Breakfast was the same, and was still good. Which by the way, the Dominicans don't refrigerate their eggs! It's strange, but they always turn out fine... I wonder why we in the U.S. refrigerate our eggs? Do they go bad fast? If so, maybe it's because we buy food in bulk so that it lasts us a long time, as opposed to shopping every couple days... Anyway, we had a morning devotional and went off to the orphanage again. This time we brought a lot of balls: footballs, futbols, frisbees, etc. We also led a VBS lesson. Our small group lesson was for the 13+ yr youth, which ended up being a bunch of 15 year old boys and 2 girls. We started playing a game called "Signs" which I'm sure you only know too well if you are involved with a Cru ministry. It's pretty complicated, but they eventually got the jist of it. After 30min or so we switched to the lesson which was based off the story in Luke 17:11 about Jesus and the 10 lepers.
11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
We read it in Spanish and we acted it out while it was being read. That lasted about 5min and then we moved into a Q and A: a couple comprehensive questions and a couple reflective questions. Naturally, they gave pretty superficial answers. For the reflections I gave a quick testimony about how my dad passed away when I was 12, but I'm still thankful because it helped me to truly know Christ. Except I actually said, "... because a lot of good things came out of it." (You always think of the right thing to say after you already said something else...) After me, a girl gave a powerful testimony of which I don't have the authority to share, and how she still thanks Jesus for everything. I felt like I was in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting as the group was dead silent during our stories and as we took turns telling our stories separated the group applauded us for our courage and bravery for opening up to a group of people whom we know nothing about...
After our two testimonies, we just moved on to the activity: bracelet making. The guys enjoyed it which was good. I was kind of hoping they'd make bracelets based off their faith, but instead they made bracelets with their names on them, the colors of the DR flag, etc. One boy made a necklace that had a girls name on it. I asked him about it. He said it was the name of a baby girl he was friends with that lives far away. The language barrier made it difficult to go any further, and I wondered what he meant by being friends with a baby. I think he really loves her.
He also made a bracelet that said "JQRY YOUR FRYEMD JM" (JM being the boy's initials). Some letters were missing so he had to makeshift the spelling with letters that looked similar. I love it but I feel awkward when people ask me about it because they say, "Aww that's so cute." and maybe they think, "Wow, Jory's really making a difference in his life." But I don't feel that way. I attempted to talk to him about something special in his life and didn't bring any new perspective into his life/teach him anything. In my head that sounds perfectly logical, but on paper I realize how conceited that sounds because I'm so dissatisfied with my perspective of what his perspective is.
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Our debriefing/reflection time tonight was good though. It brought new perspective into my life. I learned that this orphanage isn't a very popular orphanage. They don't get many visitors. Everyone in this orphanage goes to a school that is only for kids in that orphanage. They go to a church only for those in the orphanage. They don't know much of what is beyond their walls. They don't know strangers. One boy in a wheelchair was asked by one of us what he usually does during the day and he simply said, "Nothing. I'm bored a lot." He was 19 years old, unable to get as much education due to the placement of the school and his disability and very reserved/shy. Going to these orphanages does make a difference. Another story was told about a group of girls who were taken to a movie theater and they saw escalators for the first time. They were scared at first, but then made a game out of it. I've heard it a lot, but it just now is becoming clear; we take advantage of the little things in life.
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We then talked about how we want to spend our last day there. We decided to split up into three groups: big girls, big boys, and children. I was obviously in the mens group, so the two of us and the trip leader planned. I was concerned about going deep with them because from what I saw at VBS, they know the bible. But I don't know if they feel it. They remind me of myself in high school, feeling like I was being dumbed down by the lessons and being able to easily give a "good" answer that I knew the leaders wanted to hear. One time in youth group we played an activity where we had to pick up an object and explain why we picked it (there's more to the activity I just don't remember). I do remember that most kids chose smaller objects, such as there cell phone because it allows them to communicate with people, or the bible because it's God's word, or a soccer ball because they like to play soccer. I grabbed a giant plastic tree and placed it on the table. Everyone laughed but were expectant considering they wouldn't expect anything less from me. I proceeded to somehow explain a metaphor between trees and the way we should live our lives and how it directly applies to my life using examples from my past and how it applies to where God wants me to do with my life. "Wow, that's very deep Jory," they would say. "Haha I'm so smart, I would think." That is exactly what I wanted to avoid; dumbing them down and permitting them to bring out their plastic metaphors so that we can have a "good inspiring story" to tell all of our friends and family back in the United States and show them how much of an impact we made. However at the same time that is what I want, I just want it to be authentic and to come from God, not from B.S.
