Day 6: CDI and Some Light Existentialism

I'm in a weird headspace. I can't really remember much from today. I guess I'll start storytelling and we'll see what comes out. Might be boring to read, feel free to skip to the prayer requests!

We woke up today early, because we needed to be at the CDI by 8. 

We got out the door late, but it was fine.

The first group at the CDI was enjoyable; Constanza (who is a retired preschool teacher who is working on a PhD in early education or something and somehow got connected to volunteer at the CDI) brought a nest (nido (it was pretty nido (blegh)) for the kids to see. We played and did homework and went through the lesson of Jesus washing the disciples' feet. The kids did a good job acting it out, which was cute. 

We walked our little kids to school and got to talk some. It's not a long walk, but it's not a short walk and these kids have some tiny legs. I extra enjoyed getting to observe and talk with Lagos some over the course of today; he has a lot of respect from me. 

Second group was a little feisty; I had to force Iker to work on his homework (all he wanted to do was play ninja) while I helped... Josue (?). Afterwards, I was able to help Iker with his; we basically had to go back through all of it together though. I was proud of the kids with respect to homework today, they worked hard even though they were mentally tired. I had to use a more stern tone with a couple of them a few times, but they responded well enough to it. We'll see if increased time breeds increased respect or not. 

Towards the end of our time with Group 2, Katie, Matthew, Izzy, and I stepped out and sat with Lagos, Ana Raquel, Maria, y Georgen to talk about long-term plans and schedule for the CDI. It was a good conversation; part of me wonders if it came out of a sense of toes being stepped on by us being part of this. I didn't feel any tension from Georgen or Maria, but I also don't know them well and there is a language and cultural barrier. Who knows? Pray for good relationships there, just in case.

Meeting got ended, CDI got cleaned, friends got invited over for dinner. A few of us swung by the supermercado to get some more tortillas and other sundries before we had dinner. I got rained on a LOT today, which was really nice. Rain jackets are magical; it's like you're in the rain, but not in the rain at the same time. Maybe I am easily impressed; maybe I just appreciate the things people miss. 

Lagos, Ana Raquel, y Esther came over and we ate tacos. We'll probably eat tacos a few more times in the next days. An appropriate amount of time after dinner, we had some dessert and then watched some basketball. Izzy noted that, when it's just our team and their team, we can be a lot less talkative than usual. My theory (unconfirmed) is that we all socialize all day as ministry, so we're ok just chilling on our phones at the end of the day. 

I read a little, got to send WhatsApp voice messages to Alexis a bit, the team watched some TV. Now I'm blogging.

Idk, homies, I just feel sad I think. That's neither abnormal nor bad, but it's just got the volume turned up a little bit more than usual. Maybe I just miss her, maybe I'm just tired from the week, maybe I'm just nervous about the next 64 days, maybe it's doubts about my life choices.

We have talked a lot about church planting this week (this is a church plant from Honduras), which means I've shared about UTRGV and how I came on staff to church plant, but it fell through. Mi deseo era to live overseas long term, but for a few years, I thought maybe church-planting to The Valley was my life path and was pretty excited about it. I don't know what God had for me still; sometimes I fear I missed it or blew it already, but I don't think that's how God does things. "Not that it is true, but does it feel true that....?" Sometimes, it does.

So................... Prayer? Prayer. 

PRAYER!

-for our team to walk in step with the Holy Spirit tomorrow, especially in our interactions with students
-for our new team dynamic (starting Sunday)
-for Lagos and Ana Raquel
-for Georgen and Maria and Constanza and everyone who serves at the CDI
-for the kids
-and for the students

I don't think I have any cool fotos from today, let me see if any of the team put anything on our drive

Nope, just me. Um....here's one from yesterday: