Day 34: Wow.

Ok, I know you all come here for my witty banter with myself, and my random etymology moments, and for making sure I'm alive and well, and to pray for our team. I know that this isn't the "Sam navigates dating and distance" blog. But, can I just say:

Today, at the end of the day, Matthew delivered a note and gift that Alexis had sent with him. I found it on my stack of not-yet-folded shirts that were drying on my bed. Her letter was incredibly sweet and encouraging; she included some of my favorite verses, even though I don't think she knows they are. The gift was a pressed and sealed flower - it was the flower I brought on our first date. For someone just finding his emotions recently, I'm not quite equipped to feel things like this. So, that was an amazing end to a day. We got to message back and forth a little bit. I'll probably go for a walk or something after typing this post out and doing the wordle or whatever. 

The day started well enough; I woke up very tired, but ready to do the day. We walked to the CDI and jumped in with the kids. All of the first session had done their Father's Day projects, so we got to have a pretty normally-scheduled schedule. Izzy made Spaghetti last night, which was well received - they ate a lot more than expected. I got to study with the bigger kids (whose names I know have down); Erik, Angel (who also has another name, but idk what it is), Andres, y Willy. They had a science test, but where really rowdy and unfocused today, so studying did not go very well. They successfully derailed me twice, but beyond that, I did a pretty good job of telling them to stay on task. 

What derailed me was a conversations about marriage and last names. They asked me (in Spanish), "Is it true that in the U.S., when women get married, they take the man's last name??" This isn't the case in Costa Rica, you see. When I told them about it, they were so blown away and couldn't get their minds around how crazy that was.

Our devotional/discipleship time today was something I was nervous about, but had been looking forward to since we first came up with the idea. We are focusing on Love. In our first time together, we talked about how God is Love and the Greatest Commandments are to Love God (heart, soul, mind, strength) and Love People (as yourself). We talked about 1 Corinthians 13 and 1 John 4. 

Today, we wanted to give an opportunity to engage in loving God. So, we played some worship music in Spanish and I gave everyone a piece of paper. For the older students, the ask was for them to write a letter to God, expressing how they were feeling. For the younger kids, it was to draw a picture that was how they felt about God, as a gift to Him. It was a bold move, given that the idea can be challenging to some of the college students who come to HG when we do things like this in worship (we've done both - letters and pictures. If you haven't done this, I strongly recommend it - try both typing and hand-writing!). The first session kids had a hard time settling down and taking it seriously, but I know a couple of them did. The second session kids were much calmer, but a few of them didn't write anything. Again, one or two of them though really engaged. 

Afterwards, we added the next three pieces to the verse we are memorizing:
El amor 

-es paciente

-es bondadoso

-no es envidioso

-ni jactancioso

-ni orgulloso

Some of these words were foreign to the kids; they had no idea when bondadoso or jactancioso meant. We've been talking through each word as we come to it, so hopefully it helps deepen some comprehension. We're practicing the verse every day though, so I'm hoping that by the time we get through all fifteen aspects of love that we're going to list, at least some of them will have stuck. To be honest, I felt a little hopelessness in my heart that any of this would make a difference or stick.

Then, something amazing happened. Remember Isabella? The girl who didn't come for weeks, then came for her birthday? She's been coming every time since then. Isabella said something to me that I didn't register, because another kid was talking to me, so I got down on her eye level where she was sitting, and said, "¿diga?" Then she proceeded to quote Juan 3:16  to me. Juan 3:16  was our memory verse over a year ago, and she had it memorized still. There may be other factors, right? Like, it's the most famous verse in the Bible, and they have religion classes at school...but we were talking about love and God, and she quoted Juan 3:16 to me. So, that was a really powerful encouragement that maybe, just maybe, the things we're doing are making a difference beyond better grades and possible long-term situation improvement. 

During the second session, Erik y Angel came back, a little dejected. Their science test had NOT gone well. We studied for English together a little, and they were super attentive and did very well. I hope their English exam tomorrow goes well. 

We cleaned everything up and walked home. We were scheduled to get dinner with Tony tonight, but never heard from him, so we ate leftovers and watched a movie as a team. It was a really relaxing and fun time. It felt like really good team dynamic. I was really proud of our team today; it felt like we were operating at a high level in all arenas. Everyone was doing great in Spanish comprehension, was engaged with the kids, was working hard and serving humbly...it was top-tier teamery and ministry. But, we were all really tired at the end of the day. Our weekend will be very well-received, I think.

So, now I'm blogged, I'm wordled (meh), I'm gonna go for a walk. Tomorrow we'll do some work at the CDI and have church in the evening. 

PRAYER

-for us to stay in step with the Spirit as we work and rest

-for continued good team dynamics

-for endurance

-for the church service tomorrow to be joy-filled and worshipful

-for changed lives. that's the point; God to be glorified through changed lives

-for Lagos and Ana Raquel to be having a great trip

-a special blessing on all the marriages in this church

-for more opportunities with the H@ngout homies

y'all.