Wow! Christmas in Mexico is quite a beautiful experience. After all the hustle and bustle in the days preceding, everyone gathered in the chapel on Christmas Eve. A quiet, candle light service was held, while boys concealed their excitement. In our humble, yet beautiful chapel in Mexico, one couldn’t help but feel like they were taken back 2,000 years to the cave, the stable, and the manger scene.
For me, this season has been quite an experience for me. It’s wonderful to see this celebration of Christ’s birth cherished by people of other countries. To hear, read, and even see pictures of it is one thing. But to experience a culture holding onto this holy celebration, is far better. As I listen to hymns that I know in English, being sung in Spanish, I could not help but smile.
Christmas morning, we woke up, and celebrated the Christmas liturgy. The boys all dressed up, were a very handsome bunch. After the morning service, we headed over to la cocina (the kitchen) for the Christmas feast! And what a feast it was! Tomales, piled high, meat, rice, and of course beans as always. It was a fantastic Mexican smorgasbord!
Following the meal, we all sat, patting our full stomachs, as Luis Sanchez (our Mexican orphanage director) handed out gifts to all the boys. Each boy had their picture taken with their respective gift. Afterwards they would go back to their seat and sit with their present on their lap. Finally, when all the boys had received their regalos (gifts), Luis counted down quickly, UNO, DOS, TRES!!!
In one unforgettable moment, I was able to witness an explosion of boys, presents, paper and excitement. Paper was literally flying around the room, as the boys masked exhilaration was let loose. A pogo stick, a Chargers jersey, night vision goggles, and game boys! The highlight for many, were the new nerf guns they boys received. Personally, I wonder why I didn’t get one. I find myself a rather vulnerable, defenseless intern who has quickly turned into a favorite target. Ah, well, I’ll have to put that on my list for next year.
In the end, many would agree that Navidad in Mexico was a wonderful experience for all involved. Thank you to everyone who has donated to Project Mexico, and especially to those who sent Christmas gifts. I can personally testify that the boys loved them, and are very grateful for your generosity!
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On a more personal note, I ended up staying at the ranch until early afternoon. However, at that time, the boys took off to play with their new toys. Suddenly with free time on my hands, I decided to go up and spend the evening with Papa, Grammy and some of my extended family in San Diego. Since I hadn’t been planning on going up, I decided to not call ahead and come as a surprise. It turned out to be just that, as everyone was very surprised when I pulled up. Looking back now, I feel very blessed. I was able to experience the full Navidad celebration in Mexico, a surprise for my grandparents in the States, Christmas in two countries on the same day, oh and I have to add… a CHARGERS WIN!
Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas! Dios Benditio! God Bless!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Everything seems to be set, and the countdown is almost complete. Navidad is only three days away and everyone is very excited. The presents are laid underneath the tree, and tomorrow we'll be making tamales together! As I'm sure you all are experiencing at home, it is exciting as every day brings greater anticipation of the best day of the year! It's been really neat getting to see and hear people getting ready for Christmas in the community. As everyone does, you love hearing Christmas music playing on the speakers at small local store, and greeting people with a smile and "Feliz Navidad!" Ironically, the one Christmas song I know in Spanish, is “Feliz Navidad”. However, when I played it about a month ago as a joke, the boys loved the fact that I knew another song in Spanish. I've played that song many, many times since then. You would think they get tired of it, but whenever they see me with my guitar, at least one or two of the boys, will run up asking "Feliz Navidad???"
I hope you all are enjoying this time of year, and not being too stressed with the worries of season. Remember again what we're celebrating, and that presents are meaningless if they take precedence over family, friends, and above all, Christ.
I hope you all are enjoying this time of year, and not being too stressed with the worries of season. Remember again what we're celebrating, and that presents are meaningless if they take precedence over family, friends, and above all, Christ.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
learning to live in mexico
Recently, things have really improved in my "living" in mexico. I'm house sitting for a family in the church, so today, I drove over and fed dog, and did a couple other things there. Afterwards, I went down into Rosarito and got a haircut. What Joel? That's not worth mentioning, isn't that normal life? - EXACTLY! Finally, I'm starting to live just a normal life here. The Spanish is not perfect by any means, but I'm communicating. I know the area pretty well now too and don't have much of a problem navigating through Tijuana or Rosarito. It's really a blessing and an exciting step. Not huge, but I notice the difference.
You have to love Mexican weather. It's sunny, 75 and warm. Love it!
You have to love Mexican weather. It's sunny, 75 and warm. Love it!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The life that could have been
Recently, I’ve been kept really busy, making donation runs and phone calls for Project Mexico. It keeps me moving, and wears me out, but I have to step back and realize that I’m doing this for the boys. With that in mind, everything’s a breeze.
Today, I had the pleasure of having one of the older boys, Ricardo, along to help me with donation runs. When you have two or more people in a car, you get pulled over less for a search at the border. Ricardo therefore came along to be that extra there is less of a chance for you to get pulled over to be searched coming into Mexico. In the three and a half months I’ve been here, I don’t think I’ve had a day more focused on Spanish. Being with Ricardo, we talked a lot in Spanish. He and I are pretty similar in how well we speak the other’s language. I would give him a slight edge. There are some words and phrases that he knows in English, which I don’t know in Spanish. We’re able to help each other out. However, I feel I am definitely getting the better end of the deal. Whatever the case spending time with him was very neat. Ricardo is my age, so getting to hear about his life offers insight into what one might expect in Mexico. At lunch we both went out to Panda Express and had lunch together. (I elaborate a little more about this below, but being able to eat lunch with someone from another country, as a friend and brother just feels right. The time spent with him, I felt it was the way the world is supposed to be, two guys from different countries working together like, they had known each other since day one.) At one point I commented to him as we were heading towards the border. I said it was interesting that we were driving from the country of my birth, my home country, and we could see ahead the country of his birth, and his home. We come from different backgrounds, different countries, but we were both in the same car doing the same thing, listening to the same Spanish song on the radio.
Every time I am in one country, looking over to the other, I am reminded how lucky I am to be an American. There are so many thing I take for granted that are not readily available in Mexico. Reading recently, I was able to have some things put in perspective for me.
My mother recently sent me an email with a link to the LA Times. The website had an interactive page focused on Mexico. A large portion of the site, is centered around Tijuana and traveling in Mexico. As many of you have heard, Tijuana has had many shootings and deaths related to gang-related activity. Something one reported said that I had felt but couldn’t say. Tijuana seems normal. When you drive in, you’re driving on paved roads and people act like normal Mexican citizens. As an American, you would think that other than some slight cultural things, everything was pretty normal. However, as you venture farther in, you begin to see the poverty, and the other face of Mexico, and Tijuana. When you search, you see under it all there’s a fear that I’ve noticed among the citizens. People act like a conquered people, from a conquered country. Now this has to do a bit with the history of Mexico. Taking a look back in history you can see that Mexico has been on the loosing side of many wars and this has subconsciously been passed on to generations. However, in Tijuana, I can sometimes see a hint of fear behind a person’s eyes due to the current reign of another power.
Sitting in the border line, I thought how my life would be different if I lived in downtown Tijuana. To be honest, a lot would be different. Most significantly, there would be a good chance, I would be involved in a gang. Through my being in a gang, my family is brought under protection from some, and fire from others. A number of people have asked if it’s scary crossing the border. For me, I really don’t have any worries because I have nothing to hide. However, a big business in border towns like Tijuana is smuggling drugs across. If I lived a different life, I could be sitting in that same line, knowing that I had something to hide. A very expensive setif I was caught a large portion of my life could be spent in a prison. If I did not take the drugs, my life as well as my family could be in imminent danger. If I were a successful smuggler, I might have a great car, but I’d live my life with a heavy conscience hanging over my head. This is the life of many young men my age. From the outside it might seem like a black and white decision. But I’m beginning to learn, here, there are a lot of times in life where one has to make a decision between the lesser of multiple evils.
Thinking about this, I cannot help but be grateful for all the blessings in my life. I also have to thank the Lord that I don’t have to make such difficult decisions. Lord have mercy, on the men in this world, unwilling caught in the web of gang society.
That said, I wanted to share what a transformation my life has become over the last three months, yes, but the last month especially. I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’m communicating well with the boys. The first few months I often would want to go to the States and speak English, and grab a Starbucks. Now, for the first time, I’m really appreciating my time here. Every moment spent in Mexico, meeting new people, doing new things I realize I only have this time guaranteed. I’m only guaranteed the breath I’m taking, make sure that every moment is spent well.
Traffic has been a recent trend with Christmas around the corner, both in San Diego and Tijuana. A couple times today I couldn’t take the turns I normally take in Tijuana, and I had to find my way through parts of Tijuana. For those who have read my blog from the beginning, you may recall my “terrifying” experiences driving through Tijuana on my own. Not knowing where I was going, and praying I didn’t up in the wrong hands. Now, three months later, I couldn’t feel more comfortable. Driving in Mexico is a real adventure, and now I am able to easily read signs and figure out where I’m going. Mexico is becoming my home away from home. I shared my thoughts about the hints of fear behind people’s eyes, but in almost all cases if you greet someone with a smile, one is sent back your way.
Heading back into a more disappointing topic, something that I’ve noticed recently, is the racial preferences of the culture. There is a form of racism here, now we’re not talking about Ku Klux Klan, but a different type. If you turn on Mexican television you’ll notice that almost all the people are white. Looking around at the bulletin boards in Tijuana you’ll notice the people are white, or very, very light.
This honestly strikes me as rather ridiculous. Growing up in multi-race, multi-cultural California - from day one I never gave a thought to discriminating because of race. I can say with pride that a few of my second cousins are African American. I grew up hanging with my cousin Christian, Kayla and Alexandra. They’re my cousins, but they’re my brothers and sister as well. “What do you mean their skin color is different? That doesn’t mean a thing.”
With that in mind, when I see this discrimination against people with darker skin down here, it is really disappointing for me. Honestly, I find it somewhat ironic. Only a few decades back having darker skin or a different background, unjustly, was grounds for discrimination in the states. However, now all you have to is look at a magazine to notice that having darker skin is a major plus, to the point that having white skin, is not preferred. Life as a child was often painted in a rosy image. Growing up, you realize that the world is not as perfect as it once looked. Sadly, I feel like I’m waking up to another disappointing aspect of life here, one that simply seems pretty ridiculous to me.
Thank you for your prayers! If you get the chance and are able to donate to Project Mexico, please do! We are in a real pinch financially with the economy the way it is.
Project Mexico
P.O. Box 120028
Chula Vista, CA 91912
God Bless!
Joel
Today, I had the pleasure of having one of the older boys, Ricardo, along to help me with donation runs. When you have two or more people in a car, you get pulled over less for a search at the border. Ricardo therefore came along to be that extra there is less of a chance for you to get pulled over to be searched coming into Mexico. In the three and a half months I’ve been here, I don’t think I’ve had a day more focused on Spanish. Being with Ricardo, we talked a lot in Spanish. He and I are pretty similar in how well we speak the other’s language. I would give him a slight edge. There are some words and phrases that he knows in English, which I don’t know in Spanish. We’re able to help each other out. However, I feel I am definitely getting the better end of the deal. Whatever the case spending time with him was very neat. Ricardo is my age, so getting to hear about his life offers insight into what one might expect in Mexico. At lunch we both went out to Panda Express and had lunch together. (I elaborate a little more about this below, but being able to eat lunch with someone from another country, as a friend and brother just feels right. The time spent with him, I felt it was the way the world is supposed to be, two guys from different countries working together like, they had known each other since day one.) At one point I commented to him as we were heading towards the border. I said it was interesting that we were driving from the country of my birth, my home country, and we could see ahead the country of his birth, and his home. We come from different backgrounds, different countries, but we were both in the same car doing the same thing, listening to the same Spanish song on the radio.
Every time I am in one country, looking over to the other, I am reminded how lucky I am to be an American. There are so many thing I take for granted that are not readily available in Mexico. Reading recently, I was able to have some things put in perspective for me.
My mother recently sent me an email with a link to the LA Times. The website had an interactive page focused on Mexico. A large portion of the site, is centered around Tijuana and traveling in Mexico. As many of you have heard, Tijuana has had many shootings and deaths related to gang-related activity. Something one reported said that I had felt but couldn’t say. Tijuana seems normal. When you drive in, you’re driving on paved roads and people act like normal Mexican citizens. As an American, you would think that other than some slight cultural things, everything was pretty normal. However, as you venture farther in, you begin to see the poverty, and the other face of Mexico, and Tijuana. When you search, you see under it all there’s a fear that I’ve noticed among the citizens. People act like a conquered people, from a conquered country. Now this has to do a bit with the history of Mexico. Taking a look back in history you can see that Mexico has been on the loosing side of many wars and this has subconsciously been passed on to generations. However, in Tijuana, I can sometimes see a hint of fear behind a person’s eyes due to the current reign of another power.
Sitting in the border line, I thought how my life would be different if I lived in downtown Tijuana. To be honest, a lot would be different. Most significantly, there would be a good chance, I would be involved in a gang. Through my being in a gang, my family is brought under protection from some, and fire from others. A number of people have asked if it’s scary crossing the border. For me, I really don’t have any worries because I have nothing to hide. However, a big business in border towns like Tijuana is smuggling drugs across. If I lived a different life, I could be sitting in that same line, knowing that I had something to hide. A very expensive setif I was caught a large portion of my life could be spent in a prison. If I did not take the drugs, my life as well as my family could be in imminent danger. If I were a successful smuggler, I might have a great car, but I’d live my life with a heavy conscience hanging over my head. This is the life of many young men my age. From the outside it might seem like a black and white decision. But I’m beginning to learn, here, there are a lot of times in life where one has to make a decision between the lesser of multiple evils.
Thinking about this, I cannot help but be grateful for all the blessings in my life. I also have to thank the Lord that I don’t have to make such difficult decisions. Lord have mercy, on the men in this world, unwilling caught in the web of gang society.
That said, I wanted to share what a transformation my life has become over the last three months, yes, but the last month especially. I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’m communicating well with the boys. The first few months I often would want to go to the States and speak English, and grab a Starbucks. Now, for the first time, I’m really appreciating my time here. Every moment spent in Mexico, meeting new people, doing new things I realize I only have this time guaranteed. I’m only guaranteed the breath I’m taking, make sure that every moment is spent well.
Traffic has been a recent trend with Christmas around the corner, both in San Diego and Tijuana. A couple times today I couldn’t take the turns I normally take in Tijuana, and I had to find my way through parts of Tijuana. For those who have read my blog from the beginning, you may recall my “terrifying” experiences driving through Tijuana on my own. Not knowing where I was going, and praying I didn’t up in the wrong hands. Now, three months later, I couldn’t feel more comfortable. Driving in Mexico is a real adventure, and now I am able to easily read signs and figure out where I’m going. Mexico is becoming my home away from home. I shared my thoughts about the hints of fear behind people’s eyes, but in almost all cases if you greet someone with a smile, one is sent back your way.
Heading back into a more disappointing topic, something that I’ve noticed recently, is the racial preferences of the culture. There is a form of racism here, now we’re not talking about Ku Klux Klan, but a different type. If you turn on Mexican television you’ll notice that almost all the people are white. Looking around at the bulletin boards in Tijuana you’ll notice the people are white, or very, very light.
This honestly strikes me as rather ridiculous. Growing up in multi-race, multi-cultural California - from day one I never gave a thought to discriminating because of race. I can say with pride that a few of my second cousins are African American. I grew up hanging with my cousin Christian, Kayla and Alexandra. They’re my cousins, but they’re my brothers and sister as well. “What do you mean their skin color is different? That doesn’t mean a thing.”
With that in mind, when I see this discrimination against people with darker skin down here, it is really disappointing for me. Honestly, I find it somewhat ironic. Only a few decades back having darker skin or a different background, unjustly, was grounds for discrimination in the states. However, now all you have to is look at a magazine to notice that having darker skin is a major plus, to the point that having white skin, is not preferred. Life as a child was often painted in a rosy image. Growing up, you realize that the world is not as perfect as it once looked. Sadly, I feel like I’m waking up to another disappointing aspect of life here, one that simply seems pretty ridiculous to me.
Thank you for your prayers! If you get the chance and are able to donate to Project Mexico, please do! We are in a real pinch financially with the economy the way it is.
Project Mexico
P.O. Box 120028
Chula Vista, CA 91912
God Bless!
