With only 11 days left and time winding down my emotions are mixed. Yes, I am excited to be home and see my family and friends but I know I am going to miss everything and everyone here so much. Leaving here is much more difficult that it was to leave home because I don’t know when or if I will ever come back. Our going away parties are starting now; with our American friends, my coworkers, my ex-coworkers, the youth group and maybe one with just my host family. This means I might put on a little weight before I get home!
When I think about coming home there is one thing I dread. The question “how was your year?” I think it will be difficult to explain a year of cross culture experience in the few sentences that people are going to want to hear. I guess I should start thinking about the standard response that I am going to give now.
In a way, to me, that question is similar to blogging. How can I share what is really going on in my life and give the people reading this an accurate depiction with what I am doing with just a few paragraphs every few weeks. I guess I will just have to wait to get home to tell my stories and show my pictures and those that are interested can listen.
In my last few days I plan to try to do all of the little things that I haven’t been able to do yet (which isn’t much) and buy the souvenirs that I have wanted to (which is a lot of things)
I am looking forward to seeing you all within the next month! Keep my in your prayers as my team and I go through this transition process
Friday, July 2, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Running out of Time
I have been staying extremely busy these last few weeks. One weekend I went to Volendam, a Mennonite colony with some friends and a coworker. We also made it out to Cuidad del Este the weekend before last to see Itiapu Dam, unfortunately it was closed to tourists because it was a holiday, we seem to have bad luck when it comes to holidays.
My week days stay pretty busy as well, Mondays Daniel, Rose and I teach English and the church and Wednesdays Rose, Ruth and I have Spanish lessons. The rest of the week just seems to fall into place as it goes along.
This last Tuesday I went with my uncle and cousin to a large Catholic church for mass. It was a very pretty service and the message was about how people of different religions need to look at what they have in common, instead of pointing out their differences. This seems to be a fairly large problem in this area, much more than it was where I live at home, so I was very pleased to hear what he was saying.
This week seems to be coming to a rapid end and next week holds the possibility of going to Bolivia… we will have to see.
My week days stay pretty busy as well, Mondays Daniel, Rose and I teach English and the church and Wednesdays Rose, Ruth and I have Spanish lessons. The rest of the week just seems to fall into place as it goes along.
This last Tuesday I went with my uncle and cousin to a large Catholic church for mass. It was a very pretty service and the message was about how people of different religions need to look at what they have in common, instead of pointing out their differences. This seems to be a fairly large problem in this area, much more than it was where I live at home, so I was very pleased to hear what he was saying.
This week seems to be coming to a rapid end and next week holds the possibility of going to Bolivia… we will have to see.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Climbing Mountains
As I look over my shoulder at the past eight months I note that the number of experiences I have each week has declined as I have become accustomed to life here and obviously, experienced new things. However, this past Saturday I did 2 things which were new to me.
The setting...
Who: My host sisters, Celeste, Janette and my host father.
What: Christian Festival
Where: Ñembu Paraguay
When: Saturday evening April 18
Why: My sister works with the organization the runs the show.
Because we arrived at the festival several hours before it started, we were provided with the opportunity to climb/hike a cerro, which is something I have wanted to do since I arrived in Paraguay. A cerro is a little mountain or very large hill with steep slopes that just kinda pops out of the ground (about 200 yards high on average I would say). I dont know why they are here or how they were formed because they seem to be scattered around the country. We followed a trail crisscrossing through the woods and then up “stairs” made of stone. At the top there was a place to pray with a large cross and I little building. It was nice to get some exercise and the view from the top was very beautiful.
The second new experience took place near the end of the night. Janette and I were sitting down and watching the speaker when my other sister called and said that they needed more volunteers. Five minutes later I found myself in front of a group of 4000 making myself available to people that wanted to accept Jesus. The first guy that I talked to wasn’t too interested but the second man was. He was a weathered man and ready. Luckily, we were given little books to read through with them, which I did after apologizing if I mispronounced any words. When we got to the end of the little book that explained what being a Christian meant I asked the man if this is what he wanted. He said "si" with a full sureness. I read the sinners prayer a few words at a time and he repeated after me. Afterwards I hugged him as my brother and we went our separate ways. I never would have thought that the first time I prayed that prayer with someone would be in spanish, but it was a beautiful experience.
After a long, eventful and fulfilling night, I realized how fast my time here is really going. I am excited to be home but am also very sad to leave all of this behind. I’ll try to drag as much of it back home with my in my heart as I can…
The setting...
Who: My host sisters, Celeste, Janette and my host father.
