Two fun things

Two great things happened today. Both started out bad. The first happened when I didn’t get a giant M&M cookie at dinner last night because the young men took too many before I reached the line. Today the cook found out and made a whole bin of giant cookies delivered to me during free time. Yum! Everyone wanted to be my friend as I passed them out liberally. The second thing happened when I broke my glasses. They are the kind with the invisible frames, so you need a special machine to pop the lens back in. (These are progressives—not something I could replace easily.) I really needed to be able to see distance on this trip, and was distressed that this would happen before I was even out of the country. Sigh. MacGyver Greenslate (names changed enough to avoid Google, but he deserves a shout-out), put the lens in the freezer so that it would contract, and then (with much effort) it fit back in the frame. Thrilling! I think God is looking out for me.

Our Team

One of the best parts of being here is being on a team of people like me, who love serving God around the world. All six of us have traveled pretty extensively, and it’s been fun to hear others’ cross-cultural stories. Anton, is our eighteen-year-old stuck with these five old mature ladies. The other groups consisting of mostly young people tried to get him to switch ships. “Who’d want to be on a trip with five MOMS?” they told him. He told them he liked these crazy women, and besides, he would have wi-fi, while they had pit toilets. We have a great team. This is us leaving Cross Training.

Our Team Bonded over the Ropes Course

Our team bonded over the ropes course today. During the low ropes part, our team had to figure out how to get 18 people over a “noxious pit” via a hanging rope and magic “hover discs”, and the hard part was the people had to land in certain strategic locations on the other side. The secret was to pretend you were at a rock concert and “surf” people over the crowd, after you had everyone in line. It took good communication, trust and teamwork. On the high ropes course I was the first to complete the Leap of Faith, which involved jumping off a high tower, propelling yourself with all your might and catching a trapeze that looked impossible to reach. It was scary, and stretched me out of my comfort zone, which is great preparation for the days ahead. I know there are good times ahead, but it's definitely a leap of faith!

Last night we completed an assessment that highlighted our personality types. You won’t be surprised to know I was the one who liked adventure, change, people and a good time. My type is the one that wants everyone to be happy and included. We have three “C” types, who like order, rules, and details and need a lot of information. I learned that as a leader I need to give them LOTS of information, time and reasons why before we make changes on the field.

Jury Duty

At jury duty today a college student sat next to me with her Mac. Half an hour into the morning she said “OK, my name’s on the list. If I just left, they wouldn’t know, right?” “You must never have done this before.” She’s attending UCSB, wants to be a teacher, and works at a preschool. An hour later she said “There should be some way around the system. Do you know if I could find out when they were going to call a group? Then I could just show up for that.” “Do you believe in the jury system?” “What? No.” “You mean, if you were falsely accused of a crime, you wouldn’t want a jury to be there for you?” “Yeah, I’d want THAT, but I just don’t think I should have to waste my time doing this. I didn’t even register to vote.” Most of the young people I’m connected with are caring, concerned people who are doing good things in the world. They are interested in community service and they want to make a difference, but they also seem to have more of an entitlement attitude than older people. Every once in awhile, people from this twenty-something generation show a side that is incredibly selfish. Mr. Rogers didn’t mean that just because you were special the world should wait on you!

BKP Graduation

BKP graduated from Cal Poly yesterday. I love all the tradition and ceremony of graduation. I cry at Pomp and Circumstance. (It's especially wonderful when played by a real orchestra). Because she won the Most Outstanding Senior in International Business, one of her professors was making this little speech about BKP, and when the prof said she graduated in three years the people behind me said "Oh, Wow!", and then when the prof said she was in Campus Crusade they said "That's why." (Meaning Christians don't party).

Here's a story she sent during the last crazy week of school, when her skin turned pale from being in the library 18 hours a day: I'm at the library, of course. I had finished all my snacks around lunchtime, so I decided to go down to the vending machines on the first floor to get a snack. I opened my wallet and realized i only had two twenties. The vending machines are in the 24 hr reading room, which was quite crowded since it's nearly finals week. I was going to walk over to the desk to ask for change when I noticed the change machine on the wall. I inserted my $20 bill, and then realized, to my horror, that it was coming out in quarters. Duh, it's a change machine. It felt like it was spitting quarters for five minutes, all eighty coins clanking into a metal tray. I tried to surreptitiously slip the coins into my sweatshirt pocket while my face burned red. Of course, then I still had to walk over an buy my Reese's pieces. Once back at my workspace, i pulled out my quarters and put them in a little baggie. I had to walk outside because the thought of all my quarters kept making me laugh.

There was a little party at her house, since she and the two girls she's lived with all three years, were all graduating. BKP made Lemon Cheesecake, Mud Pie (from the Charthouse recipe), and Strawberry Pie. AM's dad barbecued tri-tip. BP's mom made salads. YUM! J made a video of BKP's life that was quite professional. It was a fun day, and I'm so very proud of her achievements.

Desiring to be a Servant Leader

I was talking to a friend of mine who has recently returned from a trip. He said one of the best things about it was that he didn’t have to manage a team, so that made it easier to focus on his hosts. When you go as a team leader you have your ministry, and also all the managing of the team schedule, feelings, and group dynamics. I realize that in a cross-cultural setting, if someone has “baggage” (and I’m not talking luggage here), the stress of being in a foreign country presses it out. I have a fabulous team. I love each member, and we’ve bonded well already. But I do know that in every team there’s a honeymoon period, and then there’s the inevitable conflict. We are human sinners. And when you are tired, eating different food, dealing with a different language, and removed from the comforts of home, sometimes it’s hard to be your best self. By God's grace, I want to be a great team leader. Pray that I’m up to the challenge.

M's Graduation Ceremony

M's graduation ceremony was last Friday. It was so fun to have my whole family together celebrating with her. Graduation is always an emotional time for me because of my own students graduating. All the teachers talk about their students, and M's teacher told how M. had worked at two elementary schools, taught swimming lessons, worked with children in Honduras, and achieved academic honors, including CSF. I'm so proud of her many accomplishments. She still has lots to learn. Tonight she asked if a garden burger counts as a vegetable.