Joel
Thursday, December 10, 2009
All the help we can get!
Hi All,
I'm in at the office today and I'm working on making phone calls for our end of the year push. We have donors that together will match all our donations before the end of the year up to $45,000! What a blessing! But we need all the help we can get. If you think you may be able to help in any way $5, $10, $20 dollars is a great help! Yesterday, today and tomorrow,l I am going to be working on making phone calls for our iCanGive20.4.24 campaign. We're trying to find people who can donate $20 a month for 24 months. If you think you can join the campaign and help keep teenage orphan boys off the streets of Tijuana, you can go to www.projectmexico.org and sign up for the campaign. If you just want to donate once you can do that there as well. Or if it's easier, you can give the Project Mexico office a call it's 619-426-4610. God bless you all! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season!
Please keep the Project Mexico and St. Innocent's in your prayers,
Joel
I'm in at the office today and I'm working on making phone calls for our end of the year push. We have donors that together will match all our donations before the end of the year up to $45,000! What a blessing! But we need all the help we can get. If you think you may be able to help in any way $5, $10, $20 dollars is a great help! Yesterday, today and tomorrow,l I am going to be working on making phone calls for our iCanGive20.4.24 campaign. We're trying to find people who can donate $20 a month for 24 months. If you think you can join the campaign and help keep teenage orphan boys off the streets of Tijuana, you can go to www.projectmexico.org and sign up for the campaign. If you just want to donate once you can do that there as well. Or if it's easier, you can give the Project Mexico office a call it's 619-426-4610. God bless you all! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season!
Please keep the Project Mexico and St. Innocent's in your prayers,
Joel
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
And I thought I could handle the cold
I wrote this yesterday, when the internet was out, and before the power decided to follow in suit. Today, all I have to add is how grateful I was to have a roof over my head last night. No even a mile away there were families try to sleep in boxes, and I was complaining about the cold...
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Monday
Two Saturdays ago, I got my first test of life in Mexico with rain. Honestly, it’s quite a mess, the world of dust from the summer turns into a mess of mud. As my shoes doubled their weight as I sunk into the mud, walking around the grounds.
Yet this time I feel as if I were ready to take on a hurricane. We’ve had solid rain since the morning and it has been extremely windy. Father Michael brought me along as he drove the Nasser kids to school. When it was initially suggested that driving in the mud was very different from driving in the snow, I scoffed at the idea. However, after watching just one drive to school and back, I take that all back. Essentially, it’s like driving on constant ice, instead of little patches. In mud your car is continually slipping. When you can slow down and stop on ice, the mud instead keeps sliding with gravity. While you may be content to try to admit temporary defeat, stop, and start again, the mud vetoes that idea. Fishtailing in the ice is a breeze, when you could say that fishtailing is basically a fancy way of saying driving in the mud. Also you’ve got mud being splashed up on the windshield, making the windshield wiper fluid even more important. All this to say, I can’t wait!
The internet has been down since the morning, and the power has been recently flickering in and out. It’s neat. Feels like you’re snowed in, except maybe with out the aesthetic appeal. The boys are all hanging out in the library, school’s canceled and you could mistake it for a holiday. When I woke up this morning and went out, they were all thrilled to share that they were free of the tyranny of education, for one day at least. As I hear the torrent, pelting down as we speak, I can’t help but think that tomorrow could be a bit of déjà vu.
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Monday
Two Saturdays ago, I got my first test of life in Mexico with rain. Honestly, it’s quite a mess, the world of dust from the summer turns into a mess of mud. As my shoes doubled their weight as I sunk into the mud, walking around the grounds.
Yet this time I feel as if I were ready to take on a hurricane. We’ve had solid rain since the morning and it has been extremely windy. Father Michael brought me along as he drove the Nasser kids to school. When it was initially suggested that driving in the mud was very different from driving in the snow, I scoffed at the idea. However, after watching just one drive to school and back, I take that all back. Essentially, it’s like driving on constant ice, instead of little patches. In mud your car is continually slipping. When you can slow down and stop on ice, the mud instead keeps sliding with gravity. While you may be content to try to admit temporary defeat, stop, and start again, the mud vetoes that idea. Fishtailing in the ice is a breeze, when you could say that fishtailing is basically a fancy way of saying driving in the mud. Also you’ve got mud being splashed up on the windshield, making the windshield wiper fluid even more important. All this to say, I can’t wait!
The internet has been down since the morning, and the power has been recently flickering in and out. It’s neat. Feels like you’re snowed in, except maybe with out the aesthetic appeal. The boys are all hanging out in the library, school’s canceled and you could mistake it for a holiday. When I woke up this morning and went out, they were all thrilled to share that they were free of the tyranny of education, for one day at least. As I hear the torrent, pelting down as we speak, I can’t help but think that tomorrow could be a bit of déjà vu.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
San Nicholas!
Tonight after Vespers, Fr. Michael spoke to the boys about St. Nicholas. Among other things, Fr. Michael focused on pointing out that St. Nicholas did good deeds while people were not looking. He encouraged the boys to remember that. While it is wonderful to do good things any time, it is particularly blessed to do so “en secreto”.
As we all exited the chapel, everyone’s shoes that had been laid outside for San Nicholas, were filled with Christmas candy. I guess St. Nicholas has not given up spreading blessings in secret. :-)
As we all exited the chapel, everyone’s shoes that had been laid outside for San Nicholas, were filled with Christmas candy. I guess St. Nicholas has not given up spreading blessings in secret. :-)
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Thought I'd share...
Below, I have my application essay for Biola University. Since it touches upon my time here in Mexico and some of the reasons why I came down here in the first place - I thought I'd pass it along for anyone interested.
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ESSAY QUESTION – (working on the essay – planning on sharing how my whole college decisions over the last two-three years, has been a real test of faith but also one of spiritual growth.)At Biola University, our common foundation is our faith in Christ and becoming transformed into His likeness. In light of this fact, please describe: a) the circumstances surrounding your decision to become a follower of Jesus Christ, using various Bible passages as the framework for your salvation and eternal life in Christ, and b) using specific examples, describe your process of spiritual growth over the past three years. (Limit 5,000 words)
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In the first chapter of Philippians, the Apostle Paul and his apprentice Timothy are writing to the church in Philippi, encouraging the saints to be “confident,” reminding them that the Lord, “who began the good work within you, will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:6). Truly, this is an assurance given to all who have been called to faith in Christ, and it has unequivocally been a guiding promise throughout my life, causing me to consistently look for God's hand constantly leading me, recognizing He is using everything He allows into my life to mold me, by His grace, truly transforming me by His grace into His likeness. Looking back, I honestly cannot remember a time when I did not consider my primary identity being a follower of Christ, challenged to look at each choice which crossed my path with the question, "Will this draw me closer to my Lord, or be a distraction from what He is doing in my life?" Indeed, from day one, I have been trained to look at everything in life considering two primary objectives – loving God and loving people. Although this may sound like hyperbole, let me share that quite literally my father began asking me at a very young age, “Joel, what is important in life?” or “Son, what does God ask of us?” or very straight-forward, “Joel, what is the greatest commandment?” Through hearing Scripture read and explained to me from infancy, I learned to answer with conviction, “To love God with all my heart, my soul and strength, and to love my neighbor as myself.” By God's grace, this has been the guiding aim of my life, and I pray by His grace, will continue to help me make wise choices as to how I serve God for the rest of my days.
To say I can not remember a time when I did not know my identity was in Christ is not an exaggeration. Seeing the Lord’s hand in my very naming, my parents taught me early on that “Joel” literally translates “Jehovah is God,” and instilled in me that my life purpose was to witness to the fact there is a God, and that Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament and New, is the one, true God, who sent His son Jesus to reconcile man back to God. Unquestionably, I am blessed to be born to parents who are themselves wholly devoted to the Lord. Although our home and family are far from perfect, I have nonetheless never questioned my parents’ commitment to serve God and strive to do their best to disciple their children towards having Christ-centered lives. Indeed, my first heroes were the forerunners of the faith – warriors like Joshua and Gideon who bravely faced giants, repentant sinners like David, faithful followers like Abraham and Moses, men who faced seemingly hopeless earthy challenges yet remained true like Joseph and Esther – these were my role models whose stories I heard repeatedly, imprinting their faith upon my heart.
Compelled to continue in their God given role as our primary discipliers, my parents made the radical decision to home school their children, recognizing it would be a major factor in our family’s life forever. While my parents did not face the obstacles the first homeschoolers did, they certainly faced opposition from both sides of the family. All of my grandparents place great significance on education, and wanted to be assured that their grandchildren were receiving the best possible instruction. Certainly, my parents also placed a tremendous importance upon a strong liberal arts education, and felt by God’s grace, they could accomplish this at home, while continuing to foster our understanding that everything in life is part of the education God has for us. Numerous times I heard the refrain, “School is life and life is school,” challenging me to seek the lesson God had for me in every aspect of my life.
C.S. Lewis noted, “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.” Purposefully, my parents steeped our broad education with a wide-variety of activities, intended to deepen our understanding and experience of the world, always tying everything back our Creator. Whether up-to-my- knees studying echinoderms in tide pools, or panning for gold while experiencing life first-hand as a miner when retracing California history, my parents encouraged us to embrace education, truly birthing a life-long love of learning within me. Choosing from the plethora of activities available to us, my parents carefully sought the right way to spend our time, allowing us the opportunity to learn from others.
Being exposed to music early in my life was a gift from God. Although watching my father play the guitar and my parents sing while leading worship is definitely one of my earliest memories, it is the music within our home I remember most. Whether marching through our house as a little boy, praising God with all my heart singing, “Hail Jesus, You’re My King!” or on my dad’s shoulder marching up State Street in Santa Barbara during the “March for Jesus,” worshipping God together through music, has always been part of my life. Beginning music training outside of home at an early age, I first learned to sing in a choir and play the recorder, and eventually included piano and guitar. Also being exposed to classical music, in concert as well as at home, certainly had a significant effect on my musical training and development. Seeing the fruit of all of this in my life now, whether leading campfire songs at summer camp, singing in a choir or spending time alone with God with my guitar or at the piano, I am so grateful to my parents for bringing God’s gift of music into my life.
Ultimately, I know God has used every element of my education to mold me into the man He intended me to be. Participating in Biola’s Torrey Academy through online classes in the eleventh and twelfth grade definitely helped me hone my critical thinking skills, as well as improve my writing ability. (In fact, I would have been enrolled in all three years, as my younger sister was fortunate to experience; however, we did not have consistent high-speed internet access necessary for the online classes, so I had to wait until the eleventh grade.) Studying Lewis, Tolkien, Chesterton, Sayers and others in Inklings was inspiring, as they put into words so much of what my education up until that point had been guiding me. Later, wrestling with philosophers like Locke and Hobbes in Foundations of American Thought was unquestionably stretching, nevertheless provided tremendous insight into understanding our country’s Founding Fathers and from whence their convictions came.
Observing history as a well-woven tale, I have always been encouraged to see God’s masterful hand guiding the warp and weave through time. Creating a National History Day (NHD) project in 2004 and again in 2008 certainly deepened my love of history. Working first-hand with primary source material, researching and writing a NHD dramatic performance, offered me the opportunity to get to know intimately some amazing men from our country’s history. In 2004, my sister and I developed a dramatic performance based upon the Lewis and Clark Expedition, where she portrayed Sacagawea and I played Captain William Clark. Learning from both Captains’ journals, I grew to admire Capt. Clark as a man of faith, who clearly understood the hand of Providence leading them. Incredibly, even though we were novices at NHD, we won 1st for the State of Idaho and went on to represent Idaho at the National competition, where we made it to finals in Washington, D.C., a better outcome than we could have dreamed of experiencing! In 2008, my sister and I teamed up with our younger brother and presented a dramatic performance on John Adams and his defense of the British soldiers who fired upon Colonials in the Boston Massacre. This project really challenged me to not allow my prejudices to sway my conclusion. Although I entered our research believing one way (that the British soldiers had been unjustified), I came out on the other side changed. Again, encountering men of principle like Adams, by pouring over his own words in-depth, encouraged me in my relationship with God. Adams, like Capt. Clark, was unequivocally a man of faith, who stood firmly for the inalienable rights of man because they were endowed by their Creator. Awarded once again for our diligence, we won first in the state, and received a special Governor’s Award for the best project overall, then made it to finals again at Nationals, and placed within the top seven in the nation.
All my life I have heard the story of when my parents brought me home from the hospital, my little crib was waiting filled with every type of “ball” or sports equipment you can imagine – football, basketball, baseball and bat, etc. all furnished by my grandfather, after whom I am named. From the beginning, athletics have played an important role in my life, and the Lord has used both team and individual sports to teach me countless lessons over the years, including teamwork, patience, the importance of practice, how to win with grace and likewise how to lose with peace, and most of all, to never, ever give up. As an athlete, it always excites me when reading scripture I come upon the sporting analogies used by St. Paul. In one of my favorites, St. Paul compares our spiritual life to a race, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb 12:1). Consistently, this verse comes back to me, when I am facing something requiring physical endurance especially, but also in other areas of my life in general. Just like a runner can not give up on a race, no matter how grave the obstacles or how rough the terrain, neither can we stop striving for the goal in our journey towards Christ.
In addition, through dealing with the highs and lows of competitive sports, I have learned the hard lesson of thanking God for both the wins as well as the losses, both real and metaphorical, cementing in the scripture upon my heart, “For we know that God works ALL things together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28, emphasis mine). Although I experienced plenty of real losses in soccer, basketball and baseball, this lesson vividly hit home my first year playing soccer in high school. Trying out for soccer my freshman year was challenging, not because I couldn't hold my own on the soccer field, but because I was totally unknown. Enrolled in a charter academy (through which I was homeschooled), I was allowed to tryout at my school of residence, which was great as it was the best high school soccer team in North Idaho. However, since my family couldn't afford club soccer and I wasn't enrolled at the high school, I was just this tall guy out on the field whom no one knew. It was tough. Predictably, the trials did not end once I made the team. I do not want to exaggerate the circumstances, but ... suffice it to say everyone took it upon themselves to try and "school" the "innocent homeschool boy" in "the ways of the world." I almost quit. I wanted to quit. However, something inside told me to hang-on. Amazingly, four years later, after playing together through our high school careers, they voted me "MVP." Hearing my name called, realizing these guys had grown to not only tolerate me, but love and respect me, definitely proved sticking with it, despite my earlier failure, was the right decision.
As the oldest of six siblings, service has naturally been part of my life. Being a “big brother” to my two younger sisters and three younger brothers has greatly influenced who I am today. Although I have not always embraced the demands of my large family, I thank God for the way it has taught me to love others. Einstein postulated, “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” In my limited experience, I have realized this maxim is true. Thankfully, my parents instilled a love of service in my heart from an early age, not just by giving me a baby sister when I was only fourteen months old and four others who followed later, but by taking my siblings and me outside our home to serve. Whether bringing food to a family in need, providing blankets to the homeless, or serving Thanksgiving dinner to the lonely, my parents continuously challenged us to think beyond ourselves. One distinct memory is my parents helping us cull our vast toy collection, slimming it way down, and taking our toys down into Mexico where we found children outside of Tijuana who happily embraced our gifts. Surely this birthed a desire in me to not be content with a life that revolved around me. I have found some of my greatest experiences occur when I step outside myself and have the opportunity to serve others. One of the best things about becoming an older teen and young adult is the numerous opportunities this has afforded me to serve in ways I could not when younger – as a coach for Special Olympics, a camp counselor for the last five years, sports coach to younger kids, etc. Assuredly this focus on service has had a considerable impact upon my decision on what profession or occupation to pursue, allowing the Lord the opportunity to illumine new paths for life-long service.
Developing leadership skills has been another benefit of being the eldest in a large family. I am grateful for the opportunity to cultivate leadership ability outside my home too, through the various activities in which I have been involved. Enrolling me in 4-H when I was younger, my parents hoped to expose me to a variety of topics, which certainly was fulfilled in the over twenty projects in which I participated in from age nine to eighteen. Nonetheless, I would say one of the greatest gifts 4-H gave me was the opportunity to run for and hold leadership positions, and receive training as an officer. Learning Robert’s Rules of Order is not incredibly entertaining, yet has enabled me to lead with aptitude in a variety of environments since then. Once again, God has used the lessons from one area of my life to grow me up to serve in another venue where He plans to send me.