What: Christian Festival
Where: Ñembu Paraguay
When: Saturday evening April 18
Why: My sister works with the organization the runs the show.
Because we arrived at the festival several hours before it started, we were provided with the opportunity to climb/hike a cerro, which is something I have wanted to do since I arrived in Paraguay. A cerro is a little mountain or very large hill with steep slopes that just kinda pops out of the ground (about 200 yards high on average I would say). I dont know why they are here or how they were formed because they seem to be scattered around the country. We followed a trail crisscrossing through the woods and then up “stairs” made of stone. At the top there was a place to pray with a large cross and I little building. It was nice to get some exercise and the view from the top was very beautiful.
The second new experience took place near the end of the night. Janette and I were sitting down and watching the speaker when my other sister called and said that they needed more volunteers. Five minutes later I found myself in front of a group of 4000 making myself available to people that wanted to accept Jesus. The first guy that I talked to wasn’t too interested but the second man was. He was a weathered man and ready. Luckily, we were given little books to read through with them, which I did after apologizing if I mispronounced any words. When we got to the end of the little book that explained what being a Christian meant I asked the man if this is what he wanted. He said "si" with a full sureness. I read the sinners prayer a few words at a time and he repeated after me. Afterwards I hugged him as my brother and we went our separate ways. I never would have thought that the first time I prayed that prayer with someone would be in spanish, but it was a beautiful experience.
After a long, eventful and fulfilling night, I realized how fast my time here is really going. I am excited to be home but am also very sad to leave all of this behind. I’ll try to drag as much of it back home with my in my heart as I can…
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Worship
When I googled (I think ¨google¨ is considered a verb now) an online dictionary and typed in ¨worship¨, the first definition that it gave me was ¨reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.¨ A very wide and inclusive definition. Growing up in the Mennonite church I have worshiped the same way practically every Sunday for the entirety of my life. I am comfortable and accustomed to my style of worship. I enjoy having a bulletin and singing hymns.
I am learning that my style of worship was narrow. I have always known that various churches and congregations greatly differ in the way that they worship and conduct their services. What I did not know was how difficult it would be to make a connection with God in a different environment.
My church, ¨La Amistad¨, which means (Friendship) is only about a minute walk from my house. It is a daughter church to the larger German Mennonite church named ¨Concordia.¨ The weekends are always busy with youth group Saturday evening, small group Sunday morning and the worship service Sunday night. For the size of the church the number of youth that participate in the youth group is outstanding. Sometimes Saturday nights an upward of forty people between the ages of 15 and about 21 show up for several hours of worship.
The challenging time for me is worship. At times, definitely not every meeting, but every now and then the mood becomes very… desperate. Thunderous music plays, the pastor speaks very loudly, often repeats a sentence or a word over and over, and people are in every which position. There is yelling, wailing and uncontrollable sobbing. It´s different.
Even though I have been attending this church for almost five months, I´m not exactly sure what to think. The first few times I participated in one of these services was rather intimidating and scary (it still is a little) because I had never been in such a ¨heavy¨ worship. This is never how I worshipped at home or connected with God. This is my problem, I don’t feel like I can connect with God very well in this atmosphere. I have also thought that maybe these kids around me know something that I don’t know; why cant I scream for God?
As time has passed I have become more accustomed to the environment and have become more comfortable. With the increased security that I feel I think my ability to worship in other capacities has expanded. I still have roughly another five months to worship God in this church, I´m hoping to be able to find Him in a different setting because I am pretty sure God doesn’t just come to Leetonia Mennonite MYF worship. The point isn’t in how I worship, the point is where my heart is and what my heart is doing during worship. I need to learn to be able to Love God with all I am in different ways.
This is very much a learning process and I am thankful for the way I am being challenged. It will be interesting to see where God leads my thoughts and my heart in the next few months. Maybe I really do need to be more desperate for God, maybe my faith really needs to be expanded... I may just end up the most radical worshipper that Leetonia Mennonite has ever seen!
How exciting discovering God can be!! And scary...
I am learning that my style of worship was narrow. I have always known that various churches and congregations greatly differ in the way that they worship and conduct their services. What I did not know was how difficult it would be to make a connection with God in a different environment.
My church, ¨La Amistad¨, which means (Friendship) is only about a minute walk from my house. It is a daughter church to the larger German Mennonite church named ¨Concordia.¨ The weekends are always busy with youth group Saturday evening, small group Sunday morning and the worship service Sunday night. For the size of the church the number of youth that participate in the youth group is outstanding. Sometimes Saturday nights an upward of forty people between the ages of 15 and about 21 show up for several hours of worship.
