The Willem

Yakima Happenings

// December 19th, 2009 // No Comments » // I just started writing and..., Life

Well, it has been a bit too long since I last updated. In the future, I’ll be establishing a regular schedule for postings, but I’ll get to that when I know exactly what my weeks are going to look like back in Guadalajara. For now, I’ll just give a few bullet-points concerning everything that has happened during my time in Yakima.

• My first Sunday back in town, I spoke at Solid Rock Family Worship Center, where I have friends and a new section of my church family. They listened intently as I spoke for about ten minutes about our established ministries, our Hell House event, and what we hope to accomplish in the coming years in Guadalajara. God truly is moving in Guadalajara and it was evident that this church now has a heart for the “heart of darkness.” They gave a very generous offering, covering an entire month of my budget. Additionally, several people declared their intention to give regularly over the coming months, which is how most of my funding works anyway. One woman even offered to send Christmas presents to all of our El Colli kids. I was very blessed to spend time at Solid Rock and I am looking forward to giving them regular updates

• Also in that first week, I set up a new email system on the website so people can auto-subscribe to the monthly newsletter I’ll be sending out. If you’d like monthly updates, please enter your name and email on the right side of the page.

• On December 9th, I finished my first semester back in college. I cannot fully describe how good it feels to be done with semester number one. About a week later, I got my grades: a 3.25 gpa. While that isn’t as good as I’d prefer, I suppose I’ll keep in mind just how much I was adjusting to. I expect higher grades in the future, but I’ll be content for now.

• I have a girlfriend for the first time in over four years!  The young woman I am now dating is named Anna. She’s a beautiful and compassionate daughter of God who is a teacher at a local Christian school. I am absolutely beside myself with joy at having found her. Obviously I could go on forever about her, but I’m keeping all of these updates brief, so I suppose I should stay consistent. I’ll post a picture of us at the bottom of this entry.

• I went swing-dancing last night. I never expected to enjoy it as much as I did, but I think I want to pick it up when I come back to Yakima permanently.

• I’ve had dinner at the houses of two prospective Engage students. Both were wonderful dinners filled with poignant questions, great laughs, and gregarious stories. I think both would be excellent candidates for Engage and recommended strongly that they both seriously pursue the program. Honestly, I would recommend this experience for just about every Christian high school graduate. So many aspects of it are beneficial for the age group and it’s a phenomenal learning environment.

• I had my first Reuben. It was delicious. I did not expect to like it, since I’ve never liked rye and never tried sauerkraut, but I was blown away. That’s a delicious sandwich.

• I’m buying a Mac. It just makes too much sense when I’m moving into graphics work, starting musical composition, and potentially doing video editing. I know, I know. I never thought I’d make the switch, but I’m in.

• I discovered that I lost inches while I was in Mexico. I’m actually noticeably thinner. I guess that’s a good start, but I’m still not where I’d like to be.

• I learned how to do drywall. I know, this isn’t exactly something you’d normally write about, but it was actually pretty exciting. Over the last week I’ve been working with a friend who is a general contractor and I’ve learned a lot of things that will come in handy when I have my own house someday, since repairing things is one of my favorite things to do and doing it myself is way cheaper than hiring someone else.

• I miss speaking Spanish. I never thought I’d say that. I’m very much looking forward to picking it back up.

• I received some very exciting news regarding my future as a pastor. It’s confidential for now and in the very very infantile stages, but I’ll be praying on it constantly and looking forward to whatever develops.

• Tomorrow Anna and I are driving over the pass after church to be with the Diehls for a few days. I’m not sure if I’m speaking at church at all, since nobody ever got back to me on that, but I would love the opportunity if it presents itself, since my funding is terribly low and nobody really knows what we’re doing or how to help. I’ll be praying about that tonight as well.

I think that’s it for now. As promised, the picture of Anna and I:

Bienvenidos a Los Estados Unidos

// December 4th, 2009 // No Comments » // I just started writing and..., Life

Oh, how I longed to hear those words. Ok, so maybe I longed for them in English, but I heard them in Spanish first and rejoiced. Then I realized that instead of being home, I was in Dallas, Texas, where it was pouring down rain and actually colder than Seattle at the time.

Anyway, I suppose I should recount the hilarity that always seems to accompany me on my traveling adventures.

