Ok, what happened today? I'm writing this while 3 of my team are being friends with each other, which makes me really happy. They're getting along so well with each other!
Before today started, I got to sit on our patio and just worship. I've found a little spot where, if I sit on a little ledge, the sun hits me and I feel like a cat. So I just sat and sang while the world woke up. It was lovely.
Today started with deliciousness. Ismael showed up with to our casita with tortillas, cebolla, cilantro, salsa, y barbacoa. He made us breakfast! It was really kind of him. Why was tortillas the only word I said in English? Idk.
After breakfast, we went to the church building and helped them set stuff up. It was really chill since the building is theirs (weird). After setting up, I got soundly defeated in a game of Pokémon by Derek (you met him yesterday, remember). Then everyone started showing up for church and it was non-stop reunion. It was low-key overwhelming, but in a really good way.
Bueno. So, obviously, as fans of all my work, you've read everything I've ever written. That means you remember you Sophia-con-p-h is. I didn't recognize her, y'all. I legit almost teared up a little. I don't really know a thing about their family anymore, but I feel really proud of her and miss this family.
Church was fun. Worship is always upbeat and so skillfully done, Sergio is a good speaker, everyone is super friendly. The only awkward part was when he had me stand up and talked about me for a hot minute, but then it was ok, because he had our whole team stand up and talked about us. I really noticed the Power Distance difference in Mexican culture today.
Hofstede's cultural metrics or dimensions or whatever? Power Distance is how much distance or difference or inequality exists between people with authority and people without. That power can come from age, rank, skill set, w/e. It's not r e a l l y about respecting authority, but it often seems or feels that way. America is super low; so I joke around with my bosses and call people older than me by their first name and (politely) question decisions made by authority... and that's culturally accepted. Pero aqui, there's a much higher Power Distance, so roles and age are much more important.
"Thanks for the mini-lecture, Sam. Learning about culture dynamics is exactly why we read your blog."
I thought as much.
After/at church, we met Ale(jandra), and Cristian (who already knew me, I think). They are students in the church here, and will be helping us in our times on campus. We went to the casita to drop off one of ours who wasn't feeling well, and then headed towards the town of Santiago. Cristian, Ale, and Quintin (Ale's bf) joined us in the van and we drove. It was a longish drive, so we had great opportunity to connect with these students. This will allow us to be more comfortable working together this week, and make it easier to do some sideways discipleship while we do.
On the drive, Eliana and I tag-teamed Cristian and talked about why we love serving Jesus, and some of the joys and difficulties of discipleship, etc. It was good teamwork; when I couldn't figure out how to ask what I wanted to ask (in English or Spanish, lol), Eliana was already asking it. I got to press into some topics, and she did a great job of giving a useful (a.k.a. student) perspective on them.
Everyone on the team did a great job of bonding with the students today. I was really proud. I got to have some good conversation with Quintin, who is a newer believer, but has great insight and excitement for his faith. When he found out my age, he was a bit taken aback and seemed unsure how to interact with me for a little while. He called me "dude," and then apologized if it was disrespectful (Power Distance). But, by the end, he seemed mostly convinced that it wasn't weird to talk to me.
We ate together and walked around a giant market area together. Henry carefully arranged our team so we wouldn't lose any gringas, which I am very much in support of. We walked around and everyone did a good job of conencting with the universitarios; I even had time to have a really encouraging side conversation with Rachel as we footed around. I think we all feel a little out of place here, but, like she said: "God doesn't call competent, equipped people; he works powerfully through the broken people he calls." I also got to talk a little with Qintin and then Ale about my desire to use my life for ministry, and why engagement with other peoples and cultures matters to me.
By the time we left, it was getting dark, and everyone seemed very tired (I didn't even have any soda today, so yay me). Henry y Annie took the students home and the gringitos all loaded into the van. We were all pretty quiet, but I got to talk a little bit with Alexis about great commissiony stuff before we all settled into silence, so I'm glad the team got to hear a little mobilization on the way home.
We got home, Henry swung by and we talked about the plan for tomorrow. Now everyone is in some stage of going to bed and I have the downstairs to myself.
Tomorrow it gets really real, and we've seen some spiritual warfare, y'all. At different times, 4 of the 6 of us have felt incredibly overwhelmed, physically sick, and deeply insecure. And that's just that I know about.
When I see this kind of spiritual warfare, I have to ask: What is God about to do? Why are we getting such opposition? Could it be that we'll actually see the Spirit-sparked restart of the student ministry here that has been prayed for? Could it be that God actually wants to move in power and that years from now, long-time members of this church will be talking about this week and how they got connected? Lord, let it be so.
PRAYER PLEASE!
-for us to walk in freedom, not obligation or projected expectations
It's weird that the time is different now. You posted this yesterday, but it's still yesterday where I am.
ReplyDeleteLet's not start the back-and-forth thing again
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