Well tonight we have a good chunk of free time so I thought I would update everyone on what's been happening here. So here's some more random thoughts:
- The food - Almost everything can be put into a tortilla. In fact, I'm usually disappointed if I don't see tortillas with our meal. For breakfast, we usually have either eggs or pancakes and cereal. Mashed black beans are served with the eggs usually. They are kind of like refried beans but I like them better. There is always some kind of salsa to put on top of everything. At first, we were eating a lot of fruit - mango, papaya, pineapple, bananas, but not as much lately. For lunch and supper, we usually have some kind of meat and some kind of bean but they have done a really good job of giving us variety. I never really know what to expect. We also get empanadas. This is Rachel's favorite thing so far. It's basically fried dough with cheese or potatoes. The cheese is the best one. The record from the last team is 19 for one person. I did 8 once but I'm not gonna go beyond that. If you've ever had a samosa from India, it looks similar. They made burgers for us the one night. It was one of the biggest homemade burgers I've ever seen. Oh and one more thing, their tortilla chips are a million times better than ours because they bake them fresh.
- My spanish - It's not really growing a whole lot. I'm able to get by with what I know but I wish I knew more. Some lady was talking to me today and I understood about 30% of it. I think she was worried about me because I looked smaller than a week ago when she saw me and my face was much redder. So I think she was worried that I don't like the food here which is absolutely ridiculous. But I do think my stomach has shrunk here because I don't eat as much.
- Sunburns suck - I knew that before but I came to realize it again. Rachel's whole body is burnt from Monday at the beach. My shoulders and legs are burnt. We should be good to go in a few days though. It's already better.
- Colds suck - I knew this too, but mine is still lingering. Rachel and Shelby both have it while several others have stomach problems. On top of that, most of us are pretty tired. We got the night off though tonight so hopefully that will help.
- I forgot to mention last week that the doctors who came to the medical clinic flew in from various parts of Mexico. I think there may have been one from Cancun. Kind of weird that none of the doctors here were willing to be a part of the clinic.
- My dancing still has not improved and I am doubtful that it ever will. It's not that I'm unwilling. I'm just terrible.
So this past week, it rained a lot here so we stayed back at the base and cleaned a lot. I think all of us were tired of being stuck here. On Saturday, we went to a different camp and invited a bunch of kids from the neighborhood to come out for a kids' program. It rained really hard so we gathered in a circle with a youth group from some church and prayed for the evening. We prayed in English, Korean, Dutch, and Spanish. It was so cool. The rain slowed down after a while and then some kids started coming. So we did our program. Then to our surprise, we found out that we were staying for a birthday party. So then, the youth group led us in worship which was some guy rapping in Spanish. Then, a guy preached for the first time in his life. It was an interesting sermon. I think things might have got messed up in the translation but I didn't really agree with his sermon. Then they had food and drinks afterward and we could go swimming in the outdoor pool.
Well the birthday cake looked pretty good. It had orange icing with pineapples at the corners. I noticed the piece on my plate had a small piece of jalapeno pepper on it. I thought it must have gotten there by accident so I brushed it off. I bit into the cake and was completely shocked. It was actually pieces of bread with some spicy cream on it and random bits of ham in it. Once I got past the shock, it wasn't too bad but I wouldn't buy it at any point in my life. Then I did get cake and it was much better.
Sunday we had church at 12:30. People just bring in a bunch of food and we have a Mexican potluck. It's pretty cool. Monday was the beach and we went to a movie in the evening. It was in English with spanish subtitles. We saw the new Transformers for only $4. Yesterday was probably the highlight of my time here so far.
We went to a church where they were having an evangelism conference. I was asked to speak about the father heart of God and how that was important in evangelism. It was mostly youth that were there. So I talked, then Shelby, and then Carl. Carl gave an altar call for anyone who wanted to get prayer. The entire group came up. It was pretty amazing. People were crying. Before we went, I was a little nervous and I was praying. I just felt like God was saying to not worry about because He'll take care of it and He definitely did. We then taught them one of our dramas. Tomorrow and Friday, we are going to go with them to a park and do our dramas and pray for people there. It should be pretty cool. Hopefully, it will get this group excited to do more of it. Most of the people in Mexico are very religious so we're trying to really focus on relationship with God. Anyways, it's been a good week so far. I don't know when I'll be able to update again because we're going to a small town on Monday and we will be there for a week and a half. We're supposed to sleep in hammocks while we're there so that should be cool.
