Friday, June 22, 2007

hola de Juarez

Hello all,

We are finishing up our second week in Juarez, Mexico, and will be returning soon to El Paso. Now to most of you, this schedule looks the same as what it was last week. However, our plans have changed so many times that it would not be worth it to describe all the changes. For instance, at one point we were going to go to Las Palomas, and help there. Rest assured though, we are learning to be flexible and not to have any expectations. It reminds me of when I was in Belize and Wassim kept asking Doc about what our destination would be like--finally Doc responded, "WASSIM! You'll find out when we get there!" :)

The first few days here were rough, as we were trying to settle into some sort of routine. We had no translator, knew nobody outside Pastor Richard's family, and we were the only English speakers. However, the families here have helped us to feel at home, preparing us meals, taking us where we needed to go, and introducing us to others. Benjamin was one of the first people we met, and he and Suri came with us to the mission these two weeks.

We helped at a mission just outside of the city, called Peniel. We invited families to church and to VBS, as well as a game day we had with the neighborhood kids. We played games, shared a Bible story, colored pictures, and did face painting. This was a great time to build relationships with some of the kids, because we later saw them at VBS. The day before VBS started, we worked to clear gravel and sand out of one of the rooms and moved it to make a sort of stage in the mission.

Benjamin became one of our good friends, and it was sad to see him leave earlier this week. He was our Spanish-to-Spanish translator, looking out for us, and he helped us meet more of the youth from the church. These people have become our friends, and we have talked with them and done lots of fun activities.

We are a forerunning group for the Nazarene Border Initiative, and its goal is to allow the Mexican church's leaders to decide what to do in their communities. Rather than the American teams coming in with a plan, the Mexican church can place us wherever they wish, and not be told what to do in their community.

We helped a group from Denver First Church in doing VBS at Peniel this week. One woman from the group, Angela, told us that on Tuesday she was worried that there would be no translator available at Peniel, and in the midst of her stress, she finally remembered to pray and trust God to provide. God used us to meet that need! There were many children at VBS, upwards of 30 I'm sure.

As well as we know now, tonight we will be working with the youth of this church to go door to door in the neighborhood, and invite people to church. We will be spending the night at Fabiola's before going to a sort of water park with them as well.

Next week there was supposed to be a basketball camp in El Paso, but at the last minute, Barry and Mikey found out that it was this week. They had 35 kids on the first day of the camp! We will be heading back to help out with however many kids show up for the original time, which will be interesting as we don't have many skills in basketball. :)

There are so many stories I want to share, but I don't have the time or space to share now. I'm sure you will be hearing many stories once I return. :)

Prayer Requests:
~this week's basketball camp, and the children and families that will come
~the Vacation Bible Schools that we will be helping with in July, I think
~Health, safety, energy each day
~Communication

Some advice of what NOT to do when there is a language barrier:
~Don't try to get money from an ATM. You may get 20 pesos ($2) instead of $20.
~Don't try to tell jokes or stories. They're not as funny.
~Don't pretend like you know more of the language than you do. It may be assumed that you are fluent.
~Don't say you like something, because it may be assumed that you cannot live without it.
~Don't assume that all words are similar between languages. For instance, "embarazada" does not mean embarrassed. It means "pregnant."
~Don't smile and nod every time you are asked something.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

here I am, in El Paso

Hi everyone,

This email is going to be rather long, but chock-full of info. Here goes. It may be abbreviated for the sake of time and space. I'll elaborate later.

Training Camp:
~Very intense and they kept us busy doing team building activities, attending workshops, sitting in and participating in various chapels/discussions, being part of a family group (my team plus 2 Guatemala teams), Poverty meal.
~Our team gets along very well and we have a lot of fun in addition to doing our ministry.

Sunday the 3rd:
~Arrived in El Paso after a delayed flight (we ended up just jumping onto another one in the nick of time)
~driving around, getting to know the area
~eating lunch with Marco the Spanish pastor
~ate dinner at a Sonic, which are NOT back east. :)
~Mikey had a "surprise" for us, which was to take us to an overlook once it was dark. It was really awesome to look out over the city, with all the lights, and think that there was at least one person for every light out there. Also, to think about our upcoming ministry and what we would be doing (which we still didn't really know too much at that point).

Monday the 4th:
~We went to a park and played games (kicked around a soccer ball) with some kids, Alex and Annabelle.
~Inventoried the kitchen, so when the Oklahoma W&W group comes, they will know what they need to bring.
~We've been doing a lot of brainstorming about how to get the church's name out there, and to meet people where they are and to begin building relationships with them. It's tough work, slow going, really. I felt like I didn't have any real ideas because I don't know this community, and by the time I get to know it, we'll leave. We also have been trying to publicize a free basketball camp at the end of this month, as well as VBS, by going door-to-door, which is very in-your-face and I'm definitely not fond of that method. But it's what the church is using, as well as talking to families in the park.
~PS: Mom, there is really not a dormitory on the premises of El Paso First Church. We have one room, Mikey has his room, there is an office, and the rest of the top floor is completely empty. HOWEVER, a Work and Witness team will be working on that, for use with the Border Initiative.

