I don´t smell anymore!

Howdy!

We just got back from the camp and we´re all really tired because the senior class stays up all night with a bon fire and eats hamburgers and stuff until they wake up the rest of the camp by yelling and screaming at 630 am. haha.

First I want to give you a run down on what we´ve been doing . We have devotionals on tuesday , wednesday , thursday , and friday mornings at 730, church on tuesday night, thursday night, and twice on sundays , and prayer meetings on monday and friday nights . During our lunch hour ( s) we get to eat with the kids , play a bit, or sleep . It's a bit hard for me to pay attention during devotionals or church because it´s all in spanish, but I try and I can usually get bits and pieces of it, then Stephen or someone else from our group tell me what it was about afterwards. While we´re on the subject, I think my spanish is coming along nicely. I can have short .. very short conversations with people and follow other conversations especially with a context of the conversation and body language. And I almost feel like Stephanie when she said the other day that she thinks a lot in spanish and when it´s in English, it´s with a Scottish accent. (because of Stephen) Our big project last week was painting the La Palmera guest house where missionaries or people affiliated with the school can live for a while. We finished just in time because a married couple from England named David and Lorna arrived last weekend! They´re living the house we painted and is joining us for the three weeks they´re here.

This week was camp! The first couple of days I was exhausted because of all the activities planned 630am to 11pm, spanish 24/7, and the heat. There were four teams and I was a leader for team ROJO! I don´t know why I wasn´t partnered up with a spanish speaking leader to help lead my 6 guys, but it turned out fine. Luis Jose, one of the kids on my team, and Stephen helped me out getting everyone to do what they were supposed to do and such.

The morning was mostly devoted to devotionals, church service, and small group discussions. The preacher, someone other than Carlos Hugo, wasn´t my favorite, but he was really enthusiastic which I think was a good idea for the kids who might need something a little more energetic. Btw, the theme of the camp was ¨God´s faithfulness¨and I found it interesting that most of their Bible verses (all of the devotional chapters) were from the old testament. I found it refreshing since a lot of churches in the US skip over a lot of the old, even though I prefer the messages of the new better.

The afternoons were for games and sports. We played a loooot of fun team building games using simple materials. It brought me back to the days were we could play games without worrying about law suits over injuries. We had some kids with really rope burns, cuts and bruises, sprained ankles, but no one complained. These kids have amazing spirits. Each team was super competitive and we all had chants we´d say... most of them ended up being ¨Rojo¨ repeated over and over. The soccer competition was by far the most intense. The red team was playing the yellow team and we tied 1-1 and it came down to goalie kicks where we lost unfortunately. Bryce was happy though because he was playing on the yellow team.

At night, we had worship where we danced, sang, and prayed until the night was over. Then two of the nights we watched a movie. It was probably one of my favorite times because I was more energized and it was just a lot of fun to jump around with the kids, laughing and making a fool of ourselves. Live concert every night!

It´s funny because they call it camping, but all the kids looked their finest in their Ambercrombie and Hollister clothes. I felt a bit out of place in my Germanesque hiking pants and tattered shirts with stains on them. haha. Also, they had huge speakers set up in the church area with a full-on band that we rocked out to every night. They put in new toilet and shower facilities recently which was much appreciated, although Andrew and I fully embraced the camping mentality using the toilets sparingly and being stinky together. hahaha. It wasn´t as bad as other people make it sound. And despite all my searching, the anaconda that lives in one of the ponds nearby did not make an appearance. We were greeted by hungry goats, cows, dogs, and mosquitos, though!

The whole week builded up to the thursday night gala. Everyone gets dressed up in formally and we eat dinner on tables set up in the church area. It made for some hilariouly awkward situations during the week where girls or boys 5-10 years our junior would ask us if we had a date to the gala... apparently that´s accepted for this occasion. Then later in the week we joked Before we even got on the bus to go to camp a fearless camper named Noelia asked for her friend, Stephani, 11 years old, loves animals, if I would be her date. (Things like this make us realize how similar kids are all around the world. An 8th grader is still an 8th grader no matter where you are.) She was a shy giggly girl with thick, curly hair. She cried during the beginning of the gala and I had no idea why. I think it was because she wasn´t able to sit with her friends or because I wasn´t being talkative enough. My teammates say it was because I stank, but nevertheless I started talking to her about animals and the circus and gave her a heart-shaped lolipop and an alcatraz keychain and it seemed to cheer her up a lot. This was their prom equivalent, and it was quite fun. The Wesley group even did a ¨Special¨presentation for the kids which demonstrated an assortment of our talents. (I´ll post the video soon... it´s pretty darn good)

After dinner they were supposed to have a dance, but for some reason they showed a movie instead. After the movie the senior class had the biggest bon fire I´ve ever seen. The pile of wood was at least three to four feet high and six feet in diameter... no pit and dry palm branches above. We just talked, drank lots of coke (got bended), jumped over the fire, sat, and ate until I couldn´t stay awake anymore. I went to bed at 4am, and like I said earlier, got woken up at the brisk hour of half six.

I´m glad we went to camp earlier in our stay because I feel like since I had so much time to spend with the kids, I became familiar with the different group characteristics and made lots of friends. More on them later!

Cheers!
Jonathan

PS I´ve been taking lots of pictures, but I´ve been trying to figure out the best way to share them. Soon hopefully they´ll be accessable.

PPS Look at these cool symbols! Ñ Ç € ¿ ... yay internet cafe! BYE!