Yeah, sorry about not posting yesterday but nothing happened that was really that epic and I was tired.
Today, we did base clean up. I helped with the refilling and cleaning up of the water dispensers that are located around the base. It wasn't too hard. Then, I helped with lunch prep (hot dogs, potato wedges, salad). That consisted of cutting up kiwis for the mid-morning snack, peeling, washing and cubing a ton of potatoes, and getting things set up. Nothing too out of the ordinary.
After lunch, all the MA staff met and we discussed various ideas for the mission night (Intense!!!) we would put on for the groups. We came up with some really good ideas and then we split up and the girls went and did some research about the various topics and the male type humanoids went and built a shack. It is going to be used in the poverty station. I will tell more about it when I find out more.
After that, I went and helped with dinner prep(carne asada(tacos), spanish rice, frijoles, mexican style corn, salad, and all the taco fixings: fresh pico de gallo, fresh guacamole, salsa, limon, sour cream). Nothing too major.
As soon as dinner prep was finished though, I had to rush to change into a black t-shirt, black jogging shorts, and my trainers (the Brits are rubbing off on me...). I grabbed some food and hopped in the van. Tonight was an all-girls futbol game. I was on the black team along with Lindsey(staff, wife of the guy in charge), Rheanne(staff, in kitchen alot), Lizzie(staff, helping with MA), Montse(staff of some sort), Libby(MA staff) and Fernanda(MA staff). On the blue team was: Megan(new MA staff), Beth(MA staff), Sam Kemp(mother of the Kemp kids, duh...), Kathelyze(staff, helps with MA), Kirsty(staff, did water station the other night), Egla(arranged the game, and is awesome) and then two girls I didn't know because they weren't part of the base.
For the first half of the game, I was right defense and let me just say, I rocked. We ended the first half 2-1 blue. After that, I swapped with Rheanne for goalie. And I did ah-mazing especially since I had never played futbol before. I blocked several shots on the goal without experiencing too much physical pain... I think I am hooked. I actually liked playing futbol. I think it was mostly because there wasn't really the pressure to be the best, it was just for fun. In the end, the game was a tie 2-2. I think that is the best way to end a game because then you know that everyone did their best and then there isn't designated winners and losers.
After the game, we booked it back to base and rehearsed the Passion play. It isn't too hard. Most of us just have to walk in crying, fall to the ground still crying, keep crying then go prostrate all the while crying. I have a pretty legit fake cry. (:
Anyways, I am going to go watch a movie so TTYL. Abi
P.S. I would love to hear from you. My email is ab_m_kes728@yahoo.com. Thanks in advance.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Intense.
Well, today was pretty intense. It didn't start out that way but it became increasingly so.
This morning, Giacomo spoke to us again. We talked about Luke 2:52: And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. We discussed what Jesus did to grow physically, mentally, spiritually and socially, and thought about what we are doing to grow in the same ways and how we need to be sure that we have a balance between the four things because we are the window non-christians view christianity through.
After lunch (hot wings, potato salad, salad), the MA staff split up and some went out back and pulled weeds. Others helped with some cleaning, packed up extra bedding, and inventoried the mattresses in the rooms. Alex, Adam and I were the lucky people that got to put together two bunkbeds for one of the apartments. And believe me, it wasn't as easy as it would appear to be. The first bed went up without too much difficulty, but the second one, a metal frame, was a booger. One of the essential parts didn't fit- it belonged to a different bed. We had to improvise. It turned out ok. I think I probably made at least 10 trips between the apartment and the base- I was the gopher... Let me just say that I got really sweaty this afternoon.
After supper (chicken in some sort of sauce, rice, salad), we had a "community meeting". Basically all of the base staff met in the worship hall and had a time of worship. Then a guy from San Diego? spoke about injustice. That is when it started to get intense.
We were told to split up into groups of five (in my group was Alex, Adam, Libby, and Beth), then we took turns going to three stations. ***These stations were rather graphic, so faint of heart should just skip to the bottom, don't worry though, I am giving the G version. ^^^Also, this was all rehearsed, none of it was real, so don't take it the wrong way.
For the first station, we went to the stairs. That was the water station. Basically, it went like this: There are so so so many people that die from lack of clean drinking water. Some women in Africa walk 6 miles a day for water that really doesn't pass as drinkable. Then Beth and I had to carry four large containers of "nasty water" up two flights of stairs while everyone else followed behind counting to three(every three seconds someone dies from a water related illness). Once we got to the top, we each had to drink a cup of the bad water. It was really bad, indescribably so. Then we helped carry the containers back down, and it was off to the next station.
