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...

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!

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.

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.

Peligroso Paraguay

Last Friday night I was on the bus going to Ruth’s house after work. I hopped on the 34 bus (after skipping the 23 Limpio because it was very full) and there wasn’t any room so I put my feet inside the door and then used the handles on the outside of the bus to hang on. After awhile people got off the bus in the back and more people got on in the front so I eventually ended up in the middle of the bus with no room to move. I wasn’t exactly sure where I was supposed to get off and I could only see about 20 ft out of the bus because I was standing and the windows were low. So at this time I am trying to find room to duck down every now and then to see if I can recognize where I am and where to get off.

As we approach where I think I’m supposed to get off I try to move close to the back of the bus since that’s the only place I can push the button to tell the driver that I need off. Well, there is a very large man trying very hard to go down the isle to the back of the bus so I figured it would be easier to let him pass me and then follow him to the back of the bus and get off rather then me having to be the one to push through everyone. He was a large man, probably about 230 lbs and took up a lot of room. So I leaned as far as I could over the lady sitting down next to me in order to give the man more space since the bus incredibly packed. He struggled through all of the people right in front me and it took him between 5 to 8 seconds to pass me. After passing I was relieved because now I had room to stand up straight rather than lean over the elderly lady sitting down next to me. I could now check to see where exactly I was and how soon I needed to get off the bus.

Here comes the climax of the story.... It was about this time, probably no more than 15 seconds after the man had passed that I realized that my right pocket felt more empty than normal and sure enough empty it was. I checked my right pocked to make sure that I hadn’t put my phone and my wallet in the same pocket, I hadn’t. I had my wallet but not my phone. I instantly knew who it was but nun the less I turned to the guy next to me and said ¨¨tienes mi telefono¨ (for you non Spanish speakers) ¨do you have my phone¨ and he said no. Then I said ¨donde esta el hombre grande¨ (where is the big man) The guy responded really fast and I didn’t understand so I asked him if the big man was close, which obviously he must have been and the man said that he was ¨cerca¨ so everyone moved out of my way and (stupidly) I hopped off the bus to look for this large man. (this really was probably not the best decision considering he had 100 lbs on me and it is Paraguay) so I ran to where the bus stopped last but the man wasn’t gone, which in retrospect was probably good.

After realizing my phone was lost I looked around and realized that I was almost exactly where I wanted to be so I walked a minute or so to where Ruth was waiting and told her what happened. This is the first time I have ever really had anything stolen from me and it kind of hurts my pride that it was taken out of my front pocket, but its an experience. I’m also thankful that he took my phone rather than my wallet, which was in my other pocket, which would have been more difficult to steal. I also had mp3 player and camera on me, so out of everything I had the phone was the cheapest.

Since then I have purchased a new phone but am still working on getting the chip for it, which has been a complicated process. Explaining what happened to everyone in Spanish has been a little difficult, but I have learned several new words out of the experience. My family and friends have been understanding since this happens fairly frequently, it wasn’t nearly as big of a deal as it would have been in the States. My sister had her phone stolen a month before I got here and Ruth was alerted about a man with his hand in her purse.

All in all this process has been a little stressful and embarrassing, but it’s an experience and that’s one of the reasons why I’m here. I didn’t get hurt either which is good since I have heard several stories about people getting harmed over something as little as a phone.

On a positive note, this coming Sunday night my team and I will be leaving for Argentina to renew our Visa’s. We are also going to Iquazu falls and I am very stoked to get out of Asuncion. We will return Wednesday afternoon, hopefully with many beautiful pictures.

Family and friends, I hope you are doing well and that you have a merry Christmas with your loved ones. Thank you for your continued support and prayers, I can really feel them affecting my life.

A Forgotten Blog

After reading my team members blogs I realize that maybe they did take me seriously when I said "I call blogging about this" since I dont think anyone else did. November 17th, yes almost a month ago, so the details may be a little shaky, my team here had our first "real" outing that wasn't just our normal lunch together every two weeks.

Around 17:45 we all met in front of the local supermarcado, ready and excited for the Hillsong United concert as well as for speaking english with each other. We hopped on a crowded linea 55 bus along with some local German volunteers that Naomi knows. While on the bus we also met a few more intersting people, one in particular was a boy about my age that was an aspiring song writer that was able to communicate in english. He asked a lot of questions about the U.S. and talked about how he would absolutely love to go there some day. He was also very concerned about my relationship with Christ in a very genuine way. I've thought about him several times since we talked so his enthusiasm with his faith must have left an impact on me.