Tuesday the 5th:
~Went over into Juarez to meet with Eliseo the DS of that area, and plan what we will be doing next week and the week after. Basically, we're trying to get the Nazarene Border Initiative going again (for more info, you can check out nazarene.org or ask me later).
~This week and the week after, we will be working at a mission near Juarez, as well as doing community outreach at one or more of the 9 Nazarene churches in Juarez. We also will help with a VBS, and we are not a work and witness team (that's not our focus this summer).
~Mike Direnzo pointed out that there is such a contrast between El Paso and Juarez, and I didn't really think about it till a few days later, and it's true. Juarez is definitely poorer. I haven't yet been hit with culture shock, but that will probably come next week or the week after.
~The language in this area is Spanglish, as evidenced by 4 year old Fabiola, Marco's daughter: "Mas higher!" In El Paso, it's mostly English, but in Juarez it will really be mostly Spanish!
~I have been learning to trust and rely on God, because in this new environment, I don't really know all that I'm doing, I don't know the community, and certainly can't get through the days without asking God to work in the life of this city and to show us opportunities to take part in the movement of God (theosis?) here.
~Mikey took us on a hike up to Elephant Peak, in the Franklin Mtns State Park, and it was a lot of fun. The weather here is very dry, except for the VERY RARE rain, so the hike wasn't bad at all (unlike being back east). We could see pretty much all of El Paso and Juarez, and it was a spectacular view. We probably could even see New Mexico, for that matter.

Wednesday the 6th:
~discussed with Pastor Fred (who is actually from Lowell) his ideas for the church and this summer
~Went to another park to see if any kids were there, but they weren't, so we went to the library and got some books and a yoga video (hey, the key to missions is flexibility, says Joel T)
~It's tough being here and trying to help the church grow when we don't have any existing connections beyond the church in the community.
~However, we had an opportunity to help this 91 yr old woman, Isidra, who had come from Juarez trying to buy a motor scooter. She was walking down the sidewalk with her walker in the heat of the day. We ended up having Jaime, a neighbor, help drive her back since the woman that was at the address Isidra had knew nothing about the scooter.
~Attended the youth group and played some games with them like the Neighbor Game (which I had done with Impact), and volleyball for a while. I have been more athletic this past week than I have for maybe the past 2 years. :)

(Side thought: Sorry if this is unclear grammatically at times; I am just trying to get everything out)

Thursday the 7th:
~some more brainstorming and visiting parks
~Barry and Mikey had us wash a bunch of dishes to prepare for the Oklahoma group, and we really were not seeing the point, or if we were even making a dent in the number that needed to be done. We got to use a machine, and it was a good team bonding time as we laughed, trying to see the point. Now there are a number of clean dishes downstairs, and we know how to use the dishwasher. :)
~went around the neighborhood, door-to-door, to tell them about upcoming activities at the church. I feel like a telemarketer when I do that, but most people cheerfully accepted the flyer. As Mikey put it, whether they read it or not is a simple decision, and we aren't asking them to make a great big decision suddenly.
~Mikey compared El Paso to DC in this manner. El Paso is not Mexico, it's not really Texas, it's not New Mexico, and it's not really the US. It's its own place.

Friday the 8th:
~We got to serve breakfast and dinner at the El Paso Rescue Mission, a place that helps the homeless get back on their feet. I was able to talk to 3 people, just asking them their stories, and telling them a bit about myself, and just otherwise brightening their day as I served drinks and cereal. In the morning, as I was placing sugar on the trays for their cereal, I kept thinking of how I should look into "the face of the other," and not be caught up in my service that I forget the people right in front of me. Kind of like Mary and Martha in the Bible.
~We did Jazzercise with 4 women from the community....told you I was being athletic! :)
~Ate lunch with Marco the Spanish pastor and his family....yumm....we had milanesa and beans and rice and something else.
~Went to the t-ball park during a game and handed out flyers about the church's childrens' activities, and this group seemed very receptive, especially for a free sports activity.

Saturday the 9th:
~Just two days prior, we had brainstormed to have a fun and games day at the park for kids, with facepainting, balloon animal making (okay, just a sword, dog, or sombrero), and games and such. We ended up having about 15 kids show up that morning. I was excited to see this little girl that had been at the t-ball park the night before, because she had waved at me as I walked by her again. When she saw me on Saturday, she said, "I know you!" So cute. :)
~ate dinner at Barry and his wife Charlie's house....they are the USA/Canada Work and Witness coordinators....watched a movie....then returned to the electricity-free church (power outage)

Sunday (today)
~attended both Spanish and English services
~went to Fabiola's birthday party, and helped out with games and playing with the kids

What a week. I will definitely be sharing more later, in August.

This week and next I will be in Juarez.
The end of this month I will be here in El Paso, working with a basketball camp (I think), then we will go back to Juarez. For two weeks in July we will be doing VBS in El Paso....including the week of my birthday :). Then we will have a few days before returning to Kansas City!

Prayer requests:
~communication while we are in Juarez
~for God to work in the life of these cities and to enable us to step out of our comfort zones when we need to
~safety, health