Examining minds want to know.

I've been doing some writing for Examiner.com over the past month as their Kansas City Extracurricular Activities writer.  Here are the three articles that I've had published so far.  Also, I get some pennies in my bank account every time someone checks out my articles (Hence the tacky lime green font).  If anyone out there has some solid ideas for next things in the Metro that you'd like to see me attempt, drop me a line.  Peace!

http://www.examiner.com/article/from-farm-to-fridge 

http://www.examiner.com/article/fall-fun-at-liberty-corn-maze-and-carolyn-s-country-cousins-pumpkin-patch 

http://www.examiner.com/article/safe-halloween-activities-for-little-ghouls-1 

Navigators Revel at Kansas City Main Event

On the weekend of October 19^th, college students descended upon Crown Center for the Navigators Main Event Conference.  Main Event is an October tradition for students in the Midwest and 2012 marked the fourth straight year that the conference was hosted at what is now the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center.  Students were housed for the weekend in both the Sheraton and the Westin Crown Center hotels.

According to Mark Day, the Navigators Heartland Regional Director, “The Navigators is an international organization devoted to helping college students become deeply rooted in their relationship with God so that they might thrive and bear fruit for the rest of their lives.”  The Navigators was founded by Dawson Trotman in 1933 while serving aboard the USS West Virginia.  Through discipling and mentoring his fellow shipmates, 135 sailors on the ship became Christians before it was sunk at Pearl Harbor.  The Navigators proceeded to direct its work on college campus beginning in 1951 at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln through Mr. Trotman and a group of students in the Sigma Ep fraternity house.  Now, the Navigators has spread to over fifty campuses in the United States and many more around the world.  The Navigators is based in Colorado Springs, CO at Glen Eyrie.

2012 marked the 18^th anniversary of Main Event.  The conference was held in Cedar Falls, IA at the University of Northern Iowa through 2007.  In 2008, Main Event was held at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.  In 2009, Main Event moved to its current location in Kansas City, MO.  The theme of this year’s Main Event was #Revel’12.  The theme encouraged students to take advantage of Twitter in order to share their experiences from the weekend.  The 900 plus students were assembled from schools including the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Northwest Missouri State University, Iowa State University, the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, and the University of Central Missouri among others.  The students were divided into 119 small group averaging eight to nine students in each based upon their schools.  Each small group is invited to partake in a dinner with a host family from around the Kansas City Metro area.

Peter Trautmann served as the primary speaker for #Revel’12.  Mr. Trautmann currently serves on staff with the Navigators at New York University in New York City, NY.   Worship music was also present at Main Event.  Paul Zach served in a capacity as worship leader for the weekend.  Mr. Zach toured with the Christian band Remedy Drive until 2010.  According to Northwest student William Quinn, “Main Event provided a safe context full of resources designed to help me deepen my trust in God.  I don't know why, but He just shows up at Main Event year after year and moves people in big ways.  Back at campus, I see young people hungry and eager to step out in faith with Christ.  I think Main Event is the cause for this.”

Kansas City! You’re Giving Poor Kansas City A Bad Name!

There’s something about being a sports fan in the state of Missouri that gives you a deep appreciation for the stench of failure.  Maybe I’m being mildly melodramatic, but it is true.  That is, unless you’re a Cardinals fan; more power to you all.  Now, if you had the misfortune of growing up as a Chiefs or Royals fan, then I’m sorry for pointing out the obvious.  The thing about Kansas City sports fans is that there’s always a pure, innocent idea that things will get better.  That’s what enables us as fans to return each and every year.  We’re all awaiting our so-called “Miracle on Ice.”  Unfortunately, like the years preceding it, 2012 has not been a kind year to be a sports fan in fair Cowtown.

2012 started out with the passionate rivalry between the Missouri Tigers and the Kansas Jayhawks reaching a fever pitch.  While the rivalry had always been there, circumstances intensified things this year.  Missouri had announced that they would be leaving the Big 12 Conference to move to the SEC for the 2012-2013 academic year and so on.  In addition, both Mizzou and KU were embroiled in a battle for supremacy over the Big 12 and in the national rankings as well.  KU would take the Big 12 Conference Championship and Mizzou would win the Big 12 Tournament Championship which led to bragging rights for both schools.  In addition, both schools were able to win on their home courts against their bitter rivals for the final time.  The fans tended to take the hate a little far this time with Kansas fans expressing bitterness at Missouri for leaving the Big 12 and Missouri fans being angry at Kansas for refusing to continue the traditional rivalry game between the two schools.  Throughout the winter months, Kansas City was very divided between the two camps.

