Boot Camp Day 3. Wednesday
// September 9th, 2009 // Holy Random Batman!, I just started writing and..., Life, Uncategorized
Wednesday felt weird. Maybe it’s because we slept until a reasonable hour. The whole day is kind of a blur at this point, but I know Carolyn led devotions and brought a level of reverence for God we hadn’t heard yet. I was moved by what she shared.
Most of our day was spent staring at the front of the living room while we were flooded with information on Mexican culture, respect, and talking with Pastor Daniel, who heads one of our partner churches. He gave us many many insights on both the Mexican cultural heritage and on today’s customs and practices. He also filled us in on a lot of little things worth remembering, like hand gestures, slang phrases, and celebrities. We should be a lot more culturally relevant because of his time spent with us.
Much of the day was also spent studying the history of the church, particularly Catholicism and the path to Mexico’s present-day picture. Today, between 75-95% of Mexicans will identify themselves as Catholics. Much like in the United States, many of those who affiliate themselves with a church do not necessarily practice the beliefs or even attend services. We also got the opportunity to speak on Skype with a highly-respected theologian who grew up in a Protestant church, but converted to Catholicism. He gave us many insights into true Catholic dogmas, practices, and the original and present-day reasoning behind some of their traditions. He also was happy to answer the peppering of questions we threw at him, occasionally regretfully admitting that some of the Catholic traditions were very poorly understood in specific churches. However, that isn’t the point. We were trying to have a conversation on unity and working as one body for one Christ and for one purpose, so we each brought faults to the table. He told us the history of the Catholic church in Mexico and explained why it was so strong here. Additionally, we gained some insight as to the challenges we would face as white, American, pentecostal missionaries. We have a lot of work to do and it’s going to be way harder than we thought, but worth every drop of blood, drop of sweat, and tear.