Thankfully, I really think we have a good strategy. Ben is a very strong personality and had some very good ideas. By my lack of any other idea, I felt like I was pushed out of the group because I wasn't given a role. Ben said to our leader, "I can tell my story and you can tell your story, but I think we should just leave it at two so that they don't get bored." I'll be honest, my feelings were hurt at first, but at the same time he was right, and I couldn't think of any other ideas. Besides, half of the boys had already heard my story anyway. I figured I could still interact in a different way that I haven't figured out yet. We'll see.
"God, I would love to see YOU move tomorrow. If anything, let them leave there with a new perspective. Let them know why we want to travel over seas to demonstrate love with them. God you are awesome. And before I forget, I want to thank you for filling a pot hole in my heart... A little boy hugged me today."
He also made a bracelet that said "JQRY YOUR FRYEMD JM" (JM being the boy's initials). Some letters were missing so he had to makeshift the spelling with letters that looked similar. I love it but I feel awkward when people ask me about it because they say, "Aww that's so cute." and maybe they think, "Wow, Jory's really making a difference in his life." But I don't feel that way. I attempted to talk to him about something special in his life and didn't bring any new perspective into his life/teach him anything. In my head that sounds perfectly logical, but on paper I realize how conceited that sounds because I'm so dissatisfied with my perspective of what his perspective is.
--------------------------------------
Our debriefing/reflection time tonight was good though. It brought new perspective into my life. I learned that this orphanage isn't a very popular orphanage. They don't get many visitors. Everyone in this orphanage goes to a school that is only for kids in that orphanage. They go to a church only for those in the orphanage. They don't know much of what is beyond their walls. They don't know strangers. One boy in a wheelchair was asked by one of us what he usually does during the day and he simply said, "Nothing. I'm bored a lot." He was 19 years old, unable to get as much education due to the placement of the school and his disability and very reserved/shy. Going to these orphanages does make a difference. Another story was told about a group of girls who were taken to a movie theater and they saw escalators for the first time. They were scared at first, but then made a game out of it. I've heard it a lot, but it just now is becoming clear; we take advantage of the little things in life.
------------------------------------------
We then talked about how we want to spend our last day there. We decided to split up into three groups: big girls, big boys, and children. I was obviously in the mens group, so the two of us and the trip leader planned. I was concerned about going deep with them because from what I saw at VBS, they know the bible. But I don't know if they feel it. They remind me of myself in high school, feeling like I was being dumbed down by the lessons and being able to easily give a "good" answer that I knew the leaders wanted to hear. One time in youth group we played an activity where we had to pick up an object and explain why we picked it (there's more to the activity I just don't remember). I do remember that most kids chose smaller objects, such as there cell phone because it allows them to communicate with people, or the bible because it's God's word, or a soccer ball because they like to play soccer. I grabbed a giant plastic tree and placed it on the table. Everyone laughed but were expectant considering they wouldn't expect anything less from me. I proceeded to somehow explain a metaphor between trees and the way we should live our lives and how it directly applies to my life using examples from my past and how it applies to where God wants me to do with my life. "Wow, that's very deep Jory," they would say. "Haha I'm so smart, I would think." That is exactly what I wanted to avoid; dumbing them down and permitting them to bring out their plastic metaphors so that we can have a "good inspiring story" to tell all of our friends and family back in the United States and show them how much of an impact we made. However at the same time that is what I want, I just want it to be authentic and to come from God, not from B.S.
Thankfully, I really think we have a good strategy. Ben is a very strong personality and had some very good ideas. By my lack of any other idea, I felt like I was pushed out of the group because I wasn't given a role. Ben said to our leader, "I can tell my story and you can tell your story, but I think we should just leave it at two so that they don't get bored." I'll be honest, my feelings were hurt at first, but at the same time he was right, and I couldn't think of any other ideas. Besides, half of the boys had already heard my story anyway. I figured I could still interact in a different way that I haven't figured out yet. We'll see.
"God, I would love to see YOU move tomorrow. If anything, let them leave there with a new perspective. Let them know why we want to travel over seas to demonstrate love with them. God you are awesome. And before I forget, I want to thank you for filling a pot hole in my heart... A little boy hugged me today."