Chosen as a Delegate to Boys State in 2007 was a huge honor, especially as a homeschooler. At the time, I was considering the possibility of serving the Lord in politics. Spending a week down at the state capital, campaigning for office, then holding elected position, and trying to “work” and get something actually accomplished within the “system,” taught me more than textbooks ever could. Indeed, I think my “leadership style” kind of threw my fellow delegates off at first, as Boys States is almost as cut-throat as the U.S. Congress in many ways. Having learned by Jesus’ example, that to be the “greatest” one has to “be a servant of all” (Matt 23:11), my approach was a bit different. Thankfully, I believe I did have an influence, but in the end, decided this was not the way God intended me to use my leadership ability.
Another activity in which the Lord has utilized to draw me closer to him is my involvement in speech. From the beginning, my mom jumped at every opportunity for me to get public speaking experience, often arranging trips to rest homes where I read poetry aloud to a willing audience. After years of practice in 4-H, I began competing in oratorical contests. In 2007, I wrote a speech on church unity, focused on St. Paul’s words in Ephesians about the Body of Christ, which I presented locally and then regionally, doing well. Thankfully, I ended up winning a competition in California for the Western Region and was sent to the North America competition in Montreal to represent the West. Amazingly, I had a similar experience in 2009, after graduating from high school, where I went all the way to the North America level of the competition again. The theme of the 2009 contest was “bearing good fruit” and I focused on Christ’s words in the Gospel of Luke, “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for My sake, and the gospel’s will save it” (Luke 9:24), connecting them to Dietrich Bonhoeffer challenge, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” Obviously, this was a very convicting speech to research and write, as I came face-to-face with the Lord’s throughout scripture, pointed out by St. James: “Someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works. [I say] show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith BY my works’” (James 2:18, emphasis mine). I also shared from Christ’s parable on the Sheep and the Goats from Matthew 25, which really made me turn my eyes back onto myself – was I serving the Lord wherever He might be found in my life, even a whiny younger sibling? Incredibly, this last summer I actually won the competition, beating the regional winners from all over North America, which was an incredible honor. I ended my speech with St. Paul’s words, “For we are His workmanship created for good works in Christ. He calls us to offer up ourselves a living sacrifice” (Eph 2:10).” Wrestling with these convicting scriptures and, pondering God’s will for my life, I believe led to my decision to spend this year serving the “least of these,” as well as the rest of my life.
All these experiences have provided me great life lessons, but as a whole have taught me to be open to God’s will. In Mere Christianity, Lewis explains, “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way.’” Thankfully, my limited life experience has taught me to be open to whatever God might have planned, even if it is not the conventional route, or the road most taken. When it came time to plan for college, my parents and I decided to defer enrollment temporarily, hoping to earn some credit through examination (taking CLEP tests), as well as learn some life skills while working in the real world. This was definitely challenging, as everyone expected me to obviously be aiming for admission at prestigious colleges given my strong academic and extracurricular record. Honestly, trusting the Lord and my parents’ leadership during this period was challenging. Mother Teresa shared, “God will never, never, never let us down if we have faith ... He will always look after us. So we must cleave to Jesus. Our whole life must simply be woven into Jesus.” Indeed, I could not have imagined the education the Lord had waiting for me around the corner, woven into the Lord’s plan for me and causing me to cling tighter to Him.
A famous salesman once claimed, “The essence of intelligence is skill in extracting meaning from everyday experience;” this certainly was true in my experiences from the last couple years. While earning about two semesters worth of credit via CLEP exams in Fall, 2008 until Summer, 2009, I worked three different jobs to save money for college. Selling Cutco knives certainly stretched my comfort zone, but utilizing my public speaking ability, plus organizational skill, in many ways this sales job encouraged me in my strengths. However, with the down-turn in the economy, people did not have money to spend on fancy knives (no matter how useful I convinced them they were). I decided to give working along side real men a try, utilizing my “brawn” rather than my brain, and got a job working graveyard loading trucks at UPS. This was definitely tough work, in many respects, but taught me that everyone values a hard worker. Probably the most challenging position I held this last year was working on the line at a silver minting company. At Sunshine Minting, I was also working graveyard, alongside a pretty rough crowd, who took great pains to tarnish my “innocent” ears. Nonetheless, I saw God working, despite my dislike of the atmosphere. Continuing to respond to the men around me with love caused them to look closer at me. Some ended up confessing heart aches to me, or sharing that they “should probably be going back to church.” It was definitely an eye-opening experience, though. I can not imagine facing decades of working that type of job. It certainly made me more grateful for the opportunity to seek further education.
During this period, I planned on entering college in Fall, 2009. I applied to a couple schools, planning to get an undergraduate degree and then go on to seminary. Awarded a Presidential Scholarship to a prestigious liberal arts college in the Northwest, I assumed that was God’s plan for my next few years. However, once again I learned not to jump the gun. Out of nowhere, I received correspondence from a pastor who oversees an orphanage and house building ministry in Mexico. The pastor had met me at a retreat a year or so before, and had spoken to others who knew me. Suddenly I faced a new prospect. The pastor asked if I might consider deferring college another year, and come down to serve an internship under him, specifically working as a mentor to the older male orphans. I was absolutely taken by surprise – this had certainly not been on my agenda. Yet, my years of experience had proven the Lord had a good and perfect plan for my life. “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer 29:11). Seeking counsel from my parents and pastor, plus literally falling to my knees in prayer myself, I sought direction and clear guidance. In the end, I recognized the hand of God in this as an amazing opportunity to learn and grow, which I could not pass up.
Therefore, I am writing all of this from my desk in Mexico. By God’s grace and divine providence, I am serving as an intern this year, until early June, 2010 at St. Innocent’s Orphanage in Rosarito, Mexico. In only four months, I feel like I have had a lifetime’s worth of experiences. Learning about the Mexican culture has been fascinating; getting to do new things and see exotic locations has been eye-opening after spending the last seven years in Idaho. Improving my knowledge and skill with the Spanish language has been difficult, but incredibly rewarding as well, for now I have a real purpose in tackling Spanish with vigor. Beyond a doubt, one of my favorite things down here has been getting to know the boys at the orphanage. In our world, people make so many generalizations; Mexicans are generally grouped together and stereotyped ungraciously. However, I feel blessed to be slowly be accepted into the brotherhood of amazing individuals here at the orphanage. Getting to know each boy and hear all their stories is mind-blowing. No course could ever give me the wealth of education the Lord is blessing me with through this internship. I am so grateful to God for providing me this astounding opportunity to grow and serve.
In the interim, between being accepted to college last year, and deciding to defer my college education yet a bit longer to serve at the orphanage, God has continued to surprise me. It reminds me of the old proverb, “Christ can only steer a ship that’s moving.” I guess in continuing to move forward, it allowed the Lord the opportunity to make clearer the path He had for me, even if it meant changing courses. As I shared before, I had previously hoped to get a degree in business, and then go on to seminary, believing the Lord has been leading me my whole life into full-time ministry as a pastor. However, the significant financial struggles I see all around me have caused me to seek God’s guidance better in what to receive my undergraduate degree. In addition, I have really developed a heart towards missions too, after serving internationally. (Although I’m only a little south of the U.S. border, I have nonetheless gotten an appreciation for working with those much less fortunate than their neighbors just an hour north.) Realizing I may be called to serve as a missionary pastor, either in the U.S. founding a new parish or another possible abroad, I have decided to get a more practical undergraduate degree in Nursing, hoping to serve the Lord first as a nurse, and later as both a pastor and nurse. This allows me the opportunity to support my future family, even if I am in a mission situation, either stateside or internationally. Remarkably, no one is shocked when I share my new direction. In fact, numerous people have noted the similarities in nursing and pastoring, commenting on how my particular skills are well suited for both. Obviously, this has been exceedingly encouraging and affirms the direction I believe the Lord is leading me. Significantly, they are both servant roles, which definitely is where I want to be focused, back to the primary life objectives my parents instilled and the Lord clearly taught – loving God and loving people. Mother Teresa once shared these wise words, which epitomize my goal: “I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.”
Seeking God daily is an adventure. In the twenty short years I have been given so far, my Lord has taken me on a fantastic ride, stretching me sometimes beyond my comfort zone, but always leading me down paths which have caused me to grow. In the process, God has been transforming me by His grace. I could never have imagined I would be where I am today just a few years back. However, by trusting God with the turns of my life, I have actually only just begun my life journey, which I pray will lead me always towards Him. “To trust Him means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way” (C. S. Lewis, Into the Wardrobe). Numerous details have come together to lead me to Biola, which is at the top of my list of colleges. I am praying the Lord will not only open a door for admission to this excellent university, but also provide the funding through scholarships to enable me to study Nursing at Biola. Lord willing, I would be privileged to have the opportunity to graduate from Biola with a bachelor’s of science degree in Nursing, knowing this will equip me will for the challenges ahead as I continue on my adventure trusting and seeking the Lord.
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ESSAY QUESTION – (working on the essay – planning on sharing how my whole college decisions over the last two-three years, has been a real test of faith but also one of spiritual growth.)At Biola University, our common foundation is our faith in Christ and becoming transformed into His likeness. In light of this fact, please describe: a) the circumstances surrounding your decision to become a follower of Jesus Christ, using various Bible passages as the framework for your salvation and eternal life in Christ, and b) using specific examples, describe your process of spiritual growth over the past three years. (Limit 5,000 words)
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In the first chapter of Philippians, the Apostle Paul and his apprentice Timothy are writing to the church in Philippi, encouraging the saints to be “confident,” reminding them that the Lord, “who began the good work within you, will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:6). Truly, this is an assurance given to all who have been called to faith in Christ, and it has unequivocally been a guiding promise throughout my life, causing me to consistently look for God's hand constantly leading me, recognizing He is using everything He allows into my life to mold me, by His grace, truly transforming me by His grace into His likeness. Looking back, I honestly cannot remember a time when I did not consider my primary identity being a follower of Christ, challenged to look at each choice which crossed my path with the question, "Will this draw me closer to my Lord, or be a distraction from what He is doing in my life?" Indeed, from day one, I have been trained to look at everything in life considering two primary objectives – loving God and loving people. Although this may sound like hyperbole, let me share that quite literally my father began asking me at a very young age, “Joel, what is important in life?” or “Son, what does God ask of us?” or very straight-forward, “Joel, what is the greatest commandment?” Through hearing Scripture read and explained to me from infancy, I learned to answer with conviction, “To love God with all my heart, my soul and strength, and to love my neighbor as myself.” By God's grace, this has been the guiding aim of my life, and I pray by His grace, will continue to help me make wise choices as to how I serve God for the rest of my days.
To say I can not remember a time when I did not know my identity was in Christ is not an exaggeration. Seeing the Lord’s hand in my very naming, my parents taught me early on that “Joel” literally translates “Jehovah is God,” and instilled in me that my life purpose was to witness to the fact there is a God, and that Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament and New, is the one, true God, who sent His son Jesus to reconcile man back to God. Unquestionably, I am blessed to be born to parents who are themselves wholly devoted to the Lord. Although our home and family are far from perfect, I have nonetheless never questioned my parents’ commitment to serve God and strive to do their best to disciple their children towards having Christ-centered lives. Indeed, my first heroes were the forerunners of the faith – warriors like Joshua and Gideon who bravely faced giants, repentant sinners like David, faithful followers like Abraham and Moses, men who faced seemingly hopeless earthy challenges yet remained true like Joseph and Esther – these were my role models whose stories I heard repeatedly, imprinting their faith upon my heart.
Compelled to continue in their God given role as our primary discipliers, my parents made the radical decision to home school their children, recognizing it would be a major factor in our family’s life forever. While my parents did not face the obstacles the first homeschoolers did, they certainly faced opposition from both sides of the family. All of my grandparents place great significance on education, and wanted to be assured that their grandchildren were receiving the best possible instruction. Certainly, my parents also placed a tremendous importance upon a strong liberal arts education, and felt by God’s grace, they could accomplish this at home, while continuing to foster our understanding that everything in life is part of the education God has for us. Numerous times I heard the refrain, “School is life and life is school,” challenging me to seek the lesson God had for me in every aspect of my life.
C.S. Lewis noted, “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.” Purposefully, my parents steeped our broad education with a wide-variety of activities, intended to deepen our understanding and experience of the world, always tying everything back our Creator. Whether up-to-my- knees studying echinoderms in tide pools, or panning for gold while experiencing life first-hand as a miner when retracing California history, my parents encouraged us to embrace education, truly birthing a life-long love of learning within me. Choosing from the plethora of activities available to us, my parents carefully sought the right way to spend our time, allowing us the opportunity to learn from others.
Being exposed to music early in my life was a gift from God. Although watching my father play the guitar and my parents sing while leading worship is definitely one of my earliest memories, it is the music within our home I remember most. Whether marching through our house as a little boy, praising God with all my heart singing, “Hail Jesus, You’re My King!” or on my dad’s shoulder marching up State Street in Santa Barbara during the “March for Jesus,” worshipping God together through music, has always been part of my life. Beginning music training outside of home at an early age, I first learned to sing in a choir and play the recorder, and eventually included piano and guitar. Also being exposed to classical music, in concert as well as at home, certainly had a significant effect on my musical training and development. Seeing the fruit of all of this in my life now, whether leading campfire songs at summer camp, singing in a choir or spending time alone with God with my guitar or at the piano, I am so grateful to my parents for bringing God’s gift of music into my life.
Ultimately, I know God has used every element of my education to mold me into the man He intended me to be. Participating in Biola’s Torrey Academy through online classes in the eleventh and twelfth grade definitely helped me hone my critical thinking skills, as well as improve my writing ability. (In fact, I would have been enrolled in all three years, as my younger sister was fortunate to experience; however, we did not have consistent high-speed internet access necessary for the online classes, so I had to wait until the eleventh grade.) Studying Lewis, Tolkien, Chesterton, Sayers and others in Inklings was inspiring, as they put into words so much of what my education up until that point had been guiding me. Later, wrestling with philosophers like Locke and Hobbes in Foundations of American Thought was unquestionably stretching, nevertheless provided tremendous insight into understanding our country’s Founding Fathers and from whence their convictions came.
Observing history as a well-woven tale, I have always been encouraged to see God’s masterful hand guiding the warp and weave through time. Creating a National History Day (NHD) project in 2004 and again in 2008 certainly deepened my love of history. Working first-hand with primary source material, researching and writing a NHD dramatic performance, offered me the opportunity to get to know intimately some amazing men from our country’s history. In 2004, my sister and I developed a dramatic performance based upon the Lewis and Clark Expedition, where she portrayed Sacagawea and I played Captain William Clark. Learning from both Captains’ journals, I grew to admire Capt. Clark as a man of faith, who clearly understood the hand of Providence leading them. Incredibly, even though we were novices at NHD, we won 1st for the State of Idaho and went on to represent Idaho at the National competition, where we made it to finals in Washington, D.C., a better outcome than we could have dreamed of experiencing! In 2008, my sister and I teamed up with our younger brother and presented a dramatic performance on John Adams and his defense of the British soldiers who fired upon Colonials in the Boston Massacre. This project really challenged me to not allow my prejudices to sway my conclusion. Although I entered our research believing one way (that the British soldiers had been unjustified), I came out on the other side changed. Again, encountering men of principle like Adams, by pouring over his own words in-depth, encouraged me in my relationship with God. Adams, like Capt. Clark, was unequivocally a man of faith, who stood firmly for the inalienable rights of man because they were endowed by their Creator. Awarded once again for our diligence, we won first in the state, and received a special Governor’s Award for the best project overall, then made it to finals again at Nationals, and placed within the top seven in the nation.
All my life I have heard the story of when my parents brought me home from the hospital, my little crib was waiting filled with every type of “ball” or sports equipment you can imagine – football, basketball, baseball and bat, etc. all furnished by my grandfather, after whom I am named. From the beginning, athletics have played an important role in my life, and the Lord has used both team and individual sports to teach me countless lessons over the years, including teamwork, patience, the importance of practice, how to win with grace and likewise how to lose with peace, and most of all, to never, ever give up. As an athlete, it always excites me when reading scripture I come upon the sporting analogies used by St. Paul. In one of my favorites, St. Paul compares our spiritual life to a race, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb 12:1). Consistently, this verse comes back to me, when I am facing something requiring physical endurance especially, but also in other areas of my life in general. Just like a runner can not give up on a race, no matter how grave the obstacles or how rough the terrain, neither can we stop striving for the goal in our journey towards Christ.
