July 11, 2008
This was the first official day in San Fran with the Chicago team and it was a busy one! We had Children’s ministries going, work and witness and evangelism. Being on the work and witness team, I continued to paint and when I had a free couple minutes, I walked over to the park and played some games with the kids.
Kurt (from the Chicago team) decided he wanted to be on work and witness and Debbie was on the children’s team and Beth on the evangelism team. It was definitely something I’d never experienced before, because Kurt didn’t speak a lick of Spanish. I was at loss. I realized I had to translate for him and man I think for most of trip I lead onto not knowing as much Spanish I as spoke today. Oh my goodness! All of the work and witness team are Spanish speakers, except for Kurt and I…but it was so amazing and so different to not be the one who knew the least amount of Spanish and be able to teach someone some Spanish. It was such an awesome experience, I’m glad I’m on this team and to think that I wanted to get a break from it (the Spanish speaking – by being on work and witness), I love this!
We ate lunch at a lady from the church’s house and it was so good! After that we went back to working, while others went to evangelize. Lindsey told me that she did the cube for a little girl and she excepted Christ! I’m so excited for her! She is doing so many wonderful things in God’s plan and I’m so thankful for her, I can’t believe she thinks she isn’t good with kids. Then after dinner that night we set up for the Jesus Film and started it around 630 p.m. There were quite a few people and I got to talk to a few children and some adults. It was a good day overall and we were all ready for bed. We walked up to the hotel which was about 5 blocks from the park and all got our room assignments and keys. Maddai and I roomed together and I was like what are you thinking Kendra (who did the room assignments); I told her I wouldn’t wake up because I would think I was dreaming in Spanish! We got to talking a lot more though, I talk to her in Spanish and she talks to me in English, it’s working pretty well. Our showers are interesting, but Maddai said that she has showered in a lot worse; its kind of like a spiket, its different, but its ok.
It was fun to have something different, and oh boy we were so tired it didn’t matter where we slept. I’m glad I had a place to lay my head for the night.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
July 10th
July 10, 2008
Today I want to give a shout-out to Esther because today is HER BIRTHDAY! Feliz cumpleanos mi amiga! We went again to San Fran to finish getting it ready for the next three days we would be there constantly. We finished scraping and prepping the walls and actually started painting. I am on the Work and witness team, so today we really worked and I got to talk to Claudia a lot more than I ever had! I guess Scott and Emily’s challenge is happening We played more with children as well. It was a good day! That night the food committee, which is Maddai, Claudia, Mehir and I went shopping with Scott to get food for dinner at the mall nearby and it fun. The malls are kind of like in the U.S. but kind of different too. We ended getting stuff to make Baleadas in the kitchen and when we got back we got right to work on making them. The Chicago team got in right around when dinner was ready and we were so excited to meet them! Their names are Debbie, Kurt and Beth. We all ate together, then Lindsey and the rest of the food committee came out with a big chocolate cake with exactly 25 candles on it for Esther! It was so fun! We got to talk to Beth and Debbie a little bit that night, but we were all so tired and needed our rest for the next week to come, so we went to bed shortly after that. Not before playing cards of course! And Kendra helped me translate a letter to Maddai into Spanish. Kendra said it was a good letter and was really touched by it. I’m glad I wrote it.
It was a good day!
Today I want to give a shout-out to Esther because today is HER BIRTHDAY! Feliz cumpleanos mi amiga! We went again to San Fran to finish getting it ready for the next three days we would be there constantly. We finished scraping and prepping the walls and actually started painting. I am on the Work and witness team, so today we really worked and I got to talk to Claudia a lot more than I ever had! I guess Scott and Emily’s challenge is happening We played more with children as well. It was a good day! That night the food committee, which is Maddai, Claudia, Mehir and I went shopping with Scott to get food for dinner at the mall nearby and it fun. The malls are kind of like in the U.S. but kind of different too. We ended getting stuff to make Baleadas in the kitchen and when we got back we got right to work on making them. The Chicago team got in right around when dinner was ready and we were so excited to meet them! Their names are Debbie, Kurt and Beth. We all ate together, then Lindsey and the rest of the food committee came out with a big chocolate cake with exactly 25 candles on it for Esther! It was so fun! We got to talk to Beth and Debbie a little bit that night, but we were all so tired and needed our rest for the next week to come, so we went to bed shortly after that. Not before playing cards of course! And Kendra helped me translate a letter to Maddai into Spanish. Kendra said it was a good letter and was really touched by it. I’m glad I wrote it.
It was a good day!
