Day 3 - I Drank Coffee Today! (a.k.a. the post where i essentially just brag on my peeps) - March 9
Well, I’m starting out writing this in a MSWord document, because the internet in our hotel is overwhelmed by how many of us are using it right now. Which, it’s, like 2 AM here, so I reckon they oughta be asleep (but I guess, to be fair, I’m not either).
Today was our first day operating independently as the campus side and the city side. From here on out, my updates will all be about the city side, so if you want campus info, you’ll need to be on Katie’s Blog instead of mine. I figure it’s a good idea to introduce you to the city side of our team:
Sam – Sam is our team leader and he is me. So you can know everything there is to know about me: INTJ, EG Type 9, Beaver, Conflict Turtle, Quality Time, Cause Hat, Water Bender, Huffandpuff, Team Mystic, Team Plasma, Faramir, Puddleglum, Armadillos.
James – James is reppin’ from our church’s 10:01 (a.k.a. city) service. He is one of the people I’ve known the longest in Fellowship Church (he was on my first trip to México in 2009 and made me feel safe when I was way out of my comfort zone). James is servant-hearted like nobody’s business. He’s a creative problem solver, a deep thinker, a great listener, a hard worker, and really funny to boot.
Sheryl – Sheryl is kind of in both sides of Fellowship Church. She’s probably my actual oldest friend and is one of the people who raised me up into leadership. She and I spent a summer in Monterrey, México in 2011, interning with the church there. She later spent 2 years living in Mexico, doing ministry. She loves and listens better than anyone I know and has the most pura vida spirit of anyone ever.
Evan – Evan is my roommate and one of the homegroup leaders in my cluster. He is smart and kind and draws out the best in people. He has the ability to love and care for people that are incredibly difficult to love and care for. He never gives up on people and he knows when to be gentle and when to be playful. He’s super-wise and is a man of God I deeply respect.
Héctor – Héctor is on Evan’s leadership team and used to be in homegroup with me before we multiplied. He came on our Costa Rica trip last year and, on more than one occasion, carried our team on his shoulders. He is kind, incredibly gentle, smart, and thoughtful. Like Evan, he balances playful and serious well. He is willing to step out of his comfort zone for love, and is an amazing listener. Also is fluent in Spanish.
Kendall – Kendall is a recent graduate from A&M. She was in Homegroup with Héctor and Evan and Sheryl (and briefly myself) before she graduated. Kendall engages people well and communicates beyond language with nonverbal skills. She is kind and funny and also gently loves and listens incredibly well.
Rachel – Rachel is the youngest member of our city crew, but that hasn’t slowed her down even a beat. She has a ton of experience in service-oriented trips and is smart and insightful. She is reserved, she listens well and has a readiness to be challenged, a great work ethic, a servant heart, and a sharp wit.
Ok, so we left the hotel at 5 AM and rode to the women’s shelter we visited last night. One of the women – who lived on the street last year and has since accepted Jesus into her heart, gotten a job, and moved out of the streets – cooked pupusas for all of the women. We ate breakfast together (and I actually drank coffee1), talked a lot and listened a lot more. It was lovely and seemed to minister powerfully to the women there.
After breakfast, the women in the shelter left and we cleaned the shelter. When we had finished, we split into two teams: one team stayed and did some refurbishments (plumbing, minor construction, etc.) to the shelter, the other went to a children’s center to help paint. James, Sheryl, and Evan stayed to work on the shelter. I have no handyman skills, alas, so I went with the painting crew (Rachel, Kendall, Héctor).
After lunch, Evan and I switched crews (I really wasn't joking about being bad). They went back to paint and we went to the building the church is renting to do some cleaning. Their church building is small right now, but it's super nice! During this time, we met a couple of lost French people and Alex walked them to where they needed to be. We got to bond a lot with Don Julio y Jovany; I really want to tell you about these men of God, but I really need to make time management decisions.
We went back to the women's shelter, hung out and talked with them for a while, and then went to have dinner with the other half (campus) of our team. We had a crazy-delicious (and beautifully simple) family-style meal of pollo, frijoles, tortillas, y aguacate. We hung out and talked and swapped stories and relaxed. Then, when we saw the city team (who had been up and working for 14 hours) was mostly falling asleep, we headed back to the hotel. We had a worship and debriefing time (which we allowed the city team to miss in order to go to bed), Katie and I did some more leaderly talking and planning, I organized some stuff for tomorrow, took a shower, wrote a blog, started running out of steam at the end...… (that's now)….and am going to bed!
Pray for our the campus side of our team tomorrow, it's an important day (ask Katie's Blog if you want those details).
Pray for the city side of our team tomorrow, we're going to be pretty tired and will need emotional energy to invest in the people we are loving and serving!
k bye. thanks mucho, friends!