In the summer of 2012, Kansas City and the Royals would play host to the Major League Baseball All*Star Game.  The event would definitely bring national attention to Kansas City throughout the week leading up to the game on July 10.  With the Royals already off to a bad start as far as their record for the season went, the All*Star Game was really the biggest remaining event for the baseball season.  Through the weekend leading up to the Game, Kansas City received nothing but positive responses for the the way that the city hosted the FanFest and other festivities.  Starting with the Celebrity Softball Game on Sunday, KU basketball head coach, Bill Self and Chiefs quarterback, Matt Cassel were booed during the course of the game.  Also leading up to the Home Run Derby, Sports Radio 810 started a public campaign to boo New York Yankees second baseman, Robinson Cano for leaving local favorite Billy Butler off the American League's Home Run Derby team.  Beginning with the Derby, Cano was booed non-stop from start to finish.  The only ceasing was when Butler was shown on CrownVision and when Cano struck out for the final time without hitting a home run.  While Sports Radio 810 encouraged fans to cheer for Cano the following night for being a good sports, fans continued to boo hysterically whenever Cano entered the game.  This reception cast an unnecessary pall over the proceedings and dominated the ESPN and FOX coverage of the game.

Recently, Kansas City has been in the news again for less than positive reasons.  With frustrations building for Chiefs fans after a 1 - 3 start, Kansas City fans were beginning to call for changes.  Most of the upset feelings for fans could be traced to two sources: Matt Cassel and Chiefs General Manager, Scott Pioli.  In fact, fans paid for a banner to fly over Arrowhead Stadium proclaiming “We Deserve Better! Fire Pioli – Bench Cassel."  During the course of the Chiefs' game against the Baltimore Ravens, Matt Cassel was injured with a concussion.  When fans saw backup QB Brady Quinn enter the game, cheers erupted in the stadium.  While the cheers weren't directed at Cassel's injury, the gesture still made national news after comments from offensive tackle, Eric Winston.  Winston publicly called out Chiefs fans for what he saw as a negative response to Cassel's injury.  ESPN and other media outlets picked up the story and ran with it.  

People nationwide are quickly beginning to lose respect for Kansas City fans as a whole after the events of the past year.  While this city has always been regarded as having a great attitude of Midwestern hospitality, fans need to step back and take a look at their actions as of late.  It is important for the future of our fair city to take a look at sportsmanship.  If not for us, then for the next generation.  Without respect, really we are no better than Raider fans.  Who wants that? 

Adventures in Letterboxing

With Indiana Jones making his return to theaters for a limited run this fall, you may find your family seeking to replicate the globetrotting adventures of Indy.  World travel for a family may be slightly out of reach in this day and age but Letterboxing provides the same treasure hunting experience on a local scale.

                
Letterboxes are hidden in weatherproof boxes in public places such as parks.  For example, the Kansas City Metropolitan area is home to over sixty letterboxes.  Clues to the whereabouts of the boxes may be found online on various websites.  The contents of a letterbox include a notebook and a rubber stamp.  The rubber stamp will often be hand carved an opposed to store bought.  Finders will want to bring their own rubber stamp, inkpad, and notebook.  Finders will want to make an imprint of the stamp in their personal notebook to keep for their records.   In addition, finders will want to leave an impression of their own “signature” stamp in the letterbox’s “logbook”.  This allows other letterboxers to see who has found the letterbox.

The heritage of letterboxing may be traced back to Dartmoor, Devon, England.  Interest in the United States is generally traced to an article that appeared in the Smithsonian Magazine in April of 1998.  Also, the growing interest in geocaching has helped interest in letterboxing to grow as well.  The original letterboxes were located in hard-to-reach places that could only be found by the most determined seekers.   Letterboxes are now located in much more accessible places than originally intended.  As a result, the activity has become much more popular among children.  Some boxes are placed in tougher terrain and are better suited for adults and experienced letterboxers.

For any additional information about the activity of letterboxing, please visit www.letterboxing.org or www.atlasquest.com.  These websites will provide clues, tips for carving your own stamps, and frequently asked questions for your family’s very own Indiana Jones adventure.

A Letter to My Sixteen-Year-Old Self.

To Sixteen-Year-Old Jesse,

I'm currently writing you from the ripe old age of Twenty-six.  While that probably strikes you as meaning that life’s almost over, the complete opposite is true.  Life's pretty exciting and rarely gets dull (Once I’m done with work for the day).  In fact, based upon the massive wealth of knowledge that I have accumulated by this point in my life, I thought that you might appreciate some tips on how to live your life from a pro.

Let’s go ahead and look at a typical night for you.  Once you’re done with school for the day, it’s normally spent in one of four ways.  Option #1 is always doing homework.  By the way, you know that Algebra that you’re agonizing over that Mrs. Logsdon says you’ll need to know?  I haven’t used that since high school.  Option #2 is a little more fun considering it’s the option of watching TV or playing PlayStation.  You’re not going to believe this as you’re sitting there with a plastic, grey controller in your hands but I have almost the exact same one in my hands today only in black without a cable controlling my PS3.  Option #3 would be hanging out with friends.  Some of the relationships that you build during these years have endured to this day so don’t worry about ever having to say goodbye to your closest friends.  Option #4 is playing tennis.  While you’ll never make it on the ATP and play Andre Agassi for Grand Slams, you’ll still have a great time playing the sport in the future.

