Hola mis amigos,
With this post, I decided it would be good for you all to get a picture of what our weekly schedule looks like. It’s changed week by week but you can still get a sense of our day-to-day.
First of all, our living situation. I’ve sort of mentioned this before but we are living in a compound with a room for six of the guys, two big rooms, complete with roughly 10 sets of bunk beds each for the girls, and then a separate sort of building for the married couples to each have their own room. Those rooms consist of a storage closet, and two small classrooms. We have two bathrooms, four stalls total, for all 45 of us as well as 1 shower, yes, 1 shower. It’s actually worked out better than one might expect because we aren’t all taking a shower every single day. Also, it’s cold water, so there isn’t any competition to be the first to use it since it’s cold regardless. We also have a small room that has been made into a make-shift kitchen where one team has had the privilege of cooking for all 45 of us for a week. There is a room that they call the chapel as well as 5 rooms for classrooms of varying sizes. Construction workers have been in and out all month working to build four more showers and a legitimate kitchen but since we are leaving in a week we will not be able to use any of those new developments. It’s all worked out though, community living is stretching and sweet all in one. Also, eye masks and earplugs are the secret to life when it comes to sleeping in a room with 14 other girls. So there’s a picture of the living situation.
We live near several small tiendas (stores) that have experienced a dramatic increase in business with all of us around because we frequent them to purchase things like powerade, bread, various fruits and veggies, and whatever cake or baked good was made that day. It’s always fun to see what sort of dessert is available since it changes daily. On the roof of our compound you can look one direction and see, depending on how clear the day is, an impressive mountain range and in the other direction at the end of all of the buildings, see the ocean. We’ve been able to enjoy several beautiful sunsets on that roof and there is a tent community that has been built from the beginning as some have decided that is a better option for slumber than the bunk rooms. To each his own. I tired it and was woken up by a chorus of roosters, cows, and barking dogs at roughly 5:00 AM and decided that I preferred the relative peace and quiet of the rooms to the crazy noise. I have left my tent up there for the prospect of alone time on occasion because it’s so difficult to come by with 45 people all in a fairly small place. My apologies if some of this is repetitive, I just wanted to have the entire picture of the ministry experience all in one blog.
Our first week of ministry involved participating in a VBS. It was really fun and my team helped with arts and crafts. I also got roped in to learning some dancing for entertaining the kids which turned out to be one of my favorite things. That goes back to my Orientation Assistant Director heart that loves to learn synchronized dancing and have crazy facial expressions. And thus ended the first week.
The second week was different than the first. Joel and his wife, Maria, run a school out of the compound that we are living in and it runs from about 7:30 AM in the morning to 12:30. Some teams helped with the school while everyone else helped paint the compound. It went from a dreary cement color to bright blue, red, and white in a matter of days. The place is completely transformed and several people helped relocate some gravel as well. The afternoons were fairly relaxed which can be a good and bad thing when it comes to ministry. Being intentional with free time is important so we asked Joel for some other things to do. We went and handed out fliers door-to-door in the community for an afternoon as well. My team got the opportunity to go with another team to the valley, which is a little ways away from where we live to help put on a program for kids. We danced, did a skit, and had my teammate, Rocky, give a message. The kids were very different from the first VBS group in that they were far more timid. From my understanding, the home lives aren’t the best. It was really cool to see a different community and meet Pastor Roberts, who I liked immediately.
For the third week, this past week, ministry looked different again. There were opportunities to help in the school, around the compound, go visit different high schools, got to hospitals, and prison ministry. Unfortunately, I was unable to participate in really any of it as I got a horrible bug that knocked me out for several days. I’ll spare you the gory details but I now know how humbling it is to be so weak that you have to crawl back to your bed, accidentally throw up on my squad leader’s shoes, and soil my pants on multiple occasions. It was horrible and I can laugh now but it was a rough week. I was actually sick from Tuesday to Thursday and am still recovering from it. Not what you want but I had an entire squad army who was willing to get me essentially anything I could have possibly wanted. I’m so grateful for them. I was able to go to observe the prison ministry which was something I’ve never done. There were lines on lines of women with bags of things to bring to their husbands and relatives in the prison. It was heartbreaking to see but I’m very happy I was able to go.
In addition to all of these ministries during the day, there are many services in the evening. On Wednesdays there is a service at El Yo Soy with Pastor Soloman. Friday nights there is a service at the compound, on Saturday nights there are youth services both at the compound and El Yo Soy, and on Sunday there is a service at the compound, at El Yo Soy, and at Pastor Roberts’ church. My team has gotten to lead a service at each place, although not with the youth. Pastor Roberts’ church was really intimate because it was held in someone’s house and is only 6 months old. I love El Yo Soy and Pastor Solomon’s enthusiasm.
In addition to all of these ministry opportunities, we find time to eat our meals, spend time with the Lord, chat with one another, and most importantly, have team time. This is the reason that the World Race system works so well. They are all about feedback. Once a day, usually in the evening, each team has feedback where we debrief on what we’ve observed in a teammates and offer either positive or constructive feedback that will ultimately help us all become more Christ-like. I hope this gives you a good picture of a our daily lives. It is indeed a crazy life that we are living here but it’s one I’m so happy to call my own.
We will be leaving for Ecuador at the end of this week. I seriously can’t believe we are already transitioning into month 3! Whew, time is moving. Thank you for all of your support and prayers. You all mean the world to me and I love to hear from you.
