Cool stories from San antoni, BRO :Work day one

Just a fair warning to ya'll reading this we don't have the same wit or vocabulary jake has so please lower your expectations and BEAR with us.

After taking the scenic route we finally arrived at the beautiful city of San Antonio and the house we will be staying at for the week, La Casa de Maria y Marta. Surprisingly, we arrived early and were able to walk the river walk downtown for about an hour. It was a complete 180 degree turnaround from Iowa weather: 78 degrees, sunny, with a light breeze.

That night we returned to the house for orientation. The leader of the programs name is Eduardo and has an adorable daughter named either Mary Ella or Maria. There's still some debate. Staying in the house with us are two other college groups, one from San Antonio and the other from colona, Iowa. Yes, amish country. They're Mennonite and educated us on their religion and the fact that they're not really Amish. During orientation Eduardo explained to us all of the different activities we could be doing throughout the week and what to expect. Then we separated into two groups and received our assignments.

This morning we woke up reallllllly early at seven o'clock to get ready to depart for the day. My group went to Mission Road, a center for children and adults with development disorders. In the morning we worked with the kids. We split into three groups, gym, education, and crafts. For crafts we helped the children make tissue paper shamrocks. In gym they played basketball and in education they helped the kids out with their worksheets. The kids ranged from very high functioning to low functioning. We had some kids who could engage in conversation with us and one named joseph who when asked what day tomorrow was exclaimed with great excitement, Easter! There were also kids who had very little verbal skills, if any at all. It was an amazing experience and a major shock to all of us. It made us more grateful for the blessed lives we all have.

After lunch there we helped out at Mission Road again, helping them paint a train shipping car used for storage in the beaming sun. It would explain why Chris, Olivia, Jake, and Austin are all lobsters now. Never forget sun screen people.

We all came home absolutely exhausted from a long days work. We hung out around the house until dinner. We had delicious homemade chalupas and everyone's stomach was well satisfied after. Then our group cleaned up dishes after and jake and I discovered an irrational fear to add to the list: floaters. You know those gross food chunks that get stuck in the water when you're washing dishes? Yeah those. Ew.

After dinner we had the director from the catholic workhouse talk to us and share how she ended up in her job, her upbringing, what the group does, and the experiences she has had so far. I won't go into much detail for our group will work there later in the week and explain.

After a nice walk down the river we went to sleep and day one ended. Thanks so much to all of you reading this and keeping us in your prayers.

Makayla and Jayne