My "Jonah Day"

 

 

~ Posted by Ben

 

I don’t normally believe in using social media for ranting. But I’ve decided to document a not-so-happy day I experienced recently in hopes that through it, I may encourage and provide comic relief to those of you who may experiencing a “Jonah day” today! J

 

This story has a background that includes a college conference; potential food poisoning thereof; an Eagle Scout project proposal; a deadline, and a nasty habit of procrastination on my part. This story then has a main plot that includes missed deadlines, chasing people around town for signatures, waiting for phone calls that never came, transportation issues, stress-related health issues (we won’t go into details :/), red ants, forgetfulness, and getting lost. And the end….well, let me walk ya through. J

 

CPE3

 

Bianca participates in an online college program known as “College Plus.” College Plus, or “CP,” is a Christian collegiate organization that works in partnership with several colleges and universities, to provide a fully accredited Bachelor’s degree for half the cost, in half the time, and with twice the flexibility. Bianca has been working towards a BA in International Studies with this program since January. I’m planning on enrolling in College Plus as well, so recently Bianca and I decided to attend “CPE3,” a large, week-long event hosted by CP in San Antonio. We had an EXCELLENT week! I enjoyed myself immensely, but knew that when I got back, I would have to work hard on finishing my Eagle Scout Project proposal that was due several days after I returned.

 

Eagle Project proposal

 

After I returned from CPE3, I got right to work on my Eagle Project proposal. I finished it, but somehow missed seeing that I needed some very important signatures before submitting my proposal (face palm). Naturally, I discovered this Monday night…and I needed 3 signatures by the next night. L

 

“BEN JUDAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! GET OUT OF BED!” This was my Tuesday morning wake-up call. Somehow I overslept my alarm, it was 9 o’clock, and I had a deadline!! I leaped up and began discussing strategy with my mom. After a quick grooming and breakfast, my sister drove me all the way to church (about 25 minutes away) to obtain my first signature (the church is the beneficiary of the project). Here’s where the fun began. Our Lead Pastor could not sign it without first reviewing and understanding the project proposal, and getting consensus from the staff.

 

So we left the proposal, promising to return later that afternoon, and Bianca and I ran over to DPS to sign me up for a driving license test (that’s a story for another time) and then we went home. I was actually able to do some school work before dashing back to church to pick up my project binder, and then heading to the BSA Court of Honor that evening that I, as Senior Patrol Leader, had to preside over.

 

This is one part of the story that is actually quite happy. That evening would be my last Court of Honor as SPL, as my 6-month term was ending. At this Court of Honor, I was presented with 4 merit badges, an SPL award, and an Honor Camper award for the year. I also received many compliments from parents on my leadership over the last 6 months. I was truly humbled by their recognition.

 

However, after the Court of Honor I was informed by my project coach that there was a whole other packet of paperwork I needed to do. Thankfully, he was able to obtain a 24-hour deadline extension from the District Advancement Coordinator. I was also able to get 2 of the 3 signatures I needed for the proposal, at the Court of Honor. But I had a lot of work ahead of me…

 

Early the next morning, Mom drove me back to church, where I dropped the proposal off AGAIN (they didn’t have sufficient time to look over it on Tuesday), and then came home and plowed away at the extra paperwork given to me by my project coach. I was able to finish it shortly before heading BACK to church with my siblings for youth group that evening.

 

This is where the story really gets crazy. I get to church, and it turns out my proposal isn’t there. It’s with one of the associate pastors who went into town. Our Lead pastor rushes out to find him, gets the binder, and comes back. We then have a long discussion that results in some major changes of plans for the landscaping I am proposing to do. Drawings are changed; a landscape extraordinaire is consulted; and I get the final signature I need.

 

So I’m standing outside, talking with a guy who did a project there earlier this year, about the location of the sprinkler systems in the area where I will be working. In my mind, I’m thinking, “What a lousy 2 days I’ve had! This is the hardest signature I’ve ever tried to get. How could things get any WOOOOORRRSSSEE--AAAAAGGGGHHH!!!!!” Sudden pain shoots up my legs. I look down, and I am standing on a massive red ant hill.! I broke into what from a distance, probably looked like a white boy’s lousy attempt at break-dancing, as I furiously swatted at my legs, knocking dozens of red ants to the ground.