The challenging time for me is worship. At times, definitely not every meeting, but every now and then the mood becomes very… desperate. Thunderous music plays, the pastor speaks very loudly, often repeats a sentence or a word over and over, and people are in every which position. There is yelling, wailing and uncontrollable sobbing. It´s different.
Even though I have been attending this church for almost five months, I´m not exactly sure what to think. The first few times I participated in one of these services was rather intimidating and scary (it still is a little) because I had never been in such a ¨heavy¨ worship. This is never how I worshipped at home or connected with God. This is my problem, I don’t feel like I can connect with God very well in this atmosphere. I have also thought that maybe these kids around me know something that I don’t know; why cant I scream for God?
As time has passed I have become more accustomed to the environment and have become more comfortable. With the increased security that I feel I think my ability to worship in other capacities has expanded. I still have roughly another five months to worship God in this church, I´m hoping to be able to find Him in a different setting because I am pretty sure God doesn’t just come to Leetonia Mennonite MYF worship. The point isn’t in how I worship, the point is where my heart is and what my heart is doing during worship. I need to learn to be able to Love God with all I am in different ways.
This is very much a learning process and I am thankful for the way I am being challenged. It will be interesting to see where God leads my thoughts and my heart in the next few months. Maybe I really do need to be more desperate for God, maybe my faith really needs to be expanded... I may just end up the most radical worshipper that Leetonia Mennonite has ever seen!
How exciting discovering God can be!! And scary...
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Birthday
A week ago today was my first birthday in South America. It made me happy and I felt very appreciated.
I woke up around 6:00 as usual and was out in the kitchen by about 6:25. I guess my family wanted to give me my presents quickly before work started so they all wished me a happy birthday and did the double kiss thing, except my dad, because guys dont kiss guys here, which is nice. Then I opened my presents.
The week before my birthday my sister asked me what gifts I wanted for my birthday and what I wanted to do. I just said that I wanted a Paraguayan birthday with Paraguayan gifts, and that is exactly what I got. I received two very nice shirts with references to Paraguay and Tereré, which I cant wait to wear around when I get home, a water bottle type thing that is made from unborn calf hide (if I understood correctly) and a very nice tereré thermos, which is one thing that I wasn't going to leave Paraguay without first buying. I really enjoy the thermos, especially since it has my name and "Paraguay" burned into the leather on the top.
At work, during lunch, we also had a little party with a cake and everything. When I got home from work the rest of "team paraguay" was waiting for me (my second birthday in a row with a surprise party!). With time more and more people started coming until there were about 20 people at my house. Several of them gave me gifts and all of them made sure to wish me a happy birthday and do the double kiss or handshake deal.
It was very nice to have my closest friends and family with me on the day of my nineteenth birthday. I felt very appreciated and was surprised that so many people ended up coming to my party. I hope that from every birthday from here on out I will always be able to remember my birthday in Paraguay. I wonder if this will be my last birthday in South America...
On a side note, Tuesday was my sisters birthday and I was awakened at about 1:30 in the morning to a mariachi band playing outside of her window that my sister had hired. Very fun!
I woke up around 6:00 as usual and was out in the kitchen by about 6:25. I guess my family wanted to give me my presents quickly before work started so they all wished me a happy birthday and did the double kiss thing, except my dad, because guys dont kiss guys here, which is nice. Then I opened my presents.
The week before my birthday my sister asked me what gifts I wanted for my birthday and what I wanted to do. I just said that I wanted a Paraguayan birthday with Paraguayan gifts, and that is exactly what I got. I received two very nice shirts with references to Paraguay and Tereré, which I cant wait to wear around when I get home, a water bottle type thing that is made from unborn calf hide (if I understood correctly) and a very nice tereré thermos, which is one thing that I wasn't going to leave Paraguay without first buying. I really enjoy the thermos, especially since it has my name and "Paraguay" burned into the leather on the top.
At work, during lunch, we also had a little party with a cake and everything. When I got home from work the rest of "team paraguay" was waiting for me (my second birthday in a row with a surprise party!). With time more and more people started coming until there were about 20 people at my house. Several of them gave me gifts and all of them made sure to wish me a happy birthday and do the double kiss or handshake deal.
It was very nice to have my closest friends and family with me on the day of my nineteenth birthday. I felt very appreciated and was surprised that so many people ended up coming to my party. I hope that from every birthday from here on out I will always be able to remember my birthday in Paraguay. I wonder if this will be my last birthday in South America...
