Wake-up call

Day 3
Monday. Ha-ha. That’s about how my day started. Breakfast was scheduled for 7:00 AM and we were planning on leaving the compound around 8:00 AM. I figured setting my alarm for 6:45 would be relatively reasonably for waking up and getting ready on time. I was awoken by movements the next morning and I figured it was probably 6:30 and that the rest of the guys in the room were getting ready a bit earlier than I was planning on. I looked at my cell phone. 5:18 AM was smiling up at me from my phone. Can I tell you I was not smiling back? I asked the men if they knew what time it was or not. They all laughed at me (I later found out that they were all putting bets on whether or not I would actually get out of bed while they were at breakfast.) I suppose that is the difference in a 19 year old college kid and men who are mostly retired or who soon would be retired.

After a quick breakfast we all packed up and headed to a small “suburb” that was about twenty minutes away from our housing. The houses there were very small if they were houses, and there were many small trailers. We got there around 8:30 and we all took fliers around and passed them out to the different houses around the neighborhood and during this I attempted to speak Spanish several times, thinking before today that I was becoming more proficient in my speaking. I was sorely mistaken.

My conversations were hilarious to behold. I think one of my conversations didn’t have one single complete thought in it. Imagine it, a guy comes to your door speaking a language you don’t understand and attempts to ask you if you understand his language, and upon telling him no, he rattles off a few of the words he does know that has to do with whatever he is inviting you to. Words like, shoes, clothes, and toys. Talk about embarrassed after a major brain fart. I felt sorry for those who were with me. They didn’t speak Spanish, but I think listening to me must’ve have given them a desire similar to putting a racehorse out of its misery. As the day went on, my Spanish improved; I believe this was due mainly to the fact that I was talking with five and six year olds. I washed feet with a newfound friend, Erin Nichols, and several others from our group. I washed feet of old women and young boys and girls with a washcloth and dried their feet after, and we then gave out pairs of shoes until we had no more. It was an awesome experience for me. These boys and girls were so shy and they really were grateful for anything that we could offer to them.

To be honest, I was really worried about being grossed out by people’s feet, but in the end, I was only able to smile as I scrubbed my brothers’ and sisters’ feet. I was able to ask the kids what sports they liked, ask them if the cold water and washcloth tickled their feet, and see if they liked the shoes we could offer them. I was blessed as I saw the humility of children as they accepted and liked whatever was offered them whether it was tacky or not. I saw through the language barrier today as sometimes they would simply smile or laugh, and I saw how universal that was for the first time today. I never thought I’d how selfish and blessed I am from visiting a place that was within the U.S. borders. And I know that the situations and conditions I saw were not even bad compared to other areas of the world. Throughout the day I took pictures of the different things that were going on around our block of the street. One thing I didn't get to capture by my camera was how many dogs there were in this neighborhood. There must've been 3 dogs to every person living here. And not just little dogs, the big dogs you see on the news saying that they attacked and killed someone. The visits for those houses with the big dogs began with a short time of prayer. Other than the dogs though, there were many toddlers and young children there who were simply adorable. I have seen pictures from mission trips that friends have been on and the pictures of children that they have is always showing a cute child or baby, and I have looked at these pictures in the past and have only thought about how good of a picture it is, or how cute the kid is. After one day, I feel like I will look at these pictures differently, knowing that I interacted with these people, that I was a part of their lives and that they were a part of mine as well.

As I worked at our small VBS clinic later in the day, I met a kid named Ulises. He was nine years old, and he became furious with me for trying to take pictures of him while he was receiving a haircut. He tried to hit me on the head with a full bottle of Suave shampoo, but fortunately I was given enough forewarning to avoid getting hit. Later on, he let someone else take his picture, I gave him a hard time, but we pounded fists afterwards and therefore were friends. So he made a deal with me that if he made the ball on a string, into the cup that I would owe him a dollar. I had one dollar, so I agreed. He, after about 25 minutes, finally made the ball into the cup and so, I gave him a dollar before he left and made him take a picture with me. Ulises was just a funny guy.

Tonight we watched another episode of Glee. I am telling you, it was more awkward than Michael Scott doing the worst thing you can think of on “The Office.” But we are all still hooked. Olivia sang “Lead Me to the Cross” for a special music during our worship service, and we ate spaghetti for dinner with brownies and ice cream for dessert! After worship, I attempted to throw the frisbee with some people in the compound, but there really isn’t an area here that is grassy so the sound of my frisbee scraping the concrete every other throw made me cringe on the inside. So here I am in the building that we eat dinner now, writing this entry, talking to friends about how great our God is, and relaxing after a long day. It’s probably about time for me to start preparing for tomorrow’s long day that is in store for us. God bless.
-Matthew 9:37
-The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray that the God of the harvest would send forth laborers.
-Isaiah 6:8
-“Here I am; send me.”