Retreat!!!!!

One of the things we're going to do as a team when we get to Ecuador in a couple weeks is take the church leaders from the churches in El Recreo (near Guayaquil, where DFCC has primarily worked in the past), Samborondon and Baba (the two other churches near Guayaquil that Marcelo Puentes oversees) on a leadership retreat. We're going away for a weekend to a camp about an hour drive outside Guayaquil to spend some in-depth time teaching on the transformation that God desires for us, for the church, for the world.

The retreat will open Friday night with a drama presented by our team, intended to show the hopelessness and deadness of life when we choose to hold on to the things that keep us from the freedom we would find in Christ if we chose him instead. That will be followed by a message that that's not the end of the story, and we can choose to participate in the transformation God has for us, but that it does require us to make that choice and play an active role in it. Then we'll have a time of worship led by the group from Newbury Park First Christian Church and call it a night. The next day will be full of sessions talking about specific spiritual disciplines we can practice which will put us in a more accessible place for transformation (reading the Word, prayer, solitude, fasting, etc.) and time set aside for actual guided practice of some of these. Then we'll close the day with a message that as leaders it's important for them not only to be consistent in these things, but also to help the other members in their churches to see the importance of transformation.

Then sunday will be spent thinking of ways in which we can support them in presenting these things to their church (we'll be bringing lessons they can teach to children with materials for crafts, we'll help them learn the drama or write a different one if they want, we'll make the messages we've taught available if they want us to teach them again, etc.) the point being that they as the leaders should be the ones to present this to their church with our support...not the other way around.

We've been busy coming up with ideas, practicing a drama to present, making examples of crafts, writing lessons and messages and praying over every detail. Pray for us as we go to Ecuador next Thursday. And pray for the retreat, that it will be a blessing.

Here's a rough idea of what the drama will look like. Only there won't be words floating in the air when we perform it. The words will be written on our shirts. And they'll be written in Spanish.




On a side note...if anyone is familiar with Vegas, I had some trouble with the audio when I captured this video to my computer. In the preview everything is fine, and as soon as I drag the clip onto the timeline the audio is gone. There's still an audio track that drags up there with the video, it's just blank. I have no idea why the audio track won't work on the video clips. It has only happened with my new camera. The audio worked fine with a clip captured off my mom's camera. I had to drag the actual mp3 file of the song we're using onto the timeline to get some sound for this video. Any ideas on how I can fix this problem before I leave?

Time for Goodbye

Well, time has flown/dragged by, it seems. And in just a short 27 days, I'll be on a plane to Ecuador. I'm not exactly sure what I expected to feel around now. Maybe some kind of combination of excitement, anticipation, and a little fear. But really, all I feel is sad. This week has been my last full week working at Ruby's Diner, and last night I said goodbye to two of my co-workers. And it was a real, actual goodbye...not just a "see you when i get back."

The truth is, I won't be going back to work at Ruby's when I come home, and while moving on to other things is an exciting idea, it's also a little painful simply because of how attached I have become to that place and those people and what it all has meant to me for the last (almost) 7 years. So I will have some more goodbye's to say tonight and a couple more each Sunday in June as my co-workers and I work our last shifts together. It's bittersweet, really. Because as much as I complain about the rude, awful, general public...I will miss it. I'll miss my friends. I'll miss the place in which I learned how to make everywhere I am into a mission field. I'll miss all the laughter and the silliness. I'll miss the free food. I'll miss having a place to belong, and a place where I am good at what I do.

So, truthfully, yesterday and today...I don't want to leave. I don't want to go to Ecuador. Because it's hard to say goodbye, even for the things you're certain will be worth it. And even though it's time to move on and I won't be going back to Ruby's when I come back from Ecuador, I know without a doubt that that place is a huge part of who I am and how I've gotten to be this way. (Maybe that's a good thing, or maybe not...I don't know). And I will always treasure the time I got to spend there.

I've been saying a lot of goodbye's lately. Thursday night was the swim banquet for Warren High and since this was my last year as a swim coach at Warren, my boss (girls' head coach Josie Cordero) had me stand up in front while she made a really nice speech and said thank you for the last 8 years of hard work. It was a real honor, and I felt really loved and appreciated. I will miss that job a lot too.

So, it seems the time for change has come...I didn't realize it would make me feel so melancholy. Maybe after all the goodbye's are said and I move on into the future, the excitement will set in more fully. I guess it's just part of the process.

