Day 54-57: Yup, No Internet

a.k.a. Camp Penuel

a.k.a. Probably Way Too Long

a.k.a. Usually

a.k.a. A Lot of Feelings

Day 54 (Wednesday):

Woke up, ran my 5k, shaved off almost a minute, still not enough for me to feel good about hitting my goal before we leave, but enough to feel pretty good. I think I can get close. 

We did some last-minute packing and prepping and stuff. Matthew still felt sick, so we - quite sadly - had to leave him at home. 

Met the kids at the CDI. 40 kids is always a lot of kids. 40 kids in a space meant for - at max - 20, is a whole lot. 40 kids and their siblings and parents and luggage and the trip leaders and helpers in a space meant for 20 is madness. Yet, somehow, we got everyone counted, permission slips collected, luggage organized, meds and instructions collected, bathroom used, and got everyone on the bus. 

It was a school bus! I miss Driving. I wasn't sitting with any kids, so other than a little bit of playing with Jeikol, who sat behind me, I didn't do much on the drive up. Napped a little. 

We got to the camp, unloaded the kids, broke into groups, got our instructions from Telma, and went to our cabins. The boys were in the cabin, El Palacio Del Rey David, which broke down into 4 rooms with a 5-shower, 4-stall bathroom in the middle. I was in one room with the 7 (later 8) littlest kids. Bryan was in the room connected to mine with the 5 middlest kids. We, as a team, named ourselves Los Salvajes (we feel it was an accurate expression of our dynamic), but were later renamed by Telma, who deemed our moniker unfitting for the camp vibe (oops). Our 12 (later 13) kids were now the Tigres (Que onda, mis regios). The bigger kids were the Leones, overseen by Lagos y Ana Raquel (who bravely jumped in to help staff the boys' cabin). 

My group oscillated between being unbelievably sweet and maddeningly intractable. I imagine that's what it is to take care of boys. Sweet and wild.

We had dinner, we had a drama acted out by the camp staff (lesson: the world offers us things that can poison our hearts and minds, but God can heal us). We went to bed. All of the kids wanted to shower first, I figured it was a stall tactic, but later got some better insight. 

Day 55 (Thursday):

I woke up at 5:13 AM, and looked over to see Jeremy sitting quietly in his bed, just waiting for me to get up. As soon as he saw I was awake, he walked over and asked to shower again. The sun was up and already pretty bright, so the kids started stirring pretty shortly after that and, again, all wanted to shower. 

Around 6:30, one of the camp volunteers (almost all high schoolers from a church in the area) came into our cabin and told us we needed to hurry if we were going to milk the cows. 

Context: there was a points system at the camp. 10 points for each team at each meal for clean plates, 10 points each night for going to bed well, 10 points each day from a random cabin cleanliness check. The first night had an extra bonus: each team that went to sleep well the first night would get to milk the cows one of the mornings we were there. Whichever team had the most points at the end of the week would get a special surprise the last morning. Telma had told us a month ago in our planning meeting that the points system was rigged though. 

So, we milked the cows. We walked through mud and ...not mud... and got to the cow-house (i forget the Spanish word. ordeña maybe? Yup, that's it). The kids lined up and milked the cow. It blew their minds. They loved it. Honestly, probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for kids from the middle of San Jose. 

We walked back through the mud, etc. and had breakfast. The girls went to the pool and the boys went on a caminata to a river and lost shirts and shoes and played in the water and looked at bugs and walked through mud and generally lived the Wild-at-Heart dream. Though if there had been 4-5 less adults it would have quickly turned more Lord-of-the-Flies, I imagine. Salvajes. It was a lot of fun, it was a lot of walking. It was a lot of mud. 

We came back, showered again, cleaned our shoes, and had lunch. The kids were blown away that they could get refills on the food and a lot of really tiny kids put an unbelievable amount of food into their tiny bodies. There's a tangent here on poverty and opportunity. 

Afterwards, we had a few hours of activities. We did games and crafts and learned about recycling...all with an emphasis on scripture and following God. It was amazing. My team had some bad attitudes in there, but we mostly did ok. 

