After much anticipation of having some kind of team excursion, we finally were able to leave for a couple days and spend Saturday night at a student's beach house. It wasn't right next to the beach but a close drive, and we had a lot of fun and relaxation at this beautiful well-vegetated place. I had the pleasure of sleeping in the hammock outside while the 17 other people crammed onto beds, slept on the floor or slept in the van. I was excited to finally use my 100% deet.

Going to the beach was sooo fun for us, and we did a lot of body surfing, relaxing in the shade, throwing a frisbee, and getting second degree burns on our feet as we traversed the black sand between the shade and the water. Our first shot at surfing didn't yield fruit, though Lauren tried unsuccessfully. Hopefully the surf will be better next time and we'll remember to apply sunblock more often!

We had an amazing meal saturday night of chorizo and something like flank steak. And that was all fun and games until someone got hurt. Or, all of us got hurt. Yeah, so most of the team has felt deathly ill today, with symptoms ranging from fever and chills, vomiting and stomach pains to the infamous d-train. Funny enough, Kristen and I were the only ones that were somewhat spared, and lucky enough, we happen to be the ESFJ's of the team, a personality type labeled as "the nurturer." No, doesn't sound too manly, but I was doing a lot of "nurturing" today as my roommates could hardly do anything for themselves.

Having a lot of time to myself, today was an opportunity to mediate and pray, especially for my teammates and the for the situation in Orissa, India, where Christians are experiencing unprecedented violent persecution from radical Hindu groups: www.gfa.org
Hasta tarde mis amigos.