The Willem

Things I did this Halloween

// November 1st, 2009 // No Comments » // Holy Random Batman!, I just started writing and..., Life

Packed all the El Colli stuff in the truck and van in a tidy and organized manner (this has never been done)

Ministered to tons of kids through song, dance, and helping with the day’s Bible story (I was a discus champion, and I was good at it)

Handled a parent’s questions in Spanish by myself (and figured out who her kids were)

Discovered that being called “Gordito” by the local kids is, in fact, not offensive here (I’m still not sure I believe that)

Lashed out in a passive-aggressive manner towards people yelling nonstop in the study room (I apologized later and I should have handled my need for quiet in a more tactful fashion)

Ate a lot of honey-roasted peanuts and hershey’s kisses. (I truly think this might be the best combination of snack foods)

Wrote a paper on an amazing book (the paper is below, and significantly less impressive than the book)

Admired Seth’s and Baby Henry’s incredible costumes (Baker In Training for Seth, Pooh and a Pumpkin for Baby Henry)

Had a great chat with a mentor (although part of it was more hilarious than mentor-mentee relationship)

Ate amazing food, all throughout the day. (Home-baked goodies, tomato basil soup, baked potatoes, yum)

Did the best makeup job I have ever done for Mike’s demon outfit (Seriously, he looked Joker-esque)

Complained about the egregious lack of good tape in this country (I honestly have no idea how they hold their stuff together without the glory of duct tape)

Continually ran back and forth between a fake party and the Judgment Seat, where I then draped myself in a sheet that wouldn’t stay up (due to lack of good tape) so I could play God

Met a couple of very cool new people and got to practice my Spanish in a long car ride around 1am. (They said I spoke very well!)

Had a very healthy and helpful chat with a very good friend on the way back from that long car ride. (I’d been looking forward to this particular conversation for a while)

Of Baptisms, Mountains, Cowboys, and Comida

// October 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // Holy Random Batman!, Life

Sundays really are the best day of the week. We (Angela, Phoenicia, and myself) woke up early this morning to go out to our friend Daniel’s house, where we met his parents. We then followed them out to meet where their church usually meets (Daniel’s dad, Rodolfo, is the pastor). It turns out they meet in a clearing on the side of the road and set up a tent. Today, however, we said a quick prayer and headed out to the middle of nowhere in a caravan. We drove for about an hour out of town and it was absolutely some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. Eventually, we turned off to a rolling sideroad which was barely paved, then drove on that for about 10 minutes while staring at all the beautiful cliffs, forests, wildlife, and graffiti (even an hour out of town into the wilderness, there’s graffiti in Mexico). At the end of the road was a little resort type camp, where we unloaded tons of food and some various gear, then packed through the gate. There were beautiful rock pools everywhere throughout the camp and a large building towards the back where we set up food and had service. A little old lady named Lori gave her life to the Lord.

After the service, everyone changed into swimsuits and gathered in one of the lower pools. There, Rodolfo baptized 7 people, much to the delight of all involved. It was a very exciting way to take a huge step of obedience for all of these people, and it was an incredibly lively and supportive group. I was absolutely blessed to be a part of this.

After hanging out in the pools for a while, we all migrated towards the food, which was plentiful and flavorful. There was pollo molé, a marlin dish, tons of fresh fruit, and a delicious pasta salad. On top of all of that, there was a pastor’s wife trying to feed me until I popped. This was one of those times they trained us for, where you smile, say gracias, and eat everything they put on your plate or in your glass. It hurt. It hurt so good.

After stuffing our faces with food, everyone decided to jump back in the pools for a a few hours of some bizarre version of volleyball, wherein Rodolfo decided to announce every move that was going on. It was hilarious. Also entertaining was everyone’s reaction to my lack of participation. I didn’t feel like swimming today and I don’t particularly enjoy swimming in pools, so I didn’t join. Daniel’s mom kept trying to hit it by me to entice me to jump in out of reaction, but it never did work.

After a few hours of doing nothing, the three of us headed back over the hills, but took our time so we could stop and take tons of pictures of all the great views and interesting stuff, including random Mexican cowboys in the mountains herding cattle off the crazy road.

The whole adventure put several different thoughts into my head. Principally, I started thinking about how we need to celebrate the rebirth that baptism symbolizes. Honestly, we put on some pomp and circumstance and make a production out of it, but is that genuine? Is that true celebration? Are we honestly rejoicing in the progression and the obedience people are displaying and committing to? Another thing I thought today was how truly evident God’s creativity is everywhere we go. How do we miss it every day? How are we constantly ignorant of it? I pray that I would keep my eyes and heart open to see the evidence of God everywhere I go.

After we got home, Stacia and I laid around in the living room doing homework and complaining about being hungry for sweets. We finally found Katlyn and asked her where the remnants of the no-bake cookies were. After we scarfed those, we set to work finishing our reading, lectures, and an assignment (we actually turned an assignment in over a week before it’s due!).

Eventually hanging out in the living room caught up to us in the form of everyone in the house gathering around us and making noise, making studying impossible. We all decided to go to Plaza del Sol, where we ate Pizza Hut (or, as I call it now: Pizza Butt) and some extremely stale pastries. After running around trying to find everyone by yelling Marco Polo, Richie and Jen decided to soap all the fountains in the whole plaza. It was not very successful, but we got a lot of funny pictures and we had a great time.

