HIS Adventure: November 2007

Missing Persons Report

Some of you may know that over the last year or two I’ve discovered that I really enjoy kayaking. I’d thought that the summer of 2007 was going to be full of kayak trips with some local friends in Richmond. Little did I know that I would not even be in Virginia during the 2007 Kayak season. But sometimes I’m convinced that God goes out of His way to put a smile on our face. Last week I experienced one of those special “smile” days.

It was my day off….we have one day off each week, usually Wednesday. We all work on Saturdays and have various responsibilities on Sunday. And NEVER is our work finished at 5pm, especially since we live where we work. Typically on a day off we (missionaries- Bobby, Britney, Wendy and I) try to get away from campus for at least part of the day and find something to do that won’t cost us much money. Sometimes we wander around the city or go to a movie (only $3.50 I’m told); sometimes we go to the beach (about an hour away). Early in the summer Bobby and Britney found a beach resort/hotel that didn’t cost too much. The resorts rule was that you had to spend $15 in some way while you were there. It was at the end of a dirt road near a pig farm. The options at the resort seemed endless: enjoying the beach or their 2 large pools, going 4-wheeling or horse back riding on the beach, kayaking, using their game room, etc. We started at the beach…but found that on this particular day the waves were not only huge but very strong. Not even Bobby could go in farther than his knees, and he still got knocked over once by the strength of the water at knee level. We resorted to throwing Frisbee and football on the beach. On one particularly bad throw, the Frisbee went into the ocean. We all went running after it….well kind of. I managed to trip and have a less than graceful fall/slide across the shells and sand. And to make it worse, the Frisbee was gone. When I got up, I found that the outside of my left leg, ankle to hip, was scraped and bleeding. At first I figured the salt water would help clean it, but then I remember that there’s an estuary that joins the ocean very nearby. Bobby had earlier told us about how this estuary zigzags through the community, becoming a convenient place for sewage and whatever else. So, I opted for the shower and Neosporin (I rarely leave home without it). We ate lunch on a balcony that overlooked the ocean. While the others opted for naps, Bobby and I decided to go kayaking….in the estuary of course. Bobby said last time the estuary water looked thick and black…but only yucky brown today. Not the best way to keep my new wounds clean…but I figured I’d survive. The kayaks were sea kayaks…a new experience for me and a bit more challenging than the kind of kayak where you sit in a hole (the kind I’m accustomed to). This kind of kayak is kind of flat and you sit on top of it, not in it. How I got on that kayak from that dock without flipping I’ll never know. Within minutes, everything changed. It was so quiet. I honestly felt like I was paddling thru the Amazon just like in a National Geographic. I yearned for my camera. We went past numerous tiny thatched hut homes, occasionally seeing a child peek at us. I could only imagine how many times these homes were easily washed away by storms. But I’m sure their meager earnings didn’t allow for anything else. The estuary at times was narrow and challenging to navigate through due to the heavy growth from jungle-like trees and vines. I thought to myself…ignorance is bliss. For all I know, the spider webs we forged thru were the homes of deadly spiders, and who knows what sort of slithery creature could be in the thick mucky water surrounding us. Then we saw him. A man was in the yucky water up to his neck. We stopped paddling and watched from a respectable distance for awhile. His partner, standing nearby, would throw a home made looking circular shaped net into the water, and then this guy would go completely under water. Doing I don’t know what…something to do with the net I reckon. Then shortly afterwards one of them would pull up the net, never letting it stay under water for more than a minute or two. And we never saw them pull anything out of their net. We encountered this same sort of activity over and over, sometimes by the young, sometimes the very old as we continued on our journey. Eventually we reached our goal…the place where the estuary meets the ocean. The estuary running one direction, the waves of the ocean the opposite direction. We pulled onto a sandy spot to get out and look around a bit, and then we started to paddle back towards the resort. About ½ ways there, we saw Wendy and her friend in a kayak approaching us. That’s when we found out that we were considered, “missing persons” by the staff of the resort and they’d sent out a search party. They said that we’d been gone over 2 hr and the estuary had many side routes, making it easy to get lost. Oh, that explains why the very out of the ordinary small boat with a motor on it went by a little earlier, then turned around and went back. Guess that boat belonged the resort and once they saw that we were fine and headed back to the resort, then they headed back too. We had no idea we’d been gone that long; neither of us was wearing a watch. With a little help I was able to get off the kayak and onto the dock without getting too wet. We then retreated to the pool to join Britney have a coke and some ice-cream. At the end of the day, the manager of the resort (a kind lady who speaks English well) told us that because we are volunteers trying to help her country, then the kayaking was free. I didn’t quite spend $15, but she said that was fine and she encouraged us to come back anytime, and the kayaking would always be free for us she said. I doubt we’ll come back often, but it’s nice to know it’s there. And who in the world would’ve ever thought that I’d find a place to kayak in El Salvador? Not me! At the end of the day I thanked God for the gift and the smile on my face. (And by the way, my leg is fine and Bobby found the Frisbee washed onto the shore about a mile from where we were playing.) Aint God good?