Dinner, another drama (that morning we began a re-imagined telling of the story of the Prodigal Son) by the camp staff.

Oh yeah, for part of the drama, the counselors asked me to step in since they were short a person. I put on a weird Giant costume (there was a circus theme to the story) and walked across the stage. The kids were very suspicious that it was me, but (even though it was pretty obvious) just were not quite sure.

We had a campfire that night, which was also a gospel presentation and altar call. Some of the counselors shared their testimonies, which was powerful for the kids to hear. Though, I wonder, because a lot of their testimonies include how they left the Catholic Church, which isn't a message we necessarily want to send these kids. I have a whole tangent here on the sad tension between Catholics and Protestants here and around the world. There are some big and crucial disagreements, but if it leads to hate rather than loving discussion, we're doing it wrong I think. Anyway, by the end, many kids were falling asleep, so we headed back to our cabin. More showers and then bed. After the caminata and such a full day, we went to bed pretty quickly.

Day 56 (Friday): 

Another 5AM start from Jeremy, though I had to wake up some of the others. Showers and showers. One of the kids not from Barrio Pitahaya (i think that's the neighborhood), wasn't vibing with the showers because the water was so cold. I had wondered why the kids loved the showers so much, but one of them, eyes wide, turned to him and asked, "Wait...you have hot water at home?" That's when it really sunk in (for the first kid and me); these kids loved the showers because they had unlimited, clean, pressurized water. Humbling. 

We went to the pool that morning. It was a long walk, but we got there. Jeremy ended up being my backpack for a lot of it, because he has asthma and wasn't vibing with the walking. The kids loved the pool. Absolutely loved it. Me too, lol. We tried to teach a few of them to swim, with varied levels of success.

Showers. Lunch. Activities.

We did sports, crafts, baked cupcakes, and sat in a room with an abuela tica who basically just grandma'd at the kids for a while. She talked about a life lived with God. She asked me a question I didn't understand, then I think I answered to her satisfaction. She got kinda personal with the kids. She asked them about their families and if they had dads and where their dads were and what their stepdads were like. I was a bit taken aback, until I later learned what she was doing. There was another abuela with her, who had kind eyes and didn't really say anything, but just sat and cried a little as the kids shared. The first lady asked the kids if they had people who told them they were worthless and talked about what God says about them. As she talked, one of the counselors gently took one of our kids - who had indicated he had a rough relationship with his stepdad - into the other room. I though she was just talking to him, but later I figured it out. 

Something I have wondered and worried and prayed about for these kids is abuse. Statistically speaking, it is happening. Terrible things have happened and are happening to some of these kids. But we don't have the Spanish, the culture, or the permanency to catch signs of it here. I think these ladies, in their pokey questions, were checking for abuse signals with these kids. It was a brilliant and gentle strategy and it breaks my heart that our world is so messed up. They're just kids, and really sweet ones.

Dinner. More singing, lots of singing. It was the final night, so the story of the prodigal son concluded (I got pulled back in and had to yell and say things and do things...it was low-key actually kinda stressful, lol, but earned me the friendship of the counselors, who, up to this point weren't really sure what to do with me). Paul - Telma's husband and the camp director - shared more about the Father Heart of God and his forgiving, non-condemning love. Then, all the counselors lined up (and pulled us up) and told the kids that if they wanted a hug, they could come have a hug. 

Almost all of the kids came up and the counselors just stood and held them while almost all of them just wept. There was a worship song (No Longer Slaves (in Spanish)) playing, and the counselors just sang and prayed over the kids and held them. One of my trouble-making kids just sobbed into my chest for a full 5 minutes while I prayed over him.

After the tears and song stopped, everyone sat down and then we ate the cupcakes we had baked. Rather than take our group directly back to the cabin, Bryan y yo let them run around in circles and play for a while, because I think it's good for them to have a physical outlet after that kind of intense emotionality. 