Anyways, please pray for our health. As I said, a lot of us don't feel that great. We have a month left here and we want to be able to fully put our hearts into it and it's really difficult to do when you don't feel good. Thanks.
Randy
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Cancun!!!
First off, my apologies for not updating sooner. We have been busy since we've been in Cancun and I haven't really been on the internet very often. Also, I've just been plain lazy with it too. Anyways, we are in Cancun. I'm gonna give you a list of some of my initial thoughts of our first week here.
- It's hot and humid - I was expecting this and it actually hasn't been as bad as I thought. I think my body has adjusted to the heat. We have fans in our rooms so that helps for sleeping.
- Mosquitoes - I think this is the headquarters for mosquitoes. During our first few days, I think all of us had at least 15 bites or more on our legs. We're constantly putting on bug spray.
- Bugs in general - We stayed at a hotel for a few days and the bugs were terrible there. The first night I killed at least 6 large spiders and a cockroach in our room. By the end we also had a lizard hanging out in our room.
- The people are warm and friendly - It's very typical of the other Latin American countries I've been to.
- The majority of Cancun is not paradise. It's only along the beach. Outside of that, it looks like a poor Latin American country. Since we're 20 minutes away from the beach, we're definitely in the poorer part of Cancun.
- We are very blessed to have such good housing - We are staying at a place called Campamento Vida (Camp Life). It's a former table dancing club that has been turned around into a church/retreat center/medical camp/probably more good things in the future. It has 20 bedrooms. Rachel and I are thrilled to have a bathroom. The showers are cold which is fine because it's hot here. The toilet doesn't flush so well but it goes down eventually. The bed is extremely comfortable and it's a queen. Honestly, I think for us the facilities here are better than in Denver. It's not a huge room but it's nice.
- They love to dance here - We had a great dance party Sunday night and even thought I looked terrible, it was a lot of fun. We even did the limbo and I shocked many people with my flexibility on that one. I think growing up Mennonite has definitely hurt my chances of ever being a good dancer.
When we got here, our main job was cleaning the place. We arrived Monday evening and started work the next day. We passed out flyers for the next 3 days in the morning to tell people about a free medical clinic that the camp was having on Friday and Saturday. The rest of the time, we cleaned and practiced our dramas. When the clinic started, we were basically the entertainment for all the people waiting. We did a program of dramas and puppets. Then, we would take all the kids and do various crafts and balloon animals with them. One of the girls on our team cut hair for people during both days. We couldn't do much to help the doctors but we did whatever we could with keeping the place clean. The clinic was a huge success and from what we heard, the doctors were very blessed to have us there. They did this once before and they said it was not nearly as good as this time. Some of the doctors weren't Christians so it was definitely a great witness for them. On Sunday, we hung out with the church that meets at the camp and then got ready for a fancy dinner that night with the doctors. All of the doctors had gone to the beach that day so when they got back we had this fancy dinner. We actually didn't eat until well after 10 pm. After the meal, we were all saying goodbye to them and our leader, Carl, said we were leaving in 5 minutes. Probably an hour later, we finally left after the dance party.
The next day, we had a much deserved day off which we spent at the beach. It's been a long time since I've been at the beach and I forgot how nice it is there. Rachel is now at the point where she wants to go every day. That's probably not going to happen. We're about 20-25 minutes away from the beach so I think if we get there 5 times, it will be good. Obviously, that's not why we're here.
Yesterday and today, we went to a distribution center for the poor. We helped do a bunch of stuff that they didn't think they would ever get done. The pastor here at Camp Vida, Manuel, has been wanting to partner with them because they're the only church in the city that's doing anything for the poor. It's a Catholic church. Anyways, the people were so impressed by our team that it was really easy for them to partner with him. So that was pretty cool. Last night, we went to a park and did some dramas and Carl preached. We hung out with some of the kids there and played a little soccer afterward. Tonight, we plan on going to another park and ministering there.
