Hola familias,

Today was our second day working on our Community Action Project in Rio Grande.  It was an exhausting day for everyone and required a lot of physical labor.  We started the day painting the remaining benches and putting our finishing touches on them.  We were only able to start working on the basketball court when the bulldozer finally arrived to remove the gravel left by the construction workers who are building a road next to our basketball court.  Once the gravel was removed and basketball was cleared, we set to work mixing cement and building a wooden frame to pour the cement into.  With the help of the teens from the Guardians of the Water, we mixed and set the cement onto the frame we had created.  It was back-breaking work mixing the cement powder with water from the nearby river and getting it to the right consistency needed for the court.  Our patience and tenacity were tested as we ended up having to stay three hours longer than was scheduled.  As Leader del Dia today, an important part of my role was delegating duties to everyone in order to make sure people weren’t overworking themselves as it was a very hot day.  Although everyone was hungry and tired, they still listened to me and worked hard to support each member of the delegation as well as the local volunteers.  Thanks to everyone’s participation we were able to complete the court within 5 hours and relax on the ride home.  When we got back to the hotel and had our Nightly Meeting, our GGL Evelyn gave us a nice surprise that we all needed after working all day in the sun – ice cream!  We ended our night by meeting the delegation across the street from us who arrived just a couple of days ago.  We met them at a nearby bakery where they treated us to fresh churros and hot chocolate.  A lot of members from our delegation found friends there and reconnected.  We also tried playing a game of Mafia but, unfortunately, it broke down due to a large number of people.  We were sad to leave our new friends as we were sharing our stories about our trip but we were also glad to finally be able to sleep after the long day.  All in all, it was a successful and productive day for us as we finished remodeling the park and completed the surface of the basketball court.  Tomorrow I am looking forward to completing our project and presenting it to the community of Rio Grande.