 

In the midst of this, my sister comes out of the church, ready to drive me to the house where I would be dropping off the proposal documents. I’m pretty sure she was trying not to laugh at my predicament…but she was also in a hurry since she’s supposed to be upstairs to help with youth group in 15 minutes. We drive, and are literally turning onto the street where the district advancement coordinator lives, when I groaned and grabbed my already-throbbing head. I realized that I forgot to add the extra paperwork I had completed that day to my binder.

 

Bianca turns around and heads all the way back to the church, while I resist the urge to slam my noggin on the dashboard. Through all of this, I am continually slapping at my legs to kill yet another red ant (they stick with you for a while). My stomach was churning, as I’d been suffering from a bit of, *ahem,* discomfort the last couple of days (not going to go into too much detail there, but there was an accidental food poisoning incident at the event Bianca and I attended. I had been feeling a bit iffy since returning, and it wasn’t being helped by all this stress.)

 

So we get back to church, where my sister needs to go help with junior high youth, so my Dad swings by from the office to take me back to the DAC’s house now that we have ALL the papers. As I’m walking up his driveway I’m thinking; “Walk slowly, don’t want to trip and die, because that would happen with the day I’ve been having!” But I successfully dropped off the completed documents. YEEESSS!

 

The rest of the evening went off quite normally…except for tripping over my sister’s ankle at bedtime and face-planting in our living room. But I finished the day with my objective met, and without serious injuries sustained. Needless to say, I showered very carefully that night so as not to wipe out and suffer a head concussion. Haha! J

 

At the end of the day, I’d learned some important lessons:

 

#1 Never procrastinate.

#2 Always take others’ schedules into consideration when working with people.

#3 Always plan for the worst so that you can deal with it when it happens!

 

I figure that as long as I’ve learned my lessons, I will be better prepared to meet life’s challenges ahead.

 

If you are currently suffering a “Jonah day,” I hope that this post and its ending provided at least some encouragement, if not some comic relief! May God, in His grace, bring you through whatever suffering you’re going through. Nothing in your life is capable of surprising Him. Keep up the fight!

 

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

Guatemala Mission Trip

~posted by Roma

Back in July, I had the wonderful opportunity to take my second mission trip! It was refreshing to be back on the mission field again, after 2 years. (In 2012 our family went to Haiti.) Our whole family didn’t go on this trip; just Bianca and I. Bianca went for an internship with other interns for 3.5 weeks, then the last week our youth pastor here in Texas led a team from our church. And I wanted to go! So after having a garage sale here with the help of my family, raising all the funds, packing my bags, putting my pigtails in my hair and grabbing my jacket, I was ready! It took a step of faith to commit to going even if I didn’t know where the funds would come from, and traveling without my family was different, but at least I had a team with me. J

The night our team got there, Bianca came up behind me, swung me around in the air, and squeezed me! It was great to be with her again after a few weeks. Her Birthday had been celebrated in Guat. over and over again, and in this picture we are having one of her celebrations.

Our team. There were lots of other dear people to me that are not in this picture—our translators, the missionaries, the fellowship Guatemala team, and the interns—but this is the team I came down with.

Guatemala was a great experience as all mission trips can be, and this blog post may end up being shorter than I’d like just because trying to share every detail could take so long. All the words and pictures can’t even do it justice. I would encourage you to go to Guatemala yourself. It’s eye-opening to drive past zone 3 (there are 25 zones in Guat.) where no one goes in, and no one goes out, because of the drug cartels. It’s eye-opening to walk along a train track where the people are living in absolute squalor and kids come running up to you to hug you even though you don’t know them and they don’t know you. We went through dirty places, smelly places, and big wealthy houses with sugar cane fields. (We went through a variety of places in 7 days.) There was poverty, and people were broken.