I have more goals (non-music related) but this post is long enough

Well, my plane ticket has been purchased, and a bank account opened. Those are the big things that have been accomplished so far along with lots and lots of little things (like purchasing enough sunblock for 6 months of UV ray protection and buying tapes for my video camera and scouring the shelves at multiple bookstores to find just the right resources I might need for teaching some English and leading a study of the book of James in Spanish). One of the preparations I have made so far has been to put together a set of goals that I have for this mission trip. I realize that it's not in the nature of a trip like this to go just exactly as I hope or plan that it will...but isn't it better to go with goals and have to change them around a bit than to go with nothing? (the answer is yes)

Anyway, the point is, I have goals, and I'd like to share them with you so that you have a better idea of what we are going to try to accomplish in Ecuador. just to give you a little background, last year when I was invited to return for an extended stay in Ecuador, I was asked to focus my attention specifically on the worship/music ministry there in the church. Currently there are around 15-20 youth who serve in the music ministry in El Recreo. They have no established leader(s) and responsibility is shared among them. As a result, there is not much organization and their functionality as a group seems limited. They don't meet weekly to choose a worship set, practice songs, etc. and it seems the only way they learn new worship songs at all is when a mission team comes through and teaches a new song. So, the following goals reflect a focus on the music ministry in its current state:

I hope to establish a weekly band practice.

A weekly practice would help organize the worship, songs would be chosen ahead of time and rehearsed, any doubts about the order of service would be clarified during this time. A mid-week practice with only band-members present would encourage new youth to get involved without the fear of having to “perform” right away during a worship service. A weekly practice would also help teach commitment as it would be a couple hours during which these band members would have to “give up” whatever they would normally do during that time. This will help reinforce a commitment to God and the church, and it will help to communicate that serving involves responsibility and leadership.

I hope to begin a weekly Bible study with the worship team.

It has been my experience that studying the Bible together as a group brings an element of clarity to the word of God, it helps one build relationships with other people, and it adds more depth to the dynamic of the group itself. Studying the Bible will bring spiritual growth and Biblical knowledge which is important for any believer and especially important for those believers who are considered leaders. Studying the Bible together as a band will not only help the youth to grow spiritually, interestingly, it will even help them to grow musically as a band. I believe that studying together and praying together increases the level of trust among the members of the group, and when there is more trust involved, there is more willingness to follow a leader without hesitation during the course of an actual song which makes the songs flow better and makes the energy higher (it’s actually very neat to experience this).

I hope to teach the band two new songs per month.

Part of growing as a band includes increasing the repertoire of songs the group knows as a whole. This is especially important in a culture that places a large emphasis on music during a worship service. As the band adds more variety to its inventory of songs, they will have an easier time choosing specific songs for a worship service. This will also help the more advanced musicians in the group to challenge themselves and each other and grow musically. Plus, it will help make the services themselves more interesting because the worship will be more frequently fresh and new.

So, there you go. What I'd like to know is this: what advice do you have for me, those of you who have ever led a band, worked with a band, led a Bible study, taught in a foreign language, organized music for a worship service, organized anything at all, worked with a group of musicians, a group of youth, etc. All helpful comments are welcome and appreciated.

plans? what are those?

i wish this stage in the mission-trip planning was more interesting and that i could share lots of exciting things with you...as it goes, here's my exciting news:

1. my video camera arrived

2. the battery charger works

so there you go. i still need to buy some tapes before i will know if the camera itself actually works. i'm hoping it does.

what's really going on is that i have been bombarded by distraction after distraction and have not planned as much as i could have planned by now...but i'll tell you what...i have never been more certain that what i am doing is right. i guess i should explain what i mean...

well, i've been wanting to go to ecuador since june when marcelo invited me to come back and stay a while in ecuador. but i didn't really begin to plan the big things and ask myself the big questions (i.e. where do i open a bank account? what, specifically, do i hope to accomplish in ecuador? can i really do this???) until i got an affirmation that this trip was a good, right idea. that affirmation came in the form of my home church deciding to send me there, which was awesome! so...that was at the end of January, which coincidentally* is when all the distractions began.

i was all ready to start investigating and finding answers to my questions and planning this trip. and then all of a sudden, my granddad has cancer. i hate cancer. i hate it. hate. don't hear me (read me?) wrong. i am not suggesting that my granddad got cancer somehow because the devil wanted to distract me from planning a trip. i am not the center of everything. but you know what? the devil certainly knows that my response to cancer once before was to shut down emotionally and spiritually for a couple years. so what do you think i was tempted to do for a few days? if you guessed "be mad at the world and just stay in bed and not think about anything or talk to anyone" you'd be right.