The second station was really disturbing in the fact that it depicted an injustice that happens everywhere in disgustingly large quantities, but is not really talked about much: Forced Prostitution. In this station, we were left standing in an area, near one of the YWAM 14-pass vans. Then a guy approached us(it was Josh, full time staff, but he was in character so...). He asked what we were up to-just making normal conversation- then he pulled us over to the van and opened the back doors. Inside was a scantily clad (only wrapped in a bedsheet) female. The guy told us that we could "have" her for $10. He "slapped" her around a bit and yelled to wake her up. (At this point, I was absolutely disgusted. We all were. I mean, I know that there is prostitution and stuff but I have never seen it up close and personal like it was tonight.) When we firmly said NO he yelled at us to get out of there. That was the end of the second station.
The third station was by far the most intense. After it was done, my heart didn't slow down for a really long time. In this station, we were brought into the staff computer room. It was dark and nothing was happening, then there was a gunshot, and another. Then two masked men (JP and Mitch- both full time staff) burst in with guns (either fake or not loaded) and yelled at everyone to get down. Then they put sacks over everyone's heads and led us to another room. There, we could hear a female (Lindsey-full time staff and quite the actress) wailing and screaming and crying. There was more gunshots and someone yelled at the girl to shutup. Then one of the men grabbed Beth and dragged her over to the girl and forced a gun into her hand and told her to shoot the girl(remember: FAKE GUN). Beth, having the guts that she does, yelled NO and refused to do it. The guy then grabbed the gun from her and pulled the trigger. Silence. They made us remove the bags and look at what had been done, then they yelled at us to get out of there. That was the end of the third station.
Afterwards, many of us were visibly shaken, others were shaken just not as visibly. I can't even begin to imagine what any of those situations would be like if they actually were real. Even as I am sitting here writing this, I still am not quite sure what my reaction is. I know that I am mad(that the world is this corrupt) and disgusted(that there is actually a market for prostitution) and sad(that all of us are so oblivious to all this tragedy) and horrified(that people actually go through this and worse) and confused(on how I can make a difference). I think there is more but that is all I am able to distinguish right now.
I don't know what we can do to change this but I do know that we can pray, and that is really all that we can do for some of the injustices in the world. As disturbed as I was, I really think that these stations were very good at scaring us out of our apathy and passiveness.
On a lighter note, the police force in Mexico is quite decent. In the midst of the night and stations, they showed up because they heard all the screaming and gunshots(actually firecrackers (; ). Once we explained what we were doing, they were ok and left. All in all, tonight was pretty epic.
Megan, the last person to arrive, should be arriving soon so I am going to go. Besides, I think I have written enough. Buenos Noches! Abi
This morning, Giacomo spoke to us again. We talked about Luke 2:52: And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. We discussed what Jesus did to grow physically, mentally, spiritually and socially, and thought about what we are doing to grow in the same ways and how we need to be sure that we have a balance between the four things because we are the window non-christians view christianity through.
After lunch (hot wings, potato salad, salad), the MA staff split up and some went out back and pulled weeds. Others helped with some cleaning, packed up extra bedding, and inventoried the mattresses in the rooms. Alex, Adam and I were the lucky people that got to put together two bunkbeds for one of the apartments. And believe me, it wasn't as easy as it would appear to be. The first bed went up without too much difficulty, but the second one, a metal frame, was a booger. One of the essential parts didn't fit- it belonged to a different bed. We had to improvise. It turned out ok. I think I probably made at least 10 trips between the apartment and the base- I was the gopher... Let me just say that I got really sweaty this afternoon.
After supper (chicken in some sort of sauce, rice, salad), we had a "community meeting". Basically all of the base staff met in the worship hall and had a time of worship. Then a guy from San Diego? spoke about injustice. That is when it started to get intense.
We were told to split up into groups of five (in my group was Alex, Adam, Libby, and Beth), then we took turns going to three stations. ***These stations were rather graphic, so faint of heart should just skip to the bottom, don't worry though, I am giving the G version. ^^^Also, this was all rehearsed, none of it was real, so don't take it the wrong way.