After a while, we went back to our cabin, showered, got ready for bed. There was still some energy, so my room asked me to tell them a story. I said no, but finally said ok. I pulled out my biblia and read the David and Goliath story in Spanish. After about 3 minutes, there were a lot of little snores happening.

I got to message Alexis a little bit after that, but not for long before I was asleep too. 

Having a kid just cry into you and reading kids to sleep was a lot for me for one day. I don't really know exactly how to describe it. Having kids hasn't ever been (and isn't) a driving desire in my life (Georgen me pregunto eso durante el campamento), but I think kids are wonderful and parenthood seems like a magical, messy, beautiful, God-honoring thing. However, sometimes I do look at the lives of my most peery peers and think, "whoa, I could - without it being weird - have a 10-year-old kid right now." I have paternal things in my heart, and sometimes they get poked. 

Day 57 (today): 

We had a blessed 6AM start today (mmm, sleeping in). We got the kids ready and packed and the cabin cleaned. We went to breakfast and Paul and Telma shared some more. Somehow, all of the teams had tied in the points! Crazy. The guys' teams had each lost a point from their team leaders for not completely cleaning their plates. There was some questioning (by the older boys) of the leniency of the girls' team leaders on their plate-cleanliness judging, but I will say nothing about it. Somehow though, the girls' teams had each lost a point for cabin cleanliness and the boys' cabin did not. Convenient, says I.

So, everyone got to take a towel of Jenga set home as a gift. Lots of kids were super excited about the towels. Again, paradigm shift of how these kids view the world. 

We took 3 million group pictures. I don't have access to any of them, somehow, so you get none of them for now. 

Two buses (smaller, but nicer) came to take us home. We loaded up, we drove home. Some kids threw up on the bus. Izzy and I got to talk through her experience at the camp pretty thoroughly. I am excited about the impact it had on her. 

My Spanish definitely took a jump forward at the camp. Talk about an immersion experience. I feel like I am actually Bryan's friend now, which is really exciting. I befriended a couple of the non-high-school counselors. Guillermo, who is probably 55, asked for my email. A couple of younger ones found Bryan and I on Instagram. Most of them are trying to recruit Izzy to come work there (which would be dope). 

We got back to the CDI and there was a chaotic swirl of bags and kids being collected (but still carefully observed that everyone got home safely). There was a very serious and sad situation that had come to light at the camp (i think through one of the abuela sessions), and the church rallied and worked with the family and police to make sure everything got handled correctly and everyone ended up somewhere good and safe. It was really sad, but the church handled it well. I chose not to cry as Lagos was laying out for me how he and Ana Raquel were helping handle it. My respect for them is at an all-time high. I am so excited to spend time with them and our team over the next few days, relaxing together. 

Our team got lunch and walked home. Matthew met us at the CDI to see the kids (they missed him A LOT this weekend, as did we). We all got home and basically disappeared into our rooms.

I had a chance to zoom with Alexis for a bit, which was SO LOVELY. 13 days. I'm sad to leave here. I am happy to be home soon. 

I got to chat a bit with my friend Caleb as well. I haven't been in good contact with him here, so it was nice to catch up a bit!

5 miles of running went ok, though there was a motocross event in the stadium, so there were a ton of people around the park I run at. Lots of navigating people. 

My shower isn't making hot water. After my whole thing above, I should be grateful. That isn't exactly how my heart's responding though -.- 

I need to decide if I want to try to run 5 miles tomorrow morning or once we're at our destination after travelling, while settling in, at the whim of other people... It's obvious what the smart move here is, but still. 

PRAYERS

-for our team to walk in step with the Spirit
-for good team dynamics
-for continued life change for the CDI kids
-for God's protection and healing over the hard situation that came to light
-for our trip with friends here to be healing and filling for them and us
-for God to move in the families of the CDI kids
-for our H@ngout hangout on Wednesday to go well
-for the Balkans team's time to wrap up well
-for lots of wisdom
-for lots of peace
-for lots of healing

My crew playing Monopoly Jr.

There was an Oso Horniguero in a tree

A dog showed up the last day of camp