You're at a stage of life right now where you're trying to figure out who you are and where you belong.  Knowing you the way I do, you’re trying to decide what’s going to give you that sense of feeling and belonging that you crave as a teenager.  You’ll put all of your stock into grades but that probably won’t fill a void.  You’ll try to be friends with everyone, but somebody’s always going to hate you.  You’re scheming about how to ask out the prettiest girl in class but wait until college when you meet your wife.  You’ll love her to death.  :)  Don’t let yourself get down or stuck in a rut.  Don’t worry about the future because everything’s going to be just fine.  I know that you’re trying to figure out how you feel about the whole God thing right now.  Just go with it because it’ll pay off in the end.  Also, about the glasses.  I know they bug you but contacts don’t seem to work well.  Ask the eye doctor about PureVision 2 HD.  They’re comfy and feel nice.  You’ll love them!

A couple of things to leave you with.  I know that you’re worried that your Dad won’t be around due to his heart attack.  He’s still there and you guys are closer than you’ve ever been.  In fact, he’s probably your best friend (next to the aforementioned wife).  Whenever you go anywhere, make certain to call Mom and check in real quick.  I know that it seems lame and like a massive imposition, but it only takes a minute and it makes things easier in the end.  Also, make certain to meet a guy named Joey Gewin and get to know him better.  He’s a good dude!  I can’t take all of the credit for writing you this letter.  I got the idea from a segment with Dale Jr. on the CBS Morning News.  Yep, that’s right, you’re still rooting for him but I’m not going to tell you if he’s a Cup Champion yet or not.  That’s up for you to wait and see. 

Good luck big guy.  I’ll be seeing you in a few years!

Twenty-Six-Year-Old Jesse

TOP ELEVEN List, 8/7/2012

And now for a new segment here on Holt Off The Presses, the TOP ELEVEN List.  As Dave Letterman has perfected (and probably has the rights to) the Top Ten List, I will be doing a TOP ELEVEN list (Your move Letterman).  Today's edition of the list is sponsored by Wild Berries Restaurant in Normal, IL.  Serving you breakfast, lunch, and dinner all day long!
 
TOP ELEVEN Things Learned on a trip to Illinois!
 
11.  Big words are always better than small, especially for the unenlightened (i.e. anhedonic and lugubrious).
10.  The sun magically seems to change directions as the car does.
9.  Crushed M&M’s will always begin to fly during a storm.
8.  Letterboxing in a library is always bound to get you some strange looks as well as questions about what Microfilm is from the guy wanting to use the Microfilm projector.
7.  Apparently you really can drive too far out of the way for a White Castle.
6.  Random holes on the walls of a mini golf course aren't a great idea.  
5.  The Boy's apartment is NOT a man cave!
4.  Group hugs have redemptive, therapeutic qualities.
3.  Soda water is never the best alternative to H2O, but Combos are magnificent!
2.  Texting thoughts between the front and back seats of a sedan is much more efficient that speaking.
1.  Books on tape are a great use of time in the car to help the hours fly by, especially if they're about dogs.

TNESA, Episode VIII: Is This the Amazing Race?

Saturday, July 21, 2012

And thus our El Salvador adventure is finally, mercifully over.  Don't get me wrong.  It was an amazing trip, but the trip home left something to be deeply, deeply desired.  LOL.  After an interesting night's sleep to say the least, I woke up to my alarm ringing at 4:30 am to get ready to start the day.  The most interesting part of the morning had to be me walking to use the public bathroom and brush my teeth since ours was occupied (We actually shared a bathroom with the Nelsons).  When I got back, I see Luke Owen and Randy trying to knock on the door and attempting to slide an iPhone under the door with music blaring in order to "wake me up."  After letting them in the room, we all packed our bags and headed out to the truck and vans to pack up our luggage.  Just to start the morning off right, both Jacob's van and Milton's van required push starts to get moving (I always find that American dude power is better than horsepower any day of the week).  Then we loaded up and "hit them mountains" for the trek to the aeropuerto.

After a short nap, we arrived at the airport and said goodbye to Walter, Milton, and Jacob and somberly headed inside to check our bags and check in for flight.  When we reached the counter, we discovered that our flight was delayed by an hour and a half!  This would mean that we would miss our flight out of Dallas to get back home so therefore we had to change flights accordingly.  We were supposed to return to Kansas City at 4:30, but now we were dismayed to find that we wouldn't leave Dallas until around 7:00.  :(  Epic boo/hiss.  After getting inside, we all grabbed some breakfast, and headed to our terminal.  Customs check-in was interesting as I was relatively certain that I was going to jail!  While stretching to put my backpack on, i accidental whacked a guard in the stomach (hard) with my arm.  Luckily for me, he just laughed it off and sent me through.  **Big Sigh of relief**  I did lose my bottle of sand and ocean water that I had been planning to bring back for Bethany though.  Apparently, it's illegal to transport that from a foreign country back to the US.  Soon enough our flight took off and we were treated to a nice little croissantwich and the movie, John Carter.  While John Carter wasn't great, I preferred it to Journey 2 from our first flight.