For the first station, we went to the stairs. That was the water station. Basically, it went like this: There are so so so many people that die from lack of clean drinking water. Some women in Africa walk 6 miles a day for water that really doesn't pass as drinkable. Then Beth and I had to carry four large containers of "nasty water" up two flights of stairs while everyone else followed behind counting to three(every three seconds someone dies from a water related illness). Once we got to the top, we each had to drink a cup of the bad water. It was really bad, indescribably so. Then we helped carry the containers back down, and it was off to the next station.
The second station was really disturbing in the fact that it depicted an injustice that happens everywhere in disgustingly large quantities, but is not really talked about much: Forced Prostitution. In this station, we were left standing in an area, near one of the YWAM 14-pass vans. Then a guy approached us(it was Josh, full time staff, but he was in character so...). He asked what we were up to-just making normal conversation- then he pulled us over to the van and opened the back doors. Inside was a scantily clad (only wrapped in a bedsheet) female. The guy told us that we could "have" her for $10. He "slapped" her around a bit and yelled to wake her up. (At this point, I was absolutely disgusted. We all were. I mean, I know that there is prostitution and stuff but I have never seen it up close and personal like it was tonight.) When we firmly said NO he yelled at us to get out of there. That was the end of the second station.
The third station was by far the most intense. After it was done, my heart didn't slow down for a really long time. In this station, we were brought into the staff computer room. It was dark and nothing was happening, then there was a gunshot, and another. Then two masked men (JP and Mitch- both full time staff) burst in with guns (either fake or not loaded) and yelled at everyone to get down. Then they put sacks over everyone's heads and led us to another room. There, we could hear a female (Lindsey-full time staff and quite the actress) wailing and screaming and crying. There was more gunshots and someone yelled at the girl to shutup. Then one of the men grabbed Beth and dragged her over to the girl and forced a gun into her hand and told her to shoot the girl(remember: FAKE GUN). Beth, having the guts that she does, yelled NO and refused to do it. The guy then grabbed the gun from her and pulled the trigger. Silence. They made us remove the bags and look at what had been done, then they yelled at us to get out of there. That was the end of the third station.
Afterwards, many of us were visibly shaken, others were shaken just not as visibly. I can't even begin to imagine what any of those situations would be like if they actually were real. Even as I am sitting here writing this, I still am not quite sure what my reaction is. I know that I am mad(that the world is this corrupt) and disgusted(that there is actually a market for prostitution) and sad(that all of us are so oblivious to all this tragedy) and horrified(that people actually go through this and worse) and confused(on how I can make a difference). I think there is more but that is all I am able to distinguish right now.
I don't know what we can do to change this but I do know that we can pray, and that is really all that we can do for some of the injustices in the world. As disturbed as I was, I really think that these stations were very good at scaring us out of our apathy and passiveness.
On a lighter note, the police force in Mexico is quite decent. In the midst of the night and stations, they showed up because they heard all the screaming and gunshots(actually firecrackers (; ). Once we explained what we were doing, they were ok and left. All in all, tonight was pretty epic.
Megan, the last person to arrive, should be arriving soon so I am going to go. Besides, I think I have written enough. Buenos Noches! Abi
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Prayer Night Prep Etc.
This morning, all of the base staff watched a movie by Rob Bell called Everything Is Spiritual. It was a very interesting movie. Then we talked about it.
After lunch, we all got in a van and drove around Ensenada to different locations for prayer night, each focused on a different one of the 7 spheres of prayer: Government, Art & Entertainment, Business, Religion, Education, Media, Family.
Here are pictures of the City Hall (Government) and a park (Family).
After the Government, Art & Entertainment, Business, and Religion locations, but before the Education, Media and Family locations (we ran short on time), a bunch of the base people went on a harbor tour boat. It was pretty awesome. I saw my first wild seal/sea lion today. There was a bunch of them laying on one of the unused docks.
That was pretty neat. We drove all around the harbor area. We even drove by the base.
The base is the big reddish building.
But yah, the harbor cruise was quite fun. Alot of the kids from base went with too.
This is Fernanda, Hailey, Matt and Walter(Base staff who is helping with MA stuff.)
This is Corey Ochoa and Noah Kemp.
And this is Tym Kemp and two of his kids: Tiana and Micah(sorry it is sideways; I thought I fixed it, but I guess I didn't and I am too tired to do it now).
