Rain, mud, and bugs. If I could choose three words to describe the past two days, those would be it. The rain started on Monday and hasn't really let up since then. Today we pretty much experienced a monsoon as it thunderstormed. Needless to say, this has created very muddy working conditions at the school. No need to fear, however, those of us who are healthy have continued to work diligently–mud and all. (On a side note regarding the health of the group, most of those who were sick earlier this week are feeling better and have returned to work. A few other people started getting sick, but they have been taking medicine and are already on the mend. Hopefully we will be back to full strength by the end of the week. I think it's mostly due to the fact that our bodies are still adjusting to the food here). Our clothes are often a nice burnt reddish brownish color when we arrive back at the compound at the end of the day due to being dripping wet and covered in dirt. We have continued to make progress this week on our building though. We started laying the bricks for the walls of the school room and they are already getting pretty high. We also finished filling in hole that the porch will be built on which was a huge accomplishment for all of us. We will still be moving a lot more dirt, however, because we need to fill in the floor of the actual school room now. It's so great to feel like we're actually making progress, and I'm so excited to see how far we're able to get by the end of the week.

On Monday night we had our first experience this year with the Rain Flies. They're bugs that come out in the rain, and when you hit them their wings fall off, but they don't die. Gross I know. We have all be enthusiastically trying to kill them with our shoes–it's quite an entertaining endeavor. We took refuge in the biblioteca where we eat when we hung out the past couple nights to avoid them flying all around us. The boys also had a nice surprise this morning when they went into their bathroom. The floors of all the showers were covered with very large wasp-looking things. I didn't see them, but I heard it was not very appealing. Fortunately, the cleaning crew had taken care of them by the time we got back from work at the end of the day. I'm hoping that they won't spread to the girls bathroom tonight.

This week we also started helping out with teaching in the school. Yesterday Brandon, Nathan, and Yeha all helped teach, and today Matt and I helped out. It was great to get a chance to work with the kids. Having two parents for teachers I definitely appreciate all the work they put in, but after trying to run a classroom for even a couple hours today, I have a whole new level of respect for what those teachers do. But like I said, it was so nice to interact with the kids who will directly benefit from the work we're putting in. We have also been able to interact with more of the kids at the compound the past few days. On Monday, a couple of us played in the puddles with them, and that was a blast. I have loved getting to know some of the children, and like Chelsea mentioned in her post, it is so humbling to see their maturity and joy for life.

I wish I could put into words the impact this place and its people have had on me, but nothing would suffice. The beautiful creation screams of God's majesty, and it's also been so amazing to see that the God we serve in the states is exactly the same here. I can't describe what an incredibly potent picture of His faithfulness I have seen. It's awesome.

Also, just an FYI, despite that this post will say it was written by Bryan, this is actually Jordan. I couldn't set up an account, and so he kindly let me borrow his. We hope all of you back home are doing well! We love you.