Ok, so I'm about to head into the wonderful land of China... that's a good thing.... however, I will not be able to get online for a few weeks.... that's a bad thing... well, kind of...
I am anticipating this month to be hard. What better way to end a trip like this than to go out with a challege right? I look forward to it and am expecting good things for this month... and I look forward to sharing them with you when I get back.
So I hate to leave you all but I will return soon enough. I'm sorry that I don't have a nice picture I could post right here so that you could remember my lovely face, so instead of a picture of me, I'll leave you with this picture of Tom Selleck...
As far as I'm concerned, to be 6'3" is not an abnormal occurance. I have, for the most part, thought myself to be an average height. I guess living in America, there are enough people around that are close to my size, that I've not thought anything of being this tall...
However, I have found that in the majority of the world, I am considered, by most, to be a kind of giant.
Sure there were some along the way that have been close to my height, but for the most part, it seems that most places around the world are not made for anyone over 6' tall. I don't fit in vans, busses, tuk tuks, motos, houses, boats, planes, beds, chairs and pretty much anything else you can name. It's lead to back pain, sore necks, my knees crack everytime I move and I haven't been able to really strech out when I sleep as long as I can remember...
So from all this one might think that being big would be quite a burden and could even discourage us tall folk from entering into this field... well that's just silly... so stop thinking that! :)
The benefits of being big easily outweigh the negative parts. It draws people to me, I can easily make people laugh by hitting my head off of their ceilings or doorways or anything else that's hanging low... but the best thing about being big in these places is that it automatically turns this hesitant and somewhat socially akward guy into an instant jungle gym! I have had kids in every country crawling up my leg, hanging from my neck, jumping on my back, swinging from my arms and having a blast just being around me. It takes some getting used to it and usually leaves me unable to move very well at the end of the day, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
...crazy I know. Unfortunately I'm sitting at the world's slowest internet cafe... at least it would seem that way. :)
I figured it's about time for an update, since it's been far too long since I've said anything. Right now I sit in Swaziland, Africa... yeah, I hadn't heard of it either before the race, so don't feel bad if you haven't either. We've been here for a few weeks, having debrief and all that fun kind of stuff and now have gotten to the point where we are ready to set out in search of the ministry God has for us these next few weeks.
For the first time, the media team is stepping out on our own. We aren't following any other teams, we aren't teaming up with anyone else, it's just us! How exciting! We are currently staying in a small school house, Telfer and I in one room and the ladies in another and it's nice to be just us for a change.
Telfer had recieved an email from a friend of his that worked in this area not too long ago asking us to find a little girl she had worked with and so we have set out in search of her. We know the area she is in and have somewhat of an idea of how to find her but until we do, we are in search of this orphan girl. Fun stuff!
Please be praying for us as we continue this and as we get used to being on our own and having to relearn all kinds of new things about each other. This will definetly be a fun adventure! Pictures to come when I can get a faster connection!
Yes, I´m still around. Just haven´t posted anything on here for a while, I´ve been busy with lots of other stuff, getting ready for Africa and the exciting things that are going to be coming along with that.
While here in Buenos Aires for a week, taking time to regroup with the other half of the media team and prepare for the things ahead, we took the ladies out one night for a tango lesson, dinner and a show. It was much fun...
Please continue to pray for us as we travel and as we step into new territory, both in physically and spiritually. I believe Africa is going to be very different than the past 4 months in Latin America.
I know I don´t usually post things, just wanted to let everyone know I´m still here and kicking and say thank you to you all for your support and prayers. My focus is towards the videos and such so if you want to know what´s going on with me, watch them and you´ll get a good idea. :) Hopefully I´ll be in touch more often but not sure how well that will pan out in Africa but we´ll see!
After spending a month with these wonderful people, working side by side with them here in Nicaragua, it finally has come to an end and the next leg of the race will continue. I have no idea who I'm going to be with next month but I hope they're as great as Nessa was. :)
Well, at long last, your hopes and dreams have come to realization. That's right, I have finally stepped out from behind the scenes and will now impress you with my amazing skills both behind and in front of the camera.... So without any more delay, I give you my first video blog... prepare to be dazzled.
Yesterday I got help lead my first international worship service. Thankfully, Meagan knew the spanish lyrics to a couple of the "american" worship songs that I've been playing for years now and while I have played these songs many many times before, this time things seemed different.
I'm used to getting together with our worship team once during the week to go over which songs we are going to play, then Sunday mornings, we get there early, set everything up, run sound checks, make sure all the levels are right, get the guitars sounding good, then practice the songs through once before we do them for the service. Yesterday was different. We picked the songs out about 20 mins. before the serivce, ran through them a little bit, then headed out to play. I borrowed one of the guys guitars here so I could actually plug into the system, but we didn't run any checks or practices or anything, we just plugged in and went.
There was no EQ on the guitar, it sounded awful, no level checks, I barely had time to tune up. Half way through the set, the high E kept dropping out of tune, I would forget chords here and there, mess up and go to the wrong part of the song (it's hard to follow the words when they're all in spanish) and over all, had it been a service back home, I would have felt terrible.
So why is it that while I was playing, I felt wonderful? Nobody cared that the guitar sounded bad, nobody cared that I messed up on a chord here and there and actually, I don't know if it's that they didn't care or if they just didn't notice. Everyone was so focused on worshiping the Lord, that they could care less if there was even a guitar playing. It really struck me, that in the midst of some of the poorest people on the planet, people who literally have next to nothing, can be so joyful and so willing to seek out the Lord. Some of these people actually walked 2 hours to get the the service!
A friend of mine once told me when they came back from a mission trip that "You never realize that God is all you need, until God is all you have." God is all that these people have, and they are loving it. They don't need a fancy band, or expensive instruments, or even the ability to clap on beat. These people were there to just worship and sing praise to the Lord with all their heart no matter what it sounded like. It's things like this that help me to realize that while this world is so huge and complicated, at the same time, it's quite small and simple.
While here in Buenos Aires for a week, taking time to regroup with the other half of the media team and prepare for the things ahead, we took the ladies out one night for a tango lesson, dinner and a show. It was much fun...
