Day 8/Day 1: The End of the Week/The Beginning of the Month

Almost like an out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire type thing. Except it's just life and ministry, so it's all good things. 

Anyway, today happened! TL;WR: We sent off the half of our team that was staying for the week, and did a bunch of stuff to get ready for the month. Here's what it looked like:

We woke up today at our normalish time, I didn't aprovechar my last chance for hotel breakfast though. We had our worship time, and were joined by 5 (?) other gringas who were in the park. Even though you might think it would be better to keep that time for ourselves and not share our last worship time as a week-long team with some randos, there was something beautiful and perfect about it. I think our relationship with God does have aspects to it and pieces of it that we don't show to anyone; intimate things that are just between us and God. However, I think that those are far less than we might think as people in an individualist culture. I think God has made our relationships with him to be a thing that gets shown off; that is in community and in the public eye, so that others can see the goodness of walking with him. After we ended, Alexis chased the girls that had joined us down and shared her testimony with them, which I think is a powerful and perfect way to end her time here. 

Lagos and Alejandro had also joined us, so we all walked back to the hotel and did final packing and getting ready to check out. Then we loaded Hugo, Alexis, and Izzy into an Uber and sent them off to the airport. They apparently had a whole series of adventures getting home! Someone at the airport desk tried to scam them out of $30 each to check their bags. But Hugo pulled everyone out of line and went to a different counter and they didn't have to pay it. I... can't even. Then, American Airlines (who has consistently done us dirty) put all the bags on a different flight that wouldn't arrive until midnight, so they'll have to go back and get their bags (from AUSTIN) on a different day. Oof. Pray for them as they debrief the trip and shift gears into normal routines. There's questions for them about internships and housing and all kinds of things for summer. They've made some big sacrifices in serving God this past week, and in having to return so soon. 

Our newly shrunken team finished check-out things and then walked over to our AirBnb. It's on the other side of the park from our hotel, and one street down from the Lagos' apartment. It is an ideal location. We brought in our luggage and started to get settled in. Then we had all of our leftovers from the week for lunch and went with Lagos and Alejandro to Mas x Menos (mas por menos = more for less) to get groceries and supplies for the house. We'll be eating eggs and the occasional Gallo Pinto (speckled rooster? ...rice and beans mixed together in a tasty way) for breakfast and a lot of PB&J (which Sheryl will almost always tell you, are also called "disciple burgers") for lunch. We'll make dinner as a team together in the AirBnb some nights, and grab food other nights if we're out and about. We headed back home and got everything stocked in our kitchen. 

While at the store, we also picked up SIM cards for our unlocked phones. Everyone here uses WhatsApp to communicate, and virtually no one texts, so merely activating our American phones won't quite be enough and is much more expensive. Though, fewer of the unlocked phones were actually unlocked phones than we thought, so we did end up paying to use one of our phones here. What this means for me, ladies and gentlemen, is that, for the first time in my life, I, Sam Baker, over-user of commas and under-user of modern technology, will, for the duration of our stay, be using what the kids these days, and everyone else, refer to as a Smart Phone. So we spent time on the phone with Movistar and Claro, getting everything set up, and then setting up WhatsApp on the phones, then walked to a different store to add minutes to the SIM cards, though we are very unlikely to use very any minutes. Since so many people rely on WiFi for basic communication, it's available a lot of places (on the bus, in some parks, every store or restaurant ever...).

After getting our minutes added, Sheryl and Matthew went walkabout while Katie and I started cooking dinner. We'll (probably) be rotating through different groups for dinner prep and different household tasks throughout the week. We made chicken tacos with pineapple and avocado and some salsa that Sheryl brought. It's hard to express how many things Sheryl brought. I'm not convinced she doesn't have a grappling hook and snowshoes and a tire jack in her hiking backpack. I'm just having to assume it's bigger on the inside. Who knows? Over dinner, we had good conversations about house boundaries and how to survive (maybe even thrive?) as a team this month. I think it will be a lot of fun. Before we left to go find Lagos when we settled in, we spent some time praying over our house, and asking God to bless it and our time here. I think he really will, and I'm curious to watch him move.

After, after dinner we watched the first episode of The Chosen together (Alexis' parting gift was to get me hooked on the show), and now we're settling in for our first night. Matthew has started some beans cooking for Gallo Pinto, which only he knows how to make, but will teach the rest of us over the next few days. Sheryl is hanging up Christmas lights (yes, she packed those, too). Katie is in her room. And I'm talking to y'all. So howdy. 

PRAYER:
- for good house vibes for our team
- for a good start to our new rhythm of ministry tomorrow (I'll probs explain our whole plan next post)
- for logistical things to go well (bus travel, phone use, running the kids' time at the CDI, etc.)
- for no trouble with anything COVID related (CR is being very cautious right now)
- for our team that got home safely to get their bags back
- for the church here to grow deep in their connections with one another
- for us to make quality connections 
- for all of our hearts in spiritual warfare, insecurity, conflicts, etc.

Picture: 

This is us right before the Uber took them. I love whatever Hugo and Lagos are doing.

also I will gift you the link to all of my pictures from the week. Maybe that will make it ok that I don't have more.

CKCAOAB:
S: 2
S: 4
K: 5
M: 7