I'm not dead.

Soooooo....it's been a while...sorry. I was going to blog last weekend, but there were some major issues with electricity at Brian and Katherine's all weekend long. Neither the internet nor the international phone line were available (not that that was a particularly bad thing). And then I went to the boy's farm on Monday and was there until the afternoon today. So this is really the first access I've had for about a week. So, for the people who have left comments and/or emailed me, hopefully I will get to respond soon!

There's been so much going on....it's crazy (in a good way). I'm going to have a really difficult time deciding what to leave out and what to post. I'll probably have to cut more than half, and this blog will still be ridiculously long.

I think I shall do what I did a few blogs back, and start out with some general information, updates, adjustments, etc....it's a lot easier for me and my list-making self...

~My Spanish has been improving a lot...especially when it comes to speaking...but my listening is getting better as well, even though it's still sometimes difficult. The good thing is, praise God, that I've passed the major frustration phase. So now I'm just trying to learn what I can and cope with what I don't know. I've found that the best way for me personally to learn is to talk with native Spanish-speakers who are trying to learn English, for several reasons. One, I don't feel as insecure with my screw-ups (however, I've mostly gotten over the insecurity of speaking now) because they mess up English as well. Also, sometimes if I don't know how to say something in correctly in Spanish, they may know it in English. We help each other. I've had the opportunity to do it with two people. One is Katherine's aunt, Lucelle (sp?), who lives in an apartment in the city...we had a pretty entertaining conversation about the difficulties of each other's languages, different dialects, etc. I warned her of pronunciations such as "I dunno," "I wanna," and "I'm gonna." We don't think about that kind of stuff because it's so natural for us, but imagine someone who doesn't know your language trying to understand you....especially when english is already a ridiculous language. The other person is Veronica, who works with Open Arms, sings in their worship team, and was at the boy's farm this week. They sing a lot of American P&W songs down here, translated into Spanish, but she also knew a lot of English songs...so we tried singing some of them together. Anyway, enough about Spanish...on we go...

~Colombians don't drink that much water. For anyone who knows me, that is a problem...water is about all I drink. Colombians tend to drink coffee, various fruit juices, or hot chocolate. So it's been a bit frustrating to not always have water available. I don't like coffee...the hot chocolate has been pretty good...juices...eh (not much of a fruit person). I need water. Trying to figure out a way to accommodate that.

~(For my dear friend, Joseph) I have been very pleased with Colombian food overall. It's not really at all like Mexican food (or at least Amerexican food, haha) for the most part. Lots of beans, lots of rice. Arepas are the most common new thing for me. They're kind of like tortillas, but not really. It'd be best to look them up, because they're hard to describe. The large flat ones that are fried I love, but the little ones that are more like rolls would better serve as a doorstop if they were a bit more heavy. There are also a lot of new fruits (and I've actually tried some!). Some can be found in the US, like papaya (I think), mango, etc. But there is this one fruit called granadilla (which sort of looks like a grenade), and you eat it by sticking your finger in, pulling it open, and sucking out the seeds/juice. If you can call it juice. I can't decide whether it looks more like snot or frog eggs (someone told me that one nickname for it is "Hong Kong booger snot". Hmmm...go to this link: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Granadilla.jpg
I just don't think I'm ready for it yet. Oh, and for Mrs. Laventure, I tried yuca the other day, and I actually thought it was pretty good! I didn't particularly care for the texture, but the taste was good.

~One thing that's overwhelming to me is how much could be done to help people here...in the city in general, not just with Open Arms. I mean, in the US, it's like, you might see a homeless person here and there and be able to feed them, bring them in your home, etc. But here, the situation is so extreme (well, at least, compared to the US), you don't really know what to do. To put it bluntly, it's almost like you just have to ignore many of the struggles going on around you because if you don't, you would never sleep (I'm not saying it has to be that way, that's just how it feels sometimes). Rare cases in the US are normal here. It would be difficult to focus on anything but more extreme cases of poverty. I'm trying to let God teach me how to cope with that...only having to simply walk down the street to encounter a real need. I suppose I could use prayer in that aspect, because it's frustrating. The thing is, I know that the Lord is able and willing if His body would move. When you're doing missions/ministry work, especially when targeting a more specific demographic like Open Arms, it can be easy to pass by the blind man walking down the country road or the young man trying to sell sweets at stoplights or on buses (which, btw, is basically everywhere).

~This is a little random, but a long-time question of mine has sort of been answered here. Any of you who read the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, surely have noticed the significance of names, and how names' meanings normally have something to do with the person receiving the name. Like, Esau meaning "hairy," for instance. Would Isaac calling for Esau basically be like him saying in English, "Hey, hairy! Come over here!" Cases like that. Well, there's a woman at the foundation whose name is Soledad, which means "loneliness" or "solitude." So yes, when you greet her, it's really like saying, "How ya doin', loneliness?"

~There was a bathroom in a downtown restaurant where the only separation between it and the dining area were some "saloon" doors. People who were eating could see the legs of my peeing self. Just saying.