that was a pretty big distraction. i'll be honest, i didn't really get anything done for a few days. anything. i mean, i'm not even sure i bathed or like...brushed my hair...or teeth. i don't remember. you know? and that was just the beginning. i mean satan really pulled out the big guns. one thing after another. little things and big things, tough issues surfaced this month, from way down deep in my heart...things i hadn't dealt with in years. someone close to me went through a terrible heartbreak. i got so sick i couldn't function for a week (seriously). it was just one thing on top of the other. and it was hard. really hard. i was tempted, a lot actually, to be unfaithful to my God; to let the world pollute me. and maybe all the circumstances and situations, mentioned and unmentioned, weren't from the devil. maybe some things were God's way of adding a little more wisdom to my life. and maybe some things were from the devil, but intended by God for good. and maybe some were just the result of life and germs. the neat thing is that in any case, i am not discouraged as satan would have me be. i am encouraged. i am encouraged that God would invest in me and grow me; that He thinks i'm worth it. that must mean i am doing something right, right? and i am encouraged that i might be enough of a threat to my enemy that he would assault me with hurtful things, hoping to make me back down. that must really mean i am doing something right. don't you think? and no kidding, i am most definitely encouraged by DayQuil, Tylenol Cold, and Tropicana. they are for sure doing something right.

but the point is God is so faithful...and so good (isn't that always the point?) and it doesn't matter where the trials or distractions come from, whether from God or from my enemy... i have learned in a very real way during this last month that the only worthwhile response is to press on...

so, that is what i am doing. a little later than i had originally hoped. but all according to God's timing, i suppose.

i would so appreciate your prayers over the plans that need to be made still. banking plans, goals for the trip, determining how much cold medicine i might need for six months...

i'm so glad you're a part of this.

*italics denote sarcasm

this is where it begins

well, you've managed to find yourself reading my thoughts written here...and so i consider you a friend. and since you are a friend, i guess you already know i am leaving for ecuador in 146 days. or at least, that i am leaving for ecuador. in any case, i'm glad you're here, and i'm glad to have someone to share my thoughts with. i want you to know that whatever happens on this adventure, this is a place where you will hear my real thoughts, whether they are thoughts of joy and hope, or thoughts of worry and fear, or thoughts of frustration and anger. this is where i will write them, and write them often. i hope you'll come along for the ride. and i hope you'll stick with me the whole way, even when it's hard. thank you for being a part of this.

so basically, i'm going to ecuador in june with a short-term mission team from church, like i have done the last three summers...i'll stay the two weeks with the team, doing all kinds of teamy sorts of things...and then when the team goes home, i will stay, and face the unknown. haha. i mean i guess it's not totally unknown...i was invited to work in this church in ecuador, specifically, to be in charge of the worship band. of course, i am sure i will be doing many other things in the church like working with kids and youth, helping with the drama ministry, maybe teaching sunday school, maybe doing some physical work in the church building...the list is endless, really...i'll probably do everything there is to possibly do. so that's what i mean about the unknown. and i'll be there for six months, and from there, i suppose, i'll find out what God wants me to do next.

so i'm super excited about actually being there. i mean i could go tomorrow and be thrilled. it's just the planning of it all is a little crazy. i'm kind of in a whirlwind of preparation at the moment. the trip is still a little over four months away, but you'd be surprised at how much there is to plan. or maybe you wouldn't, i don't really know. i was surprised, anyway. there's all kinds of technical stuff to plan, like buying a ticket and figuring out what kind of visa to enter the country with and registering my trip with the u.s. embassy in ecuador and all kinds of things like that... then there's the purpose of the trip itself which requires all kinds of preparation in order to achieve the goals i am setting for it, like learning a whole bunch of songs in spanish to be able to teach to the band over six months, and preparing a bunch of bible studies to teach in spanish during the weekly band practices that i hope to organize...and then there's the whole actually being a decent musician thing, which is the hardest thing for me right now 'cause it's not something i can plan. it's just a matter of practicing the piano every day (which i am slacking on) and learning to sing all the melodies of all the songs and, and, and... and then of course, which i should have mentioned first, because it's the most important, is preparing my heart for this. being disciplined, spending time with the Lord. my own time with Him. let's be honest, it's not always easy.

so that's where i am. super-excited, terrified, totally ready, and completely unprepared...all at once. :-) when have you felt that way?