At 1am on December 1st, I left our house. Richie, Jen, and Rachel accompanied me in our van after the three of them had spent a good chunk of the day arguing over who would get to take me. Eventually, we realized that Steve had the truck keys, so we had to take the van, which meant everyone could fit and we could have a grand adventure. Being an adventure, we all simultaneously decided to adopt outrageous accents. After “freerunning” around the Wallmart parking lot, we finally headed off to the bus station, where I managed to speak clearly and thoroughly in Spanish with the ticket agent. I was a bit stunned. Maybe I should always be exhausted when I’m trying to speak Spanish.

I purchased my bus ticket to Puerto Vallarta for the 1:40am bus, then sat down with the three hooligans for a while before they realized I’d be perfectly fine without them there (to be honest, I was sad when they left and had very little to do).  I hopped onto my bus and settled in for a nap that never came. I tried to sleep. I was sleepy. I was sitting in a very comfortable chair. The bus was quiet and incredibly smooth-driving. There was one issue, however. The bus was at least 90 degrees. Seriously, the bus driver must have blown right past “heat” on the dial and right on into the “fiery pits of hell” setting. So how hot was it? I’ll tell you how hot it was. It was so hot, I stripped down naked and put ice packs all over my body and was still sweating. It was so hot, the demons left everyone on the bus and retreated to Hell for some reprieve. It was so hot…ok, so it wasn’t THAT hot. But I was still sweating so badly that I couldn’t sleep. Not my favorite way to start a 27 hour journey.

We arrived in Puerto Vallarta around 6:15am. It was still dark. After grabbing my luggage (I packed light enough that I only had a backpack and a carry-on), I sauntered up to a group of cabbies and asked where the best breakfast on the beach was. They all gave different answers, so I went with the one who described the food the best (story-tellers know food, am I right?). We meandered through the beautiful buildings and palm-lined parkways until we finally arrived at a dead end that was about 20 feet from the beach. Then I discovered I only had 50 pesos, so we had to scoot over to an atm. I think he expected me to bolt, but I paid his full fair of course (the guy did swindle me a bit, but he was getting me to beachfront and delicious food, so I let it slide).

That’s when I found out that nobody was open until 7:30, and there was no way I could afford those restaurants. And the beach was dark. And cold. And rainy. I still got to stare out for a while admiring the absolute creativity and beauty involved in God’s creating this earth. Seriously, He knew what He was doing, and it was done well. Eventually, after being soaked in a combination of sweat, sea water, and rain, I decided to find a bus to the airport. I had to ask a few bus drivers, but I finally found the spot to wait at and got on the right bus.

I waltzed over to the Mexicana check-in and had a nice 15 minute conversation with the lonely attendant. We talked international politics, the greater ramifications of life decisions, the meaning of life, and Jesus. It was nice. Then a family finally showed up and I noticed they were speaking in both Spanish and English. Seeing as how we all had to wait for the security personnel to arrive before we could proceed with our day, I struck up conversation in Spanish with the dad (Rogelio). We talked a little bit about Spanish and my purpose in Mexico before I asked where they were headed for vacation. He then replied that they had just finished their vacation and were now headed back home in the States. I asked where they were from. He said Washington. I asked where at in Washington. He said Yakima. I said no way. I said I lived on Naches Avenue and Martin Luther King. He asked why I lived in such a bad area, then said they were actually from Sunnyside.

We eventually found out that they were headed through Mexico City, then Phoenix, then Seattle, whereas I was flying Mexico City, Dallas, Seattle. The security guy finally showed up and we separated for an hour or so. I had some breakfast, read some of Hebrews and Romans, then headed to Starbucks to sneak a wireless signal for my computer. There, I met a couple guys from Chicago who were having trouble getting in touch with their hotel, so I looked up a phone number for them.

When I headed over to the gate for my flight, I reunited with the Sunnyside family and asked if they knew how to get onto the airport shuttle from Seatac to Yakima. Instead of answering me, they decided they wanted to drive me home after their flight got in. I was floored. God provides in such creative ways.

The flight from Puerto Vallarta to Mexico City was mostly uneventful. I sat with an empty seat between myself and a really nice kid who plays soccer for a second division club in Mexico, but who spent two years playing at San Diego State University. We talked a lot about soccer, California, future business planning, and Jesus. We talked about laying up treasure in Heaven instead of on earth, but at the same time being responsible stewards of what God has put into our hands. It was very beneficial for him, as by the end of the conversation he’d decided to go back to school and make sure he had a plan for life after soccer.

