Today was the last full day. We left the seminary a little late today because the Venezuelan students who were staying here were saying goodbye to us. They were so sad to leave, and they wrote us a letter, in English, telling us how they have loved coming to know us and enjoy working with us. They were crying as we left to go to Valle Dorado.

At Valle Dorado, we were sent right to work pouring MORE concrete. Phil, with his excellent math skills, said we poured about 6 ½ tons of concrete. Susan, Kim, and Elizabeth got to carry back the empty buckets. Some of the kids wrote us adorable goodbye letters and drew pictures of us. At lunch we received beautiful gifts from Smith and the other people at Valle Dorado. Pastor Smith gave us an inspirational thank you and Kathy said one back, through Yoe, of course. It took a while for everyone to exchange names for Facebook and email addresses but we were shuffled to the van quickly. It was a hard goodbye for everyone, and I’m sure I can speak for the entire team when I say we will be excited to see them next year.

From Valle Dorado, we went to Nigel Burrow’s house. Nigel does Drop-Inn ministries and preaches on the streets of Barquisimeto and brings food to families in their houses and to the church we went to tonight. Nigel briefed us on what he’s done in the past and what he is still doing and what we were going to be doing later. After that, we got back into Willie’s van and went to the church to feed the children. When we got there, we were greeted and shown a presentation done by Nigel and his wife, Monica. When the children got there, they loved the Noah’s ark necklaces we had made for them earlier in the week. They prayed and ate sandwiches with big smiles on their faces. They were loving and happy to see all of us. We left with heavy hearts, knowing we had to leave the next morning. Some of us were happy to see our families, and others wanted to stay much longer. We will all be up at 4 in the morning to go to the airport. See you tomorrow!