After touching down in Dallas, we immediately found ourselves heading through customs with relative ease.  And by that, I mean that myself and the Cochrans were in line behind the only two non-English speaking US residents and the only non-Spanish speaking customs agent.  This is one of those things where you just stand back and go "Really?  Really?".  After making it through, we picked up our bags and finished up our customs experience before dropping them off again.  With a lot of time to kill now, Team Thomas, Rachel, Sandy and myself headed to T.G.I. Friday's for a great meal.  Especially when you think about all of the fast food we had eaten this past week!  On our way to meet up with the others, Sandy and I mysteriously saw part of our team heading to another terminal but didn't think anything of it.  After eating, we headed towards our gate.  Upon our arrival, we were informed that the team members we saw had boarded another flight that would put them back in KC around 6.  Not going to lie here; we were all a little ticked at that one.  I calmed down with a nice chat with Bethany though and followed it up with a double dip ice cream cone (Possibly the best $6.57 spent on the trip).  Finally, 7:00 came and we were heading home!  Yays!  I will say this, it was really funny to see the early flyers back at baggage claim in KC trying to explain themselves and make sure that no one was still mad.  Since over half of them had been in ES two weeks at this point, I don't think anyone blamed them that much.  People were just mad that they didn't think of it first (For the record, I did think about it, but didn't want to leave the rest of the team and be that guy).

When I think back about this trip, it was definitely a much different experience than in January.  While I didn't have my wife (sad thing), I definitely enjoyed our form of ministry more.  Receiving the opportunity to share the Gospel in public school and a foreign military base is the kind of thing that doesn't happen every single day!  Also, just seeing and working on the new orphanage knowing that our sweat and blood (yep, we all cut ourselves open at some point) went into the building gives a person a great feeling.  While it was really hard to be away from Bethany, the trip was worth it.  Looking back at my prayer requests from earlier, I see how God truly answered most of those requests and it's just a testimony to His power and how much He loves us (For those wondering, the high school drama only came into effect on our last night there).  I don't know when I'll get to go back to El Salvador, but will definitely take the opportunity when it is presented again.  :)

 Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

TNESA, Episode VII: "Bacon" at the Beach

Friday, July 20, 2012

Today was our last full day in El Salvador.  We started our morning early by checking out of Hotel Campo Real and going out to breakfast.  Sadly, several of us weren't feeling quite up to snuff, including myself.  After some Powerade and crackers from the gas station down the street, I was feeling more like myself.  After eating our breakfast, we loaded up in the vans to head to La Libertad.  Only one event of interest transpired on the way there though.  Apparently, Walter (or someone else) didn't tie a good knot and he ended up losing a bag out of the back of his pickup while we were heading down the road.  Poor Mike Stoker's bag got ripped up pretty bad by the fall onto the road at the 70 mph+ speeds that Walter tends to like to drive.  After stopping to pick up the bag, the knots were retied much better and tighter and we headed on our way to La Libertad.

We knew that we were heading to a beach resort for our last night in El Salvador but first we were going to stop and see the sister orphanage to the one we work at in San Miguel.  After walking in the gates, we could see that the difference between the two orphanages was like night and day.  The La Libertad orphanage has grown very well and is kept up very nicely.  They even have a school that both the orphans who live there and students from the outside attend!  I was amazed by the fact that they have the capacity and land space to grow their own crops and food.  They also have a chicken farm on sight, as well as the biggest pigs that I've ever seen.  Pigzilla was so nice and plump that I'm pretty sure he would have gotten like 8 blue ribbons at the State Fair.  In addition to that, they have a hair salon and a "thrift store" where they sell the abundance of clothes that are donated to the orphanage.  I would be remiss if I didn't mention the kids.  We surprisingly saw several of the kids that we have seen at the San Miguel orphanage, as well as making new friends.  My new friend was a 7 year old girl named Catalina who ended up falling asleep in my arms after about 2 minutes.  So sweet.  (Say it with me, AWWWWWWW!!!)  As cool as this orphanage was, it made me glad that we have our partnership with the San Miguel one.  There is certainly less time, effort, and money going to San Miguel so therefore they are so appreciative of what we do for them.  Yay for the nice, warm happy feeling.

After leaving the orphanage, we then headed to the Amani resort.  Upon our arrival, there was a fierce battle between people for the the six air conditioned rooms.  As myself and several others had already decided that we were going to take the opportunity to sleep outside on hammocks, we sat back and just watched the mildly angry discussion occur.  Once everything was finally settled out through Joe picking a number and the six closest got AC (I'm glad we're 5 1/2 here.), we then went inside and through our bags in the room, changed clothes and went to order our lunch.  While our lunch was being prepped, we had the opportunity to go spend some time in the ocean.  While the beach wasn't all that great, the water definitely was.  :)  After working up an appetite, I came back to my fantastic lunch of shrimp (heads and all), rice, and fresh veggies.  Yum!

