Primera Semana

Its been one week, but it feels like three! Where do I begin? I arrived late Thursday night and was picked up by Kim Haddon (one of the translators I worked with the last time I came). I was surprised she recognized me! I spent the next few days at a camp with Craig and Gail Zickefoose and the superintendents of the Nazarene church in Venezuela. I was in the kitchen with Isaiah most of the time helping cook- I´d never had to pluck feathers off a chicken before! I enjoyed talking with him (that was one of the biggest fears of mine, speaking Spanish and frustrating the people I am trying to talk with). But, I have to say, that everyone I have tried to talk with has been more than willing to talk with me and help me learn.
From the camp I traveled with Rodolfo to San Cristobal on a bus overnight. It was the coldest bus I have ever been on. The air conditioning was on full the entire time! But we had a good time- I shared a protein bar with Rodolfo for our dinner and the look on his face when he took his first bite was priceless. I wonder what he thinks of American food, that wasn´t the best example, but its all I had. :)
That Saturday, we went to the church in Rubio where the jovenes (young adults) of each church did a little presentation- music or the Word. I was presented to the churches as the volunteer that would be spending a week with each church. I did not expect them to be as excited as they were! After the presentations, groups of people came up and asked me when I would be coming to their church- which I honestly answered ¨Yo no se¨ ( I dont know). I would be later informed by Rodolfo where and with whom I would be staying. I got pretty stoked for what was ahead after that little gathering!
This past week I have been blessed to spend it in Michelena with la familia de Serefin (uno hermano de Rodolfo). From the moment I got in the car with the family (all 8 of them!) I knew this week would be full of laughter and good times! The entire drive Serefin kept telling me how his children are crazy in response to their singing and attempts at speaking English. It was great! The week was full of lots of fun, but also some work. Serefin is building a new house for his family and this past week we poured the concrete floor and built 11 concrete pillars. I spoke twice at his church, both times I was told less than an hour prior to and was asked to speak for 20-30 minutes- I think I spoke for a total of 25 minutes. It caught me off guard because they wanted me to ¨preach¨ (predicaon) and I had no idea what to talk about, but for the past year or so the word ¨Go¨ and the idea of movement in the Bible has been on my heart and mind, so I focused on that. It seemed to go well, and I learned a lot from it as well. I have also been teaching ingles to any children (and adults) that come in the afternoons. Its been raining a lot, so not as many have come, but Serefin asked if I would like to stay another week and I gladly accepted his offer. This next week will be more work at the house and teaching classes (musica y ingles) in the afternoon. I am looking forward to it!
I do have to say that although I am speaking more Spanish and am not as worried about trying, I do get a bit annoyed with myself for not being able to express myself. However, I wrote in my journal before I arrived (here are my exact words) ¨I wish I could be funny in Spanish¨ and it has not been a problem at all for people to laugh after I talk- not sure if its at me or with me, but I don´t really care. Its worth it to see people smile!
Here´s my tentative schedule for the next few weeks (although its likely to change- I take it one day at a time. I never know what I´m doing when I wake up in the morning, its quite exciting! ) Michelena for another week, then Colon, to Bramon, to Rubio, to San Josecito, to San Cristobal and then back to camp. I´m not sure when I will be able to update again (I tried in Michelena and in 45 minutes I saw 2 pages on the internet).
I miss you all and am praying/ thinking of you often. Thank you for your encouragement and prayers!

Day of Travel... well, 23 hours and 30 minutes to be exact

Tomorrow's the big send off!

I have confirmed my flights and connections. My contacts in Venezuela are ready. All my bags are packed... I'm ready to go...

Well, my luggage is set, but my head and heart are off in la-la land. I'm trying my best to be "ready", but I can't quite wrap my mind around the fact that I will be in Venezuela for 2 months!!

I have spent the past week and a half with my family in the oh-so exciting town of Brentwood. And let me tell you, Brentwood has got it going on! Just the other night, I went to "Starry Nights" (of which there was nothing but sun). My sister and I rode our bikes (something you don't see many do in Brentwood) to the local park and spent a good hour enjoying the sounds of some students drumming and three people dancing on a stage; they were talented... but as I looked around I realized that it was my sister (16 yrs. old) and I along with about 300 senior citizens sitting in their lawn chairs (which looked more like recliners) drinking ice tea in the shade. Needless to say, I feel Brentwood is a nice place to visit, but not that exciting. However, I was able to catch up with a lot of my friends and spend some time with my family, and that is always good.

And to let you all know, my itinerary has been updated (translation: I have an idea now about where I will be and what I am doing; something lacking in my previous "itinerary" post) and I have been invited to spend a week at each of the churches in Pastor Rodolfo's district. So instead of traveling through with Pastor Rodolfo, I will be staying with a family from each church for the week. I am really excited to spend more time in each city! Our previous visits were only for a day or less, so it will be really cool to be with each church and help out in any way I can for an entire week!

So as I get on the plane to head for Venezuela, your thoughts and prayers are much appreciated. I am still figuring out what my purpose in going is and what I would like to accomplish while being there. I plan on giving a lot of thought to that on my flight to LAX, then to Vancouver, then to Toronto, and then to Caracas... (and you thought I was only going to Venezuela... actually, those are just my connecting flights, woah!). That means my next post will be from Venezuela, yeyah!

Take a deep breath (just like skype :)) and here we go!

At The Moment

Just over a week before I take off! I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited.

To give you an idea of what is planned (or not :/), here is a basic rundown of my itinerary:

June 17th: I fly out of LAX on Air Canada to Caracas, Venezuela (funny thing is there are 2 stops in Canada before I actually head towards South America! Cost of super cheap tickets)

June 18th: I arrive in Caracas and will be staying in San Diego de los Altos for a few nights

June 21st/22nd: I will be traveling with Pastor Rodolfo (pictured above: we became friends my first trip to Venezuela) throughout the Andino District. We will be going through the same cities that my team had gone through two years ago- San Cristobol, San Josecito, Michelena, Colon, and some others.

July-August: From then on I will be staying with a host family and doing anything and everything that they may ask of me ( probably should have put some limits, but thats what I am going to do, so we'll see). The last time I was in Venezuela, we did a lot of sports, construction, and some music. This time, I added to my list of things I can do (not necessarily well, but...) haircuts! I will have a guitar with me as well, but there really isn't too much "scheduled" that I know of yet. That gives God lots to work with!

August 4-9th: I will be helping out at a youth camp that Pastor Rodolfo's children will be attending. I am way excited for this! I love camp!

August 11-12: I depart from Caracas and head back to the US (pretty sure there are another 2 stops in Canada, woohoo)

So there is a very bare bones outline of what I will be tentatively doing. I will keep this updated as I find out more.

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!

Here's a picture of everyone involved in my trip 2 summers ago. So good!