Highlights from Mexico-
1) Apparently I was the translator. My Spanish is passable, but I really have not uttered a word in like 3 years so it took some time to get it back. And even at that I had a bit of a rough time with it. We survived just fine- but it was quite an experience when kids would call me over to translate. Me??? Coming from CA- Everyone knows at least a little spanish. Turns out Washington kids prefer french... perhaps since we are so closed to Canada? :)
2) Building and rebuilding... Each night the pastor gave out awards to members of the group. One night I got the Nehemiah award which was supposed to be for leadership. Although I was at that moment being a very poor leader in that I had an earphone in and was listening to the Lakers game during group time... I realized that I had no idea what the book of Nehemiah said so I opened the bible and read through the subheadings. "Building of the Wall" - quite coincidental considering that day I had overseen the building of nearly all the walls of the house. "Re-building of the wall" - quite funny because we had to in fact rebuild many of the walls because they were not correct. "Building of the wall again" - this was just eerie considering that after rebuilding a few of the walls, they did in fact needed to be modified once more to fit the windows properly.
3) Lakers... So as I mentioned the Lakers were playing in the NBA Finals during this trip. I had thought it was quite a sacrifice, but considering how it turned out- perhaps it was a blessing. I still have yet to bring myself to watch the games on my Tivo...
4) Fire. So the final night everyone all the kids wanted to stay up late. We had built a bonfire pit and had small fires throughout the week. The rule was that it couldn't be above your knees. One creative solution was to build the pit 3 feet down... On the final night, all the adults had gone to sleep and it was me and this 21 year old guy watching all the crazed high schoolers. So they piled on ALL the remaining wood and it went up FAST. At one point a 6 foot kid was standing on the other side of the fire from me and I could not see him because the flames were above his head (remember this pit is 3 feet deep as well). It got so hot that no one could stand within 4 feet of the fire without feeling pain. Which made it quite intense with that same 6 foot kid suddenly started running directly at the fire and jumped through it! Kerby had to lay the smack down after that. We ended up drawing attention and folks from other churches came and hung out. It was getting a bit crazy so I decided to shut it down and started ushering folks to bed. Most people were cool with it because we were all pretty tired and knew we were too loud for everyone around us. A couple of 8th graders began whining and I was dealing with them when suddenly one of the pretty cool college girls unzipped her tent and started shouting: 1) "It is too loud out here" b) -not a typo she literally followed 1 with b, "It is too bright out here and I cannot sleep" and c) "you are all going to bed right now!" "I am sorry if I am being a grumpy pants but this has gone on long enough" She went on for a bit longer then just glared with her arms crossed at everyone. So folks started putting out the fire and cleaning up (we were going to bed anyway) and I said, "Thanks, Tamara- we are all going to bed now you can lay down- sorry." To which she replied "I am not moving until everyone is in their tent!" So, I was like- "Cool, then- I am going to bed..."
Needless to say, she was repeatedly ridiculed the next day.
5) Mexican Coke. So there are two things I love about Mexico- the tacos and Coca Cola in a glass bottle. In Mexico, they use sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup and I swear it makes a difference. So I would insist on hitting a store so I could get my fix and was relegated to the only thing I could find- a 6 oz shot of coke. It was enough, barely. Upon our return, the pastor showed up with a 24 pack of Mexican Coke he had got from Costco.... Ohhh...
That's all for now.
I am off to see WALL-E with Lucas!!!
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