I met a few really delightful people in Mexico City. One was a girl from Tyler, Texas who sat next to me in the airport. The other was a British girl who grew up in Holland, but was now flying from deep in Southern Mexico after studying political corruption (she’s a social geography major) and taking a trip to a rural part of Argentina to study there for a couple weeks. The British girl had sat across from me while I was sitting down at my gate, reading and listening to music. I couldn’t help but notice her awesome shoes (they had a monster from Where the Wild Things Are) and made a comment. She blushed and said thank you. Then we both went back to what we were doing. She ended up sitting next to me on the plane (with an empty seat between us. I have no idea how I managed to get that arrangement twice), so we talked the whole way from Mexico City to Dallas. I remember one moment in particular where we both looked out the window down onto the clouds as we were skimming across the tops of them. The sun was just dipping beneath them, illuminating each particle in brilliant shades of orange, red, purple, pink, and yellow, while the moon was rising in a crystal blue sky, full and bright. It was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen.

When we finally landed in Dallas, it was night, cold, and rainy. We had plans to meet up for dinner on the other side of customs, but I never found her. It was a bit sad, but then I remembered I had a US phone I very badly needed to check. Life got busy at that point. Texts, tweets, voicemails, calls, you name it. I had a lot of catching up to do.

The flight from Dallas to Seattle finally caught up with me. It was a packed flight and neither of the people I sat between was in the mood to talk, so I just watched UP! on the in-flight movie. I really liked it. It was cute. We touched down in Seattle around 10:45pm. (Accounting for the two hour time difference, 11pm ushered in hour 24 of travel and hour 40 of being awake.) The Sunnyside family landed at 10:57, so I met up with them at their baggage claim, we hopped in a hotel shuttle, hopped in their car, and headed home. After getting lost several times, the dad finally took my directions and we got onto the freeway. That’s when the mom started asking me everything there is to know about the differences between Mexican Catholicism and Assemblies of God doctrines. I must say, that was an absolutely wonderful conversation and it kept us all awake until we got to Yakima and dropped me off at Wallmart, where Kim and Thayne picked me up about 10 seconds after the family drove away. The timing was impeccable. It was still at 3:15am though, so I was tired.

They took me back to Thayne’s place and he and I stayed up watching some ridiculous tv show called Tim and Erik Awesome Show Great Job. It was absolutely hilarious and we stayed up watching that and wasting time with our laptops open until after 5am. It was a delightful way to end an amazing trip.

Now I’m here in Yakima and staying at a different friend’s house for the remainder of my time here. I’m pretty sure I found a job for while I’m here, I get to speak at a church this Sunday, and I have a bit of homework to finish while balancing time with many many friends and families here. I love this life.

Scare the Hell Out of ‘em!

// November 9th, 2009 // No Comments » // Life, Reflection

That was the goal for the Hell House. Not necessarily to scare people, but certainly to scare the Hell out of them, and to scare them out of Hell.

For the Halloween weekend, we completely transmogrified (thank you, Calvin & Hobbes) our youth center into the set for a 5 act drama, wherein we depicted the errant life of a Mexican teenage boy who, instead of going to church, goes to a party, gets crunk, crashes his car, dies, goes to judgment, and is sent to Hell. The storyline also included a funeral, but that obviously didn’t have our main character doing anything. The set took hours upon hours, over a week to set up and we ended up opening late our first night so we could finish everything last minute.

My role was originally going to change each night, but due to unforeseen scheduling complications and the fact that Brittany simply doesn’t make a passable silhouette for God, I was a party participant and God every single night. Because there were two very short scenes between the long party scene and long judgment scene, I had to run out of the party and around the entire youth center to get to my position before the group came in. A couple times, I didn’t make it in time, which ended up being pretty comical.

We had a great many hiccups throughout the weekend, which to me signifies that the enemy didn’t like what we were doing. Instead of getting down and broken, though, our entire team managed to keep spirits up, devise quick solutions, and laugh about everything.

hiccups:
The curtain hiding God (and also showing His silhouette) fell. Repeatedly. Every day except the last.
The lights going out on the Judgment scene.
Music/ipods missing, starting at the wrong times, playing the wrong tracks. Every night.
Not being in place on time.
Bottles breaking in the party scene.
Lightbulbs breaking all the time.
The power went out one night.
Rowdy kids.
Hannah got egged at the entrance door. Also, she’s slightly crippled right now and had to be the bouncer.
Physical, mental, and spiritual exhaustion.