But on a happier note, Guatemala was also a wonderful place to experience Hispanic culture. I will always adore Hispanic culture, being half Puerto-Rican myself. Getting up late in the morning…drinking strong black coffee with cane sugar…never being in a rush…always being on “Guatemalan time” (which is really late)…going to bed at 2:00 a.m. so slap-happy and exhausted; your stomach hurts to death from laughing! Hispanic people coming to the mission house to visit you even though you don’t know them. They’re all smiles talking with you even though there’s a language barrier…it’s AWESOME! And when I got home, it was hard to do the “Texan routine” instead of the “Guat. Routine.” This trip also had plenty of inside jokes and funny memories that make the mission trip even more memorable. J

The things we did during the week were going door to door evangelizing, visiting different churches and a hotel with a church in it, and VBS with kids in zone 25. (pictured above.) VBS was awesome! Everyone took turns teaching every night, (including me J) we got our faces painted, and DANCED.

All these girls in the above picture are precious new friends of mine and sisters in the Lord! Two of them, S and M, have already visited my home in TX. All these girls are great. I’ll be seeing them again for sure.

Some of my favorite memories of Guatemala were: riding on the huge, colorful bus with blasting music on the way to touristy Antigua; shopping in the market for souvenirs for the family; getting a semi-permanent blue and black braid in my hair; panicking for a minute when two Guatemalan Police came up to me and I thought I was getting arrested. But they just wanted me to have my braid done outside of the town square. J So guess what--I was escorted outside the square!

In Antigua, with Mt. Agua in the background. Pastor D has climbed it! I want to climb it! J

Me with the missionaries Pastor D and his wife O. They are an incredible couple!

The most impacting part for me was the first day that we were going to zone 25 to evangelize. We arrived at pastor O’s church and everyone got silent when going inside because a prayer warrior was kneeling at the stage praying. I never learned this woman’s name or anything about her. I just know she was praying, singing over and over again “Gracias Cristo.” It makes me want to be more thankful. Looking around the room, I noticed that an American wouldn’t think there’s much to be thankful for. Pastor O’s church consists of a room, plastic chairs, a stage, and a bathroom that I won’t even get into. But this lady was absolutely grateful. She faithfully prays for her community every day. You can start praying for “the prayer warrior in Guatemala”, and pray God would hear her prayers and do miracles in her community.

I hope you enjoyed these pictures and captions, and Bianca will probably post more on her 3-1/2 week internship later. I hope I go to Guatemala again--maybe for June 2015!

Summer Flashback

~Posted by Rubia

These September days have been full of “Fall chatter” because everyone, including myself are excited about them!! However, you blog readers missed nearly all of our summer, so I’m giving you a sneak peek into a fun weekend we had at the beginning of August this year.

Our family has been developing a relationship with some neat friends from church, and we have found our families to be similar in some ways. They have two boys, 18 and 16, that my siblings and I have had the privilege of spending more time with outside of youth group.

One Friday in early August we decided to try a Mexican ice cream shop in town that most of us had heard about. It turned out to be delicious! I found the ice cream to be rich and creamy, especially the vanilla and chocolate flavors! They had other treats there too, including frozen chocolate-covered bananas and strawberries.

After we ate our treats, we needed to do something else. J So after buying a few groceries for our parents, we went to the park. (Yes, teenagers at the park. Why not?:-)

This park has huge monkey bars, swings, a climbing rock, and a walking trail.

We found a water hole to play in….and get wet in.

We ended up inviting the boys to come over for dinner, so they joined us for our traditional Friday-pizza-movie-night. THEN their Dad must’ve thought, “We might as well invite them out to the lake tomorrow,” so that’s what he did! Yay! J

The next day was a beautiful afternoon for swimming, tubing, and water skiing! Some of the experiences were new for me, like tubing, and I’m thankful that my first time could be with my family and these friends!

Roma and Mrs. B enjoying the beach.

Roma and Ben on the boat.

Beautiful lake day.

Dad up on the water skis.

Thanks so much to the B family for this memorable weekend of our summer!

We're Back!

Hello readers! We hope you’ve had a marvelous summer. Ours was very full and very fun. J We are getting back into our fall schedules of school, work, and extracurricular activities, but we will begin to post here once a week now. You will probably see a mix of posts over the next couple of weeks. These will include recaps of our summer and what we’re up to now!

 

*What did you do this summer? We’d love to know! Leave us a comment!*