On a side note, Tuesday was my sisters birthday and I was awakened at about 1:30 in the morning to a mariachi band playing outside of her window that my sister had hired. Very fun!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Sena de Gala
Last week our Radical Journey team attended the CONEMPAR Mennonite youth camp. Much of our time was spent doing four things, eating, playing games, drinking terere and worship. Overall, it was a very fun camp and I had the opportunity to meet many new people. I also like to think that my Spanish progressed a decent amount.
For Daniel and myself the highlight of the camp was probably the last evening, the “Sena de Gala” During the duration of this event Daniel and I could barely look at each other without laughing. The situation was very similar to High school Prom, except much more corny.
The series of events went as followed... First, Daniel and I went to the local concession stand to buy our “special” 2 liters of Coca Cola, which was a necessity because we had both decided to reserve tables for only ourselves and our dates and we couldn’t be seen drinking the common juice like everyone else (everyone that had reserved a special table was supposed to buy Coke). Next we found our dates, took a few pictures and waited in line for the announcer to announce or names so we could enter the brightly decorated dining hall. Once inside we spent the evening eating our dinner and watching a slideshow of pictures from that week, while listening to very “high school graduation” type songs.
After the slideshow my date and I, as well as several other couples, had to get up and walk around in order to be judged for best looking couple.... or something like that. I didn’t really understand what was going on, all I knew is that people were clapping and that it was a contest of some sort. In the end my date and I got second place, not exactly sure what for, but I received many congratulations after the dinner.
After the long week I was very exhausted and happy to finally get home. It was a great experience and one that I will not soon forget.
For Daniel and myself the highlight of the camp was probably the last evening, the “Sena de Gala” During the duration of this event Daniel and I could barely look at each other without laughing. The situation was very similar to High school Prom, except much more corny.
The series of events went as followed... First, Daniel and I went to the local concession stand to buy our “special” 2 liters of Coca Cola, which was a necessity because we had both decided to reserve tables for only ourselves and our dates and we couldn’t be seen drinking the common juice like everyone else (everyone that had reserved a special table was supposed to buy Coke). Next we found our dates, took a few pictures and waited in line for the announcer to announce or names so we could enter the brightly decorated dining hall. Once inside we spent the evening eating our dinner and watching a slideshow of pictures from that week, while listening to very “high school graduation” type songs.
After the slideshow my date and I, as well as several other couples, had to get up and walk around in order to be judged for best looking couple.... or something like that. I didn’t really understand what was going on, all I knew is that people were clapping and that it was a contest of some sort. In the end my date and I got second place, not exactly sure what for, but I received many congratulations after the dinner.
After the long week I was very exhausted and happy to finally get home. It was a great experience and one that I will not soon forget.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Iguazu Falls
Just before Christmas my team and I had to renew our visas for the first time. So we (meaning Daniel) planned our trip and headed to Argentina. While we were there we had several various problems including; issues at customs, finding functional ATM´s, retrieving locked luggage and a 12 hour bus delay before heading back to Asuncion.
Even though some things didn’t go as planned, we still had the opportunity to see some extremely beautiful things. Iquazu Falls, one of South America’s largest tourist attractions, was incredible. The place looked just like paradise and in my opinion isn’t even comparable to Niagra Falls. The pictures I took will never be able to describe the pure beauty that I felt there. We also spent A LOT of time looking in shops and hanging around the local tourist town.
All of the excitement of getting out of my normal routine in Asuncion renewed my excitement to get out and explore my surroundings. Hopefully, now that we have settled into our new lives and that the holidays have passed, as a team we will be to get out and do a few more weekend trips in the near future.
Looking back at the trip, what really made it special was being able to share it with my friends. I’m sure I would have loved Iquazu Falls no matter what, because God made it beautiful, but being able to share and experience that splendor with others made the beauty real.
Even though some things didn’t go as planned, we still had the opportunity to see some extremely beautiful things. Iquazu Falls, one of South America’s largest tourist attractions, was incredible. The place looked just like paradise and in my opinion isn’t even comparable to Niagra Falls. The pictures I took will never be able to describe the pure beauty that I felt there. We also spent A LOT of time looking in shops and hanging around the local tourist town.
All of the excitement of getting out of my normal routine in Asuncion renewed my excitement to get out and explore my surroundings. Hopefully, now that we have settled into our new lives and that the holidays have passed, as a team we will be to get out and do a few more weekend trips in the near future.
Looking back at the trip, what really made it special was being able to share it with my friends. I’m sure I would have loved Iquazu Falls no matter what, because God made it beautiful, but being able to share and experience that splendor with others made the beauty real.
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