After the relatively short bus ride and walk we arrived at the mega church where the concert was being held. The church was very large with two balconies, but was nothing in comparison to Willow Creek in Chicago. It was almost 7:00 so we grabbed a quick bite to eat and found our section in the top balcony. A few minutes before the opening band started an anouncement was made that everyone in the top balcony had the opportunity to move to the floor level but had to stand all the way in the back. As a team we were fairly tired and liked the idea of being able to sit, but eventually concluded that hey we payed six dollars for these tickets (that were origianlly 10 but they lowered the price because no one was buying them) so we might as well get our moneys worth and suck up the fatigue (talk about true Mennonites).

We migrated to the back of the bottom floor where there was ample space for us to talk and catch up with each other as the opening band was playing. It was about this time that a young man came up to us and in english, but with an australian accent said "just you five?" a little shocked that english was being spoken to us Daniel replied "yes" The other man responded "oh good you speak you english... ok we'll I think we are going to move you guys to the front, just be quiet and follow me". We all looked at each other, smiled and followed him to a taped off section front and center of the band, the best seats in the house.

A little before 8:00 Hillsong finally came on stage to begin their performance. After the long wait the excitment of the crowds anticipation broke loose in applause and screaming. For the next two hours Hillsong played most of their songs in spanish but also had several in english. I appreciated having the words in spanish projected on the wall as well as the english translation, that way I could understand what they were singing about as well as try my best to sing/scream along with the people around me in spanish. I also enjoyed the english songs because just like I probably sounded funny to the people in my proximity, it was enjoyable to hear people trying so hard to sing along in english with strong spanish accents. Language difference or not we were all there to worship together and praise the lord and that was powerfull.

Exhausted, at about 10:30 we finally left the church and each went our own way to try to find a way home since the buses were no longer running by the church. Rose and I ended up walking a good half hour and then taking a bus with a few other people from our church. I finally fell into bed a little after midnight and fell asleep still fully dressed in clothes still a little damp from all of the jumping and screaming at the concernt.

Even though Hillsong isn't exactly my favorite christian band and I didn't always understand the words that were being said, I could understand the expressions and tears that I saw in the peoples eyes around me during the concert. It's beautiful to be able to look into somebody's eyes and see how much they love God. Worshipping together, as a body of Christ, has so much power. Language limitations or not Gods love transcends all the barriers of this world.

Castrating Bulls

Monday I had the opportunity to go to Erpar, one of MEDA’s projects in San Pedro, with one of my co-workers. Erpar is a large area of land where sugar cane and mandioca is grown that will later be turned into starch and ethanol. They also have a young stock of cattle. It was a two and a half hour drive and we left a little after five in the morning. I was pretty nervous for what we were going to be doing, but looking forward to it.

Shortly after arriving at Erpar we started with the castrating. We had about fifteen bulls that needed to have their ability to reproduce taken away from them. Using lariats me and two of the workers lassoed the bulls at their heads and feet and then held them down while my co-worker used his knife to castrate the bulls.

At times I was pretty scared because the bulls didn’t really appreciate what we were doing and often kicked angrily, sometimes getting a little close for my comfort. By the time all of the toro’s were finished my hands were pretty raw from the rope sliding through my hands quickly and had quite a few splinters. Overall, it was a very fun and experience filled day, especially because I had never worked with animals in such a personal way.

After lunch, to end a good day at Erpar, I was able to go on a horseback ride. I was given the property boundaries and set free to ride where I wanted. It was very nice to have some time to explore and admire the beauty of the Paraguay countryside. The land was green as far as I could see and there were tall billowing clouds above. It was also interesting to watch all of the workers cut down the sugarcane with their machetes and load the stalks into ox drawn carts.

It took a little longer to get home because during one of the frequent stops by the police they asked to see my identification. The police man gave us a bit of a hard time since I wasn’t carrying my original passport with me, only a bank stamped copy, but eventually he let us pass. When I finally walked into my house at nine o’clock that night I was very exhausted but happy that I got to spend a little time out of the office and get my hands a little dirty.