Anyways, harbor tours are fun. After the tour, we finished the prayer locations and then all the MA staff went for tacos. Me amor tacos y tortas. I had a torta which is basically a taco sandwich. They take a big squarish bun, toast it and put the taco stuff on it; i.e. the stuff I got: cheese, meat(I think it was pork?), cilantro, pineapple, avacado, and the stuff I won't touch with a 10m pole: onion, hot sauce, radishes, habenero sauce, and a bunch of other vegetable type substances. They are amazing and super filling.
That is basically the entirety of what I did today.
When we were driving around Ensenada today, I was thinking about two things. The first thing is that there is an amazingly wide variety of motorized vehicles that are used around here. There are some cars that are super new and shiny and well taken care of and then there are some cars that really shouldn't be running given the condition they are in. I mean seriously, I have seen plenty of cars that are popular in the States and then I also saw a really old el Camino. There is also an abundance of VW Bugs. Mexicans are lucky they don't play the slugbug game...(; It just amazes me that there is such a huge range of cars that are being driven in Mexico.
The second thing I was thinking about while we were driving around looking at the different parts of Ensenada was: It seems so unfair that some people in Ensenada are living in multi-million dollar houses and other people can't even afford to eat three meals a day much less have a house. Some of the houses in the richer parts of the city are equal to, if not better than many of the houses in the rich part of any major city in America. A majority of the people in Ensenada are fortunate to have a single room that offers some sort of protection from the outside. It just blows my mind to think that some of the houses that the people are proud to own cost less to build than my first car will probably cost. I feel so fortunate to be born in the States and to have the "meager" amount of wealth that I posess.
Anyways, I am tired of typing so yeah...Have a good night and a brighter tomorrow. Abi
After lunch, we all got in a van and drove around Ensenada to different locations for prayer night, each focused on a different one of the 7 spheres of prayer: Government, Art & Entertainment, Business, Religion, Education, Media, Family.
Here are pictures of the City Hall (Government) and a park (Family).
After the Government, Art & Entertainment, Business, and Religion locations, but before the Education, Media and Family locations (we ran short on time), a bunch of the base people went on a harbor tour boat. It was pretty awesome. I saw my first wild seal/sea lion today. There was a bunch of them laying on one of the unused docks.
That was pretty neat. We drove all around the harbor area. We even drove by the base.
The base is the big reddish building.
But yah, the harbor cruise was quite fun. Alot of the kids from base went with too.
This is Fernanda, Hailey, Matt and Walter(Base staff who is helping with MA stuff.)
This is Corey Ochoa and Noah Kemp.
And this is Tym Kemp and two of his kids: Tiana and Micah(sorry it is sideways; I thought I fixed it, but I guess I didn't and I am too tired to do it now).
Anyways, harbor tours are fun. After the tour, we finished the prayer locations and then all the MA staff went for tacos. Me amor tacos y tortas. I had a torta which is basically a taco sandwich. They take a big squarish bun, toast it and put the taco stuff on it; i.e. the stuff I got: cheese, meat(I think it was pork?), cilantro, pineapple, avacado, and the stuff I won't touch with a 10m pole: onion, hot sauce, radishes, habenero sauce, and a bunch of other vegetable type substances. They are amazing and super filling.
That is basically the entirety of what I did today.
When we were driving around Ensenada today, I was thinking about two things. The first thing is that there is an amazingly wide variety of motorized vehicles that are used around here. There are some cars that are super new and shiny and well taken care of and then there are some cars that really shouldn't be running given the condition they are in. I mean seriously, I have seen plenty of cars that are popular in the States and then I also saw a really old el Camino. There is also an abundance of VW Bugs. Mexicans are lucky they don't play the slugbug game...(; It just amazes me that there is such a huge range of cars that are being driven in Mexico.
The second thing I was thinking about while we were driving around looking at the different parts of Ensenada was: It seems so unfair that some people in Ensenada are living in multi-million dollar houses and other people can't even afford to eat three meals a day much less have a house. Some of the houses in the richer parts of the city are equal to, if not better than many of the houses in the rich part of any major city in America. A majority of the people in Ensenada are fortunate to have a single room that offers some sort of protection from the outside. It just blows my mind to think that some of the houses that the people are proud to own cost less to build than my first car will probably cost. I feel so fortunate to be born in the States and to have the "meager" amount of wealth that I posess.
