Yes the rumors are true.....

I do have a full beard... Haha. I am finally posting on the blog after days of procrastination. We have all been working so hard that when  we come home to the hotel, all we do is hang out and drink soda. We teenagers have been hosting soda parties in our room with the bottled soda which is 45 cents. We are all so wiped out but we finished our work at the village of Guru Guru. My group which consisted of me, Adam, my dad, Ryan, Chase, and Sam had to hike a mile to the site where we were building and then at the end of the day hike a mile back to the bus. We finished the first house and were putting the final touches on the roof made of sticks. We made about half of the second house before we had to leave on the final day. All of our hands are stained orange because of the mud so regardless of how much we wash our hands they are still dirty. I feel bad for the people washing our towels because even after a 30 minute shower we dry off and the towels are brown. It was very emotional saying goodbye to everyone. Everyone had built up relationships with people so there were a lot of tears by the end. My little buddy's name is Dennis. He was by far the group favorite. Him and his brother Ruben were so helpful with construction as well as with the little kids. He is such a leader and is only 10. He tried to teach me Achole. It didn't happen. So I will just have to study up for next year.  At the end of the day I said to him "Amari" which means "I love you" and he said it back. These kids don't get love from their parents, or grandparents if they don't have any parents. So it was really good that we were all pouring out love. One more sad memory though. I was in the bus about to leave Guru Guru, and one of the moms stuck her head through the window of the bus and told me to take her child. Her boy, Obama, was the favorite baby of the group and he was shoved into the bus windows. It was hard to say no. Even though I'm going off to college (which the decision has been made!) I wanted to take Dennis or Ruben or Obama. But its a good thing I will see them next year. Below is the picture of Me, Dennis (green) and Ruben (blue)