So the first week here has passed without a hitch, thank you Jesus! I've gotten pretty settled in as far as I know, you would have to ask some of my friends here how I'm handling Spanish/Spanglish 24/7. I think I'm doing a good job! I'll give a brief highlight reel of the first week so far, and then after that I'll outline what I'll be doing this coming week for you guys so you can be in prayer for what's going on.
Week so far:
- So far this week during the mornings we cleaned the church and the church dorms, which is where I am staying, and then prepared for VBS (Vacation Bible School for those who don't know) at the church. VBS was just this week, but it was awesome! We had a lot of kids show up from the neighborhood. They did a group session with games and dancing before breaking off into groups based on age. After their lesson, they all shared a meal at the church before heading out around noon. Preparing food for 40+ kids everyday took a lot of time, and I must say I fried more tortillas and flipped more pancakes than in my 23 years combined in a couple days!
- After VBS we pretty much had the afternoons to ourselves. So my afternoons/evenings consisted of playing soccer in the street, playing cards with the pastor's family, exploring the town a bit, and speaking a lot of Spanish. The people in the church are incredibly friendly and hospitable and have a very strong desire to see God work in their community. I love how down to earth they are and their passion for the Lord. It's very inspiring!
- Highlight of the week! Drum roll please! Men's retreat this weekend! Friday about 10 guys, including two boys, 15 & 9, set out for the church's retreat home in a city on the coast called Rosarito. It's a touristy city with an AWESOME beach! We arrived around 10:30ish at night and immediately after dropping our bags had a praise and worship session in the basement, following some light snacking. That was incredible just to see a group of guys totally in tune with the Lord, even if the singing wasn't totally in tune (but I won't say anything if you don't). It was an incredible time of bonding with them and with the Lord. I crashed around 12:30-12:45 to avoid the inevitable zombie syndrome I get with little sleep, but some of the guys stayed up as late as 2-3am. We got up at 6 to have a devotional before eating breakfast. After breakfast we had another praise and worship session and shared our testimonies of how we came to know the Lord. Once that was finished, we packed up and headed to the beach where we spent a couple hours playing soccer on the beach right near the water. That was really fun! Afterwards, we headed to another church for a conference before heading back to El Nino, which is the colonia (colony in English which is what they call the little townish establishments on the edge of the city) that I am staying in.
- Today was the first Sunday I was here and my first normal service. It was AWESOME! The praise and worship was super incredible and the service was great. The people here are incredibly desperate for the Lord to work on them and on their community. It's awe inspiring how passionate the Christian community is here. I think it's safe to say a little struggle could do the American church body some good. After that I went with another missionary family to help out with a missionary camp for lack of a better word. It's called Global Expeditions and they bring kids aged 14-22ish to do VBS and home building here in rural Baja California. There are between 200-300 kids from the US and Canada primarily here for the whole week. That is what I will be helping with this coming week, so I am very excited to be working along side these young kids as they are God's hands and feet this week in the Tijuana area and surrounding colonias.
- Funny story. I have become the topic of interest at church for three reasons. I am of mixed race (which they find very interesting and there have been no end of hilarious jokes and such), the fact that I'm an American and I can play soccer well (I'm guessing that isn't something they expect when American guys come), and the fact that the winter in Wisconsin is like death itself. They are all shocked to hear how cold it gets, how long winter lasts, and how much it snows there. 99% of the people here have never seen snow and find the concept fascinating. I do not share their fascination with the white plague, but I humor their curiosity regaling them with tales of white Christmas', blizzards/white outs, and the eternal cold that is the never ending Wisconsin winter season. They find it utterly fascinating and laugh when I tell them I love the weather down here that seems to be perpetually in the mid to high 70's during the day and drops to mid 60's at night. Climate perfection if I have ever heard of such.
So enough humor and as usual your prayers and support are GREATLY appreciated. I love you guys!
Dios bendiga!
Jordan
Prayer Requests:
- Travel mercies for the Global Expeditions kids and us as we travel to and from their camp and the homes we will be building. We are going to be building homes for six families.
- Physical safety in and around construction areas.
- Prayer for the continued physical safety for me as I will be doing some more rigorous work this coming week. So far so good!
- That I would continue to make good friendships with the people in the church and the community. The Lord has already blessed me with two good friends Abbi (the pastor's daughter) and her husband Eliut. They are both a two ish years younger than me so it's awesome to have see them everyday and spend time with them. And they both speak English which helps so sometimes I can slip into Spanglish if needed.
- That I would be a good example to the little homies that I have met through church. They are very curious and have a never ending flow of questions about life in the US, etc.
- Please keep Pastor Daniel and his family in prayer. One of his best friends had a son pass away this past week in a sudden plane crash. It has hit the family pretty hard as they are close with his family who belong to a partner church in San Diego.
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