1st Youth Sunday

I grew up in a small country church, and I’m glad I did. For as long as I can remember, our youth group met on Sunday nights and followed the organizational structure of another organization called Christian Endeavor (CE). Bobby and Britney, a young missionary couple who arrived in Jan, do an excellent job with youth ministry here (particularly gauged for teenagers). They were the youth leaders in their home church back in Ohio. I find it interesting that they are beginning to learn about concepts in youth ministry that CE was doing many years ago, particularly the idea of youth taking roles of leadership. I can’t tell you how many numerous times I and my best friend Kim have been thankful for our years in Christian Endeavor. Although we didn’t know it back then, CE built solid Christian leadership skills into us that we now use in our every day lives. One of the things CE encouraged was Youth Sunday, where the youth were responsible for every part of the service, form door greeters to preaching.

On Sunday Nov 4th, we had our first ever (as best we can tell) all youth led Youth Sunday here at the Home. I’m so proud of Bobby and Britney and the kids. They spent many hours in planning and rehearsing. Every piece of the service was done by the youth: the decorations, the music, the drama, the preaching, the clean up afterwards, etc. Teen-aged Rodrigo seems to have a passion to be a pastor and it certainly looks like he’s gifted that way. With some guidance from Bobby, he did an outstanding job. For an object lesson, Rodrigo obtained a big barrel that was no longer being used. Then during the service (as practiced), he got a small tyke (Milton, who’s just a little taller than the barrel), and put Milton into a trash bag up to his neck, and then into the barrel. Then, as the whole congregation watched, he had older boys add bucket after bucket of sand into the barrel around Milton. The whole time, Rodrigo was teaching that our lives are like this when we sin. The more we sin, the more we get trapped and feel weighted down and unable to get out of the mess we’ve created, until we’re up to our neck in trouble and completely unable to help ourselves. By this point Milton was nearly up to his neck in sand. Then, as Rodrigo explained, we realize we can’t do anything to help ourselves and we must understand that we need help. If we pray to God, repent from our sins, and ask His forgiveness, He is certain to forgive us and help us in the midst of any circumstance we’ve gotten ourselves into. Then, on cue, the boys who dumped in the sand, start lifting up the barrel over Milton’s head. Unbeknownst to the audience, the bottom of the barrel had been cut out, and the sand poured out the bottom of the barrel as it was lifted up, thus freeing Milton. The audience applauded loudly. I think it’s an object lesson they won’t soon forget.

Rodrigo is the guy in red in the background. Although Milton is looking a little concerned at the moment, I promise you he was all smiles at the end as he had everybody's attention and applause.

Science Fair

On Oct 19th I suddenly had a tiny taste of what it must be like to be a parent at a school function. At various times, I had about 20 kids from the orphanage pulling on my sleeves, arms, and/or pant leg saying “Have you seen my _____ yet?” or “Come see my ________!” or “What did you think of my ________?” Everyone was excited. It was the day of the annual School Expo which is somewhat like a science fair back home, except that it was not limited to just the subject of science. How clearly I remember my solar system project, and it always seemed that someone was going to build a “real” volcano and someone else was trying to hatch eggs under a light bulb. Remember those days?

There are 350 kids in the school, and apparently every student had to do at least one project, regardless of their grade. However, if the student needed to bring up his grade in a certain class, then he could do a project for the expo. Some did various kinds of art work. Some did projects for their English class, i.e. Douglas and Nicole’s first place puppet show performed completely in English. There were math projects, Bible projects, social studies projects, history projects, and a whole bunch of science projects. By the look of things I'd say that a lot of kids needed to help their science grade. Some were extremely impressive. Starting with the middle school aged student, they had to stand near their project and give a demonstration and explain (in Spanish) what was being shown to observers like me and to the judges. Additionally, the older ones were also required to have their demonstration in written form, both in Spanish and English! A lot of the staff and volunteers here at the Home put in extra long hours to help the kids to get their projects ready. The week leading up the the expo had Bobby And Britney's house looking like something had exploded; half finished school projects here and there. Bobby's carpentry and construction skills were put to the test. (See Bobby in the picture below.) Everyone was exhausted from the chaos at the end of the day, but I also felt proud of the kids and was glad that they were excited to share their special day with me.