July 9th
July 9, 2008
This was our first day of prep work in Villa de San Fran scraping walls of the school for painting – they glued everything on the walls!; touring the city for evangelism and playing with children. Esther and I prepared a power point for Scott, and that was fun connecting with her more. It was an early morning and we had a surprise service around 3 at the local place where they hold church here. It was a surprise service because we were the service and didn’t know it until we got to the place. It was really funny for us, specially thinking back to the beginning of the summer where we would have no idea what to do and who to sing and what to sing and PREACH! We all started laughing and then pulled everything together really quickly. Luckily in my Bible I kept songs in Spanish written down from other services we had done in the past, so that helped A LOT! Maddai said she would preach, a few lead worship (Mehir, Catherine, Wes and I) and one person gave a testimony. After that Scott came to pick us up and we left for the seminary to eat. That night the ladies at the seminary actually made us food. It was so good! We hung out together and made lunches for the next day.
This was our first day of prep work in Villa de San Fran scraping walls of the school for painting – they glued everything on the walls!; touring the city for evangelism and playing with children. Esther and I prepared a power point for Scott, and that was fun connecting with her more. It was an early morning and we had a surprise service around 3 at the local place where they hold church here. It was a surprise service because we were the service and didn’t know it until we got to the place. It was really funny for us, specially thinking back to the beginning of the summer where we would have no idea what to do and who to sing and what to sing and PREACH! We all started laughing and then pulled everything together really quickly. Luckily in my Bible I kept songs in Spanish written down from other services we had done in the past, so that helped A LOT! Maddai said she would preach, a few lead worship (Mehir, Catherine, Wes and I) and one person gave a testimony. After that Scott came to pick us up and we left for the seminary to eat. That night the ladies at the seminary actually made us food. It was so good! We hung out together and made lunches for the next day.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
July 4th
July 4th
We came back home today to have a BBQ at Scott and Emily’s. Julio, Alicia, Ronnie joined us as well and we asked Scott if we were getting fireworks but he said he hadn’t gotten any. It was neat cook the meal with Emily and celebrate my country’s birthday in another country. Kendra was talking about how she hadn’t celebrated the 4th of July in America in years; I decided I would be ok with that if that was my future. I haven’t missed much of the U.S. since I’ve been gone, I think God has created me to be the kind of person that is ok with being away for a long time without missing, especially if it’s doing His work. After dinner we were surprised when Julio brought out a bag of fireworks and we all got an opportunity to go a little crazy. It was fun and would have been very illegal in the U.S. (as far as the kind of fireworks that we had). We sang our national anthem and the Mexicans even got festive for us. Ronnie and Alicia said it was fun for them to be able to celebrate this fun holiday with their brothers and sisters in Christ. I agree, it was.
We came back home today to have a BBQ at Scott and Emily’s. Julio, Alicia, Ronnie joined us as well and we asked Scott if we were getting fireworks but he said he hadn’t gotten any. It was neat cook the meal with Emily and celebrate my country’s birthday in another country. Kendra was talking about how she hadn’t celebrated the 4th of July in America in years; I decided I would be ok with that if that was my future. I haven’t missed much of the U.S. since I’ve been gone, I think God has created me to be the kind of person that is ok with being away for a long time without missing, especially if it’s doing His work. After dinner we were surprised when Julio brought out a bag of fireworks and we all got an opportunity to go a little crazy. It was fun and would have been very illegal in the U.S. (as far as the kind of fireworks that we had). We sang our national anthem and the Mexicans even got festive for us. Ronnie and Alicia said it was fun for them to be able to celebrate this fun holiday with their brothers and sisters in Christ. I agree, it was.
July 2nd
July 2nd
Scott and Emily has meeting with us before we left for Lake Atilan. They were meeting with us to discuss and general review of how we thought the trip and everything was going. We talked about just where I’m at and they gave me compliments life: that I reminded them of the post-modern church, that I had this way of being able to give an insight into what each situation means as far as God and how He is working with it. That I did a really good job of including people and that I was good at bringing people up and being positive about the situation. But the thing they said was really unique and not to loose was the insight because not everyone has that. Everyone in the group had these meetings with them. My challenge was Claudia, because of how I’d said I’d had the biggest difficulity with really feeling like I wanted to include her and everyone but it was really difficult because I have a hard time understanding what she is saying and communicating altogether with her and also feeling connected with her. Scott and Emily told me that I’d be surprised how alike we actually are; so they told me to challenge myself and find alternative ways of talking with her. I didn’t tell them about my frustration with Maddai and how I felt like she is this person that I’m so jealous of because I feel like she is leading this life I wish I were leading. Instead I decided to write them letters.
Then we went to Lake Atilan and it was so wonderful and amazing and I conquered another fear and went kayaking. Lindsey and I shared a room together for 3 days, we were perfect roommates. We went kayaking or boating in the mornings and shopping in the afternoons. We had live entertainment our first night in Atilan and went to this really nice, open restaurant and there was a woman performing on the street, spinning a who-la-hoop around her neck and there were other people playing drums for her act and then inside the restaurant later people played the guitar and sang. And they were cute! It was a fun trip. When we went shopping it poured, so we were pretty limited to a market that was under cover, though it was still fun, I bought a skirt and some things for my family.
Scott and Emily has meeting with us before we left for Lake Atilan. They were meeting with us to discuss and general review of how we thought the trip and everything was going. We talked about just where I’m at and they gave me compliments life: that I reminded them of the post-modern church, that I had this way of being able to give an insight into what each situation means as far as God and how He is working with it. That I did a really good job of including people and that I was good at bringing people up and being positive about the situation. But the thing they said was really unique and not to loose was the insight because not everyone has that. Everyone in the group had these meetings with them. My challenge was Claudia, because of how I’d said I’d had the biggest difficulity with really feeling like I wanted to include her and everyone but it was really difficult because I have a hard time understanding what she is saying and communicating altogether with her and also feeling connected with her. Scott and Emily told me that I’d be surprised how alike we actually are; so they told me to challenge myself and find alternative ways of talking with her. I didn’t tell them about my frustration with Maddai and how I felt like she is this person that I’m so jealous of because I feel like she is leading this life I wish I were leading. Instead I decided to write them letters.
Then we went to Lake Atilan and it was so wonderful and amazing and I conquered another fear and went kayaking. Lindsey and I shared a room together for 3 days, we were perfect roommates. We went kayaking or boating in the mornings and shopping in the afternoons. We had live entertainment our first night in Atilan and went to this really nice, open restaurant and there was a woman performing on the street, spinning a who-la-hoop around her neck and there were other people playing drums for her act and then inside the restaurant later people played the guitar and sang. And they were cute! It was a fun trip. When we went shopping it poured, so we were pretty limited to a market that was under cover, though it was still fun, I bought a skirt and some things for my family.
July 1st
July 1
Sunday – Rios de Agua Vida
Gotitas de Amor
Monday- Talk with Scott
Lunch at Jerson’s
Nap
De-briefing at Armstrong’s
Tuesday- Gotitas de Amor
Movie night
July 1
Today we woke up at around 7 for devo’s @ 7:30. Catherine did the devotion and it was found in Malachai 1:6-8. Then we all hung out until Carlos came to get us. Kendra stayed behind to work on something that Scott and Emily had for her in the office and the rest of us were off to Gotitas de Amor. We got there and no kids has shown up yet so some of us girls started playing girlie games we all used to play in middle school like MASH. It was hilarious and we taught the Mexicans and they loved it! Then kids began showing up- the younger kids first- for help with their homework.
Around 10:30 a.m. Carlos and Lily (his wife), Catherine and Maddai left for the market while we “held down the fort.” When they got back most of the kids were leaving for lunch and some stayed to help with preparations. As we sat down for lunch Juan, Lindsey, Wes and I started playing spades, it was really fun. While we were playing spades, Carlos came up and told us that we were playing something of the Devil and kind of chuckled. Us, North Americans, all looked at one another with udder confusion. Juan then began to tell us that playing with regular playing cards is still something controversial in Central America – then it actually made sense that Juan wanted all these pictures of all of us playing cards for his Dad to see. A little bit later I had a conversation with Scott about it and he said that people still believed that about cards because some missionary a long time ago came in and told them that and their still getting used to the idea that the cards themselves and the games to be played are not of the Devil but if you have a sour intent while playing the games. It was definitely something for me to get used to. I know Carlos was only joking (in a sense) but I think he then allowed us to be a little more mindful of who we played cards in front of, i.e. not during church, while the Pastor was preaching.
We were a bit antsy today to start our 3-day vacation. We haven’t had a full day off all summer, so our whole group was completely ready for a little bit of rest and relaxation – even Scott and Emily. I think we were being a little bit lazy at Gotitas today because we knew we were going to leave soon.
We got home tonight (home to the School of the Missions)
Sunday – Rios de Agua Vida
Gotitas de Amor
Monday- Talk with Scott
Lunch at Jerson’s
Nap
De-briefing at Armstrong’s
Tuesday- Gotitas de Amor
Movie night
July 1
Today we woke up at around 7 for devo’s @ 7:30. Catherine did the devotion and it was found in Malachai 1:6-8. Then we all hung out until Carlos came to get us. Kendra stayed behind to work on something that Scott and Emily had for her in the office and the rest of us were off to Gotitas de Amor. We got there and no kids has shown up yet so some of us girls started playing girlie games we all used to play in middle school like MASH. It was hilarious and we taught the Mexicans and they loved it! Then kids began showing up- the younger kids first- for help with their homework.