Now we’re back at home trying to organize a game of Mafia that just won’t work. Everyone’s complaining and laughing at each other and I’m just sitting in the corner as a witness to this calamity. I’ll add some pictures to this post as I get my hands on them.

Running Short on Running Shorts.

// September 26th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Holy Random Batman!, Life, Prayer, Reflection

Ok, so they’re not running shorts, per se, but the possible title was too good to pass up. I’m either getting fat, way too hard on my clothing, or some combination of both, because my second pair of shorts split from the crotch down the leg this morning. Luckily, I noticed before we left for El Colli, so I had time to change into my sole remaining pair of shorts (Why is it a pair of pants and a pair of shorts? Does that make sense to anyone else? There’s one garment, right?). Fortunately for me, the remaining pair is my favorite for looks, so I’m at least safe there. I really need to get more soon though, because this climate is entirely too hot for jeans. Shoot, I’m the loon that wears shorts in -7 degrees at Costco, so I certainly would overheat here in jeans. I sometimes wish my body temperature was different, but then I remember everyone else complaining in cold weather all the time and I figure I’m ok.

The last 24 hours have been pretty amazing. I got a 95 on my Spanish Conversation exam, then an 84% on my New Testament Literature exam, then had some dynamite pizza for dinner. Then the fun began.

Richie and Jen were busy all afternoon making a cardboard ark for El Colli the next day. When they finished that, they decided to put the rest of the cardboard to use…as robot costumes. Once we finished taping them up and drawing faces on the masks and wrapping sections of them in aluminum foil, we found our portable speaker system and hopped on a bus to have them dance battle for spare change for Casa Hogar (our young boys’ home we work with). We took a few bus trips, took some video, danced at intersections, took more video, and finally headed home. They later went back out while I did some homework. In all, we made 118 pesos, which will almost buy two pizzas for the boys. We decided we’re going to split into two teams and do the same thing next week, with me being one of the robots. It should be hilarious.

Later Friday night, we went to the center of Zapopan (our city) to do some homeless ministry. I’d never been there before and I was exhausted before we left, so I didn’t want to go. Once we got there, we immediately ran into a guy asking for prayer. We prayed with him for about 10 powerful minutes. Talk about a wake up call. There’s no denying God was moving last night and doing amazing things. That man and about 5-7 others ended up either getting saved for the first time or rededicating their lives to Christ, and at least 20 people were healed of various infirmaries and serious illnesses. One man had a hernia and a serious shoulder injury. Both were healed. I was so humbled and convicted for wanting to stay home. I’m so thankful God used me last night and I can’t help but change the way I approach ministry from here on out. I also got the chance to use my Spanish a lot, and ended up doing way better than I thought I would.

We finally got home around 1:30 and stayed up laughing and posting pictures from the day and talking until about 2. I woke up in the middle of the night with a calf cramp that didn’t go away for over a half-hour. Finally, it subsided just in time for someone’s alarm to go off in the house and keep me from going back to sleep for a little while longer. I finally got back to bed and woke up for our 6am man-time. (We have made a covenant with all of the guys involved in the program to wake up at 6am for an hour of devotions and prayer every day, no matter when we have to get up. I’ve been taking the time to do my life journal and pray over the house and for all the girls/women involved. Everywhere we go, I’m keeping an eye on them to make sure they’re safe and never in situations where they’re feeling uncomfortable or threatened, so I feel I need to pray for them as well of course!) After my devotional time, I got back to sleep for a couple more hours before the cramp came back. It didn’t last as long this time, but I’ve felt it twinging all day (yes, I’m drinking a lot of water, so I have no idea why it’s cramping up).

El Colli this morning was a challenge to start, but ended up going really well once we got started. I learned how to play handball today and I’m ok at it. We had a couple kids making trouble nonstop (Please pray for Felix. He’s the one kid at El Colli that always makes me want to quit until I remember that God loves him and wants me to do the same), but everyone else was really well-behaved today. I was Noah in the puppet show, I helped with the dance, and Hannah and I put on the game (we made the kids spin around 10 times, then put a spoon in their mouth, put a lime on the spoon, and run to someone else and run around them and come back, then had three more kids on their team).

After El Colli, we drove over near our youth center, split up into three groups, and walked around praying together for the area. It was eye-opening, heart-wrenching, and inspirational. We saw so much and so many people that simply need love. I couldn’t help but hurt and cry for those people while I was praying for them. We ended up walking through a street-market and ran into a couple of our youth kids right next to a guy who was selling magazines, including pornography. I don’t know if anyone else noticed it, but I did and was praying for those kids the whole time. I now know exactly who I’m hanging out with every week at the youth center.

Now we’ve been home for a few hours to relax before one group heads to the youth center for the night and the rest of us go to our church’s youth group. In our relaxation time, Richie and Jen and Brittany had to clean the tarps. Instead of cleaning them and putting them away, they decided to clean them, make a slip and slide out of them, clean them again, and put them away. Definitely an entertaining day. Also, we have real milk for the first time. Like in a jug. I haven’t had milk from a jug for over a month, and boxed milk just tastes wrong. We made chocolate milk for a bunch of people, which was delicious. Richie and I also made a trip to Walmart to test out my new debit card (Bank of America let me draw out over $1,100 from the ATM and at school for classes, but freaked out over a $7 trip to Walmart, so I had to get a new card) and get some food. Unfortunately, we discovered that popcorn chicken from Walmart in Mexico is quite possibly the most disappointing thing ever cooked.

Well, now it’s time to head out to church and my calf just cramped up again. I need a banana.