Day 33: Today Was Swell

or: Amazing H@ngout

or: Way To Go Izzy

or: 

A really cool shift happened today!

I woke up after deciding to run tonight instead of this morning (that's becoming a trend, I need to keep an eye on that). Izzy and Katie made pancakes for H@ngout, though the pancake mix I had chosen was less than ideal. We also ran out of pancake mix, so I sped to the store and got more (the better kind) and drinks for H@ngout. I made excellent time, but it still put us behind. 

I was very proud of myself for thinking to bring drinks, but we forgot to get plastic forks. So, we brought all of the forks and spoons we had and posted in the group to warn other people. Three girls legit brought their own forks, which was awesome. Especially since it meant they just carried a fork around with them that day.

We got to H@ngout a little late instead of a little early, but everyone was chill. It was a smaller group today, but a good one. Do y'all remember Isaac, the guy who has cool socks that I've been connecting with? Today he showed up with an extremely different haircut and new glasses! And then, he showed up for real and it turned out that his twin brother, Saul, came today too. They dressed the same, which is so funny. Absolute twin power move. Matthew and Saul connected really well, which was exciting, and lets me focus on connecting with Isaac. I imagine when you are a twin, it feels nice to have the same friends, but it also feels nice to have different friends favor you. 

Since Lagos and Ana Raquel were gone, we were "in charge" of H@ngout. I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to share a testimony and poke at some deeper things. I asked Matthew to share a short intro about how, in line our focus on "Love is the Way," we believe everyone has a love story with God. Some people reciprocate and others don't. And we wanted to share one of our stories. I had asked Izzy to pray abut sharing hers, and, though it is an intimidating ask, she went for it. We even asked Jose Carlos to translate for her. 

First off, Izzy has a powerful story. Secondly, she shared it really, really well. It was concise and honest and powerful. I think God really moved in peoples' hearts as she was sharing. I know y'all were praying (thank you!) and I know Lagos and Ana Raquel were praying (they're awesome) and I was praying too. After she shared, it shifted the atmosphere of the time in a fantastic way. Many people had to dip for a test, but those that stayed had some deep, gospel-circling conversations with Katie and Izzy. I was super proud of Izzy; she stepped up and was bold and allowed God to use her. And, because of that, I think many people in H@ngout are a big step closer to finding Jesus. One person's vulnerability and openness to the Lord can change a group dynamic. And, we have the freedom to be a little bit uncomfortably challenging, since we're just going to leave in 5 weeks. 

It's crazy to think we have less than 5 more H@ngout meetings. We need to try to get some weekend times with them, but they haven't come when we've tried so far. 

After H@ngout, we chilled for a while with Jose Carlos y Saul, then we grabbed some bubble tea and went to Cafe Momo to see if they had Lagos' cold brew there. I think it was, but I'm not sure. 

We came back home and just...kinda...chilled.

I read a lot. I napped a little. I didn't do any of the productive admin things that would have been wise to do in that time. I need to update our spending spreadsheet and our CDI discipleship documents. 

My run tonight went well, though my mp3 player didn't want to work again. Afterwards, I came home and said hi to Matthew. I did dishes and cleaned a little. Alexis was on my mind a lot this evening. We got to send some voice message back and forth on WhatsApp, for a while, but it's late there and tomorrow starts early for her. But anyway, I like doing dishes because it lets me think while doing something with my hands. As I dished, it stood out to me how respect-worthy she is as a person, which just seemed significant somehow.

I walked to the AM/PM to get paper towels and met a guy named Manny who was from New Jersey, but was a tico. He's homeless here, so we talked for a while and I bought him a sandwich. I told him I'd keep an eye out for him and would love to talk more. Maybe next time, we can eat sandwiches together. 

As I'm writing, my water bottle is staring at me judgmentally. I think I need to drink more water. I've been thinking and may decide to only drink water the second half of our time here. It will be like No Soda 2.0.

When I came back home, I took some time to pray over our house. I've been doing that the last few nights when everyone's in bed. There's something cool about being the last person awake in a house. It brings out something paternal in me though, which is weird. It happened a lot in Mexico. 

Took a shower. Blogged. Will do the Wordle, but y'all will never know how it went. Which, I'm sure is a real blow, because you care deeply about how many tries it takes me to guess a word.

Ooh, also, today, my hand that got stung swelled up really big! It's still so funny looking, because my fingers are small

PRAYER

-for us to walk in step with the Spirit

-for good team dynamic

-for us to get more opportunities with H@ngout friends

-for us to do well with the CDI kids tomorrow

-for us to use well the times we have with H@ngout friends

-for the Holy Spirit to convict people of their need for God

-for the church here to be deeply blessed

-for our time with Tony tomorrow night to be good

-for us all (you included) to learn to love better

H@ngout selfie. Isaac is far right, I'll let you guess for Saul.

Left hand (see the sting?)

Right hand