Around 10:30 a.m. Carlos and Lily (his wife), Catherine and Maddai left for the market while we “held down the fort.” When they got back most of the kids were leaving for lunch and some stayed to help with preparations. As we sat down for lunch Juan, Lindsey, Wes and I started playing spades, it was really fun. While we were playing spades, Carlos came up and told us that we were playing something of the Devil and kind of chuckled. Us, North Americans, all looked at one another with udder confusion. Juan then began to tell us that playing with regular playing cards is still something controversial in Central America – then it actually made sense that Juan wanted all these pictures of all of us playing cards for his Dad to see. A little bit later I had a conversation with Scott about it and he said that people still believed that about cards because some missionary a long time ago came in and told them that and their still getting used to the idea that the cards themselves and the games to be played are not of the Devil but if you have a sour intent while playing the games. It was definitely something for me to get used to. I know Carlos was only joking (in a sense) but I think he then allowed us to be a little more mindful of who we played cards in front of, i.e. not during church, while the Pastor was preaching.
We were a bit antsy today to start our 3-day vacation. We haven’t had a full day off all summer, so our whole group was completely ready for a little bit of rest and relaxation – even Scott and Emily. I think we were being a little bit lazy at Gotitas today because we knew we were going to leave soon.
We got home tonight (home to the School of the Missions)
June 27th
June 27th
We decided to have the VBS@ 2:30 PM. We had kids come up to the school in the morning to play games. Some of them actually remembered us from the first time we came. For me, especially this little girl named Lillian – she has something special about her – I just know it. We had lunch at the layman’s hut, made by his wife and other family, that was kind of the overseer of the village church there. All of our meals came from there; they were all so gracious.
After lunch we went back to the school to set up and get dressed. Then some of the us went out into the community to invite kids. It was a blast, Leslie, Lindsey, and I were chased (literally chased) by geese and we almost touched the border of Belize - all in one day, what an adventure! It was an interesting afternoon…
Leslie became Cometa for the week, along with Wes and I as clowns, Catherine and Lindsey were puppeteers, Esther as the announcer and Mehir with Josue for sound. The first day- the only afternoon without rain – we had 105 kids come! We played games after and got to converse with many before dinner at 5:30. Then at 6:30 we showed the Jesus film. It was the first time for anything like that (not only in our trip, but in my life!) and it was powerful. We had over 400 people! Afterward I sat with Lillian and prayed and prayed for all the people there and that God would be working in their hearts. It was hard to communicate with people because of my lack of Spanish so I just prayed that the hearts of the people would be softened and that God would be alive in the place. It was hard that night that all the little kids that I was sitting next to were laughing when Jesus was being crucified, that was hard for me to sit there and endure that. I was so moved by the film, even though it was in Spanish, every time I was impacted.
We were all pretty exhausted after that and went to bed. Our beds consisted of concrete floors in the school. It was interesting having no running water, but I think it brought us closer as a group.
We had a night in Jovente where we were worshipping in the rain and singing songs to the Lord and the power went out and it was still raining and we were singing underneath a little lean-to at the school in the dark. It was so amazing to see God alive in the lightening and thunder and everywhere around us. It was beautiful. We were singing past everything else that existed, past worldly things, past the Devil and just to our God, it was wonderful.
One day while in Jovente the kids group didn’t have anything to do for the afternoon so Lindsey went with Claudia to, Wes with Juan, Mehir and Josue with church folk, and Catherine and Esther with Kendra all joined evangelism teams. Maddai organized and put everyone in groups, except for me, which was intentional because Scott said we would do something else – which was fine with me because I wasn’t ready in my amount of Spanish I knew for evangelism, or so I thought.
That afternoon Scott and I got the opportunity to do something different. Though before we started our afternoon task we got a wonderful opportunity to talk with man used to be really involved in the church in Jovente but then moved to another town and he fell away from Christ because of a lack of involvement in a church. So Scott, Wes, Juan, the DS, Augusto (the pastor), and myself got the chance to pray for this man who was recommitting to Christ in his life and was willing to go to extreme lengths for Christ. It was such an wonderful experience being able to pray for this man as he accepted Christ back into his life.
