We've been here for over 6 weeks now, and I've been getting a lot of questions from the folks at home about what a typical day looks like for us.
Most of them start in about the same way. Around 5:30, Abel stirs (if he's even sleeping...) to the sounds of vendors in the street calling out "el pan" (bread) and "la prensa" (the morning paper) over and over again. It's an art, the way these guys call. So sing-songy. Maybe I'll try to capture the audio some morning, although I'm not altogether on top of things at 5:30 in the morning.
What happens next depends on what's on the day's agenda. Sometimes we all get ready and go out with the teams, sometimes just Sean or just Sean, Kellen and Wyatt. With the teams, we typically do door-to-door ministry in the mornings and deliver food boxes. Depending on where we are (and how far outside Granada), we either come home for a quick lunch or eat a packed lunch in the field. Then it's usually back to door-to-door ministry and food delivery after lunch, often followed by a church service in the village's church around 4:00ish. These church services are so important to draw in those who accept Christ during door-to-door ministry, so that they can be discipled.
When there is no team in town, Sean goes out to meet with area pastors in order to determine where the needs are, what the needs are, and to get a sense for the vision that these men (and some times women) have for their churches, their villages and this region.
On days when we don't go out, our days probably look pretty similar to yours, except everything seems to take longer here than it does at home. The big boys and Elliott have school work. There are always chores to be done. Provided the water and electricity are both working, there are clothes and diapers to be washed and hung to dry (no dryer). There are restaurants in Granada but we don't dine out all that much, so there are three meals a day to prepare and clean up after (without a dishwasher). We don't have a car so trips to the market usually involve Sean, a backpack, and a bicycle, and have to happen fairly frequently since things don't stay fresh long when your kitchen is outside.
It's not all work though. We brought the Wii and some DVDs in a carry-on, so the kids play games and watch movies in English. When the WiFi is working, we also check Facebook and Instagram just like you, and FaceTime and iMessage with family and friends. We watch television in Spanish, which does wonders for our fluency. We listen to the neighbor's parrot, just on the other side of the high concrete wall that separates our house from the next, who says "Esta bien!" about 200 times a day. We count lizards. We play with Barbies. We chase away cats who climb down the rooftop and into the open house. Mostly we try to stay in the shady parts of the house to avoid the heat - it's between 90 and 92 degrees every day - until it's time to retire to our bedrooms at night. The bedrooms do have A/C units, but electricity is very, very expensive, so we run them on a timer for 4 hours each night. One for our room (which Sean and I share with Elliott, Cade and Abel) and one in each of the big boy's rooms.
And the next morning, with calls for bread and the paper, we do it all over again.
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