Anyways, I am tired of typing so yeah...Have a good night and a brighter tomorrow. Abi
Today...
Today was sorta funnish but mostly long. This morning we had a guy come to speak to us. His name is Giacomo (pronounced jack-uh-mow). I found him hard to listen to, mostly because he was communicating with us through a translator so it lacked continuity, which is difficult for me to follow.
After lunch, another baked potato bar, we learned one of the skits we will be performing/teaching. I believe it is called "Everything". If you want to see it, youtube: lifehouse everything - drama. Of course, we are switching it up a bit but the concept is the same. When we perform it, I am a person with money.
After dinner, hamburgers off the grill, we went up to the dts classroom and learned a few songs (and by songs, I mean a song that also has dance moves which are supposed to be performed in synchronization to singing the song in Spanish) that we will use at VBSes. One was about a little bird and was similar to a song we learned last year, Hay Una Melodia, in the actions. Another song we learned was the Spanish version of Every Move I Make. The final song, I am guessing, is about Super Heroes and how Jesus should be our superhero. They will take a bit of practice (and by bit I mean every free moment I have between now and Christmas[remember, dancing is not one of my spiritual gifts]). Thankfully Libby is an amazing dancer and is willing to help me. (:
That is about it. So, goodnight. Abi
After lunch, another baked potato bar, we learned one of the skits we will be performing/teaching. I believe it is called "Everything". If you want to see it, youtube: lifehouse everything - drama. Of course, we are switching it up a bit but the concept is the same. When we perform it, I am a person with money.
After dinner, hamburgers off the grill, we went up to the dts classroom and learned a few songs (and by songs, I mean a song that also has dance moves which are supposed to be performed in synchronization to singing the song in Spanish) that we will use at VBSes. One was about a little bird and was similar to a song we learned last year, Hay Una Melodia, in the actions. Another song we learned was the Spanish version of Every Move I Make. The final song, I am guessing, is about Super Heroes and how Jesus should be our superhero. They will take a bit of practice (and by bit I mean every free moment I have between now and Christmas[remember, dancing is not one of my spiritual gifts]). Thankfully Libby is an amazing dancer and is willing to help me. (:
That is about it. So, goodnight. Abi
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The first Sunday
Well, this morning, I was woken up at about 7:30 by noisy children (from the sleepover-see yesterday's post). That wouldn't normally be a problem except for the fact that the kids didn't actually fall asleep until somewhere around 1:30. And, we weren't leaving for church until 9:30. Yeah... Anyways, the sleepover was fun. Some of those kids really like Justin Bieber (for those of you who are out of the loop- Youtube him, and for those of you who don't know how to use Youtube, you are out of luck), luckily for me I have his cds on my computer so we had a dance party.
Anyways, this morning we went to church. It was a spanish church (obviously...) but they offered in-ear translations. This means that they gave us non-spanish speaking attendees a pair of headphones and a little black device through which an undisclosed person translated the service to us. Thus, we were able to understand the sermon, which was about perseverance.
This church had pretty decent music too. Thankfully, they sang songs that also have english versions so we weren't all completely lost. The church was actually pretty technologically advanced comparitively. They had several display screens and they actually offered podcasts of the service.
Anyways, I am tired (see the first paragraph) so I think I will rest for a bit.
Oh, here is my address if anyone would like to send me a letter or anything. Be aware that it will take a while to reach me because it is routing through San Diego.
YWAM San Diego/Baja
Abi Kesler (Ensenada)
100 W 35th St Suite C
National City, CA 91950
Anyways, TTYL Abi
Anyways, this morning we went to church. It was a spanish church (obviously...) but they offered in-ear translations. This means that they gave us non-spanish speaking attendees a pair of headphones and a little black device through which an undisclosed person translated the service to us. Thus, we were able to understand the sermon, which was about perseverance.
This church had pretty decent music too. Thankfully, they sang songs that also have english versions so we weren't all completely lost. The church was actually pretty technologically advanced comparitively. They had several display screens and they actually offered podcasts of the service.
Anyways, I am tired (see the first paragraph) so I think I will rest for a bit.
Oh, here is my address if anyone would like to send me a letter or anything. Be aware that it will take a while to reach me because it is routing through San Diego.
YWAM San Diego/Baja
Abi Kesler (Ensenada)
100 W 35th St Suite C
National City, CA 91950
Anyways, TTYL Abi
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
