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Tuesday

Today was a wonderful day. We woke up pretty early (I woke up around 6) and got ready for the day. At exactly 7am we had breakfast, holiday inn express Quincy style, minus the waffle maker, just the way we like it (if you know Kevin you get it). I had lots of coffee to wake me up. After breakfast and before devotions I got to visit with Sandra and Aracely. Sandra braided my hair, which is one of the best parts of coming down here (totally kidding), and then we went upstairs to "the upper room" for morning devotions, led by Aracely. She spoke about callings from God vs career choice. After devotions we went and put sun sauce and bug sauce on before choosing our van wisely (I got the van with the AC and got put next to quite a few Guatemalans, so I chose wisely). I'm not sure how many of you know this, but I am starting college this fall with the hopes of becoming an OB/GYN. Aracely is 7 months pregnant, and I was right between her and Sandra on the way to El Rincon. That meant that I got to feel and talk to her little baby boy on the way. Every time I felt and talked to baby Emanuel, he jumped and moved around. When others did this he didn't move quite as much. This really strengthened my faith in my calling and future career choice, so that was a huge high of the day. Once we arrived in El Rincon, we split up into three groups for house visits. My group involved Aaron, Harrison, Hayden, and Cesar. We went to the home of the twins that Harrison and I sponsor, but they were in school, so we were able to visit with their mother. It was really wonderful to practice my Spanish and pray for the family. After the house visit we ate a delicious lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. When lunch was over, we went and met Carlos and Margarita. Their story is a story full of grace and forgiveness that I would love to tell you about when I am home, but is too long to write here. After meeting Carlos, we headed over to the area where we hold the faith lessons and were able to read with the kids and visit with them as well. At 2 we started our faith lesson about Naaman and his leprosy. It went really smoothly for the first time. I always love seeing Oscar with the children, and how well they listen to him. After the faith lesson I wasn't able to go watch Ana in the clinic, but I was able to spend a great amount of time with my sponsor child and his family. I love hugging them and seeing the smiles on their faces. Hopefully I get to come back next year to visit them again.On the way home I had a wonderful visit with Sandra, Aracely, and Carlos. To practice my Spanish they made me listen to their stories and repeat them in English. When we got back we had delicious enchiladas made just the way we like them (thank you Ginny for everything!) and then talked about tomorrow. Then we had devotions and started our coffee orders (I'm not buying 20 pounds mom I promise), and now I am sitting with Hayden and Kevin looking over my shoulder and reading my blog as I type. I can't wait for tomorrow and what God has in store for us tomorrow and the rest of the week. I am sending love to everyone back home. -Bella Soltwedel
Side note- Kevin just told me we *might* be able to use a fetal Doppler to listen to baby Emanuel's heartbeat sometime this week and I'm not necessarily expecting that to happen, but I am seriously hoping it does because that would honestly be such a highlight of my week.

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