Playa and Youth Service

that's not what I said Elizabeth.... (my translator tonight)


Well today we had our first free day and it was decided that we would be taken to the beach..Playa de Playa. So Carlos picked us up around 10am after we slept in from all the soccer till the wee hours of the morning and we were off. Carlos managed to get pulled over for speeding but somehow having the 'gringos' in his vehicle allowed him to get off the hook. Yvonne wasn't so fortunate though as she was caught in a speed trap at a different spot.

We arrived at the beach before noon and the sand and sun were 'muy culiante' and the waves were crazy, intense. We crashed them hard and I took it pretty good on the shoulder. We played a little soccer and volleyball, collected shells and ate fried fish, rice, avocado by our thatched hut with hammocks...and had some siesta time.

After we hit the beach one more time before heading back to our casa to do a quick change and go to the youth service. On the way home, it didn't take us too long to realize that we got more sun that we bargained for...even with 50 and 60 SPF....

Halfway through the trip, Carlos decides to ask me to drive and I couldn't resist the offer. Lucie already has driven Pastor Victor's car twice. So I did well and even caught Carlos off guard by pulling off a 'Chinese fire drill'... we have being doing that on occasion down here.

There were about 50 youth/ young adults in attendance for the frito gringos!! We began with energetic worship. Pastor Victor prayed over me and then we gave Pastor Walter a gift...a Las Vegas hat and the dice along with Twix bars for winning our game the other night.

I began sharing my testimony briefly as a young girl, Elizabeth, 12, translated for the group. I challenged them to live free of hypocrisy, live with integrity and called them to serve by speaking into each other lives. I spoke mainly from Romans 12 and talked about surrender by standing on top of the baptismal area and calling them to take steps of faith. I also put in a plug to come to serve by taking out a towel and using it as a bib and then moving it to my wrist to illustrate servanthood as I have done at Southside.

After we hung out at the church and played some of their crazy games like 'london bridges' but with a twist as it turns into a tug of war as everyone holds each other around the waist to create a human rope! So, after, sweating it out, our posse (the main group of young adults who hang out with us) took us out and treated us to amazing dipped chocolate ice cream cones... We reflected tonight on our week, the incredible generosity and hearts of the people here and prayed for them.

Well, we have one more day to worship here and say our goodbyes as well as meet with Pastor Walter to determine how to designate our extra money to the various ministry projects here.