August 8

I worked harder than ever today. We carried dirt up the massive hill all day! There were so many times where I thought that I wouldn't make it through the day... but here I am :) At one point today, as I was going up the hill, I watched an ant carrying a piece of leaf. I thought about how much work the ants do all day, everyday, for their entire lives... and I thought about how futile the work of one ant is. One ant can't make a difference. A whole colony of ants, however... they can do amazing things! Not only can they build unbelievable structures compared to their size, but they will rebuild 100 times over if need be. The truck ran over an ant hill yesterday, and today (before the truck came back up...) the ants had rebuilt it. I know that being simply ants, they do it out of necessity, but it made me think of hope- the hope that it would take humans to work as hard as that. To labour over something over and over- it reminds me now of how hard the people here fight for the poor, and fight for the FMLN. At the time, I thought about the ants and the difference that they can make as a colony. This morning, one of the girls was discouraged by the poverty and hopelessness that she felt the families had. She felt like their lives were worth less to them than ours are to us. She felt like we couldn't possibly make a difference. I thought about how if everyone did God's will for just a short time, the world would be so different. I also think about the devotional video I saw last year, which talked about God's story and our choice to be a part of it or not. Whether or not we participate, God will fulfill His divine purpose- sort of how whether or not an individual ant decides to work, the colony will still complete the ant hill... I really want to be a part of God's story, and I think that this week I am. Our presence here gives many people hope and when we come home filthy after a long day, some people are surprised because we are white. I like to think that they see us serving and realize that we are all equal.