we forget sometimes how surprisingly compelling a game of jump rope can be in the middle of a crowded street. people stop & stare. people start talking. people start asking you to share what you're all about. and it's all good.
What is 800? 800 people for 6 days. Filling 800 bowls with 3 meals a day. Washing said bowls, cups, forks, knives spoons, pailas, 3x a day. skin peeling from all the detergent. bathroom clean-up for 800 youth. Welcoming committee waking at 3am to start welcoming with full band, horns, drums, fog horns red devil buses filled with youth from around Panama. Starting at 3 am, continuing on for every last bus from 3am to 5pm. Waiting in line for the showers behind 40 girls wanting to impress and be impressed.
But yet, bonding & gelling as a group more than ever before. Shared belly-laughs over yet another container filled with people's forgotten plates once you thought you couldn't wash one more thing. Crashing into your tent way too early, too zonked to play one more camp game. Moments of quietly walking off to the river while the campers are in yet another 4 hour conference in the early afternoon. Stories shared over the giant vats of cooking rice. Learning how to prepare Ohaldras for a billion people, or so it seems, at 4:30am. Learning, through yet another example, of how to live life in community, well.
Elizabeth, Brooke & I have just arrived into the community where we'll be doing our practical application to all we've learned in the community development school. Pray for vision, obedience, wisdom, discernment and unity as we walk into this thing.
From January 20 through early April Elizabeth, Brooke & I will be living in Bambu, Costa Rica, on the C.R/Panamanian border, a 30 minute bus-ride from BriBri, the capital town of the Talamanca Reservation area. Please pray for us as we go on this journey. It's sometimes awkward to go to a place for 3 months when all we've heard for the last several months is the need for long-term relationships and development to make any impact into a community. This is gonna be interesting.
.that i keep seeking God's will & presence in my life. it's easy to get distracted, and I want to use my time wisely.