After that, Scott and I picked up trash in the area where we were going to show the Jesus film and the surrounding areas. It was nice to do something different and Scott and I got a good opportunity to talk. I think that Scott and I are getting to be better friends, which is really nice – specially to have an American perspective on the culture that he is now fully emersed in his daily life. I didn’t think I would get that opportunity. Scott and I picked up everything from empty chip bags to old diapers, it was a really funny afternoon. We also unintentionally got some of the community involved. Some of the ladies and children from the family that helped cook our meals first started laughing at us picking up their trash and then started volunteerily helping. I hope they can keep their streets clean – though that might just be wishful thinking. After a bit we started talking to one of the ladies that was helping and she started teaching us Catchee, which is one of the 32 indigenous Mayan languages in Guatemala. We learned the song, If You’re Happy and You Know it, it was a really fun and funny afternoon. It rained a lot and I saw Scott and Jerson both slip down the same hill and fall on their butts and then Catherine fall up a different hill, it was so funny.
We decided to have the VBS@ 2:30 PM. We had kids come up to the school in the morning to play games. Some of them actually remembered us from the first time we came. For me, especially this little girl named Lillian – she has something special about her – I just know it. We had lunch at the layman’s hut, made by his wife and other family, that was kind of the overseer of the village church there. All of our meals came from there; they were all so gracious.
After lunch we went back to the school to set up and get dressed. Then some of the us went out into the community to invite kids. It was a blast, Leslie, Lindsey, and I were chased (literally chased) by geese and we almost touched the border of Belize - all in one day, what an adventure! It was an interesting afternoon…
Leslie became Cometa for the week, along with Wes and I as clowns, Catherine and Lindsey were puppeteers, Esther as the announcer and Mehir with Josue for sound. The first day- the only afternoon without rain – we had 105 kids come! We played games after and got to converse with many before dinner at 5:30. Then at 6:30 we showed the Jesus film. It was the first time for anything like that (not only in our trip, but in my life!) and it was powerful. We had over 400 people! Afterward I sat with Lillian and prayed and prayed for all the people there and that God would be working in their hearts. It was hard to communicate with people because of my lack of Spanish so I just prayed that the hearts of the people would be softened and that God would be alive in the place. It was hard that night that all the little kids that I was sitting next to were laughing when Jesus was being crucified, that was hard for me to sit there and endure that. I was so moved by the film, even though it was in Spanish, every time I was impacted.
We were all pretty exhausted after that and went to bed. Our beds consisted of concrete floors in the school. It was interesting having no running water, but I think it brought us closer as a group.
We had a night in Jovente where we were worshipping in the rain and singing songs to the Lord and the power went out and it was still raining and we were singing underneath a little lean-to at the school in the dark. It was so amazing to see God alive in the lightening and thunder and everywhere around us. It was beautiful. We were singing past everything else that existed, past worldly things, past the Devil and just to our God, it was wonderful.
One day while in Jovente the kids group didn’t have anything to do for the afternoon so Lindsey went with Claudia to, Wes with Juan, Mehir and Josue with church folk, and Catherine and Esther with Kendra all joined evangelism teams. Maddai organized and put everyone in groups, except for me, which was intentional because Scott said we would do something else – which was fine with me because I wasn’t ready in my amount of Spanish I knew for evangelism, or so I thought.
That afternoon Scott and I got the opportunity to do something different. Though before we started our afternoon task we got a wonderful opportunity to talk with man used to be really involved in the church in Jovente but then moved to another town and he fell away from Christ because of a lack of involvement in a church. So Scott, Wes, Juan, the DS, Augusto (the pastor), and myself got the chance to pray for this man who was recommitting to Christ in his life and was willing to go to extreme lengths for Christ. It was such an wonderful experience being able to pray for this man as he accepted Christ back into his life.
After that, Scott and I picked up trash in the area where we were going to show the Jesus film and the surrounding areas. It was nice to do something different and Scott and I got a good opportunity to talk. I think that Scott and I are getting to be better friends, which is really nice – specially to have an American perspective on the culture that he is now fully emersed in his daily life. I didn’t think I would get that opportunity. Scott and I picked up everything from empty chip bags to old diapers, it was a really funny afternoon. We also unintentionally got some of the community involved. Some of the ladies and children from the family that helped cook our meals first started laughing at us picking up their trash and then started volunteerily helping. I hope they can keep their streets clean – though that might just be wishful thinking. After a bit we started talking to one of the ladies that was helping and she started teaching us Catchee, which is one of the 32 indigenous Mayan languages in Guatemala. We learned the song, If You’re Happy and You Know it, it was a really fun and funny afternoon. It rained a lot and I saw Scott and Jerson both slip down the same hill and fall on their butts and then Catherine fall up a different hill, it was so funny.
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