As I write to you, I'm sitting in a café inside an airport in El Salvador.  We have said our goodbyes.  Other teams have joined us.  We checked our bags, and the only thing left to do is board the plane that will begin the week-long journey (for my team at least) to Vietnam.

I honestly thought this goodbye would be easier.  Central America was probably the one continent I wasn't as enthusiastic about when I started the Race.  But here we are and I'm definitely going to miss this place.  Most especially our hosts from San Salvador.  We, as Team Magic Treehouse, had become part of the family.  I've never really had a problem saying goodbye.  That's something my actual family can attest to.  I'm grateful they don't hold it against me.  I guess after too many goodbyes it just becomes second nature.  So, when I do struggle with the goodbye, it means something very important.

I experienced my first bit of homesickness this month (missing Christmas and New Year's) but there's something about missing a place and a people that went from foreign to familiar in just one short month.  There's something about the open arms of Abuela waiting to welcome you to the dinner table.  There's something about the members of a church that you've only visited for a few short weeks praying over you as you leave and wrapping their flag around your shoulders because they have made you one of their own now.

Our hosts in El Salvador will forever be family.  I've been blessed to know them and to love them.  I've seen their hearts and I see the Lord in them.  Thank you so much, mi familia.  I will never forget you.  I will think of you often and end every prayer with "Amen y amen."  Te amo mucho.  Te extrañaré.