~You're not supposed to flush toilet paper here, because the toilets clog easily. That's a hard habit to break. Many hands dripping yellow transferring wet paper to trashcan.

~Sorry for the TMI of the last two bullets.


Ok, on to life here. Last week I spent most of my time at the foundation, up through Friday. Most of the time I was helping to paint the room where they have church services, among a few other things. It got pretty frustrating after a while, because when I thought it looked fine, it apparently needed another coat (or two). I did interact with kids at the foundation a little bit one day, but last week, being my first week, was more or less a time for me to adjust, get to know my surroundings, cope with the Spanish bombardment, etc. To save me time, I won't write about the sausage incident which happened last week, but please ask me about it when you're talking to me personally.

This whole praise team thing has been an...interesting...experience. I brought home a keyboard last week and Katherine got the names of the songs for the next Sunday so that I would hopefully be able to actually learn some of them. But, the whole power incident started on Thursday evening, so no dice. Basically, (and all of you who know me at all know how much this would stress me out), I arrived on Sunday morning about two hours before the service, and they expected me to learn (and figure out an accompaniment for) about 7 Spanish songs, none of which I had heard before, neither for which I had any sort of music or chord sheets, in two hours, with the rest of the band practicing around me as well. I got a little frustrated, and this little person inside of me wanted to scream "HOW DO YOU PEOPLE EXPECT ME TO DO THIS?!?" I expressed these problems (calmly) to a few people, and most responses were like, "Oh, you can do it," "Oh, you're good enough," "Just try it," etc. etc. It ended up working out that I only played one song on Sunday...I'm not sure what the future holds with this whole thing, but I know I can't handle continuing like that. So pray for me in my decision-making there. Katherine said that it's part of the culture here...the "You can do it," mentality, and the "friendly" pushiness. Both she and Brian warned me that I have to learn how to say no to things, or else I'll never be able to rest (I may have said that in a previous blog...not sure...oh well.)

Last weekend, a work team arrived from the US (from Portland, OR). They were all from Multnomah Bible College (on spring break). A woman named Laurie, who manages their Intercultural Studies department, and has worked with Open Arms several times, was the team leader. Then there were three guys...Brian, 35, getting his MA (in idk what), Jonathan, 32, in seminary, and Isaac, 21, an undergrad student. I know it doesn't mean much if you haven't met him, but I just feel it necessary to say that Brian is probably the funniest guy I have ever met. I perhaps shall tell you specifics of his hilarity when I speak with some of you in person.

Anyway, they stayed here at B&K's for most of the weekend. And on Monday, we went to the boy's farm.

Love.

I definitely think that the farm is where I will end up serving most of my time here.

First of all, the countryside is incredibly beautiful...I really wasn't expecting it. It's up in the mountains, a good distance away from the city. I think it's probably as green as Ireland. The weather has been similar to what it was like in Ireland as well (mostly overcast/occasional showers), except a little warmer.

When we first arrived Monday in the early afternoon, none of the boys were there yet, because it was a holiday. Our time at this point consisted of finding our quarters, unpacking, helping someone get his car out of the mud, eating, exploring, taking pictures, and most importantly, watching someone string up and kill chickens (and I almost became a vegetarian). We started are work for the week as well. Of course, I ended up painting again. Kids began to start trickling in around late afternoon/early evening. I thought beforehand that I might have been frustrated not being able to communicate very well with the boys, but quickly, to my great joy, I found that that would not be a problem. Although I couldn't always say what I wanted to say, nor could I always understand what they were saying, friendships developed almost instantaneously. So much of communication is nonverbal, and you don't really realize it until you can't do that much speaking.

I love these boys already. Although there are a ton of behavioral issues present, there is also great love and affection. For every fight I see, I'm probably hugged 20 times. The child in me is really allowed to express himself there...imaginary lightsaber battles, spinning kids around, back rides, ridiculous dancing, hide-and-seek, you name it. It's been a little difficult remembering names...there are almost 40 boys there, with an age range of about 7-17. Really common Spanish names like Jorge and Guillermo are easy to remember, but ones like Yilmar and Arnulfo are a bit more difficult.

Right now, while I can't communicate with the boys particularly well verbally...I'm just trying to set an example for them. I know it's cliché, but actions speak louder than words. Hopefully I will soon be able to add words to those actions as I share the life of Christ in me. They will continue to bless me and I will continue to bless them.

The guys from the work team have been a big blessing and encouragement as well, but they will be leaving next week. This week with the team at the farm has been sort of introductory...I haven't yet dove in. Normally there won't be works teams. And normally I won't be painting. Thank God.

You've probably noticed how the farther down my blogs you read, the less details that are present. That's because I kind of get a little tired of writing, so I'm sorry for that. I will write more about the boy's farm later...there will be plenty of material in that area.

Tomorrow, it's off to a water park with the girls from the program. And hopefully I'll get to post pictures some time.

I love you all.

And I need sleep. Goodnight.



Oh, and one brief request...please pray that I don't let the busyness of working "for" God negatively affect my relationship "with" God. That's a big struggle here. I need to rest in Him.