I have been down here in this beautiful country for a few months now, and I think it’s safe to say we have established a solid routine. Our weeks are fair consistent in the way everything is laid out for us, and I want to share a part of this life we are building down here with you guys.
Every day looks ever so slightly different. Small details of our schedule changes depending on the day of the week, so for this blog, let’s say its a Thursday.
We begin by the sweet sounds of seven different alarms going off, they vary between 5:15-5:55 in the morning, but one by one my team and I stretch our tired arms out and hop out of our bunks. The heavy steps fill the silent room about five minutes before devotionals begin, and I make my way out to the living room of the base. I find my spot at a table, sometimes with coffee and sometimes without. Looking around, the living room is full of my squadmates, slowly getting comfortable. One of the team leaders opens us up in prayer and I dive into my Devo. Devotionals last around 45 minutes, I spend this time listening to worship music, flipping through the word and journaling. I have created the habit of starting my day out with spending time with the Lord, this is for sure where all my energy comes from.
The clock hits 6:45, we pray out of our time, and chaos breaks loose. The kitchen is filled with people from every team heating up rice and beans, and cooking scrambled eggs. I spend some time sitting around a table with my friends and we talk about anything under the sky, sometimes what the Lord revealed to us during our Devos, sometimes it’s about ministry, sometimes it’s crazy stories. These conversations rollover through breakfast, I chow down my bowl of Gallo pinto and eggs, and sometime around 7:50, I begin to get ready. After washing my dishes I make my way back to my room and get ready. I quickly run through the normal morning things, and before I know it, I’m throwing on my shoes and booking it to the front door.
wakey wakey eggs and (not) bakey
My team and I ran out to the driveway and pile on our bus by 8:45, and we begin our morning commute. Thursday mornings we work in the slums in the mornings. It’s about a 30-minute bus ride with our driver Alfredo, and once we arrive one of the women from the church comes out and gets us. We walk through the neighborhood with these women to ensure our safety, I have personally never felt unsafe in this part of town, but I can understand why the concern is there. As we get closer to the church, the kids see us and run out. They run up and give us hugs and say hello, and my team and I normally carry a few of them back in on our backs.
my best buddy Doug
my friend E and I after we did each others nails
painting nails, having fun
surprisingly big fans of selfies and tongues out
M, the sweetest young man I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet, his cast doesn’t hold him back for even a second let me tell you
Our ministry in the slums is difficult, in a good way. These neighborhoods are dark, and you wish you could do more than just volunteer for a few hours. At the church, it’s all kids and a few women who help in the kitchen. Anywhere between 5-25 kids come in and out, and we do our best to time a lesson out to where we get as many kids around for the lesson. We teach a short bible story to tell, thankfully my teammate Tati speaks incredible Spanish, so we are able to translate the stories. We trade off on who reads every day, we share the story, and then do some kind of game or craft. We love on the kids for a few hours, and around 11:55 we walk back out to our bus and go home for lunch.
Lunch consists of a few sandwiches, some chips, and an apple. It’s a restful break in the middle of my day to recharge and get some food in my system. When the plates are cleared and washed, I normally make my way to my bunk and take a nap. Lunchtime naps have become a gift from God for my team and me.
We wake up about ten minutes before leaving again, throw on our afternoon ministry’s tee shirt, shoes, and we book it out to the bus again. For afternoon ministry we travel to another neighborhood and team up with a local program. They put together after school programs for kiddos, full of games, and crafts and normally teaching and skit of some sort. This ministry also has gap year participants who graduated high school and are on a mission trip just like us! But they are all from Germany! Getting to know them has been such a pleasure, and as we get more used to the program, we have been given the chance to help out more which is so rad. These kids are all so fun and full of so much energy, and thankful two of the german missionaries are boys, so they can take on all the sports, and I stick to the coloring.
a fun group of kiddos, everyone gets a seat at the table and has the chance to paint whatever their heart desires
coloring all day, everyday, not mad about it
Anytime between 5:00-5:20 we wrap up the youth group and help put all the craft stuff and tables away. These end of the day bus rides hold so much joy. They are loud, bumpy rides, with so many jokes and laughter. It’s about 45 minutes home with traffic, so we try and make the time go by faster with all kinds of chaos. Upon arriving home, we tell our friend Alfredo gracias and chow and skip through the doors of the base. We are normally the last team home on Thursdays, and when we walk through the doors it’s a signal to everyone else that we can get ready to eat dinner. We normally do a quick outfit change and make it back out to the dining room just in time for prayer.
the funnest yellow bus you’ve ever seen, no hill is too big, and no bump is too small to throw me up in the air
Dinner brings so much joy to this fun community. We always have some kind of guests join us, and it feels like a big thanksgiving meal every night. Speeches are made, pranks are pulled and conversations are shared.
When dinner dies out, one of the teams is given the responsibility to clean every night, they take over the kitchen, and what was previously a messy room awaiting to be cleaned, turns into a shining stage, waiting for the leader performers to come out. A speaker is always blasting some kind of music, the tables and chairs are put away in the blink of an eye, and the dishes are all dried and put away before you know it. Teams split into team time, and the house is open to anything the squad as in-store. Sometimes after team times, our men lead us in spontaneous worship songs, card games can almost always be found, chalkboard art is being drawn.
I make it a goal of mine to try and be in bed by around 8:45, this normally turns into 9:30 because this family of mine makes it hard to want to get up and go to bed. My team slowly makes it in one by one, and we all settle into our bunks. Lights go out, and a few quiet goodnights are said.
My days here are full of so much love. They are full of endless joy and laughter. They are full of crazy God movements, and short moments to rest in awe of it all. I am constantly pinching myself, trying to see if I’m ever going to wake up from this dream. I hope this illustrates a clearer picture of what an average Thursday looks like for us down here in the CR.
With love,
Syd