In addition, through dealing with the highs and lows of competitive sports, I have learned the hard lesson of thanking God for both the wins as well as the losses, both real and metaphorical, cementing in the scripture upon my heart, “For we know that God works ALL things together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28, emphasis mine). Although I experienced plenty of real losses in soccer, basketball and baseball, this lesson vividly hit home my first year playing soccer in high school. Trying out for soccer my freshman year was challenging, not because I couldn't hold my own on the soccer field, but because I was totally unknown. Enrolled in a charter academy (through which I was homeschooled), I was allowed to tryout at my school of residence, which was great as it was the best high school soccer team in North Idaho. However, since my family couldn't afford club soccer and I wasn't enrolled at the high school, I was just this tall guy out on the field whom no one knew. It was tough. Predictably, the trials did not end once I made the team. I do not want to exaggerate the circumstances, but ... suffice it to say everyone took it upon themselves to try and "school" the "innocent homeschool boy" in "the ways of the world." I almost quit. I wanted to quit. However, something inside told me to hang-on. Amazingly, four years later, after playing together through our high school careers, they voted me "MVP." Hearing my name called, realizing these guys had grown to not only tolerate me, but love and respect me, definitely proved sticking with it, despite my earlier failure, was the right decision.
As the oldest of six siblings, service has naturally been part of my life. Being a “big brother” to my two younger sisters and three younger brothers has greatly influenced who I am today. Although I have not always embraced the demands of my large family, I thank God for the way it has taught me to love others. Einstein postulated, “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” In my limited experience, I have realized this maxim is true. Thankfully, my parents instilled a love of service in my heart from an early age, not just by giving me a baby sister when I was only fourteen months old and four others who followed later, but by taking my siblings and me outside our home to serve. Whether bringing food to a family in need, providing blankets to the homeless, or serving Thanksgiving dinner to the lonely, my parents continuously challenged us to think beyond ourselves. One distinct memory is my parents helping us cull our vast toy collection, slimming it way down, and taking our toys down into Mexico where we found children outside of Tijuana who happily embraced our gifts. Surely this birthed a desire in me to not be content with a life that revolved around me. I have found some of my greatest experiences occur when I step outside myself and have the opportunity to serve others. One of the best things about becoming an older teen and young adult is the numerous opportunities this has afforded me to serve in ways I could not when younger – as a coach for Special Olympics, a camp counselor for the last five years, sports coach to younger kids, etc. Assuredly this focus on service has had a considerable impact upon my decision on what profession or occupation to pursue, allowing the Lord the opportunity to illumine new paths for life-long service.
Developing leadership skills has been another benefit of being the eldest in a large family. I am grateful for the opportunity to cultivate leadership ability outside my home too, through the various activities in which I have been involved. Enrolling me in 4-H when I was younger, my parents hoped to expose me to a variety of topics, which certainly was fulfilled in the over twenty projects in which I participated in from age nine to eighteen. Nonetheless, I would say one of the greatest gifts 4-H gave me was the opportunity to run for and hold leadership positions, and receive training as an officer. Learning Robert’s Rules of Order is not incredibly entertaining, yet has enabled me to lead with aptitude in a variety of environments since then. Once again, God has used the lessons from one area of my life to grow me up to serve in another venue where He plans to send me.
Chosen as a Delegate to Boys State in 2007 was a huge honor, especially as a homeschooler. At the time, I was considering the possibility of serving the Lord in politics. Spending a week down at the state capital, campaigning for office, then holding elected position, and trying to “work” and get something actually accomplished within the “system,” taught me more than textbooks ever could. Indeed, I think my “leadership style” kind of threw my fellow delegates off at first, as Boys States is almost as cut-throat as the U.S. Congress in many ways. Having learned by Jesus’ example, that to be the “greatest” one has to “be a servant of all” (Matt 23:11), my approach was a bit different. Thankfully, I believe I did have an influence, but in the end, decided this was not the way God intended me to use my leadership ability.
Another activity in which the Lord has utilized to draw me closer to him is my involvement in speech. From the beginning, my mom jumped at every opportunity for me to get public speaking experience, often arranging trips to rest homes where I read poetry aloud to a willing audience. After years of practice in 4-H, I began competing in oratorical contests. In 2007, I wrote a speech on church unity, focused on St. Paul’s words in Ephesians about the Body of Christ, which I presented locally and then regionally, doing well. Thankfully, I ended up winning a competition in California for the Western Region and was sent to the North America competition in Montreal to represent the West. Amazingly, I had a similar experience in 2009, after graduating from high school, where I went all the way to the North America level of the competition again. The theme of the 2009 contest was “bearing good fruit” and I focused on Christ’s words in the Gospel of Luke, “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for My sake, and the gospel’s will save it” (Luke 9:24), connecting them to Dietrich Bonhoeffer challenge, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” Obviously, this was a very convicting speech to research and write, as I came face-to-face with the Lord’s throughout scripture, pointed out by St. James: “Someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works. [I say] show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith BY my works’” (James 2:18, emphasis mine). I also shared from Christ’s parable on the Sheep and the Goats from Matthew 25, which really made me turn my eyes back onto myself – was I serving the Lord wherever He might be found in my life, even a whiny younger sibling? Incredibly, this last summer I actually won the competition, beating the regional winners from all over North America, which was an incredible honor. I ended my speech with St. Paul’s words, “For we are His workmanship created for good works in Christ. He calls us to offer up ourselves a living sacrifice” (Eph 2:10).” Wrestling with these convicting scriptures and, pondering God’s will for my life, I believe led to my decision to spend this year serving the “least of these,” as well as the rest of my life.
All these experiences have provided me great life lessons, but as a whole have taught me to be open to God’s will. In Mere Christianity, Lewis explains, “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way.’” Thankfully, my limited life experience has taught me to be open to whatever God might have planned, even if it is not the conventional route, or the road most taken. When it came time to plan for college, my parents and I decided to defer enrollment temporarily, hoping to earn some credit through examination (taking CLEP tests), as well as learn some life skills while working in the real world. This was definitely challenging, as everyone expected me to obviously be aiming for admission at prestigious colleges given my strong academic and extracurricular record. Honestly, trusting the Lord and my parents’ leadership during this period was challenging. Mother Teresa shared, “God will never, never, never let us down if we have faith ... He will always look after us. So we must cleave to Jesus. Our whole life must simply be woven into Jesus.” Indeed, I could not have imagined the education the Lord had waiting for me around the corner, woven into the Lord’s plan for me and causing me to cling tighter to Him.
A famous salesman once claimed, “The essence of intelligence is skill in extracting meaning from everyday experience;” this certainly was true in my experiences from the last couple years. While earning about two semesters worth of credit via CLEP exams in Fall, 2008 until Summer, 2009, I worked three different jobs to save money for college. Selling Cutco knives certainly stretched my comfort zone, but utilizing my public speaking ability, plus organizational skill, in many ways this sales job encouraged me in my strengths. However, with the down-turn in the economy, people did not have money to spend on fancy knives (no matter how useful I convinced them they were). I decided to give working along side real men a try, utilizing my “brawn” rather than my brain, and got a job working graveyard loading trucks at UPS. This was definitely tough work, in many respects, but taught me that everyone values a hard worker. Probably the most challenging position I held this last year was working on the line at a silver minting company. At Sunshine Minting, I was also working graveyard, alongside a pretty rough crowd, who took great pains to tarnish my “innocent” ears. Nonetheless, I saw God working, despite my dislike of the atmosphere. Continuing to respond to the men around me with love caused them to look closer at me. Some ended up confessing heart aches to me, or sharing that they “should probably be going back to church.” It was definitely an eye-opening experience, though. I can not imagine facing decades of working that type of job. It certainly made me more grateful for the opportunity to seek further education.
During this period, I planned on entering college in Fall, 2009. I applied to a couple schools, planning to get an undergraduate degree and then go on to seminary. Awarded a Presidential Scholarship to a prestigious liberal arts college in the Northwest, I assumed that was God’s plan for my next few years. However, once again I learned not to jump the gun. Out of nowhere, I received correspondence from a pastor who oversees an orphanage and house building ministry in Mexico. The pastor had met me at a retreat a year or so before, and had spoken to others who knew me. Suddenly I faced a new prospect. The pastor asked if I might consider deferring college another year, and come down to serve an internship under him, specifically working as a mentor to the older male orphans. I was absolutely taken by surprise – this had certainly not been on my agenda. Yet, my years of experience had proven the Lord had a good and perfect plan for my life. “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer 29:11). Seeking counsel from my parents and pastor, plus literally falling to my knees in prayer myself, I sought direction and clear guidance. In the end, I recognized the hand of God in this as an amazing opportunity to learn and grow, which I could not pass up.
Therefore, I am writing all of this from my desk in Mexico. By God’s grace and divine providence, I am serving as an intern this year, until early June, 2010 at St. Innocent’s Orphanage in Rosarito, Mexico. In only four months, I feel like I have had a lifetime’s worth of experiences. Learning about the Mexican culture has been fascinating; getting to do new things and see exotic locations has been eye-opening after spending the last seven years in Idaho. Improving my knowledge and skill with the Spanish language has been difficult, but incredibly rewarding as well, for now I have a real purpose in tackling Spanish with vigor. Beyond a doubt, one of my favorite things down here has been getting to know the boys at the orphanage. In our world, people make so many generalizations; Mexicans are generally grouped together and stereotyped ungraciously. However, I feel blessed to be slowly be accepted into the brotherhood of amazing individuals here at the orphanage. Getting to know each boy and hear all their stories is mind-blowing. No course could ever give me the wealth of education the Lord is blessing me with through this internship. I am so grateful to God for providing me this astounding opportunity to grow and serve.
In the interim, between being accepted to college last year, and deciding to defer my college education yet a bit longer to serve at the orphanage, God has continued to surprise me. It reminds me of the old proverb, “Christ can only steer a ship that’s moving.” I guess in continuing to move forward, it allowed the Lord the opportunity to make clearer the path He had for me, even if it meant changing courses. As I shared before, I had previously hoped to get a degree in business, and then go on to seminary, believing the Lord has been leading me my whole life into full-time ministry as a pastor. However, the significant financial struggles I see all around me have caused me to seek God’s guidance better in what to receive my undergraduate degree. In addition, I have really developed a heart towards missions too, after serving internationally. (Although I’m only a little south of the U.S. border, I have nonetheless gotten an appreciation for working with those much less fortunate than their neighbors just an hour north.) Realizing I may be called to serve as a missionary pastor, either in the U.S. founding a new parish or another possible abroad, I have decided to get a more practical undergraduate degree in Nursing, hoping to serve the Lord first as a nurse, and later as both a pastor and nurse. This allows me the opportunity to support my future family, even if I am in a mission situation, either stateside or internationally. Remarkably, no one is shocked when I share my new direction. In fact, numerous people have noted the similarities in nursing and pastoring, commenting on how my particular skills are well suited for both. Obviously, this has been exceedingly encouraging and affirms the direction I believe the Lord is leading me. Significantly, they are both servant roles, which definitely is where I want to be focused, back to the primary life objectives my parents instilled and the Lord clearly taught – loving God and loving people. Mother Teresa once shared these wise words, which epitomize my goal: “I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.”
Seeking God daily is an adventure. In the twenty short years I have been given so far, my Lord has taken me on a fantastic ride, stretching me sometimes beyond my comfort zone, but always leading me down paths which have caused me to grow. In the process, God has been transforming me by His grace. I could never have imagined I would be where I am today just a few years back. However, by trusting God with the turns of my life, I have actually only just begun my life journey, which I pray will lead me always towards Him. “To trust Him means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way” (C. S. Lewis, Into the Wardrobe). Numerous details have come together to lead me to Biola, which is at the top of my list of colleges. I am praying the Lord will not only open a door for admission to this excellent university, but also provide the funding through scholarships to enable me to study Nursing at Biola. Lord willing, I would be privileged to have the opportunity to graduate from Biola with a bachelor’s of science degree in Nursing, knowing this will equip me will for the challenges ahead as I continue on my adventure trusting and seeking the Lord.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Your prayers please
At the moment, I'm in the middle of my last couple college applications. I'm applying to Point Loma, Cal Baptist, Biola, Gonzaga, and College of Idaho. Please pray that I can write these last few essays well. In addition if you would keep me in your prayers as I go through all these college decisions. I'd love to go to school down in California, but Gonzaga and College of Idaho are great schools as well. I'm going to have to see what scholarships I get and which situation works out best for me. Please pray for me as I go through these decisions.
On a different note, I've been wanting to remind any readers that you can easily subscribe to my blog. You can enter your email address in the box on the right. After confirming your email address, you'll only be emailed if I submit a new blog update. This way it can save you time, you'll only visit the blog if there's something new to read.
Finally, it's become a little bit more common, but feel free to comment on any of my blog entries. I love to hear feed back; if you like reading about something, let me know. A confidential critic, said that my blog was too repetitive, the stories all the same. To help me avoid this problem, let me know what you like to read, and I'll try to focus more on those stories or details in the future.
Thank you for your prayers and support!
Under His Mercy,
Joel
PS - The last few days have been a taste of what I may experience in the near future. We had our first rain of the year. The power, and thereby the internet went down. Now we've discovered that our well pump is down and could be for a few days. Sounds like we could all be a little bit smellier. Thank God for deodorant!
On a different note, I've been wanting to remind any readers that you can easily subscribe to my blog. You can enter your email address in the box on the right. After confirming your email address, you'll only be emailed if I submit a new blog update. This way it can save you time, you'll only visit the blog if there's something new to read.
Finally, it's become a little bit more common, but feel free to comment on any of my blog entries. I love to hear feed back; if you like reading about something, let me know. A confidential critic, said that my blog was too repetitive, the stories all the same. To help me avoid this problem, let me know what you like to read, and I'll try to focus more on those stories or details in the future.
Thank you for your prayers and support!
Under His Mercy,
Joel
PS - The last few days have been a taste of what I may experience in the near future. We had our first rain of the year. The power, and thereby the internet went down. Now we've discovered that our well pump is down and could be for a few days. Sounds like we could all be a little bit smellier. Thank God for deodorant!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Thanksgiving Day Plans!
Tomorrow, I'll be heading up to San Diego to spend tomorrow and Thanksgiving with my grandparents. Thanksgiving at Papa and Grammys is known for it is wonderful food, and the large gathering at their home out on the ranch. I can't wait to see them and spend Thanksgiving with friends and family!
Today, I got to tag along on a trip to some tide pools, a little south of Rosarito. We had to take two different cars, so I drove a couple of the boys in my intern car. It was neat to just drive and talk with the boys. Surprisingly, we talked the entire way down and they both seemed to have a great time. I was super excited to be able to communicate well with them and that the enjoyed the time in the car.
Once we got there, we had a great time looking at all the little creatures in the tide pools. I was the only one who brought sandals, so I had at least one, sometimes two barefoot boys on my shoulders almost the entire time. Everyone seemed to laugh when I decided to run out, (with a boy on my shoulders), to a far stretch of rocks that was quickly being enveloped by the incoming tide. We went out there, dodged big waves, got pretty wet, and I danced around, (my passenger laughing uncontrollably the entire time). Recently, I seem to be developing into the intern who will take a boy on his shoulders and do something crazy. Whether rock climbing, running to the beach, tide pools or soccer games, I'll always provide a “loco” and fun ride! As I walk out of my room, I’m often greeted with boys wanting a ride. Often, I can't help but smile and acquiesce to their request. :-)
Today, I got to tag along on a trip to some tide pools, a little south of Rosarito. We had to take two different cars, so I drove a couple of the boys in my intern car. It was neat to just drive and talk with the boys. Surprisingly, we talked the entire way down and they both seemed to have a great time. I was super excited to be able to communicate well with them and that the enjoyed the time in the car.
