Day 44: Walking

Can I just say, when a "definitely less than 5 minutes" phone conversation is almost 35 minutes long; you probably like talking to that person. 

Ok, today Andrew, James and I decided to join in the weekly futbol game at the Sabana park. Mateo ha enviado un mensaje a Tony, to invite him, but we never heard back, which was sad since we really want to get him connected to the church here. So, I got up at 8:01, to leave by 8:10, and we did. As we reached the end of our little cul-de-sac, I heard, "¡Oye, Sam, oye!" It was Tony! He came with us to play. We walked to the park, and I tried to navigate conversation between the 4 of us, where 1 person spoke Spanish fluently, but not English, 2 spoke English, but not Spanish, and I speak some of both, but definitely more English. 

We got there and had a huge crew today. 16 or 17 people came. I learned that Saul y Justin's dad is named Abel, not Josue (*sigh*, now i have to wonder if i've ever called him Josue to his face). We had some younger guys jump in; I'm not sure if they were already connected to the church (i think no), but they are now. One was named Samuel, he didn't believe me when I said we were tocallos. Recently, Lagos had bought some brightly colored vests to distinguish teams, and boy howdy, did they come in handy today. 

We played hard. They picked teams recess-style, and the last two were the gringos, with good reason. I was on defense and guarding Erick, who is so much stronger than I am, lol. He moves very chill on the field, but has crazy ball control. I left him alone once for 5 seconds and he scored. So, I stuck to him like  g l u e. But, when he got annoyed by that, he just gently and unstoppably moved me away from himself (stronk). Andrew went hard, and got a lot of compliments (though it took a minute for people to stop calling him Matthew). You could tell it was a church game, because everyone was pretty kind and good-spirited, even when they were upset or feeling competitive. Any trash talk was very playful and didn't seem to be taken to heart. 

We lost. Tony scored the winning goal, which was super exciting because it was his first time interacting with a lot of these men, so it is good he got to shine and be seen. It was less exciting that he scored that goal with me as the last person between him and the goal, lol. 

We walked home, we showered, we got lunch as a team. Everywhere was crowded today, because today was the Pride Month parade through the middle of the city (where we are). 

After lunch, we walked to the CDI so our new teammates could check it out and get to think about what kind of things we could work on with our extra manpower. We needed to cross through the parade to get to the CDI, so we walked about a block with the parade, with the smell of weed casually in the air. 

James and I walked to Avenida 10 to get some drinks and cups, then we met Lagos at the entrance to the slum where our CDI kids live. I really hate the word "slum." It feels derisive somehow. We hung out and played with our kids for most of the afternoon. So. Many. Piggy-back. Rides. It was really fun, and the kids love having us in their space. Axel particularly was in a good mood today. 

We said goodbye and walked home. Katie and Izzy had returned from the women's retreat, so everyone said hi to everyone and there was much rejoicing to be our new team. Then the guys finished our plans and walked to the grocery store (Avenida 10) and got supplies for the week. Most of our supply choices were well-received.

Our team ate tacos together, but we all seemed pretty tired. After dinner, we watched a couple of episodes of some weird (but funny) show, and then slowly drifted towards our rooms. Andrew and I were the last two left, but he was writing his novel, so I gave him some space. 

I got to talk to Alexis today for a little while (35 minutes, lol), which was really lovely. I think the fact that we are 26 days away from getting to be in the same place feels like a weirdly short and long window.

Tomorrow is our first day at the CDI with our 7-person team! We'll see how it goes. Wisdom is needed for managing our team well. 

PRAYERS

-for us to walk in step with the Spirit
-for good team dynamic
-for good team engagement and opportunity to serve
-for Izzy to get all the way better!
-for the CDI kids to feel extra loved this week
-for a good last H@ngout this week!
-for GOSPEL opportunities and responsiveness to opportunity
-for our Balkans team

What a Squad. Tony is next to Andrew

SJO Pride Parade