Day 2: Exposure (a.k.a. People, Plans, Culture...and Sunburns all around*) - March 8
* Ok, not all around. Matthew has SPF 2,000 sunscreen and Rachel somehow didn't get burned.
Today started pretty chill. I rolled out of bed at 7:11 (because it's divisible by 9) and walked up a floor to get breakfast (we had beans and rice and eggs and toast and ham and juice, was good!). I went back down and found a balcony for a quiet time, which was dope. We chilled and waited for Lagos to come get us.
When he arrived and we got organized, we walked over to a futbol stadium to watch a game. The match was between the Liga Heredia and some orange team we didn't like. The game was epic, lots of people had horns they were blowing, two guys brought drums and beat them essentially the entire game, there was much yelling and fanfare....oh, the players were like 10 years old, by the way. We went because Justin, the son of Abel y Eli1, was playing. Abel y Eli are a couple connected to the church who live in a rough neighborhood. We'll be going to their house on Wednesday to help serve them and their neighborhood.
I'd like to tell you Justin scored the winning goal and the Liga were victorious, but they got wrecked y'all. It was salvaje. But he did play well and when he came off the field, our whole section cheered for him and chanted his name and he grinned the biggest grin ever.
After the game, Lagos and I went to get Sheryl while the rest of the team walked over to the mall. We took an Uber to the airport and found Sheryl. Then, oddly, our driver cleared out super fast and left us at the airport. Meh, pura vida, am I right? So we walked up to a different level to wait for a different driver to come get us. He got us and took us to the mall to meet back up with our team, which would now be complete since Sheryl made it in.
Y'all, the mall we went to was HUGE. We hung out for a while and ate lunch and chilled. Then, Lagos laid out The Plan2 for us.
Campus
Mon - Sit in on an English class, connect with students
Tue - English class and H@ngout (the church's weekly on-campus event)
Wed - Prayer walk campus, men's/women's lunches
Thu - Field trip with students
Fri - Host a concert for the students we've met, connect them to the church
Sat - Shop, connect with church members, evening church service
City
Mon - Serve at women's shelter (meals, repairs, painting, etc.)
Tue - Serve at women's shelter (meals, repairs, painting, etc.)
Wed - Serve in a rough neighborhood (Abel y Eli), then play with kids in the neighborhood
Thu - Connect with refugees in the city park
Fri - Connect with refugees in the city park
Sat - Shop, connect with church members, evening church service
All-in-all, sounds like a pretty good week! We chilled at the mall a little while longer, meeting and bonding with some friends who came from Honduras to translate for and serve with us (our sister church in Honduras has some amazing things going on; they are the hub church for all of GCLA). I got to play with Saul, who is Justin's brother.
We headed back to the hotel, prepped some donations and headed to the women's shelter to meet and connect with the ladies there. It's amazing that last year this shelter was kind of a pipe dream for this little church and now it is up and running 3 days a week! It's all run by people in the church and a couple of women who used to live on the street and, by God's mercy, got out. They do an amazing job of honoring these women, but not babying them. The women are required to be looking for jobs and to be sober and follow strict rules in the care for the shelter and each other. It's formed a beautiful little community.
Today was International Women's Day, so we through a party for the women there; celebrating their struggle and how crucial they are to the past, present, and future of their country and our world. Our whole team sat in and had dinner with the women and made conversation through the ones who could speak Spanish and translate. The conversation was hard because we feel like we are doing so little. We barely speak the same language, we're able to just touch the surface of each other's lives. There's so much hurt and so much need. Does what we're doing even matter?
And yet, when you see how these women respond to people making eye contact with them, treating them with love and dignity, listening to them and caring about their life story...you'll say what one of our team said, "I need to find a way to give recurring support to what they are doing here." Our team did such a great job! I am so proud of each of them for stepping out of their comfort zones and loving well, even if it felt like just listening to someone you could barely understand.
Afterwards, we returned to our hotel and had a time of prayer and worship, then broke into our "lifegroups" (smaller, gender-specific groups) and processed through the day together.
Now I am going to shower and go to bed! City side is leaving the hotel in 4 hours to do the breakfast stuff, so.
PLEASE PRAY for both sides of our team tomorrow, we're about to make a lot of crucial connections and step into the thick of the ministry we are here to do.
