforces my reasoning for why I keep signing up for Habitat builds. It's not only to make a difference for those I'm building a house for, but it's also to inspire others to want to do the same thing. If I can tell my story and inspire at least one other person to participate in a Habitat build, then I'm also impacting another family's life. Some people are scared because of their perception of other countries, but the Habitat organization ensures the greatest safety of their volunteers. Together we are building bridges of courage to hold back the flood of fear. If you've been reading this journey, hopefully it has provided you with enough insight to become a supporter of Habitat and to desire the passion to change someone's life.