Sunday - Sept 28

I got up at 7:45, just in time for a light breakfast. I slept pretty good, there are a few snorers in my room, but the packing list included earplugs so I’m prepared and protected. One of those things you think about, but then say ‘I don’t want to be that guy who shows up with earplugs’ - but since they were on the list I brought them. Good call!

After breakfast we loaded up to return to Arriaga to join in worship with tammy and bill’s church. They meet in an old cinema, accessed through a narrow alley behind a row of storefronts. I was pumped to worship this morning, but full expected to be completely lost during the entire sermon. Having gone to the Urbana conference in 2003, I was exposed to some Spanish songs and wondered if Id hear anything familiar. This past week, a friend named Dave let me borrow a Salvador CD which also had some Spanish songs including one called Montana – which we did at Urbana. I was asking some of team members if they heard it before while we were loading the van at the clinic, but they hadn’t. Sure enough, when we arrived at church the very first worship song was Montana. Are you catching on to this mountain theme God’s got going on here with me?? It was like He was again saying Here I am! After that song they had about 40 minutes of worship -which is just awesome by the way, I wish I had that every week. The other songs were unfamiliar, so I mostly stood with my eyes closed and listened as everyone else sang. It was a passionate (and friendly) group and truly a honor to join with them their pursuit of god.
As is turns out Tammy preached this morning and happened to preach in English with a translator. Partially for us, and partially to ensure that the message gets across as clearly as possible. It was a great message about having a pure heart in our pursuit of God, and based of 2 Chronicles 25:2. Tammy spoke about how it was possible to do much good for God but still miss the entire point. WE can have so many motivations (good and bad) – the most important of which is love.
After church we went to the home to have lunch and spend the afternoon with the kids. We had a great meal (a late lunch is the biggest meal of the day) with beef, rice, beans and some burrito taco type things, corn tamales and some weird fruit that was like a mix between a sliced peach and some type of melon. I’d never heard of it before and the name didn’t stick. Go figure. It was great, but again I took it easy.
I then changed clothes and went out back to play with the kids in their rear courtyard area. We played soccer and volleyball while others played tag, colored, played on the swings etc.
After awhile we left for the local soccer complex, where they have a small stadium and numerous smaller fields around it. We had enough for 3 teams, and rotated on and off. Of course I had to score a couple goals. There is a young guy from Canada named Franz, who is helping at the orphanage for a month or so who plays and is quite good. He was the main competition. We played for a few hours until kids started getting tired and hurt. Some guys from the church started showing up and Franz told me they came out and played every Sunday. He invited me to stay and play but unfortunately I couldn’t because I knew we had to finish our meeting with Tammy and Bill and if I didn’t ride back on the van it would likely be a few hours before I could get another ride. However, our design team waited while bill took a van load of kids home – so I did get to kick around with a couple of the guys for a few minutes. They were pretty good. It was funny because they wanted to juggle as a group – but didn’t know how to tell me in English and I didn’t know the right words in Spanish to try and help them (forgetting words like grass and air). Finally I remembered ‘earth’ and got it across that I understood. It was fun to kick around, too bad I couldn’t stay. Franz later told me they ended up playing a full-sided game versus a local team and ended up losing at the end. He didn’t get back until we were almost leaving, so it’s good that I didn’t stay. It was so hot and humid, but a strong breeze helped. Apparently the windy season started today and the place gets crazy amounts for the next 3 months.
It was great connecting with some of the kids (Carmelo, Jordan, Tonya, etc) with soccer as language is a bit of a barrier. I’m just not confident with my Spanish and am so horrible at listening that’s it’s hard to ask questions. I’ve never been so motivated in my life to speak Spanish. For some reason being here flipped this switch in my mind for Spanish and I feel like I should be speaking it all the time. I’m even thinking thoughts to myself in Spanish despite not needing to and talking to team members although we all speak English. I was actually a little disappointed that church wasn’t in Spanish because I kind of wanted that forced immersion in a controlled environment. I wish I knew more and could listen better! Spanish class in high school had no meaning or significance, but I wish I had more of this motivation back then to learn and that I had more conversational experience than studying grammar.
When back at the home, Jane, Tom and I finished our program conversations with Bill and tammy to get more MP info and architectural program details. They have a pretty cool vision and are so confident that God is going to make it all happen! So often, camps I work with fail to make anything of their master plan and years go by with little action. This thing however seems to want to explode and doors are opening to make it happen! I hope to be able to put the full effort into this design as I get to at work and am hopefully that God will bless me with clarity and vision for something great despite a short time period and lack of design process.
We had a quesadilla dinner and drove back to the clinic. More pepto, small portions and god’s grace have kept my stomach perfect so far. He’s easing my biggest fears coming into this trip and I’m so grateful for this! We got home around 9:30 after getting stuck in the mountains behind some big trucks. The time allowed for a conversation with Jane – an architect on the trip – about our pre-trip experiences. It’s cool to hear that I’m not the only one who God brought about in a short time frame and completely blessed with provisions needed to go! Jane had an awesome story about her financial support coming in exactly as she needed it to, trusting God in faith that he would provide donors without her specifically asking. More amazing testimony of God’s miraculous ways!
I’m up late again, preparing for tomorrow’s devotions and had a nice (cold) shower after the rest of the team has gone to bed. This journaling is taking some time, but so far is a cool process and I hope to be able to keep it up each night. Not only do I forget events, but with time I express less – so I want to get it out and on paper while it’s strong on my heart and mind. There’s been so much to take in each day I fear I’ll overlook great things that happen if I try and wait and summarize later!
Here’s some more on the whole mountain thing. On our drive from the clinic to arriaga we travel down a huge mountain range, with open views over a massive valley. Think 321 from Blowing Rock to Hickory. It’s so inspiring! As we were driving I was looking at the formations looking at the mountains surround the valley. The thought came to mind about being in the palm of god’s hand…with the mountains being like God’s hand, cupped and holding us. This phrase had never meant much to be before, but is so cool to think about in this context – with God continuing to declare His presence and provision in this situation. It’s cool that have this continuing to build from yesterday. How great is our God!?