1. On coffee - it's gross. But, we can't forget the Missionary Prayer: "Where You lead me, I will follow; what You feed me, I will swallow."
Today was our first day operating independently as the campus side and the city side. From here on out, my updates will all be about the city side, so if you want campus info, you’ll need to be on Katie’s Blog instead of mine. I figure it’s a good idea to introduce you to the city side of our team:
Sam – Sam is our team leader and he is me. So you can know everything there is to know about me: INTJ, EG Type 9, Beaver, Conflict Turtle, Quality Time, Cause Hat, Water Bender, Huffandpuff, Team Mystic, Team Plasma, Faramir, Puddleglum, Armadillos.
James – James is reppin’ from our church’s 10:01 (a.k.a. city) service. He is one of the people I’ve known the longest in Fellowship Church (he was on my first trip to México in 2009 and made me feel safe when I was way out of my comfort zone). James is servant-hearted like nobody’s business. He’s a creative problem solver, a deep thinker, a great listener, a hard worker, and really funny to boot.
Sheryl – Sheryl is kind of in both sides of Fellowship Church. She’s probably my actual oldest friend and is one of the people who raised me up into leadership. She and I spent a summer in Monterrey, México in 2011, interning with the church there. She later spent 2 years living in Mexico, doing ministry. She loves and listens better than anyone I know and has the most pura vida spirit of anyone ever.
Evan – Evan is my roommate and one of the homegroup leaders in my cluster. He is smart and kind and draws out the best in people. He has the ability to love and care for people that are incredibly difficult to love and care for. He never gives up on people and he knows when to be gentle and when to be playful. He’s super-wise and is a man of God I deeply respect.
Héctor – Héctor is on Evan’s leadership team and used to be in homegroup with me before we multiplied. He came on our Costa Rica trip last year and, on more than one occasion, carried our team on his shoulders. He is kind, incredibly gentle, smart, and thoughtful. Like Evan, he balances playful and serious well. He is willing to step out of his comfort zone for love, and is an amazing listener. Also is fluent in Spanish.
Kendall – Kendall is a recent graduate from A&M. She was in Homegroup with Héctor and Evan and Sheryl (and briefly myself) before she graduated. Kendall engages people well and communicates beyond language with nonverbal skills. She is kind and funny and also gently loves and listens incredibly well.
Rachel – Rachel is the youngest member of our city crew, but that hasn’t slowed her down even a beat. She has a ton of experience in service-oriented trips and is smart and insightful. She is reserved, she listens well and has a readiness to be challenged, a great work ethic, a servant heart, and a sharp wit.
Ok, so we left the hotel at 5 AM and rode to the women’s shelter we visited last night. One of the women – who lived on the street last year and has since accepted Jesus into her heart, gotten a job, and moved out of the streets – cooked pupusas for all of the women. We ate breakfast together (and I actually drank coffee1), talked a lot and listened a lot more. It was lovely and seemed to minister powerfully to the women there.
After breakfast, the women in the shelter left and we cleaned the shelter. When we had finished, we split into two teams: one team stayed and did some refurbishments (plumbing, minor construction, etc.) to the shelter, the other went to a children’s center to help paint. James, Sheryl, and Evan stayed to work on the shelter. I have no handyman skills, alas, so I went with the painting crew (Rachel, Kendall, Héctor).
It turns out I have no painting skills either, but God still loves me. We painted and painted and painted (and then Rachel had to re-paint most of what I had painted). We made good progress though, and hopefully everything will be finished tomorrow.
We took a break and got lunch with the other half of our side of the Costa Rica team (does that make sense?). The poor crew that stayed at the women's shelter walked like an hour to come get us for lunch. We had lunch in a grocery store (kinda like a Sam's Club setup, but Costa Rican), and it was delicious! We had rice and beans and platanos and I finally got some soda (it's ok to judge me). During lunch we got to bond more with some of the people in the church here who live on the streets. I'll go through and tell you about them maybe tomorrow ok? Don Julio, Jovany, Jesus, and Alex have already been so helpful for our team this week.
After lunch, Evan and I switched crews (I really wasn't joking about being bad). They went back to paint and we went to the building the church is renting to do some cleaning. Their church building is small right now, but it's super nice! During this time, we met a couple of lost French people and Alex walked them to where they needed to be. We got to bond a lot with Don Julio y Jovany; I really want to tell you about these men of God, but I really need to make time management decisions.
Pray for our the campus side of our team tomorrow, it's an important day (ask Katie's Blog if you want those details).
Pray for the city side of our team tomorrow, we're going to be pretty tired and will need emotional energy to invest in the people we are loving and serving!
k bye. thanks mucho, friends!
1. On coffee - it's gross. But, we can't forget the Missionary Prayer: "Where You lead me, I will follow; what You feed me, I will swallow."
We're praying for you all!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the updates. Sounds inspiring! Stay safe.
ReplyDelete