Day 10 (3): Maybe a Short Post Tonight (Famous Last Words? We'll see)

Have you ever had something small happen that occupies way more thought than it should have?

Last week, while we were sitting in the hotel lobby, we started a game of catch with a paperclip. It was super random, but fun. Izzy and Matthew are very good at catching and throwing things (the rest of us aren't bad, per se, just less excellent). I spent a not-insignificant amount of time playing catch with the wall today while we were waiting on the kids, because I want to get better now, lol. Anyway, last week, while we were playing, the paperclip disappeared. Vanished. We searched for it for a while, then switched to a mini carabiner. But I heard it bounce. And every time that I was in the lobby, for the rest of the week, I briefly searched for it. I moved couches and lamps and the rug. Inordinate amount of time and thought. When we left, I gave up and just added it to my list of things I want God to explain to me when I die. It's sad.

Anyway. It's things like that tangent that preclude any short posts from me, I think. But, it allows you to see inside my brain.

Today was really nice. We made breakfast tacos from eggs and leftover pineapple chicken from our actual tacos. We had worship in the park (i made a wreath out of twigs and little flowers, it was totes adorbs), made sandwiches and walked to the bus stop.

No troubles getting off at the right stop today. Today was our first day with just the big kids, and we were excited to try things on a bit of a deeper level. We got everything ready, and then the rain started. It didn't slow the kids down any though; we had Justin, Isabella, Genesis, and Andres today. Four of the bigger kids was ideal. It allowed us to give attention them one-on-one; we got to play man-to-man defense instead of zone. We played around a little, then explained how DBS works and told them what the questions would be. We then read through the passages where Jesus tells the disciples (who were busy comparing themselves to each other) that to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven, you must be like a child. And the kids did a great job of unpacking some of the deeper meaning behind that. It was quite lovely. Sheryl did an amazing job of leading the time and pulling the kids in. Her chill, but persistent engagement with the kids is very effective. I prayed in Spanish, which seems like a small thing, but was a big deal for me. Linguists (especially Christian ones) talk about the difference between your heart language and your head language. My soul communicates with God in English, lol, so Spanish is hard when my prayer is genuine.

We played Chancho again (we had played with Rodrigo and Tania, if you remember), and though it was very different with the kids, they enjoyed it a lot. Matthew led our English lesson, and did a stupendous job. He drew the kids into the content, and kept it challenging, but graspable. After the English lesson, we had snacks and sang some karaoke songs (all from Coco - there is some concern here that the culture of Costa Rica is being shifted and swallowed up into Mexican culture, since Mexican culture is more prominent in media). After singing, we practiced reading in English and then played Ninja (a reaction-time, hand-chopping game) and Uno (of course) and catch until time ran out.

It's amazing. Catch is. With kids. They just don't seem to get bored of it. Maybe it's because it's a simple, physical activity where they have attention from an adult. Idk. It's crazy how much catch we've been playing. Maybe if we had played more, we wouldn't have lost the paperclip. Maybe.

After we finished, we had guitar lessons. Andres and Justin stayed, and three more boys joined us. One was the son of the lady who is the *director?* of the CDI, and a couple of others. We had just enough guitars for everyone to have one. Matthew (who, again, was on fire today) led the time (in Spanish) and did a great job engaging with the group, and checking on each person to make sure they understood what he was teaching. Katie, who is just generally fantastic with music stuff, led the group in practicing chords while Matthew was checking with each one individually, so there was no lag or wasted time. Excellent team. Excellent lesson. I drew up diagrams of the two chords we learned today so that everyone could take them home and keep practicing.

Guitar lessons ended, and we cleaned up the CDI and walked over to a nearby school, where the folklorico dance team, Añoranzas, was going to have their practice. This is the team that Georgen (CDI lady) has coached for like 12 years. They win tons of awards and are generally fantastic. It was really cool to see them practice! We got to meet all of them, and I will very likely forget their names. Brian I had already met. Christopher, I had not met (I think). Salvador (?) I may have met in March. I don't remember any of the girls' names, because it is very unlikely I'll have much interaction with them, but I might get to befriend and low-key disciple some of the guys, so we'll see.

Our normal bus never came for us, so we took a different one (that Lagos had told us would get us home as well). And we got home just fine. We made spaghetti for dinner, talked a little, and then just sat around and sent messages to Lagos on WhatsApp after dinner. Now, Matthew is passed out, Sheryl is in the courtyard spending time processing the day, Katie may be asleep (hard to tell, kinda doubt it), and I'm typing this *short* blog post.

I started reading the book, Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, today. I think tomorrow I'm going to start in on memorizing 1 John 4. Oh, speaking of, we also started the bigger kids on memorizing some scripture together! Juan 3:16, was our starting point, because it' the gospel and a great place to start.

PRAYER:
- for us to have good energy for the little ones tomorrow
- for us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus
- for our poor Spanish brains
- for opportunity to dig into the gospel with the H@ngout students tomorrow night

Pictures? Hm, I'll see what I have.