After lunch, some of us took the opportunity to head to the market to check things out.  While part of it was more of what we've seen before (soccer jerseys and machetes), we got the opportunity to see the fish market where they sell fresh fish right off the boats.  They're practically still flopping around!  After this, we headed to get some ice cream.  While I considered the El Salvadorian specialty of a Dona Waffle (ice cream and a doughnut on a waffle cone), I chose to keep it simple and just went with a normal scoop on a waffle.  

After returning to Amani, we all headed down to the ocean again to play until the waves were raging so furiously that it was time to stop.  Sadly, I said goodbye to my favorite pair of sunglasses as they were lost in the surf, never to be seen again (Actually, they've probably floated over to Australia or something).  After some relaxing pool time, everyone cleaned up and got ready for dinner.  I had a fantastic steak dinner which filled me up.  Following our meal, I had a short time to call Bethany and chat for about 20 minutes (Thanks to Brian Fox and his international phone).  It was great to hear her and it made me even more excited to see her in a little under 20 hours (ed. note: or so I thought).  

After that it was time for our meeting and worship time as a team.  It was a very close meeting because it actually started to rain for the first time all week which prompted us all to huddle together under a roof for some shelter.  For tonight's meeting, we would all take turns saying what we wanted to change after this trip.  My revelation was that I didn't want to stop living a missional life just because I had stepped off the mission field.  I want to be able to transition what I've been doing in El Salvador back to my home base in Missouri.  After the meeting was over, some of us remained behind to just sing and worship while Randy and Luke took turns playing the guitar.  It was a really fun evening that would be topped off while sleeping on our hammocks.  The brave souls for the evening consisted of myself, Randy, Luke, Rachel, and Katie.  I was comfortable and slept soundly until about 2:00 am, when I woke up with my back spasming.  Sadly, it finally got so bad that I had to go inside to the extra room where we were keeping our belongings and crawl in a bed to do about an hour of exercises before finally falling asleep and then waking up to the sound of my alarm around 4:30.  Early, early morning is here.

(Ed. note:  This journal entry was obviously written the next day since it entailed the events of the previous night.)

TNESA, Episode VI: "What's That Lassie? Timmy's Stuck in the Well?!"

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Today was certainly a strange feeling day as it's our final day of ministry in El Salvador.  Tomorrow, we'll head up to La Libertad for a nice little vacation before flying home on Saturday.  However fun news to report from today first.  My group was assigned to start our morning at the construction site before heading to the orphanage in the afternoon.  A funny story from the morning though.  Milton was our driver for the day and instead of taking us to Biggest for a disappointing breakfast (like he was supposed to), he chose to take us to Pollo Campero instead for the most important meal of the day.  I just have to say that the Pancake Fresa was absolutely awesome.  Also, I loved seeing some tennis on the television in the restaurant as all I've seen all week has been soccer/futbol as far as sports go.  It did make me a little homesick though and ready to play some fuzzy, yellow ball myself.  ;)  After ending our breakfast, we loaded up in the van and headed towards San Miguel to the construction site for a morning of work.

Today's work at the construction site was definitely tiring, but a little work does great things for the spirit (if not the body, *expertly flexing* LOL.).  We started the day making more volcanos and mixing up concrete.  We got to see the concrete going to use today as our team assisted in building walls.  As I'm not really good with a trowel, I decided to keep myself to the physcial labor portion of the day.  This resulted in two ridiculous workouts.  First, Randy, Antonio (who runs the orphanage) and Jonathan (works for the orphanage as part of a drug rehab program) made three trips to town to buy cinder blocks.  When they came back we had to form an assembly line to unload these blocks.  450 blocks later we were finally done with that task and I clearly felt the burn.  After this, Harrison and I started working on knocking extra dirt off the side of a small cliff to use for filling in the base around the building.  Harrison swinging the pick axe and me stabbing the earth with a large steel rod seemed to knock a lot of dirt loose for use by the workers.  All week, I'd been hearing about the well that is being dug out down the mountain.  I wanted to check it out for myself though before leaving today.  After trekking down the path with Randy (for me a whole lot harder than coming up due to my clumsiness), we arrived at the well to watch the workers dig.  One worker was down inside the well 75 yards deep digging and his amigo was up top.  The digger would fill a five gallon bucket half full and then the amigo would pull the bucket up using a rope.  Honestly, watching this task made me clearly appreciate how easy we have it in America with machinery to do these jobs for us and I was grateful that I wasn't the one spending my entire day stuck in a well.