Thanks :)
1. If you haven't noticed, italicized words are the words I'm pronouncing en español in my brain voice as I'm typing.
2. Let's go ahead and agree to hold loosely to this plan though. Remember the flexibility affirmation, lol.
Today started pretty chill. I rolled out of bed at 7:11 (because it's divisible by 9) and walked up a floor to get breakfast (we had beans and rice and eggs and toast and ham and juice, was good!). I went back down and found a balcony for a quiet time, which was dope. We chilled and waited for Lagos to come get us.
When he arrived and we got organized, we walked over to a futbol stadium to watch a game. The match was between the Liga Heredia and some orange team we didn't like. The game was epic, lots of people had horns they were blowing, two guys brought drums and beat them essentially the entire game, there was much yelling and fanfare....oh, the players were like 10 years old, by the way. We went because Justin, the son of Abel y Eli1, was playing. Abel y Eli are a couple connected to the church who live in a rough neighborhood. We'll be going to their house on Wednesday to help serve them and their neighborhood.
I'd like to tell you Justin scored the winning goal and the Liga were victorious, but they got wrecked y'all. It was salvaje. But he did play well and when he came off the field, our whole section cheered for him and chanted his name and he grinned the biggest grin ever.
After the game, Lagos and I went to get Sheryl while the rest of the team walked over to the mall. We took an Uber to the airport and found Sheryl. Then, oddly, our driver cleared out super fast and left us at the airport. Meh, pura vida, am I right? So we walked up to a different level to wait for a different driver to come get us. He got us and took us to the mall to meet back up with our team, which would now be complete since Sheryl made it in.
Y'all, the mall we went to was HUGE. We hung out for a while and ate lunch and chilled. Then, Lagos laid out The Plan2 for us.
Campus
Mon - Sit in on an English class, connect with students
Tue - English class and H@ngout (the church's weekly on-campus event)
Wed - Prayer walk campus, men's/women's lunches
Thu - Field trip with students
Fri - Host a concert for the students we've met, connect them to the church
Sat - Shop, connect with church members, evening church service
City
Mon - Serve at women's shelter (meals, repairs, painting, etc.)
Tue - Serve at women's shelter (meals, repairs, painting, etc.)
Wed - Serve in a rough neighborhood (Abel y Eli), then play with kids in the neighborhood
Thu - Connect with refugees in the city park
Fri - Connect with refugees in the city park
Sat - Shop, connect with church members, evening church service
We headed back to the hotel, prepped some donations and headed to the women's shelter to meet and connect with the ladies there. It's amazing that last year this shelter was kind of a pipe dream for this little church and now it is up and running 3 days a week! It's all run by people in the church and a couple of women who used to live on the street and, by God's mercy, got out. They do an amazing job of honoring these women, but not babying them. The women are required to be looking for jobs and to be sober and follow strict rules in the care for the shelter and each other. It's formed a beautiful little community.
Today was International Women's Day, so we through a party for the women there; celebrating their struggle and how crucial they are to the past, present, and future of their country and our world. Our whole team sat in and had dinner with the women and made conversation through the ones who could speak Spanish and translate. The conversation was hard because we feel like we are doing so little. We barely speak the same language, we're able to just touch the surface of each other's lives. There's so much hurt and so much need. Does what we're doing even matter?
And yet, when you see how these women respond to people making eye contact with them, treating them with love and dignity, listening to them and caring about their life story...you'll say what one of our team said, "I need to find a way to give recurring support to what they are doing here." Our team did such a great job! I am so proud of each of them for stepping out of their comfort zones and loving well, even if it felt like just listening to someone you could barely understand.
Afterwards, we returned to our hotel and had a time of prayer and worship, then broke into our "lifegroups" (smaller, gender-specific groups) and processed through the day together.
Now I am going to shower and go to bed! City side is leaving the hotel in 4 hours to do the breakfast stuff, so.
PLEASE PRAY for both sides of our team tomorrow, we're about to make a lot of crucial connections and step into the thick of the ministry we are here to do.
Thanks :)
1. If you haven't noticed, italicized words are the words I'm pronouncing en español in my brain voice as I'm typing.
2. Let's go ahead and agree to hold loosely to this plan though. Remember the flexibility affirmation, lol.
Comments
Post a Comment
Hola