Orientation
I was working on preparations for our upcoming youth camp, and got a call from Whitney that we needed like 12 2-3 liters of pop for the orientation meeting. I got the call about 30 minutes before the meeting started, and I was already on the bus. I was thinking, "wow, how am I ever going to get 12 big bottles of pop from a store to the hotel..." So I called JP. It turned out that he and Adiel were just leaving the church, which is a few blocks from a grocery store that I was passing at that very moment on the bus. So I got off, grabbed all the pop, and they were there by the time I paid. I LOVE Mexico, I hardly had to carry anything because here, the guys have to do stuff like that for the girls! So I got off easy!
The teens from Atlanta aren't nearly as scary as I had imagined. They're actually quite nice and cooperative! (not that I had a pessimistic attitude to begin with or anything...) I got my first round of translating WHILE someone is talking. Julian was giving the orientation, and since we were only 3 who don't understand english, he didn't pause to let me translate to spanish, I just sat in the back with Martin, Adiel, and JP trying to listen to english, think, and speak in spanish all at the same time. To anyone who translates like this on a regular basis - I now have TONS of respect for you!!
So, I woke up Monday night with a bad stomache ache, and ended up spending a couple hours in the bathroom. I was so worried beacuase I really needed to be with the team on Tuesday. I started feeling better in the morning, so I just arrived like an hour late to the church... Not sure what that little bout of sicknes was...
The Soccer Field
At the church, the teens (both gringos and mexicans) are putting in a soccer field over the bumpy dirt area where we normally play soccer after church. Wow, is it ever a big job!
Here is some of the dirt that was delivered to the church to cover the bumpy hard dirt with so we can eventually lay the grass. We spread it all by hand (picks, shovels, and rakes).
Sarai, Chelo, Kristen, and Lauren hanging out after working...
Lucy (organizes the awesome food for everyone!), me, and Brisa...
Day Two
I am learing more about cultural differences, and that NOT everyone has the same feelings and ideas as me!! I translate between the english speakers and spanish speakers during the work at the church. Martin, Fany, Chalio, and JP also speak english, so that helps a bit, but when bigger decisions are involved, the leaders come to me. Ok, that's fine, that's what I'm here for. But translating attitudes is really difficult!! At one point, the Horizonte leaders thought the leader of the Atlanta team was angry with them, but he was only trying to figure out the most efficient and simple way to make the field as good as possible. Other times, the gringos just didn't understand why we can't: get a big machine to level the field, get the dirt and grass to come at the exact time we need it, and things like that. I am in an interesting position as I can see both sides of things like this. It's definitely a good learning experience.
Here is a picture of the field at lunch time of day two...
Youth Leader Training
I spent the late afternoon with the other Horizonte youth leaders meeting with the youth leaders from North Point (Atlanta). They explained to us their model of small groups in youth ministry and how they create relevant environments for youth of Atlanta. They have 500+ teens that come weekly to they giant church, so we are definitely working on a different scale than they are, but the concepts that they have shared are very helpful. Meetings like these, as interesting as they are, make me feel like I have ADD - having everything translated doubles the time on everything. Julian translated the entire meeting, and it had to be super frustrating as most of the mexicans understand some english, and "helped" hime choose the right words... Julian will not be at the second half of the meeting on thursday, so I am the translator. If anyone is actually reading this and you think about me about noon tomorrow, please pray for me: that I can pay attention, correctly relay the information being given, and not get terribly frustrated when people correct my translation! I am excited to get help on organizing our youth group a bit more effectively through these meetings!!
Random Pictures
Here is a picture of some yogurt that Brisa's mom bought for her adult children who live at her home, and made them each drink one... Yep, you are seeing the picture correctly on the yogurt label - pineapple, cactus (nopal), and celery. In yogurt.
And here is a picture that we made for a 6-week youth group series: cuerpo o puerco (body or pig). It sounds WAYYY better in spanish, it was a series on how to honor God with our bodies (using our hands to help and not hurt, guarding our eyes and hearts from things that make us stumble, etc) so that we have good bodies and not pig bodies. (The words for body and pig are kind of similar in spanish). So we decided to take funny pictures of the youth staff and put our heads on pig bodies...
Left to Right: JP, Aaron, me, Jenn, Julian, Adiel, Nadia.
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