Once we got there, we had a great time looking at all the little creatures in the tide pools. I was the only one who brought sandals, so I had at least one, sometimes two barefoot boys on my shoulders almost the entire time. Everyone seemed to laugh when I decided to run out, (with a boy on my shoulders), to a far stretch of rocks that was quickly being enveloped by the incoming tide. We went out there, dodged big waves, got pretty wet, and I danced around, (my passenger laughing uncontrollably the entire time). Recently, I seem to be developing into the intern who will take a boy on his shoulders and do something crazy. Whether rock climbing, running to the beach, tide pools or soccer games, I'll always provide a “loco” and fun ride! As I walk out of my room, I’m often greeted with boys wanting a ride. Often, I can't help but smile and acquiesce to their request. :-)
Sunday, November 22, 2009
"I am a little pencil"
-Below is a little article I wrote for an annual Cross Road newsletter. Since it was pertaining to my time here in Mexico, I thought I'd pass it along.
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“I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.” ~ Mother Teresa
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). All nineteen years of my life, I had heard these words and had a deep internal longing to fulfill this calling. When I received the opportunity to come down to Project Mexico/St. Innocent’s Orphanage and serve for a year, I realized this was my first chance to finally embrace this Scripture in a real way. Only two and a half months into my internship, having deferred college for a year and put many things on hold, I discovered that it may be one of the best decisions of my life.
In mere months, I have already had a lifetime’s worth of experiences. Despite previously taking Spanish courses, in reality, I did not have much of a Spanish background. By God’s grace however, I am quickly picking it up; a challenge for sure, but an exciting one – definitely a “rubber meets the road” situation. Getting to travel around in the local area and learn about the culture has been fascinating. Most importantly, I have gotten to know the boys here at the orphanage, as well as the devoted staff. Every one of them is an amazing individual, each of whom I am learning a tremendous amount from. In the near future, I’ll be helping find families in need in the community, whom Lord willing, we’ll be building houses for in 2010. In addition, I’ll be working with groups who come to build homes, while continuing to assist with construction jobs around the orphanage.
While at Cross Road, we focused on vocation. According to Mother Teresa, “Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.” I know all of us yearn to embrace the call to love, whether in our own homes and cities, or on the other side of the world. To quote Mother Teresa again, “God doesn’t require us to succeed; he only requires that you try,” and “To show great love for God and our neighbor we need not to do great things. It is how much love we put in the doing that makes our offering something beautiful for God.” If you’re looking for a tangible place to serve, a real place to do something beautiful for God, I definitely recommend considering Project Mexico. This last June, I had the privilege of being on a team of alumni CrossRoaders who met up from around the nation to build a house together. I was so excited to hear that there is another group coming down this next summer as well. All who have been here will agree – although you head south of the border praying you will be a blessing, in the end, you return home incredibly blessed.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Breaking through
Since my little bartering adventure, the boys have kept me pretty busy.
Saturday, I woke up early and went with the little boys rock climbing. This was a different adventure than when the older boys went. The little boys were a little bit tougher to control. Everyone had to look over the edge down to the rocks far below the cliff. We had a couple boys fall and swing on the rope. It was completely safe, but we had a few boys who had their breath taken away for a few seconds.
Sunday, after chapel, I sat and listened to my Chargers win another game. The Chargers do a great job recently of making you write off the season, only to come back and win a few to make it interesting. Let’s hope it continues.
Monday, Madi had set up a kayaking excursion with the boys! It turned out to be a very fun day. However, I got a little taste of Mexico at the same time. Madi had it set up with a marina a little south of Rosarito, that we would be able to come and launch into the little bay. She had set it up and then double checked with them later that it was alright. Both times she got an ok, and that it would be no problem. But, when we showed up bright and early Monday morning, the guard said the supervisor wasn’t there and that he couldn’t let us in. After pleading with the officer for 20 minutes, we finally gave up and headed for other water. We came to a lagoon just inland from the ocean. During the rainy season, it runs out into the ocean. Yet, still having no rain to date this fall, it was a low. The lagoon was also located near a run down town, and all the run off from the town collected in the marsh. Therefore, as we were paddling, only a few of us realized we were paddling through sewage and pretty nasty filth. However, being that it was salt water, and we were in kayaks, we were able to have a good time, despite the smell.
Tuesday, I helped out in the states moving one of our staff members.
Today, was a lot of little jobs, running a car to the mechanic, going by the store, working on the chapel and so on.
Some overall notes:
- Spanish is a very funny thing. One day you think you’re finally getting it, you’re talking easily and understanding others. The very next day however, you can feel like a fool and can’t put two words together - good luck understanding other people. How it works I don’t know, but trust me it’s day and night, day to day.
- Had deep fried chili peppers today. It ended up being a very spicy good meal.
- Speaking of food. Down here, they have these jalapeño cheetos. This tasty morsel has quickly become my favorite bag of junk food. Don’t worry mom, I’ve only had two bags since I got here. Not very accessible.
- Last, and best of all, the younger boys seem to really be opening up to me. I guess that with so many people coming and going from the ranch during the year, and very few people staying long term. The boys have to hold back, and keep from trusting everyone. Finally 2 ½ months in, I’ve gotten to the point were the boys will come to me and want to talk to me about what’s going on in their lives. By far the greatest reward I’ve received from my time here. Thank the Lord, I’ve got six more months.
Saturday, I woke up early and went with the little boys rock climbing. This was a different adventure than when the older boys went. The little boys were a little bit tougher to control. Everyone had to look over the edge down to the rocks far below the cliff. We had a couple boys fall and swing on the rope. It was completely safe, but we had a few boys who had their breath taken away for a few seconds.
Sunday, after chapel, I sat and listened to my Chargers win another game. The Chargers do a great job recently of making you write off the season, only to come back and win a few to make it interesting. Let’s hope it continues.
Monday, Madi had set up a kayaking excursion with the boys! It turned out to be a very fun day. However, I got a little taste of Mexico at the same time. Madi had it set up with a marina a little south of Rosarito, that we would be able to come and launch into the little bay. She had set it up and then double checked with them later that it was alright. Both times she got an ok, and that it would be no problem. But, when we showed up bright and early Monday morning, the guard said the supervisor wasn’t there and that he couldn’t let us in. After pleading with the officer for 20 minutes, we finally gave up and headed for other water. We came to a lagoon just inland from the ocean. During the rainy season, it runs out into the ocean. Yet, still having no rain to date this fall, it was a low. The lagoon was also located near a run down town, and all the run off from the town collected in the marsh. Therefore, as we were paddling, only a few of us realized we were paddling through sewage and pretty nasty filth. However, being that it was salt water, and we were in kayaks, we were able to have a good time, despite the smell.
Tuesday, I helped out in the states moving one of our staff members.
Today, was a lot of little jobs, running a car to the mechanic, going by the store, working on the chapel and so on.
Some overall notes:
- Spanish is a very funny thing. One day you think you’re finally getting it, you’re talking easily and understanding others. The very next day however, you can feel like a fool and can’t put two words together - good luck understanding other people. How it works I don’t know, but trust me it’s day and night, day to day.
- Had deep fried chili peppers today. It ended up being a very spicy good meal.
- Speaking of food. Down here, they have these jalapeño cheetos. This tasty morsel has quickly become my favorite bag of junk food. Don’t worry mom, I’ve only had two bags since I got here. Not very accessible.
- Last, and best of all, the younger boys seem to really be opening up to me. I guess that with so many people coming and going from the ranch during the year, and very few people staying long term. The boys have to hold back, and keep from trusting everyone. Finally 2 ½ months in, I’ve gotten to the point were the boys will come to me and want to talk to me about what’s going on in their lives. By far the greatest reward I’ve received from my time here. Thank the Lord, I’ve got six more months.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Tenga solo veinte dollars, no puedo mas
A funny thing happened yesterday in the border line. I was driving a visitor back across to the states. For a while, I wanted to buy a blanket from Mexico. I wanted it to be clearly Mexican so that when I came back to life in the states, I could always remember my time in Mexico. Well for months I had waited knowing that eventually one of the shop owners would walk up to the car with the blanket I wanted. Finally, yesterday a man came up and asked if I wanted a blanket. I asked how much this one large blanket depicting the Mexican flag would cost. He glanced over, kind of raised his eyes and said, “for you, $60”. I shrugged, I only had $20 that I could spend. I just couldn’t pay more. He shook his head and said that he could sell it for $40 but no less. For better or worse, I was persistent. I only had $20 to spend, and if that didn’t work, I didn’t need the blanket. For about ten minutes he persisted, running along side the car as I slowly moved along the line. Slowly, but surely the price continued to drop, from $40 to $35, $32, $30. About this time, he went grabbed the blanket and with one of his assistants unfurled this blanket/flag and showed me what a great blanket it was. He asked if there was any other blankets I wanted for less. Continually, I explained I wanted that blanket and I could only spend $20. If that didn’t work, it was no problem, but I couldn’t pay more. $28, $24, $22, and finally rather furious, he tossed the large blanket in the car. I handed over my $20 and he stomped off. He went over and talked to a couple of the other shop owners and started ranting to them. They both looked my direction and glared. I had to laugh with the visitor I was driving. I had told them multiple times, I didn’t need to buy it. I only had $20. I found it crazy though, that in the end I got the price down to two thirds the price.
Just as an encouraging note, the entire conversation with this shop keeper was in Spanish. The blanket doesn’t matter much, but being able to communicate in Spanish was really encouraging. I realize the grammar wasn’t perfect, and I’m sure I stumbled and used a couple wrong words here and there. But he still understood what I meant and what I wanted. Just tonight again, I shared the story with one of the older boys. He understood and laughed at the story. Just this morning I was joking around with the little boys. I understand most of what they talk about, and I am really beginning to enjoy getting to know them on a more personal level.
Just as an encouraging note, the entire conversation with this shop keeper was in Spanish. The blanket doesn’t matter much, but being able to communicate in Spanish was really encouraging. I realize the grammar wasn’t perfect, and I’m sure I stumbled and used a couple wrong words here and there. But he still understood what I meant and what I wanted. Just tonight again, I shared the story with one of the older boys. He understood and laughed at the story. Just this morning I was joking around with the little boys. I understand most of what they talk about, and I am really beginning to enjoy getting to know them on a more personal level.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Navidad Angels!
I just came from a Mexican staff meeting. At the end of the meeting we all drew names for our Navidad Angels game. All of us are given a person that they are to get small gifts for through the Christmas season. The finale is a Christmas party on the 27th of December. After the couple months of waiting everyone gets to see who their Navidad Angel was! I'm excited, haha it's quite the serious game. You had to go into a corner and look at it, and NO ONE else could see your piece of paper. haha... let the games begin!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
A different world
Today, I was focusing on doing check-ups on the Project Mexico vehicles. I was working on a car that had almost bald tires. The radio was tuned into a country station, the artist singing about, “The Red, White and Blue”. I was using the air compressor to blow out of the vents in the car, because they constantly are getting clogged with Mexico’s dust. As I do so I hear horses, I glance over to the road, and see two men riding horses up the dirt road in full gallop. I sat back for a second and thought; “only in Mexico would you have a combination of all of those things”. Yet my humor about Mexico was quickly moved to a different note only a few minutes later.
After finishing the vehicle check, I drove the car over to Karen and Madi’s house. I knocked on the door, and talked to Karen about a couple car details. Karen then asked if I had heard about one of our Mexican staff members who had their house burnt down last week. This staff member is still here working with us, I didn’t even notice a change. Seeing the shock on my face, Karen explained to me, that I’ll get used to hearing about some pretty disappointing things in Mexico. House fires while not “common”, happen quite more often than in the states. The main reason why is due to the poor wiring of houses. Many people will often wire their own house. This along with older, and less affective electric tools and appliances create a greater likelihood of a fire or other dangerous accidents.
Continuing, Karen shared with how things like that, people’s houses burning down, is accepted here. There are things that people take as, “normal” that we in the states would think was anything but normal. Karen told me about one house that she was helping build. The neighbors of the family Project Mexico was building the house for, had a small 10 year old daughter. They had notice a lump growing on her throat and saved just enough money to go to the doctor to find out what was wrong. The doctor explained that it was a cancerous tumor, and that the girl would be fine if given the right treatments, otherwise she had a year or so to live. The family had spent every last peso getting the girl to the doctor, and had nothing left for the operation and treatment. Sadly they had no other options. The girl was like any other 10 year old, except that she had been given a death sentence, (at least in Mexico). Had this girl been able to get treatment in the states she still would be living today.
This was one of a few stories Karen shared. It shows how much we take for granted up in the states. If the girl had been in the states, things would have been different. First, the family almost certainly would have had a better paying job, (even if it was minimum wage). Secondly, she could have had access to the treatments. Finally, if the family was not able to cover the costs, and they were uninsured, there is always the possibility of charities, churches and other places that they could have turned to for help. Down here, people are on their own. Every time I drive along the international road in Mexico, right along the border, I think to myself how people are not even a mile away from each other, yet people are worlds apart. It’s a different world down here.
After finishing the vehicle check, I drove the car over to Karen and Madi’s house. I knocked on the door, and talked to Karen about a couple car details. Karen then asked if I had heard about one of our Mexican staff members who had their house burnt down last week. This staff member is still here working with us, I didn’t even notice a change. Seeing the shock on my face, Karen explained to me, that I’ll get used to hearing about some pretty disappointing things in Mexico. House fires while not “common”, happen quite more often than in the states. The main reason why is due to the poor wiring of houses. Many people will often wire their own house. This along with older, and less affective electric tools and appliances create a greater likelihood of a fire or other dangerous accidents.
Continuing, Karen shared with how things like that, people’s houses burning down, is accepted here. There are things that people take as, “normal” that we in the states would think was anything but normal. Karen told me about one house that she was helping build. The neighbors of the family Project Mexico was building the house for, had a small 10 year old daughter. They had notice a lump growing on her throat and saved just enough money to go to the doctor to find out what was wrong. The doctor explained that it was a cancerous tumor, and that the girl would be fine if given the right treatments, otherwise she had a year or so to live. The family had spent every last peso getting the girl to the doctor, and had nothing left for the operation and treatment. Sadly they had no other options. The girl was like any other 10 year old, except that she had been given a death sentence, (at least in Mexico). Had this girl been able to get treatment in the states she still would be living today.
This was one of a few stories Karen shared. It shows how much we take for granted up in the states. If the girl had been in the states, things would have been different. First, the family almost certainly would have had a better paying job, (even if it was minimum wage). Secondly, she could have had access to the treatments. Finally, if the family was not able to cover the costs, and they were uninsured, there is always the possibility of charities, churches and other places that they could have turned to for help. Down here, people are on their own. Every time I drive along the international road in Mexico, right along the border, I think to myself how people are not even a mile away from each other, yet people are worlds apart. It’s a different world down here.
Monday, November 9, 2009
it does catch up to you
While, I did have a pretty busy Friday, both Saturday and Sunday, I didn't have to do much. However, I'm feeling a little worn down, and I'm fighting off a cold. (Don't worry mom I'm downing the Emergen-C and fluids as much as I can.)
Today, I put some icons up and did some rearranging of items in the chapel. It required a lot of drilling, hammering and tightening. Surprisingly, it ended up taking all day. However, I'm learning to be a little self-sufficient when it comes to these projects. I'm the guy on the orphanage who is supposed to take care of those jobs. I had to figure out what drill bits to use, what nails, screws, and tools to use. I know it sounds simple, and it is. But it's still progress for me. Tomorrow, I’m working on the cars on my own.
Today, I put some icons up and did some rearranging of items in the chapel. It required a lot of drilling, hammering and tightening. Surprisingly, it ended up taking all day. However, I'm learning to be a little self-sufficient when it comes to these projects. I'm the guy on the orphanage who is supposed to take care of those jobs. I had to figure out what drill bits to use, what nails, screws, and tools to use. I know it sounds simple, and it is. But it's still progress for me. Tomorrow, I’m working on the cars on my own.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Farewells, Haircuts and Chicken?
Tomorrow, we will be bidding farewell to another member of our family, Alex Papulis. Alex has now been an intern at the orphanage for the past year. In the past year he has accomplished a tremendous amount. In only the last three months he transferred from being a Project Mexico intern to more of an Orphanage intern. The difference being that he began focusing more on the boys, and their education, instead of the construction part of our ministry. In only a few months, he has taught the boys a number of valuable computer skills. The improvements in the boys typing, math, reading and spelling had been impressive. His work has definitely made a huge impact.
Over the last two month’s he’s mentored me and that’s been a great blessing. I’ve definitely been eased into my jobs instead of being thrown immediately into the race. This past week he has been training me with different programs on our computers here. At the same time he gave me a crash course class on programming… in Spanish. Double Whammy! While my slow mind has had a hard time trying to catch up, he’s been very patient. I feel much better about stepping into his place and eventually taking over with the boy’s computer education.
