Saturday in Leon & Poneloya

Saturday was a send off day for the girls at 8 am..then Tommy and I went to get 2 bikes for Nidia/Herman and another for Wismon/Jose..the family that Melissa supports monthly. The Gables had asked for a Saturday alone because Sunday morning Linda will be gone for 8 days to Costa Rica with Marcela for a womens leadership conference.

I brought back 2 full trunks and a carry-on luggage of clothes, school supplies, and toys the girls brought to donate. The Gables house is full of dental/medical trucks so I told them i can hold on to some here and organize them for giving out in contests etc.

When I got back to my place, and Yader, son of my house owner asked me to go play baseball with him. He has asked me 4-5 times but it has always been on Saturdays that we had dance class or another day that I had to do something with a group here. I told him we could play but I first needed a little help carrying the trunks back to room in the very back of the house. I offered him a hat or shirt or whatever he wanted for helping me but he told me that I didn't owe him any gifts. He said that my friendship is the best gift I could ever give him and he wouldn't ask for anything else. It was a very touching comment, and I wish I had many more like him in the villages, they fight over just a rubberband or seashell.

Yader and I rode our bikes about 5 mins to the Leon baseball stadium and met his cousin, 40 year old Erwin, to play some catch. Within 20-30 minutes a 30 year old man and a 22 year old guy, Eddie, asked to play. We were able to rotate through pitching, catchin, fielding, and batting for about 2 hours.

After baseball I took Yader, and his 14 year old sister, Maria, and her best friend to lunch at Whitehouse Pizza. After lunch I did some more organizing of trunks and the 13-14 year old girls helped me fold clothes and sort by toys, school supplies, and hats/clothing. They each kept a stuffed animal for helping and around 3 pm Scarleth, Leo, and I caught a bus to the beach.

On the bus, and at the beach, I did some more work on the attendance sheets...I have over 100 head shots matched to the 350 kids names now with their first, middle, & 2 last names plus ages. I'm no where near finished but it is coming along. We saw the sunset and grabbed some fries and soup at Sayupa before busing home. I went and told Linda bye and grabbed her laptop to keep up with her emails while she is gone. They were going with Freddy to pick up their son Tim from the airport, who was scheduled to land sometime past midnight.