After a hard morning of work, we returned to the orphange for one last lunch provided by Milena and the girls consisting of chicken and rice.  After this, we kind of just relaxed for the afternoon and played with the girls some more.  What was hilarious was sitting back and watching all of the members of our team who dozed off and fell asleep while sitting around.  I think that people are starting to wear out and get tired on this trip.  Later that afternoon, we took the girls to the park (El Parque) to play on the playground.  While standing around talking with some of the guys while watching the girls (and after my first ever successful journey across the monkey bars), some of the kids started going to play in the large bounce houses near the playground.  When they got there, they were told that it wasn't free.  Brian Fox selflessly ripped out his wallet and paid for the girls to get their bounce on.  :)  I noticed that the man running the bounce house had responded in clear English ($5 for 5 minutes) when Brian asked how much, so took the opportunity to strike up a conversation with Oskar "the Carney".  After talking with Oskar, I decided to take the opportunity to share the Gospel with him using an extra bracelet from our time in the schools.  I felt that he was receptive to the words that I was saying and that he had heard all of this before, but I don't know if it stuck or not.  I will definitely be praying for him though.  After giving him my bracelet and bidding him adieu, I rejoined our group and watching them play basketball with the kids.  At supper time, we would head to Pizza Hut with the girls for a nice dinner.  Before we would eat, we were treated to a great dance from them as a thank you for everything.  Before we knew it, the night was over and we were saying goodbye to our friends.  This was a ton harder this time to say goodbye as I don't know when I'll be back again.  :'(  Still I'm glad that I got the opportunity to come and visit!

Back at the hotel, we met for our final team meeting at Campo Real to discuss what we had learned this week and what God had done in our lives.  I'm still trying to process everything for the week but know it's going to take a while to figure everything out.  Also, Joe left us with a final question that we will need to answer tomorrow night at the beach, "I Have to Go Home, but I Don't Have to Go Back."  Deep and philosophical, huh?  It's been a great week and I can't wait for tomorrow to see what happens next.  :)

TNESA, Episode V: Are Clowns Allergic to Asbestos?

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

This was a very exciting and fun day in El Salvador.  It was a short day at the orphanage and construction site due to our trip to "El Parque de Aquatico" (That's Water Park for the unenlightened).  Our team split up first thing in the morning.  Those who wanted to go to the orphanage spent half a day there and those that wanted to go and work on the construction site for a half day there.  Though my spirit was willing to get my construction on, my back was giving me some issues.  Rather than push it (and risk the wrath of Tyler, my physical therapist), I decided it was smarter to spend the morning at the orphanage.  It was nice as today was a pretty chill day.  I spent the morning playing with kids and helping a bit with VBS which was over the Gospel colors similar to what was presented in church on Sunday and the schools on Monday.  After the lesson, several of us headed into the church sanctuary at the orphanage to get gifts ready for the kiddos.  Here we discovered Jacob's great hidden talent as a piano player and he even played up some original tunes that he wrote.  After a while, we had an impromptu jam session with Randy, Abby Stoker, and myself taking turns on the drums jamming along.  Just a quick side note, I pretty much stink at drums possibly due to my inherent lack of rhythm. 

Self revelation time, I'm a bit of a fidget bug and always need to have something in my hands.  This week, I've been messing around with a little trinket that Ana Rosa gave me; 4 jingle bells and a neon yellow pipe cleaner (Go Oregon!).  While tossing it up into the air and fielding fly balls, I managed to get my toy stuck in the rafters of the building.  The Amandas and I brainstormed for a bit (Fave suggestion: tossing a small child up there), but I quickly resigned myself to not seeing my toy again.  I walked outside and immediately saw a 20 foot piece of PVC pipe and a broom.  This prompted my good idea meter to go from red to green.  I put the two pieces together and went inside and started cleaning the tops of the rafters until my toy (and nice bits of Asbestos) fell down.  Happily I continued playing with my toy.  Soon after the girls joined us for gift time.  It's always an awesome feeling to see the gratefulness that the girls show for the gifts that they receive.  I even got a nice big hug from Ana Rosa for the PJs that Bethany had sent her.  :)  We were then treated to a great lunch of steak and rice before heading to "El Parque de Aquatico."

Our trip to the water park is always fun and this time was no exception.  An interesting side note was that the (rickety and dangerous) water slide that was open six months earlier was now closed down.  LOL.  After swimming and playing with the kids for a while, we then took them to the Zoo.  Now the highlights of this zoo include deer, porcupines, and crocodiles.  However, my favorite part had to be the empty boa constrictor cage with an opening in the door big enough for a snake to crawl through.  Somewhere right now, a middle aged woman just crawled into her bed and touched a massive snake with her feet, screamed loudly and woke up an entire city.  After a full day at the water park, we took the kids back  to the orphanage and headed back to Usulutan. 

