Surfing in Peru

If there was a list of the top 100 things to do before you die, and surfing was one of them, I can check it off the list.

Surfing was hard.

There are a lot of things to think about as you´re trying to stand on a board moving through the water. We had an excellent teacher though, who taught us some great mechanics of surfing. We spent nearly an hour on the sand learning how to paddle, how to position your body on the board, where to put your shoulders, how to pop up, etc. I was doing really good at that... and then we went into the water.

The water was frigid. Very, VERY cold. However, it did not take long for me to get used to it. We paddled out to an area where our instructor was and he would guide us on when to pop up on the board and ride the wave in. The first time he sent me out, I rode the wave. It lasted about 4 seconds. :-) After that, I continued to fall. Over and over again. When I finally did get a wave and was riding it fine, another surfer came along and we crashed into each other. That was a bit of a bummer. She apologized many times, but I´m pretty sure it was me that ran into her.

Crashing seemed to be my specialty. I crashed one time and my board went completely vertical. It looked pretty funny.

Esaiah and David Spidle were an entirely different story. They seemed to be naturals at surfing. They found the waves very easy and could ride them all the way into the shore. It was pretty amazing to see. I have been wondering what sport Esaiah would excel at, and I think I´ve just found it. Maybe he needs to go to school at USC so he can surf everyday. What do you think?

We finished surfing, and I was completely exhausted. We waddled back to the hostal and then jumped in the pool. Once we got to the pool, we swam around for awhile and talked to Mitch, Glen and Kristin about our adventures in surfing. Kristin stayed at the hostal yesterday. She has been fighting a stomach ache since yesterday. I hope she gets over it, as it would bad to get sick here. She´s definitely moving a lot slower now. If you have extra time in your prayers, please pray for healing for her.

After dinner last night, Esaiah gave his devotion and his testimony. The devotion he picked out talked about a man who was preaching to a bunch of kids with Downs Syndrome. The guy was getting angry and distracted because the kids were making so much noise and he forgot that his lesson was not about him. It was a good reminder to all of us that we serve God by serving each other, not that we serve each other alone. Esaiah´s testimony was quick. He talked about how we started going to church in Phoenix because his parents said "this is what we´re gonna do," so that´s how he became a Christian. When he started going to Chandler Christian, he went to UCYC and said he got baptised a couple days after he returned. After he finished, I told the group about how different Esaiah is now that he has the Holy Spirit moving in his life. I talked about how he turns to God when things get tough and he looks to the Bible for answers when he´s struggling. When we got to the room and we started talking man to man again, he mentioned that he didn´t like the way he did his testimony. He said he "winged it" and wasn´t able to say what he wanted, but after talking to me, things were a lot more clear. He said he wanted to be able to do it again. I told him to stop worrying about what other people think. God rewards those who express their love for Him. He didn´t make everyone talented at everything, so we play to our strengths and be content with the gifts we were given. I think we are raising a perfectionist. He also told me he is going to try a lot harder in Spanish next year. He admitted that he wasn´t giving the class everything he should have, and now sees how much better it would have been if he had. Pretty cool, huh?

Sleep has become hard here. I find myself waking up throughout the night and my back is always very sore. I miss our bed back home. So far, it hasn´t affected my ability to work or teach. I pray it can continue to be like this.

Today, Kristin and I will teach two stories. The first story is about the paralytic man. This story can be found in Matthew 9, Mark 2, and Luke 5:

Matthew: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=9&version=31&context=chapter
Mark: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=2&version=31&context=chapter
Luke: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%205:17-26&version=31

We will use this to talk about the grace of God and power of friendships. The second story is the parable Jesus told of the Lost Son. This is found in Luke 15.

Luke: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2015:11-32;&version=31;

The point of this message is to remind people that even when you walk away from God, He will still accept you if you return to Him. It also teaches an important lesson to people who see someone return (the older brother). We need to remember that it is always a joyous occassion when a lost sheep returns to the flock.

Anyway, I put the lesson together 20min before we went to dinner, and gave it to Kristin to translate after dinner. Her and I are getting better at learning to deal with each lesson as it comes up. God is truly stretching me in that regard. I am pretty far outside of my comfort zone, which means He needs to be in control. I´m learning He always seems to do a better job than me.

Okay, I need to get ready to start my day. Pray for me honey. It is my prayer that God will continue to use me in a mighty way and help me to truly connect with His children in the barrio.