All this to say that we will all miss him, and we are all indebted to his work while at Project Mexico/St. Innocent’s Orphanage.
To celebrate Alex’s time here, I was able to go out with a few others today for lunch at a restaurant that’s specialty was Chicken. Wow, it definitely lived up to its reputation. After a fantastic meal, there was one piece sitting in the middle of the table. We all looked at each other, all full, but not wanting the final piece to go to waste. In the end we pushed the piece Alex’s direction, and he finished the tasty morsel off, with no problem.
Afterwards, Fr. Michael and I went out for haircuts. We had gone last night, but were beat there by a bus full of boys… from St. Innocent’s no less. We decided to come back today instead of waiting the couple hours it would take to have all the boys get their haircuts. Again, I have to rave about the haircut, I felt like I should have been paying $25+ for the haircut instead of $5. With the haircuts, we’ll all be looking sharp for our Christmas picture coming up this Sunday. No worries, I’ll be posting those pictures when I get them. :-)
Under His Mercy,
Joel
Over the last two month’s he’s mentored me and that’s been a great blessing. I’ve definitely been eased into my jobs instead of being thrown immediately into the race. This past week he has been training me with different programs on our computers here. At the same time he gave me a crash course class on programming… in Spanish. Double Whammy! While my slow mind has had a hard time trying to catch up, he’s been very patient. I feel much better about stepping into his place and eventually taking over with the boy’s computer education.
All this to say that we will all miss him, and we are all indebted to his work while at Project Mexico/St. Innocent’s Orphanage.
To celebrate Alex’s time here, I was able to go out with a few others today for lunch at a restaurant that’s specialty was Chicken. Wow, it definitely lived up to its reputation. After a fantastic meal, there was one piece sitting in the middle of the table. We all looked at each other, all full, but not wanting the final piece to go to waste. In the end we pushed the piece Alex’s direction, and he finished the tasty morsel off, with no problem.
Afterwards, Fr. Michael and I went out for haircuts. We had gone last night, but were beat there by a bus full of boys… from St. Innocent’s no less. We decided to come back today instead of waiting the couple hours it would take to have all the boys get their haircuts. Again, I have to rave about the haircut, I felt like I should have been paying $25+ for the haircut instead of $5. With the haircuts, we’ll all be looking sharp for our Christmas picture coming up this Sunday. No worries, I’ll be posting those pictures when I get them. :-)
Under His Mercy,
Joel
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
I walked with Legends
Today, Project Mexico and St. Innocent’s Orphanage bid farewell to two pillars of our organization - Mike and Kat Applegate. They are taking off for home in Colorado after five years spent here at the orphanage. Together they have promised to return on occasion to visit, and to help out with projects. Over the last few weeks I’ve gotten to hear bit by bit stories of their celebrated time here. Last night we had a dinner to celebrate their time at with Project Mexico. One person said that if there was any couple that embodied service, it would be Kat and Mike.
In the last few months, I’ve gotten to know them both. Every moment spent with them, I wanted to have more time. If you have met them, you know what I mean. If you have not met them, pray that you do one day. Both of them are very deep people, with stories behind their eyes. When you got the privilege of hearing one of their many stories, you were wrapped up in the story, wanting to hear the details. You can look around the ranch and see their physical mark they’ve left on the orphanage. Houses, and buildings, many of which they had a hand in building . But the relationships they had created with the boys, the staff both American and Mexican was amazing. As a few staff gathered to give them hugs goodbye today, I couldn’t help but admire their great imprint left with their incredible lives. At different points in your life, you meet people who inspire. Kat and Mike fall in that category. As they drove off, I felt that for two months, I had walked with legends.
In the last few months, I’ve gotten to know them both. Every moment spent with them, I wanted to have more time. If you have met them, you know what I mean. If you have not met them, pray that you do one day. Both of them are very deep people, with stories behind their eyes. When you got the privilege of hearing one of their many stories, you were wrapped up in the story, wanting to hear the details. You can look around the ranch and see their physical mark they’ve left on the orphanage. Houses, and buildings, many of which they had a hand in building . But the relationships they had created with the boys, the staff both American and Mexican was amazing. As a few staff gathered to give them hugs goodbye today, I couldn’t help but admire their great imprint left with their incredible lives. At different points in your life, you meet people who inspire. Kat and Mike fall in that category. As they drove off, I felt that for two months, I had walked with legends.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Ronald Reagan Quote
"You and I have a rendezvous with Destiny"
I heard this on the radio Saturday, celebrating the 45th Anniversary of the speech that essentially launched Reagan into the political scene. A very inspiring quote to say the least.
I heard this on the radio Saturday, celebrating the 45th Anniversary of the speech that essentially launched Reagan into the political scene. A very inspiring quote to say the least.
Rock climbing on the edge!
When people heard that I was moving down to Mexico for nine months. I had a number of them mention that I was going to be living on the edge. I would be facing dangers in a different country. Well I definitely was on edge Sunday, climbing with the boys. We drove out about an hour from the ranch to this canyon. Madi has gotten a number a lot of climbing equipment donated, and we were able to all go and have a great time. If you get a chance and can look at the pictures below you can see. There were two different routes. One was more of a stair stepper, and the other a straight cliff.
Initially, I thought the cliff was impossible. Looking at it, it looked like an immediate and direct ascent to the top of this 35 foot cliff. However, we had a few adventuresome boys take at it, and reach the top. Everyone in the group really impressed me with how they pushed themselves to the top of their respective climbs. Almost all the boys were climbing with ropes and harnesses for the first time. With that in mind, they all did a tremendous job.
There was time at the end for me to make a quick sprint to the top, (if I could). As I climbed I noticed how my height was a great advantage. There were some handholds and footholds that I was able to reach, that I’m sure all the other boys would not have been able to reach. With that in mind, it still was very difficult for me to get to the top. How they did it with less reach blows my mind. We have some guys here who have some very strong fingers, toes, and minds to conquer the ascent.
Initially, I thought the cliff was impossible. Looking at it, it looked like an immediate and direct ascent to the top of this 35 foot cliff. However, we had a few adventuresome boys take at it, and reach the top. Everyone in the group really impressed me with how they pushed themselves to the top of their respective climbs. Almost all the boys were climbing with ropes and harnesses for the first time. With that in mind, they all did a tremendous job.
There was time at the end for me to make a quick sprint to the top, (if I could). As I climbed I noticed how my height was a great advantage. There were some handholds and footholds that I was able to reach, that I’m sure all the other boys would not have been able to reach. With that in mind, it still was very difficult for me to get to the top. How they did it with less reach blows my mind. We have some guys here who have some very strong fingers, toes, and minds to conquer the ascent.
Chanting
I mentioned in my week overview that I have started chanting. It has definitely been a new experience. A week ago when I stayed after matins for the service, I had just wanted to simply observe. But I quickly learned that if you stand at the chanter stand you need to participate. Since then, I’ve been eased into the chanting. Only two months ago I would have said chanting in English was something I didn’t really know. Now English seems like a breeze compared to the Spanish. While, it’s been humbling at times for sure, I’m trying to take it with the mentality that if I don’t push myself out of my comfort zone, I’ll never grow. I’ve got to test those boundaries, and keep pushing so I can improve, both in Spanish and as a person.
Happy Birthday Ellena!
Thursday, the 29th of October was my little sister, Ellena’s birthday!!! Happy Birthday Ellena! I can’t believe it, but she turned 13 years old! I know when she reads this she’ll probably be embarrassed. But I fully remember going to the hospital as a 6-yearold and sitting in the waiting room when Ellena was born. Sometime after mid-night I remember, Jordan and Isaac and I got to go into the hospital room and saw our brand new baby sister.
While my family reads my blog and gets updates on what’s happening. Ellena checks it daily. Every time I’ve gotten to talk to her, she mentions reading the blog. So I have to give a shout out to one of my most avid readers!
While my family reads my blog and gets updates on what’s happening. Ellena checks it daily. Every time I’ve gotten to talk to her, she mentions reading the blog. So I have to give a shout out to one of my most avid readers!
A week of stories
Monday, I was kept pretty busy. I had to put a large icon up in the church. Luckily I was able to have Mike help me with that. Looking at the chapel this weekend, it was nice to look around and see a number of things that I had helped put up or clean up. I’ve been put in charge of the chapel cleaning since I got here, so to see it looking better and better is exciting.
The second half of the day, I tried to focus on Spanish. After spending some time on my own with Rosetta stone and a few of the other many programs I’ve been using, I shadowed the boys. Karen was having a class on handwriting, so I sat in on the class. Listening, I tried to translate, mentally, as much as I could from the class. Since I knew what she was talking about generally, I was able to pick up the words I knew, and piece together what she was saying. After that class, I sat and watched an Animal World video with a couple of the other boys. Anything and everything Spanish helps. As I’m writing, I’m listening to a talk show in Spanish on the radio.
Tuesday, the flu that I was fighting off for a few days finally hit. While it’s not fun to be sick, it was nice to finally get a day to sleep. I hadn’t realized how much, I grown fatigued internally. The entire day I laid low, and I felt a world better come Wednesday.
Wednesday, was a patchwork of jobs. I spent the morning watering plants, and then working with Mike a little bit. He’s been organized the Project Mexico warehouse last week. It looks fantastic now, but he put a full week and a half’s worth of time into cleaning it up. As he and Kat, take off in the next couple days. Their imprint on Project Mexico will remain. Both have contributed so much to Project Mexico and St. Innocent’s Orphanage over the last five years they’ve been here. We are all indebted to their great work.
In the afternoon, I had to organize a number of icons in our chapel. Like I mentioned above, all the projects in the chapel are exciting to do as the chapel is constantly being improved.
Thursday, I drove up with Kat and Madi up to the states for the meeting. I did a couple cleaning jobs around the office. Then my amazing Grammy dropped by and donated a bunch of fresh fruit. She and I then went out and grabbed a coffee and got to catch up for an hour or so. We also made a call to Ellena for her birthday!!!
---As a side note, having my grandparents here in San Diego has been a great blessing. When I first came down, I stayed with them for almost a week. Since then they’ve helped with a few different things. When I had to get my Sentri pass, they helped with getting some of the paperwork needed together. I’ve also gotten to see them a couple times since I’ve been in Mexico and went out to breakfast with them a couple weeks ago.
Friday, was a similar to Thursday. I went up and spent the day doing a lot of office work. In the afternoon I had to make some phone calls on behalf of Project Mexico. It was pretty neat when I got to talk to a few people I hadn’t seen in a while. One of which was our pastor’s daughter Tatiana, and an intern from this summer, Alexandra!
Saturday, was cleaning day. The morning was spent cleaning the chapel. However in the afternoon, I went and played volleyball with the boys. Say what you like about futbol/soccer being their best sport, these boys are very good at volleyball. I was impressed. I assumed that my height would give me a clear advantage, however, they still stuck in, each game was quite a challenge, I ended up losing the majority of the time.
Sunday, I helped chant in matins, and actually stayed at the stand for the liturgy. The last two weekends I’ve chanted for vespers, matins and the liturgy. It’s definitely helped with the Spanish, but also worked on my humility at the same time, (a couple of the things I read, did not come out the way they were supposed to – to say the least). Later, after some more intense volleyball, I went with Madi, Geoff, Kat, and the older boys to a canyon to climb. Another cool group experience that was very exciting and fun to be a part of.
The second half of the day, I tried to focus on Spanish. After spending some time on my own with Rosetta stone and a few of the other many programs I’ve been using, I shadowed the boys. Karen was having a class on handwriting, so I sat in on the class. Listening, I tried to translate, mentally, as much as I could from the class. Since I knew what she was talking about generally, I was able to pick up the words I knew, and piece together what she was saying. After that class, I sat and watched an Animal World video with a couple of the other boys. Anything and everything Spanish helps. As I’m writing, I’m listening to a talk show in Spanish on the radio.
Tuesday, the flu that I was fighting off for a few days finally hit. While it’s not fun to be sick, it was nice to finally get a day to sleep. I hadn’t realized how much, I grown fatigued internally. The entire day I laid low, and I felt a world better come Wednesday.
Wednesday, was a patchwork of jobs. I spent the morning watering plants, and then working with Mike a little bit. He’s been organized the Project Mexico warehouse last week. It looks fantastic now, but he put a full week and a half’s worth of time into cleaning it up. As he and Kat, take off in the next couple days. Their imprint on Project Mexico will remain. Both have contributed so much to Project Mexico and St. Innocent’s Orphanage over the last five years they’ve been here. We are all indebted to their great work.
In the afternoon, I had to organize a number of icons in our chapel. Like I mentioned above, all the projects in the chapel are exciting to do as the chapel is constantly being improved.
Thursday, I drove up with Kat and Madi up to the states for the meeting. I did a couple cleaning jobs around the office. Then my amazing Grammy dropped by and donated a bunch of fresh fruit. She and I then went out and grabbed a coffee and got to catch up for an hour or so. We also made a call to Ellena for her birthday!!!
---As a side note, having my grandparents here in San Diego has been a great blessing. When I first came down, I stayed with them for almost a week. Since then they’ve helped with a few different things. When I had to get my Sentri pass, they helped with getting some of the paperwork needed together. I’ve also gotten to see them a couple times since I’ve been in Mexico and went out to breakfast with them a couple weeks ago.
Friday, was a similar to Thursday. I went up and spent the day doing a lot of office work. In the afternoon I had to make some phone calls on behalf of Project Mexico. It was pretty neat when I got to talk to a few people I hadn’t seen in a while. One of which was our pastor’s daughter Tatiana, and an intern from this summer, Alexandra!
Saturday, was cleaning day. The morning was spent cleaning the chapel. However in the afternoon, I went and played volleyball with the boys. Say what you like about futbol/soccer being their best sport, these boys are very good at volleyball. I was impressed. I assumed that my height would give me a clear advantage, however, they still stuck in, each game was quite a challenge, I ended up losing the majority of the time.
Sunday, I helped chant in matins, and actually stayed at the stand for the liturgy. The last two weekends I’ve chanted for vespers, matins and the liturgy. It’s definitely helped with the Spanish, but also worked on my humility at the same time, (a couple of the things I read, did not come out the way they were supposed to – to say the least). Later, after some more intense volleyball, I went with Madi, Geoff, Kat, and the older boys to a canyon to climb. Another cool group experience that was very exciting and fun to be a part of.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Baby Calf!
Just wanted to share that we had a baby calf join the group down here a couple days ago. I got to see it for the first time today. The cute little guy is getting his legs under him still. But it was fun to watch him as he wobbled and hopped around the pen today.
I'm helping Madi out in a second doing some outdoor education. We've got a series of puzzles that the boys have to run around and solve. I should have pictures from it that I'll add soon.
I'm helping Madi out in a second doing some outdoor education. We've got a series of puzzles that the boys have to run around and solve. I should have pictures from it that I'll add soon.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
yep, I'm in Mexico
Wow, I can’t believe I’m coming up on two months already. It’s scary, I still feel like I still have two months with Alex here, along with Kat and Mike. Sadly, both are leaving in the next couple weeks.
This last week has been a very good, productive week. I’ve gotten some projects done, and my Spanish took off after being stuck in a flat for about a week.
Wednesday, I went up to the states and picked up Dn. Daniel. He came down and stayed with us through Friday. It’s possible he and his wife may be joining us in the future, permanently - a very exciting possibility! Dn. Dan, is a very kind and wonderful man. When I heard we were going to have him visiting, I thought to myself, “wow, this will be the first time in my two months that I’ll actually know more Spanish that another American at the orphanage.” How terribly I was mistaken. Dn. Dan walked into the office and one of our staff members greeted him saying, “como estas?” He laughed and then launched into an explanation about how the trip was, how the flight was, and how he’s enjoyed the time in California, ALL in Spanish. There goes my chance… guess I’ll be waiting until January to get off the bottom of the Spanish speaking totem pole. I felt a little better though, when I learned that Dn. Dan had been in the Navy and had spent 6 months in a Spanish school and then was sent down to Venezuela for an entire year. While this was back in 1990, he still knew quite a bit, and made a great impression on the boys and the staff. Everyone took to him very quickly.