Somehow I got a cold in the midst of all of this. It seems ridiculous that I got a cold in the summer, but I have it. During the medical clinic, we moved to a hotel that had air conditioning. I think the drastic change in temperatures contributed to it. Hopefully no one else on the team will get it from me.
So this is a really long update but I wanted to let everyone know that we are doing well. We miss all of you guys back home but we know this is where God wants us right now. He's doing some cool stuff here in Cancun.
Randy
- It's hot and humid - I was expecting this and it actually hasn't been as bad as I thought. I think my body has adjusted to the heat. We have fans in our rooms so that helps for sleeping.
- Mosquitoes - I think this is the headquarters for mosquitoes. During our first few days, I think all of us had at least 15 bites or more on our legs. We're constantly putting on bug spray.
- Bugs in general - We stayed at a hotel for a few days and the bugs were terrible there. The first night I killed at least 6 large spiders and a cockroach in our room. By the end we also had a lizard hanging out in our room.
- The people are warm and friendly - It's very typical of the other Latin American countries I've been to.
- The majority of Cancun is not paradise. It's only along the beach. Outside of that, it looks like a poor Latin American country. Since we're 20 minutes away from the beach, we're definitely in the poorer part of Cancun.
- We are very blessed to have such good housing - We are staying at a place called Campamento Vida (Camp Life). It's a former table dancing club that has been turned around into a church/retreat center/medical camp/probably more good things in the future. It has 20 bedrooms. Rachel and I are thrilled to have a bathroom. The showers are cold which is fine because it's hot here. The toilet doesn't flush so well but it goes down eventually. The bed is extremely comfortable and it's a queen. Honestly, I think for us the facilities here are better than in Denver. It's not a huge room but it's nice.
- They love to dance here - We had a great dance party Sunday night and even thought I looked terrible, it was a lot of fun. We even did the limbo and I shocked many people with my flexibility on that one. I think growing up Mennonite has definitely hurt my chances of ever being a good dancer.
When we got here, our main job was cleaning the place. We arrived Monday evening and started work the next day. We passed out flyers for the next 3 days in the morning to tell people about a free medical clinic that the camp was having on Friday and Saturday. The rest of the time, we cleaned and practiced our dramas. When the clinic started, we were basically the entertainment for all the people waiting. We did a program of dramas and puppets. Then, we would take all the kids and do various crafts and balloon animals with them. One of the girls on our team cut hair for people during both days. We couldn't do much to help the doctors but we did whatever we could with keeping the place clean. The clinic was a huge success and from what we heard, the doctors were very blessed to have us there. They did this once before and they said it was not nearly as good as this time. Some of the doctors weren't Christians so it was definitely a great witness for them. On Sunday, we hung out with the church that meets at the camp and then got ready for a fancy dinner that night with the doctors. All of the doctors had gone to the beach that day so when they got back we had this fancy dinner. We actually didn't eat until well after 10 pm. After the meal, we were all saying goodbye to them and our leader, Carl, said we were leaving in 5 minutes. Probably an hour later, we finally left after the dance party.
The next day, we had a much deserved day off which we spent at the beach. It's been a long time since I've been at the beach and I forgot how nice it is there. Rachel is now at the point where she wants to go every day. That's probably not going to happen. We're about 20-25 minutes away from the beach so I think if we get there 5 times, it will be good. Obviously, that's not why we're here.
Yesterday and today, we went to a distribution center for the poor. We helped do a bunch of stuff that they didn't think they would ever get done. The pastor here at Camp Vida, Manuel, has been wanting to partner with them because they're the only church in the city that's doing anything for the poor. It's a Catholic church. Anyways, the people were so impressed by our team that it was really easy for them to partner with him. So that was pretty cool. Last night, we went to a park and did some dramas and Carl preached. We hung out with some of the kids there and played a little soccer afterward. Tonight, we plan on going to another park and ministering there.
Somehow I got a cold in the midst of all of this. It seems ridiculous that I got a cold in the summer, but I have it. During the medical clinic, we moved to a hotel that had air conditioning. I think the drastic change in temperatures contributed to it. Hopefully no one else on the team will get it from me.
So this is a really long update but I wanted to let everyone know that we are doing well. We miss all of you guys back home but we know this is where God wants us right now. He's doing some cool stuff here in Cancun.
Randy
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