Interesting story, on the way to Usulutan, Luke Owen and I began discussing how fast food was not contributing to the El Salvadorian experience for us.  So we took it upon ourselves to try to convince Joe and others to help us find a "hole in the wall" place to eat to get that true, authentic experience.  Somewhat surprisingly, no one wanted to take us up on this offer.  We did find people back at Campo Real who wanted to eat in the hotel restaurant with us.  This was honestly one of the best meals that we've eaten out on the entire trip and we had an extremely fun group consisting of myself, Luke, the Cochrans, the Thomas, Sandy, Rachel, Raven, and Amanda.  I think that I may have laughed more during this meal than I have in a while too!  After dinner, we met up with our amigos and had a good meeting.  It's interesting to see how some of the first timers are beginning to get shook up at what they've been seeing here.  Especially as we only have one night left here at Campo Real, people are starting to get real during the meetings.  Great day!

(Ed. note.:  I don't know how, but I forgot to write about the hilarious morning at Mister Donut.  It started typically, but I soon took notice of the Spanish soap opera on television while sitting with Sandy, Christina, and Amanda.  Soon, we were "bridging the cultural gaps" and "reading the emotions that break all language barriers."  By this I mean that we were putting hilarious words in people's mouths and creating our own plot.  And it all went swimmingly until they changed the channel to Good Morning El Salvador and our vision was attacked by a clown singing CeeLo Green's Forget You.)

TNESA, Episode IV: Concrete, Keys, and Kittens, OH MY!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Today was an awesome day with some new experiences and some old experiences, but it was great all around.  First things first, our group split into two with half going to San Miguel to the Orphanage and half heading to the construction site for a little manual labor.  My group headed to San Miguel for the morning shift at the orphanage.  On the way, we made our much anticipated stop at Mister Donut for breakfast.  After having our best breakfast of the week thus far, we loaded  in the van to go to the orphanage.  However, we had a slight issue before we could make it there.  Jacob's van had died and prompted a quick push start/work out for the men in attendance (Yay for CrossFit El Salvador) to get it running.  After a short, little jaunt down the parking lot, we had the old Mazda purring like a kitten (maybe an ugly sounding kitten, but a kitten nonetheless!). 

On my previous trip to El Salvador, our first minutes walking up to the orphanage had results in lots of hugs and chants and calling of the Americanos.  This time was a little tamer by comparison but still fun.  It was awesome to see the kids that I had seen in January and see how much some of them had grown.  I was especially surprised by little Tanya and Fannie.  As part of the morning shift, our team would be helping Sharilyne and Sandy with a Vacation Bible School program.  Sharilyne led the kids in making their own tambourines complete with the verse Psalms 33:1 which says Sing Joyfully to the Lord, your righteous; It is fitting for the upright to praise him.  However, some of the kids chose to create their own design.  The most interesting of which had to be the girl I was sitting with who decided to copy the design of my State Street Volunteer t-shirt.  Somewhere in El Salvador, there's the only State Street branded tambourine in the world.  My company should be proud of that kind of influence.  :)  Sandy (and Jacob) then led the kids in an impromptu bible study and discussion.  After that, we just spent time with the kids, played different kinds of games, and just gave them some much deserved attention.  I spent quite a while tossing a tennis ball back and forth outside with some of the kids.  Around noon, the members of our team that had been at the construction site showed up for lunch...dirty and tired.  We had an always great lunch provided by Milena and the girls consisting of chicken, rice, and homemade tortillas.  Afterwards, we said goodbye to the kids for the day and headed to the construction site for the afternoon.

My first impression of the construction site was that it was on the world's bumpiest road which very nearly gave me a stomach ache on the way up there.  The second impression was much better as we piled out of the van and saw the beautiful plot that was being used.  However, there was much work to follow.  This day was mostly spent mixing up concrete.  In America, this job consists of watching a truck do the mixing and hard stuff for you while you sit and have a cold soda.  In El Salvador, this job consists of getting 6 buckets of gravel, 4 buckets of sand, and 2 bags of mix.  Then you mix these elements together, kneading it like dough until you form a volcano shape.  Then it's time for the 5 buckets of water.  After the water sits, then you begin to knead everything together with a shovel until it's ready.  This was often a very long and exhausting process (not really easy on the back either).  There was a sense of reward that came with it though.  Before we knew it, our afternoon was spent and it was time to head back to Usulutan and Hotel Campo Real.

Our group went out to eat at Wendy's tonight.  While this would not normally be a special experience as there's one on every block here, tonight was a special night.  Our new friend Jose' gave his life over to Christ on this night and accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.  Last week, Jose' had served as a bus driver for the large youth trip that certain members of our team had been a part of and he was invited to join in our fun for this week.  Randy, Walter, and Joe spent the evening talking with Jose' and in Randy's words, you could see him being pulled back and forth deciding what he was feeling and thinking.  It's just awesome to see something like this happen to really show how God is using us down here in people's lives and I hope to see more of it on this trip.