Wednesday and Thursday I focused on getting the cross, and candles hung up in the church. Not the hardest job, but I had to prime, paint, finish, drill, screw, and attach these boards. Basically, there was a lot of little things that added up. I had a rather foolish moment while drilling. At one point my drill bit got loose, so I had to retighten the drill. A couple minutes later, it felt like it was getting lose again. Forgetting that just moments before this drill had been creating a large amount of friction with the cement wall, I grabbed the bit to see if it was loose. A sizzling sound came from my finger tips. I quickly realized that the bit was fine, instead I needed to tighten down some common sense. However, burnt fingers and all, I finished it Thursday, and it looks good. I joked later, that it was a good thing I got my Sentri pass done earlier in the week. As part of the Sentri application, you need to get fingerprinted. Had I waited until Friday, I wouldn’t have had any finger print on my left thumb and pointer finger. That would have been rather humbling to explain why I had not finger print.
Friday, I went and helped up in the office in the states. One of our staff member’s father, is having heart problems at the moment. Since she has not been able to be at the office much, I had to go and do a few jobs around the office. It won’t be long, but I may be going up there once a week or so for maybe a month.
Today, after breakfast I had to go help out up in the animal pens. We have a cow that looks to be really struggling with an illness right now. The poor thing couldn’t get off the ground, so I had to go in with a few of the older boys and staff and pick her up off the ground. I really hope she can make it, but we might be putting her down pretty soon here if she doesn’t recover. If she hadn’t been strong enough today to hold her own when we picked her up, we were going to have to put her out of her misery today. (I noticed they had the equipment ready to go, if we hadn’t been successful.
Speaking of which I had a bit of a, “oh, yeah I’m in Mexico” moment earlier this week. Since there is no trash system down here, the best way to dispose of trash is to burn it. A lot of locals will take their trash out into the middle of a field light it on fire and walk away, (with is still burning a lot of the time). So, I was on my way to put some trash our incinerator. Since the incinerator is right next to the animal stalls and you can always hear the different animals, chickens, a annoying rooster (who decides his alarm is 5am, and every ten minutes afterwards), along with a couple horses, cows and pigs.
However, this time I noticed two different things. First, there was a smell, vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. It seemed to be coming from the incinerator, like something had been burnt. At the same time I realized that one of the animal sounds was missing. As I walked up to the incinerator, I discovered the culprit. I put the bag in the fire, then realized I had tossed the bag on a leg. A hoof was attached. Then I realized there was an animal ear next to it. Turns out it was butcher time at the orphanage and our beloved pig had met its end. After eating pork that evening, I walked out from the kitchen and noticed one of the ranch staff washing the pots and pans that had been used in the butcher process. All well and good, except that he was washing them in the spicket right next to my room. There was a definite smell exuding from the pots and water. As I walked into my room I discovered that this aroma also inhabited my room. All I could do was shake my head and think, “yep, I’m in Mexico”.
Senor ten piedad,
Joel
“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. ~ Robert E. Osborn
This last week has been a very good, productive week. I’ve gotten some projects done, and my Spanish took off after being stuck in a flat for about a week.
Wednesday, I went up to the states and picked up Dn. Daniel. He came down and stayed with us through Friday. It’s possible he and his wife may be joining us in the future, permanently - a very exciting possibility! Dn. Dan, is a very kind and wonderful man. When I heard we were going to have him visiting, I thought to myself, “wow, this will be the first time in my two months that I’ll actually know more Spanish that another American at the orphanage.” How terribly I was mistaken. Dn. Dan walked into the office and one of our staff members greeted him saying, “como estas?” He laughed and then launched into an explanation about how the trip was, how the flight was, and how he’s enjoyed the time in California, ALL in Spanish. There goes my chance… guess I’ll be waiting until January to get off the bottom of the Spanish speaking totem pole. I felt a little better though, when I learned that Dn. Dan had been in the Navy and had spent 6 months in a Spanish school and then was sent down to Venezuela for an entire year. While this was back in 1990, he still knew quite a bit, and made a great impression on the boys and the staff. Everyone took to him very quickly.
Wednesday and Thursday I focused on getting the cross, and candles hung up in the church. Not the hardest job, but I had to prime, paint, finish, drill, screw, and attach these boards. Basically, there was a lot of little things that added up. I had a rather foolish moment while drilling. At one point my drill bit got loose, so I had to retighten the drill. A couple minutes later, it felt like it was getting lose again. Forgetting that just moments before this drill had been creating a large amount of friction with the cement wall, I grabbed the bit to see if it was loose. A sizzling sound came from my finger tips. I quickly realized that the bit was fine, instead I needed to tighten down some common sense. However, burnt fingers and all, I finished it Thursday, and it looks good. I joked later, that it was a good thing I got my Sentri pass done earlier in the week. As part of the Sentri application, you need to get fingerprinted. Had I waited until Friday, I wouldn’t have had any finger print on my left thumb and pointer finger. That would have been rather humbling to explain why I had not finger print.
Friday, I went and helped up in the office in the states. One of our staff member’s father, is having heart problems at the moment. Since she has not been able to be at the office much, I had to go and do a few jobs around the office. It won’t be long, but I may be going up there once a week or so for maybe a month.
Today, after breakfast I had to go help out up in the animal pens. We have a cow that looks to be really struggling with an illness right now. The poor thing couldn’t get off the ground, so I had to go in with a few of the older boys and staff and pick her up off the ground. I really hope she can make it, but we might be putting her down pretty soon here if she doesn’t recover. If she hadn’t been strong enough today to hold her own when we picked her up, we were going to have to put her out of her misery today. (I noticed they had the equipment ready to go, if we hadn’t been successful.
Speaking of which I had a bit of a, “oh, yeah I’m in Mexico” moment earlier this week. Since there is no trash system down here, the best way to dispose of trash is to burn it. A lot of locals will take their trash out into the middle of a field light it on fire and walk away, (with is still burning a lot of the time). So, I was on my way to put some trash our incinerator. Since the incinerator is right next to the animal stalls and you can always hear the different animals, chickens, a annoying rooster (who decides his alarm is 5am, and every ten minutes afterwards), along with a couple horses, cows and pigs.
However, this time I noticed two different things. First, there was a smell, vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. It seemed to be coming from the incinerator, like something had been burnt. At the same time I realized that one of the animal sounds was missing. As I walked up to the incinerator, I discovered the culprit. I put the bag in the fire, then realized I had tossed the bag on a leg. A hoof was attached. Then I realized there was an animal ear next to it. Turns out it was butcher time at the orphanage and our beloved pig had met its end. After eating pork that evening, I walked out from the kitchen and noticed one of the ranch staff washing the pots and pans that had been used in the butcher process. All well and good, except that he was washing them in the spicket right next to my room. There was a definite smell exuding from the pots and water. As I walked into my room I discovered that this aroma also inhabited my room. All I could do was shake my head and think, “yep, I’m in Mexico”.
Senor ten piedad,
Joel
“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. ~ Robert E. Osborn
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Break from Spanish study for me... quick update for you
Sunday was a pretty easy going day. Hung out with some of the boys and took the day off.
Yesterday on the other hand, was a little different. I woke up and waited at the border for and hour and fifteen minutes to get through. Then I raced over to Calexico for another Sentri interview. Due to God’s grace and providence they did not realize I was missing a document they had required. Thankfully, I was able to escape and get my pass. Now I’ll wait 2-3 weeks in the border line for shipping. :-) Haha always an adventure when dealing with governments.
After getting home, I sat in on a little art class here at the orphanage. Madi’s mom is visiting and is a talented artist. She was showing the younger boys ways in which they can improve their drawings and add detail to their art. Just sitting in on the class, I learned a few new tricks myself.
Today has been chores around the ranch (orphanage). Watering plants and working on some agricultural parts of the orphanage, took up a good part of the morning. In addition Fr. Michael wants me to hang up some items in the church, Cross, candles etc. Since they can’t be right against the wall, I have to create a barrier a spacer of sorts between the items and the wall. I’m trying to search down a couple 2x4s, sand and paint them. In the end I’ll be putting clips on the wood to attach the Cross and candles. A simple job, but I just discovered we are destitute of all 2x4s! Everyone who has been down here before probably is gasping at the thought, but due to some recent construction projects we don’t have any. I’m going to head off to the hardware store later today and grab a couple things.
Since doing some measuring and prep for that all, I’ve been studying Spanish…
*Knock on door*
A couple minutes later…
I just talked with Fr. Michal about the church project and the Spanish. He just asked me to head down and clean up one of our guest trailers for a visitor coming tomorrow. I’ll head off to that!
Under His Mercy
Joel
PS – Thank you to everyone who emailed and wrote on my facebook wall on my saints day yesterday.
Yesterday on the other hand, was a little different. I woke up and waited at the border for and hour and fifteen minutes to get through. Then I raced over to Calexico for another Sentri interview. Due to God’s grace and providence they did not realize I was missing a document they had required. Thankfully, I was able to escape and get my pass. Now I’ll wait 2-3 weeks in the border line for shipping. :-) Haha always an adventure when dealing with governments.
After getting home, I sat in on a little art class here at the orphanage. Madi’s mom is visiting and is a talented artist. She was showing the younger boys ways in which they can improve their drawings and add detail to their art. Just sitting in on the class, I learned a few new tricks myself.
Today has been chores around the ranch (orphanage). Watering plants and working on some agricultural parts of the orphanage, took up a good part of the morning. In addition Fr. Michael wants me to hang up some items in the church, Cross, candles etc. Since they can’t be right against the wall, I have to create a barrier a spacer of sorts between the items and the wall. I’m trying to search down a couple 2x4s, sand and paint them. In the end I’ll be putting clips on the wood to attach the Cross and candles. A simple job, but I just discovered we are destitute of all 2x4s! Everyone who has been down here before probably is gasping at the thought, but due to some recent construction projects we don’t have any. I’m going to head off to the hardware store later today and grab a couple things.
Since doing some measuring and prep for that all, I’ve been studying Spanish…
*Knock on door*
A couple minutes later…
I just talked with Fr. Michal about the church project and the Spanish. He just asked me to head down and clean up one of our guest trailers for a visitor coming tomorrow. I’ll head off to that!
Under His Mercy
Joel
PS – Thank you to everyone who emailed and wrote on my facebook wall on my saints day yesterday.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Battling in futbol, and with reptiles!
A day, filled with a number of little stories, was highlighted by an intense couple hours playing soccer with the older boys. For the first time since I’ve been here, I had some solid playing time with them. I was lucky to have been paired with one of the older (better) boys, and together we ended up winning most of the games. Surprisingly, I was actually able to hold my own. We won something like four games (to three goals), and I scored five goals total. Later, in the year the older boys play in a local league. The boys at the orphanage are all on the same team. I’m really trying to work hard so that I might be able to join the team and play with them!
In addition, today we had a summer intern, and a couple friends (who had also been on a work group this summer) come down for the day. They helped organize one of our equipment sheds, which was no small task. Afterwards, they were able to hang out with the boys and catch up on old friendships, and their futbol!
While cleaning the chapel today, I was sweeping under a table. Suddenly, I realized something was alive underneath! Shocked I jumped back (and yelled), as a 10 inch long (I ended up measuring it), Alligator lizard ran out from underneath the table. The body was only half of the length, so when I saw the long tail I thought it was a baby rattle snake. Of course by the time I discovered that it was a harmless lizard, a few of the boys came running in to see what I had yelled about. Thankfully, even they were surprised with the size of the lizard, but then they laughed at my yelling about a little old lizard. Haha :-)
In addition, today we had a summer intern, and a couple friends (who had also been on a work group this summer) come down for the day. They helped organize one of our equipment sheds, which was no small task. Afterwards, they were able to hang out with the boys and catch up on old friendships, and their futbol!
While cleaning the chapel today, I was sweeping under a table. Suddenly, I realized something was alive underneath! Shocked I jumped back (and yelled), as a 10 inch long (I ended up measuring it), Alligator lizard ran out from underneath the table. The body was only half of the length, so when I saw the long tail I thought it was a baby rattle snake. Of course by the time I discovered that it was a harmless lizard, a few of the boys came running in to see what I had yelled about. Thankfully, even they were surprised with the size of the lizard, but then they laughed at my yelling about a little old lizard. Haha :-)
Friday, October 16, 2009
Catching up
Forgive me, I get behind and keep putting off updating the blog. Suddenly a week’s passed since I last wrote. My bad. Here’s a quick run down of the last week.
The weekend
I drove up early in the morning and met with a good friend, Christina Saad. She started attending Point Loma Nazarene University this year. Since I'm planning on applying to the school in November, I was excited to get a tour from a current student. After her showing me around the campus, my thoughts were, beautiful campus, Christian atmosphere, polite, kind students, pretty conservative and the school is positioned right at the beach. It was already a favorite of mine, and walking around the campus and being able to look to a view of the ocean from almost every spot we stopped, it’s hard not to love. --- Christina and I then drove from there to my friend Jenna’s (our SOYO Youth President) house. Jenna’s sister and a friend also joined the group, and we all drove up to the Torrance together. Friday evening was pretty relaxed and I got to catch up with some good friends.
In the morning we had our SOYO meeting. At the end of the meeting the service project for the day, was making three blankets for St. Innocent’s orphanage! I hadn’t heard about this beforehand, so it was a very pleasant surprise! I was very excited to be able to bring those down afterwards and give them to the boys. In the evening, we had Vespers at St. Matthew’s Church, and returned to the hotel.
Sunday we had a wonderful service at St. Matthews. After saying good bye to friends, the group who had come up from San Diego went out to lunch together. We hit the road and returned South. Christina had returned to San Diego with another friend, BUT, she had left her dorm keys in my Project Mexico car. So after getting back, I had to go and meet up with her. As fate would have it, she was at a concert, a free concert for Jason Mraz! I was thrilled to go and meet up with her, and some other Christian friends at the concert. It was a little bizarre, we had been listening to Jason Mraz on the way back to San Diego, and in a matter of minutes be listening to him live in concert! Just thinking about it still kind of amazes me.
The beginning of the week…
Monday and Tuesday were spent doing projects. Right now we’re trying to find get personal Bibles and other items for the boys to have so that they can have daily personal access to Christian material. Monday, I met with Fr. Michael and Alex. It’s always nice to have that meeting and just clarify what’s up for the next week - in addition to discuss any questions, comments, or concerns we may have. Working with them both has been great.
Wednesday, I drove all the way out to Calexico. I’m applying to get a Sentri pass which speeds up getting into the states tremendously. However, since our local office was booked through December, I had to drive 2 hours East. It was pretty disappointing when they asked for a couple files that weren’t required of other people in the past. Ah well. This summer when I was here for the week long trip, the group was told that the key to missionary work is patience, patience, patience. So take a deep breath, and wake-up tomorrow ready to go again.
Yesterday we had our bi-weekly meeting up in the States. Right now we really want to push the iCan Give 20.4.24 campaign. If you haven’t heard about it yet visit http://projectmexico.org/Campaign.aspx and check it out!!! When I got home I hung out with a few of the boys. Haha, it’s really nice to just be able to goof around and take a bit of a breather. One thing I do really appreciate is that it’s a big family here, so you can be yourself. With that mindset, I believe I’ve been able to get to know the boys on a more personal level. I’m talking with a family member, not someone I met less than two months ago.
Today has been spent working on different projects. I had to do another vehicle check, and I’m again appreciating learning a little bit more about cars and trucks. I think it would be really nice to work for a mechanic for a summer or maybe take an elective class in college on automotive repair and maintenance. It can save you so much time and money in the long run. I’m also working to put together weekly and monthly schedules for myself. I’m realizing that if I just go with the task at hand, some of my smaller projects will continue to be pushed to the side more and more. Basically, I am just establishing days of the week as my watering day, or car day, and so on. Like anyone in their normal lives, I am having to set a schedule so I don’t have my room full of half done projects. To finish of the day, Fr. Michael invited me over to watch Flipper with the family. Always a blessing to spend time with the Nasser family. :-)
The weekend
I drove up early in the morning and met with a good friend, Christina Saad. She started attending Point Loma Nazarene University this year. Since I'm planning on applying to the school in November, I was excited to get a tour from a current student. After her showing me around the campus, my thoughts were, beautiful campus, Christian atmosphere, polite, kind students, pretty conservative and the school is positioned right at the beach. It was already a favorite of mine, and walking around the campus and being able to look to a view of the ocean from almost every spot we stopped, it’s hard not to love. --- Christina and I then drove from there to my friend Jenna’s (our SOYO Youth President) house. Jenna’s sister and a friend also joined the group, and we all drove up to the Torrance together. Friday evening was pretty relaxed and I got to catch up with some good friends.