Solutions:
We bought tape. We bought other tape. We finally drilled to nails into the ceiling and strung up the curtain. One night, there was no taping it, so we wrapped me in it for every group after I ran in from the party scene. This was by far the most ridiculous hiccup.
We figured out that it was just going to keep happening, since the only place we could plug in the lights was poorly placed. I just plugged it back in after each scene, but the first one was a scramble.
We laughed. What else could you do?
Samesies here.
Played it off like it was a real party and gave the person a hard time, then swept it up between groups.
We gathered up all the broken lightbulb glass and put it at the car crash. Nice touch.
There was no power on the whole block, so we prayed for God to reveal His power and that we needed no light aside from His, that if we had to change our story to whatever story He wrote for us, we would be willing and happy to do so. We then started preparing to do the night without power, but when Matt and Mike went home to get all the backup supplies, the power company showed up and made it happen.
Hannah is straight up a champion. I have no idea how she did it, but she kept kids from stampeding, killing each other, or killing her, all the while yelling and singing and entertaining them in Spanish for four nights. She was amazing.
Prayer.

We had a ton of friends throughout the city helping us out on various nights. Jensen played Satan one night, Isai supplied us with party music he made, Adrian stuck it out with us all four nights in the party room and in post-Hell prayer, Uriel helped with partying and prayer, Alina was a guide for a couple nights and the sister of the main character two other nights, Brittany helped us party, pastors showed up to help with prayer, even one of our Spanish teachers showed up one night. Oh yeah, and God kinda helped us out I guess.

Some of the most entertaining moments were due to groups interacting with us at the party scene and, from what I heard, in Hell with our demons and Satan. However, the best moments for me were during setup and prayer each night. We came together as a group, many of us not initially believing this would be successful, and threw our full support and our whole hearts into the project. We knew that if even one person over the four nights was reached and transformed and came to know God intimately through a new relationship with Jesus Christ, then our efforts were well worth it.

Setup and makeup for the demons cracked me up every single night. Initially, Loree was our only makeup artist. As the second night drew near to the opening, we discovered that there was yet much to be done. What happened at that point? Oh yes, you guessed correctly. I joined the makeup crew. Here’s a little-known (I usually like to keep it that way, but this is worth spilling here) secret about my past: my sister and I went through modeling classes, including makeup application, lighting, commercial spots, and runway stuff when we were kids. I managed to retain all of that information and, coupling it with what I learned in theater in high school (where I was the only straight guy who could do both my own and other guys’ makeup), I set to work making Mike terrifyingly beautiful. He looked like Heath Ledger’s Joker, no joke. This guy looked terrifying every night. On the second night, I put a hole in the middle of his throat –complete with dripping blood– on top of the cheek scars and generally horrific demon look. On our final night, Loree was getting frustrated and was exhausted, so I ended up finishing everyone’s makeup after she got the base stuff on them all. I have been trying not to boast lately, but they looked fantastic. Rachel, Jen, and Justin all looked awesome (HUGE assist from Stacia, Rachel, and Katlyn on making Justin into an incredibly stunning Satan), but Mike was my pride and joy. I slit his neck with makeup. No joke, it looked like someone had slit his neck and let it scab over, but that it had opened up and dripped in a few spots. I think this is the best art I’ve ever done, oddly.

I just spent over 1100 words not telling you the most important parts of the Hell House (La Casa del Terror) experience, so here’s the good stuff. I expected maybe 20 kids a night. We had 106, 102, 106, and 126 people on four nights. I didn’t know if anyone would give their lives to Christ. Our count showed 294 people praying for their salvation over the weekend. We handed out 400 Spanish Bibles to a neighborhood in desperate need of hope. When we heard the final tallies, I broke down. I was blowing snot bubbles while tears streamed down my face, and all the while, I laughed. The Lord filled me with such joy that He would be so gracious as to use us in such a way. I, a sinner for sure, was no more deserving of His grace and mercy than any of the people I met that weekend, yet He used me to reach them and establish His relationship with them, expanding His Kingdom.

After those four nights, after the previous two weeks, we were dead tired. And yet, as much as we all wanted to go home and sleep for a week, we knew the hard work had just begun. The Great Commission of Matthew 28:18b-20a says “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” It doesn’t say “get people to say a simple prayer and then return to living exactly as they have.” Jesus tells us to make disciples, to baptize, to teach. That means that our work is just beginning, and that we have an incredible task ahead of us. It’s time to get to work.