After dinner, we returned to the hotel and I had a great evening.  As we didn't have a meeting, I was able to spend some much needed hang out time with my roomies, their wives, and a couple of others.  Also, I was able to Skype Bethany for a while which was great because we've both been really missing the other although it seems that she's been doing a good job staying busy (I know I have been).  However, the story from this night that has to be told is the story of the key!  Jason "lost" the key earlier in the week when Luke gave it to him.  However, Jason's been swearing up and down that he didn't know what happened to it.  As I stepped outside to try and call Bethany, Luke decided maybe he should check his shorts from the day.  Now, this is all second-hand information, but from the info I've gleaned, Luke found the key in his pocket, tossed it at Jason and ran out of the room.  As I was outside, I saw this part.  Jason then ran after Luke and chucked the key at him from across the parking lot while yelling "Two Days, Two Days!"  As Jason had been the one forced to ask the guards to let us in each day, he was understandably a little high strung by this time.  Just a hilarious end to a great day in El Salvador

#17, The Beast, Flirt to Convert (You had to be there...)

TNESA, Episode III: Gangs Really Need to Get Back to Work.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Today was honestly my favorite day thus far of my trips to El Salvador as we received the opportunity to head into the public school system.  I know, who's excited to go school, right?  To start off the morning, a handful of team members headed to a school early for an assembly with the purpose of sharing the Gospel.  I wasn't on this trip but would receive an opportunity later on in the day.  I instead started my morning at Biggest with some awesome Jesus time for breakfast consisting of a little 'Luke' and Not A Fan.  Following this though, we headed back to Pastor Rene's church to start our morning.  From there, we walked to the first public school.  There, we broke up into groups and proceeded into classrooms to share the Gospel.  "Team Winner" consisted of Steven, Amanda, Raven, Harrison, Rachel, Jacob (as translator of course) and myself.  The presentation for each class consisted of a dude and dudette giving their testimony in each classroom, followed by Steven effectively presenting the Gospel using a color bracelet as a visual aid, completed with the encouraging line of "Now Get Back to Work."  Clearly something he's practiced in his classrooms a time or two.  Our younger team members hit it out of the park despite their initial nervousness in sharing publicly.  In addition, we also presented each student with a gift of the same color bracelet Steven used in his presentation, as well as a sucker (Who doesn't love candy, right?) and each classroom received one of our Mission Balls.  After our team as a whole spoke to each classroom in the school, we then put on an assembly consisting of a skit from Pastor Rene's church, Mike Stoker's saxophone history lesson and performance and one final Gospel presentation. 

As one of the last ones to leave, instead of making the hike to the next school on foot, I climbed into the back of Walter's truck and got my ride on.  As Walter's red pickup rumbled down the road complete with approximately 8 Americanos in the back, we passed the rest of our team on their way up the hill and obviously waved, pointed, and laughed in glee (Yeah, I know, we're terrible human beings on the mission field.  LOL.).  This is when things got interesting.  As the rest of our team was walking, some locals took notice of them.  Milton, in a rare occurrence, became stern and demanding in telling the team to hurry up and not walk slow.  Once at the school, Milton explained that the locals were members of one of the most dangerous gangs in El Salvador and wanted to know what "the gringos" were doing.  The weirdest part of this whole deal was that they were totally cool with the fact that we were missionaries and wanted us to continue our work because they saw it as a good thing.  While there was no hostility by the gangs shown towards us, Milton was still watching out for us.  It makes you think what would happen to us if we were just randomly walking around without anyone who spoke the language.  At the second school, we then did more of the same as the first.  Arrive, Testimony, Gifts, Gospel, "Get Back to Work".

After this school it was then lunch time and our team headed to Pizza Hut for some good old American cuisine.  I took this opportunity to spend some time with some new friends in Luke Owen, the Tildens, Stokers, Matt and Amanda Thomas, and Raven.  Now, I must divulge some wisdom gleaned from this dinner.  While in the U.S. of A, a salad bar normally is all you can eat, El Salvadorian salad bars are not that way.  This is the story of how Matt Thomas spent $30 on salad at a Pizza Hut.  Poor Fella.  After lunch, we returned to the first morning school to again put on the assembly for the afternoon students.  Another great response and show by our peeps.

That evening, we received the opportunity to head to Alegria for dinner and fun. This was a beautiful drive through the mountainous region of El Salvador. I was especially psyched as this was a part of the country I hadn't previously seen. On the way to eat, we stopped at the Lagoon for a bit of fun, climbing, and sight-seeing. The Lagoon is actually a previously active volcano that is now dormant with a sulfur lake in the middle of it. Once you ignore the strong scent, it is truly an amazing sight to behold. Just to point out the importance of soccer/futbol in Latin culture, there was literally a field in the middle of the area with people playing soccer. After walking to the far side of the pond and climbing up massive rock structures, it was time to Gomanos. In the town of Alegria, we finally got to our destination of Cristina's Pupaseria for dinner. The owner set up tables in the street for us so we ate outside in perhaps the most interesting environment ever. :) The pupusas were awesome, probably not as good as the church the previous evening, but still great. Following dinner, we headed back to Usulutan and met as a group before bed. Tomorrow will be our first day at the orphanage which will be an awesome experience to see the orphans again as well as get our first sight of the new site where we will be working. Peace out!