In the morning we had our SOYO meeting. At the end of the meeting the service project for the day, was making three blankets for St. Innocent’s orphanage! I hadn’t heard about this beforehand, so it was a very pleasant surprise! I was very excited to be able to bring those down afterwards and give them to the boys. In the evening, we had Vespers at St. Matthew’s Church, and returned to the hotel.
Sunday we had a wonderful service at St. Matthews. After saying good bye to friends, the group who had come up from San Diego went out to lunch together. We hit the road and returned South. Christina had returned to San Diego with another friend, BUT, she had left her dorm keys in my Project Mexico car. So after getting back, I had to go and meet up with her. As fate would have it, she was at a concert, a free concert for Jason Mraz! I was thrilled to go and meet up with her, and some other Christian friends at the concert. It was a little bizarre, we had been listening to Jason Mraz on the way back to San Diego, and in a matter of minutes be listening to him live in concert! Just thinking about it still kind of amazes me.
The beginning of the week…
Monday and Tuesday were spent doing projects. Right now we’re trying to find get personal Bibles and other items for the boys to have so that they can have daily personal access to Christian material. Monday, I met with Fr. Michael and Alex. It’s always nice to have that meeting and just clarify what’s up for the next week - in addition to discuss any questions, comments, or concerns we may have. Working with them both has been great.
Wednesday, I drove all the way out to Calexico. I’m applying to get a Sentri pass which speeds up getting into the states tremendously. However, since our local office was booked through December, I had to drive 2 hours East. It was pretty disappointing when they asked for a couple files that weren’t required of other people in the past. Ah well. This summer when I was here for the week long trip, the group was told that the key to missionary work is patience, patience, patience. So take a deep breath, and wake-up tomorrow ready to go again.
Yesterday we had our bi-weekly meeting up in the States. Right now we really want to push the iCan Give 20.4.24 campaign. If you haven’t heard about it yet visit http://projectmexico.org/Campaign.aspx and check it out!!! When I got home I hung out with a few of the boys. Haha, it’s really nice to just be able to goof around and take a bit of a breather. One thing I do really appreciate is that it’s a big family here, so you can be yourself. With that mindset, I believe I’ve been able to get to know the boys on a more personal level. I’m talking with a family member, not someone I met less than two months ago.
Today has been spent working on different projects. I had to do another vehicle check, and I’m again appreciating learning a little bit more about cars and trucks. I think it would be really nice to work for a mechanic for a summer or maybe take an elective class in college on automotive repair and maintenance. It can save you so much time and money in the long run. I’m also working to put together weekly and monthly schedules for myself. I’m realizing that if I just go with the task at hand, some of my smaller projects will continue to be pushed to the side more and more. Basically, I am just establishing days of the week as my watering day, or car day, and so on. Like anyone in their normal lives, I am having to set a schedule so I don’t have my room full of half done projects. To finish of the day, Fr. Michael invited me over to watch Flipper with the family. Always a blessing to spend time with the Nasser family. :-)
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Safe!
Just wanted to say that I made it home from the states in one piece. I had a great time at the Fall Gathering with friends, new and old. On the way home I got to actually go to a Jason Mraz concert for free in Chula Vista. Awesome! I'll write more soon...
Under His Mercy,
Joel
Under His Mercy,
Joel
Thursday, October 8, 2009
New Boys!
Yesterday, we had the amazing blessing of adding two boys to the orphanage, Irwin and Andres. I feel especially blessed since I’ve gotten to hang out a lot with the boys. Irwin is 10 and Andres 8. Both seem very talented and well coordinated for their age. It was very surprising when after a goal, Andres got down and did a cartwheel/flip. Stunned for a second I asked “otre ves?” (again?) He proceeded to do a handstand and walk across the entire court on his hands. Throughout the day he would put on these little performances that made me wish I had some talent to match. The entire time, I kept thinking to myself… wait he’s only 8, what could he be doing in ten years?
Today, we had a board meeting down here at the orphanage. Essentially twice a year members of the board who live across southern California, come down to the orphanage and discuss current events, issues and successes. Before the meeting I was able to meet a number of the board members and I actually knew a few from our old church, St. Athanasius in Santa Barbara. However,I ended up doing some odd projects around the orphanage instead of attending the meeting. I fixed our church bell to ring clearly now, and I went to the hardware store to get some clips to hang the cross, fans, and candles in the church. In additon, I helped out with a little bit of electricity pipe hanging, and some computer projects as well.
Tomorrow, I’m headed up to LA for the Antiochian Western Diocese’s Fall Gathering. I’ll be up there for the weekend and I’ll be returning Sunday evening.
Thank you all for your prayers, and support!
Under His Mercy,
Joel
--- "It's always better to surprise people with your intelligence, instead of your stupidity. Therefore, when you talk about yourself, poke fun at your short comings, rather than building up amazing stories of your success. Then when the truth comes out, it won't disappoint."
Today, we had a board meeting down here at the orphanage. Essentially twice a year members of the board who live across southern California, come down to the orphanage and discuss current events, issues and successes. Before the meeting I was able to meet a number of the board members and I actually knew a few from our old church, St. Athanasius in Santa Barbara. However,I ended up doing some odd projects around the orphanage instead of attending the meeting. I fixed our church bell to ring clearly now, and I went to the hardware store to get some clips to hang the cross, fans, and candles in the church. In additon, I helped out with a little bit of electricity pipe hanging, and some computer projects as well.
Tomorrow, I’m headed up to LA for the Antiochian Western Diocese’s Fall Gathering. I’ll be up there for the weekend and I’ll be returning Sunday evening.
Thank you all for your prayers, and support!
Under His Mercy,
Joel
--- "It's always better to surprise people with your intelligence, instead of your stupidity. Therefore, when you talk about yourself, poke fun at your short comings, rather than building up amazing stories of your success. Then when the truth comes out, it won't disappoint."
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Quote of the day...
"Adversity is another way to measure the greatness of individuals. I never had a crisis that didn't make me stronger." - Lou Holtz
Today I did another vehicle check and cleaned it. Met with Father Michael, and had a couple other small things. I'm looking forward to this weekend at the Antiochian Fall Gathering up in Torrance CA.
Today I did another vehicle check and cleaned it. Met with Father Michael, and had a couple other small things. I'm looking forward to this weekend at the Antiochian Fall Gathering up in Torrance CA.
Monday, October 5, 2009
The Handoff - no worries I'm not talking about the Chargers
Today, after breakfast, Alex showed me how to do maintenance checks on the project Mexico vehicles. It was a good learning experience for me. I wish I had a better mechanical IQ. Hopefully doing maintenance checks over the months to come will improve my vehicle literacy. In addition to the vehicles, he also showed me different patches of ice plant around the orphanage grounds that need to be cared for to help keep different hills from eroding. It looks like I’ve got some weeding to do here in the near future. All through the morning and into the early afternoon, Alex showed me all the ins and outs of his weekly jobs that I’ll be taking over now.
After the run through of jobs, I went to my room and worked on my Spanish. Tu pensar yo pueda aprendo muchas rápido después todo la practico. (You would think that I could learn quickly after all the practice.) Ah well, it’s coming, I definitely have improved tremendously since I arrived. My most recent step to improvement has been understanding Spanish accents. I can pronounce something correctly, and make a decent attempt to use a Spanish accent, however, hearing an authentic accent speak muy rapido, is different. Haha. I’m getting by though, as the boys laugh. :-)
I’m just about on my way to a Vesperal Liturgy to celebrate St. Innocent, the patron saint of the orphanage. After that I might get to skype video chat with my family! :-)
After the run through of jobs, I went to my room and worked on my Spanish. Tu pensar yo pueda aprendo muchas rápido después todo la practico. (You would think that I could learn quickly after all the practice.) Ah well, it’s coming, I definitely have improved tremendously since I arrived. My most recent step to improvement has been understanding Spanish accents. I can pronounce something correctly, and make a decent attempt to use a Spanish accent, however, hearing an authentic accent speak muy rapido, is different. Haha. I’m getting by though, as the boys laugh. :-)
I’m just about on my way to a Vesperal Liturgy to celebrate St. Innocent, the patron saint of the orphanage. After that I might get to skype video chat with my family! :-)
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Lazy Saturday? What's that?
Quick update before I head off to chapel for Vespers. 
This morning we all got to sleep in and have eggs and hash browns for breakfast! After breakfast, I helped spearhead the chapel cleaning. Once the chapel was cleaned I headed over to help with hanging electricity pipe on a fence. That took us almost to lunch. After lunch I just hung out with the boys, played a lot of soccer and a quick basketball game of around the world.
I got a couple pictures from Madi from last night. I wrote on facebook that it was a sunset for the ages... really it was. My blog header is one of the pictures, but here's a couple extra.
This morning we all got to sleep in and have eggs and hash browns for breakfast! After breakfast, I helped spearhead the chapel cleaning. Once the chapel was cleaned I headed over to help with hanging electricity pipe on a fence. That took us almost to lunch. After lunch I just hung out with the boys, played a lot of soccer and a quick basketball game of around the world.
I got a couple pictures from Madi from last night. I wrote on facebook that it was a sunset for the ages... really it was. My blog header is one of the pictures, but here's a couple extra.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Scouting out climbing opportunities
Today, after prayers and breakfast with the boys, I worked on some Spanish. After that, I went and helped out with this electricity project a couple staff members are working on. I had to spend most of my day working there. We’re putting in a new generator soon, in the eventual hope that the orphanage will eventually become self sufficient.
At about four, I tagged along with Madi as we drove down to Ensenada. She had a meeting with a climbing gym down there that she’s hoping to take the boys later this month. After talking with one of the guys at the gym, she showed me a little bit around Ensenada. It’s a neat town that is centered around its harbor. Fishing is the main business there, and there is a part of town that you can definitely smell the evidence. After watching an amazing sunset we headed back home.
At about four, I tagged along with Madi as we drove down to Ensenada. She had a meeting with a climbing gym down there that she’s hoping to take the boys later this month. After talking with one of the guys at the gym, she showed me a little bit around Ensenada. It’s a neat town that is centered around its harbor. Fishing is the main business there, and there is a part of town that you can definitely smell the evidence. After watching an amazing sunset we headed back home.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Who am I?
A couple days ago when I was making donation runs, an internal question arose from a particular trip through the border. I wanted to write about it that night, but it struck me differently, and I didn’t know exactly what to think about it. After days of pondering, I still haven’t come to a conclusion. But I wanted to share it before it slipped into distant memory.
Monday, I was sitting in the line, inching my way forward to the land of the free, all the while dodging the many peddlers, salesman, and beggars. The salesmen I can handle, they generally seem to be well taken care of, have decent goods, and I can feel alright passing. The peddlers too, usually have some kind of hand crafted decoration, or Mexican item, that they can sell and seemingly get by. However, the beggars, and I mean the people simply standing out there in rags, asking for money, are the ones I’m lost with.
This particular day, I was driving in one lane, and came upon two girls, both about 10-12 years old. Ellena and Andrew, my younger brother and sister, are both in that age range, so see the girls reminded me of them. As I came up, one got down on her hands and knees, and the other stood on her back and attempted to juggle. The poor girl was not very good, but she seemed to do it with a smile. After juggling they would run around to the cars and ask for money, come back and do the same routine again. When I got up next to them, one of the girls came and knocked on my window. Like so many others that day, I shook my head, and “no, lo siento”, (no, I’m sorry). Her face dropped, her shoulders dropped. A minute later they started their routine again, but her face started to kill me. There are a number of true beggars in the line every day. If gave a dollar to every one, every time I’d pass, I’d need a whole new section of my budget to be dedicated to it. It would be different if it was one time into Mexico, and back. But if I’m living here for nine months, on a slim budget as is, I’ll have no funds by November. So I have passed on the other side, I wished somehow I could feel ok doing it. I drove down the line, beyond the girls, but then they decided to walk up the line towards me and again they performed right next to my window. This time they both knocked and I couldn’t say no. I rolled down the window and gave them each a dollar. They saw my water bottle and asked “agua?” I let them have it and they both were very excited and were very grateful. Still, I felt guilty for passing them the first time.
Of course this feeling was only doubled when 50 yards further, I passed an old woman in tatters also asking for a couple pennies. What am I to say, am I in worse condition? I have to hold on to my money because I have to pay for gas in a little bit? I can’t pay because I’d spend all my Mexico funds in a month if I gave to everyone who asked. But is that what Christ said? Did he say that we should give only when we had more money than we needed? Is there any justification for passing on the other side of the road, ever? Better yet, if I was in their position, would I not think that this young man driving in a mini van was better off then me? Would I not think that he could probably spare a couple bucks, what’s the difference to him?
At the judgment day we will be asked if we fed those who where hungry, thirsty, and those in need. To the goats he’ll say whatever you did not do unto the least of these, you have not done unto me. As I passed by, not even offering a dollar to these people, I sure felt like I knew what side I should be standing on at the judgment day – and I didn’t feel very good about it either.
What am I to do, is a question I’m trying to answer. In a sense I’m having an identity crisis, not necessarily just with myself. I keep asking who am I as an Christian? Who am I as an American? Who are they, as a person? Who are they, as a child of God? Who am I as their brother in Christ? Who am I to decide who I should give to, and who I should not? Who am I to judge? Who am I? …Who am I?
Monday, I was sitting in the line, inching my way forward to the land of the free, all the while dodging the many peddlers, salesman, and beggars. The salesmen I can handle, they generally seem to be well taken care of, have decent goods, and I can feel alright passing. The peddlers too, usually have some kind of hand crafted decoration, or Mexican item, that they can sell and seemingly get by. However, the beggars, and I mean the people simply standing out there in rags, asking for money, are the ones I’m lost with.
This particular day, I was driving in one lane, and came upon two girls, both about 10-12 years old. Ellena and Andrew, my younger brother and sister, are both in that age range, so see the girls reminded me of them. As I came up, one got down on her hands and knees, and the other stood on her back and attempted to juggle. The poor girl was not very good, but she seemed to do it with a smile. After juggling they would run around to the cars and ask for money, come back and do the same routine again. When I got up next to them, one of the girls came and knocked on my window. Like so many others that day, I shook my head, and “no, lo siento”, (no, I’m sorry). Her face dropped, her shoulders dropped. A minute later they started their routine again, but her face started to kill me. There are a number of true beggars in the line every day. If gave a dollar to every one, every time I’d pass, I’d need a whole new section of my budget to be dedicated to it. It would be different if it was one time into Mexico, and back. But if I’m living here for nine months, on a slim budget as is, I’ll have no funds by November. So I have passed on the other side, I wished somehow I could feel ok doing it. I drove down the line, beyond the girls, but then they decided to walk up the line towards me and again they performed right next to my window. This time they both knocked and I couldn’t say no. I rolled down the window and gave them each a dollar. They saw my water bottle and asked “agua?” I let them have it and they both were very excited and were very grateful. Still, I felt guilty for passing them the first time.
Of course this feeling was only doubled when 50 yards further, I passed an old woman in tatters also asking for a couple pennies. What am I to say, am I in worse condition? I have to hold on to my money because I have to pay for gas in a little bit? I can’t pay because I’d spend all my Mexico funds in a month if I gave to everyone who asked. But is that what Christ said? Did he say that we should give only when we had more money than we needed? Is there any justification for passing on the other side of the road, ever? Better yet, if I was in their position, would I not think that this young man driving in a mini van was better off then me? Would I not think that he could probably spare a couple bucks, what’s the difference to him?
At the judgment day we will be asked if we fed those who where hungry, thirsty, and those in need. To the goats he’ll say whatever you did not do unto the least of these, you have not done unto me. As I passed by, not even offering a dollar to these people, I sure felt like I knew what side I should be standing on at the judgment day – and I didn’t feel very good about it either.
What am I to do, is a question I’m trying to answer. In a sense I’m having an identity crisis, not necessarily just with myself. I keep asking who am I as an Christian? Who am I as an American? Who are they, as a person? Who are they, as a child of God? Who am I as their brother in Christ? Who am I to decide who I should give to, and who I should not? Who am I to judge? Who am I? …Who am I?
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