Day 12 will be coming soon. I have to complie pictures and a entry before I can post..Check out www.friendsofhelene.com for more Helene stuff.
Paul
September 2006
This is where my notes get REAL fuzzy. So those of you who went on the trip sorry if I’m a day or two off. I became to tired and busy to write more then a mere outline.
Today we started of with visitations. I love doing them as it totally allows you to interact with the people of the island. In the afternoon it was back to school. School was very hard for me because I was so tired. And sitting around for long periods of time in pants in hot weather does not help. I love helping the kids thou. Almost all of them want to learn so badly and really enjoy it when they understand something. Their smiles are amazing. They all want to learn so much. YP was tonight. Once again it rocked I love worshiping with the youth of Helene. SO much fun praising God. I’m starting to get worn out. Yet, I don’t even want to face the fact that I will have to go home soon. I love it here….
This is first day of pick your own activites. Things started our great in the morning and stayed that way in the afternoon. I did clean sweep and we got to clean the area by the bight again so that rocked.
In the afternoon I started out in the school. What an experience. I wish my teachers could have seen these kids they would think I was an angel. But in the end they are so funny and I love all of them. I became tired towards the end of the day but I made i through. I really like how there is bible education as well and they are trying to enable the kids to own their faith.
I really was shocked at first by the school and how crazy it was but it becomes normal..Well sorta after while. It keeps you on your toes for sure!!…….
I am sorry I have not posted. Later today (Sunday) I will start the one a day posting until my journals bring me back to the states. And then after that I will post a few reflections about the trip.
I know it will not line up but as I learned in Helene the original plan often does not work out. So we improvise. Hope all of you who are reading this are having a great day…
Posting again later today (with a journal entry),
Paul
Life has happened and I am behind on the posts. My journals for the remaining days are just outlines. So they will also have more reflection in them than previous posts.
I’ll get up the 10th,11th and 12th sometime today.
I just watched a slideshow Scott made and it almost brought me to tears. Watch for in the coming days two videos and a slideshow to be posted. Video and slideshow first. the 2nd video still needs to be made.
Later,
Paul
July 9th-At the leaders meeting today Scott told us that we had to elect a new Scott so to speak by dinner time unanimously as student leaders. At breakfast Larry (the head of the Helene Mission) told us that we would go snorkeling after church. The weekend we use as relax days, we were supposed to go on Saturday but we had bad weather.
Before church we signed up for projects for the next week. This was the first job of the newly appointed student council. It was pretty stressful but in the end turned out fine.
Church was really cool and had a great message. My favorite part was when every got up and danced while we were singing the song “I want to know you love my Jesus” and we got up and all shook hands.
Snorkeling was amazing the island that we went to was incredibly beautiful. In my
opinion the island we went to was better then snorkeling.
It was so cool to be on a island that you could walk around in 5 minutes. The best part about snorkeling is that you could tell it lifted the teams spirits and reenergized everyone. The boat ride too and from the island was a lot of as well.
After the snorkel trip the student leaders met to decide who would take Scott’s place. I was chosen to take his place. I was very nervous yet excited at the same time.
Then we had dinner it was good as usual. I was very tired by this point I went to church and loved getting a rush of energy while singing worship songs. I truly have felt God giving me energy this week….
July 8th- Started with leader meeting. We were informed we had to chose one of the student leaders to replace Scott for the second week.
Then as a group we wrote thank you letters which although needed took a very long time.(thank you to all of you who we’re praying for us during this trip, or gave time or money or anything)
Then we took a hike to explore caves.
It was a lot of fun. We saw bats a lot of the girls were scared and some of the guys. I was surprised I did not feel claustrophobic at all it was nice. Wearing pants made it SOO hot thou. Man o man.
Evening: Jordan, Doty, Nate and myself had a great conversations with ew ew, a local teenager.
We talked about everything from movies to how he became Christian. It was so encouraging to hear that the he became Christian because of youth group. Not only because we were helping with the local one but because he came to know Jesus because his friends kept bringing him. This encouraged me to keep trying to get my friends to come to church…….
This morning I worked in the Clinic I think the biggest lesson I learned is that I need to be able to be flexible in my life plans and let God be in control. Which is a lesson to take away from this whole trip. I have grown so much in this last week it is truly amazing.
We played basketball today(team Gringoz) I took a charge and helped out team win a game. Youth group(young people) rocked as it was the two groups working together!
I was voted by my color team to be my color team leader. Which i hoped i would get.
Seeing Denver at YP was great because he gave me a huge smile…..
Note: The entires get shorter from here. Some will be based more off an outline and I may add info that was not written during the trip as the shorthand makes sence to me, but not to you.
July 6th- I woke up. We started the day with visitations in Seco and Mangrove bite. We saw John, a man dying of cancer. Despite having a life expectancy of only a few weeks he lifts the spirit of the room. His presence honestly made me cry when I was praying with him. He now knows where his heart is. As we sung the song “grace like rain” he told us “I realized I was a wrench too but God takes that away. His faith truly encourages all that meet him.
Afternoon: Lunch tasted great. We took a nice long walk over to the Northside. And did a VBS or Kids Club we started out with 2 kids and that grew to 20. They were a lot of fun. We sung the mango and papaya song.
The lesson went well.. I think I partially want to block something out about today. Here in Helene the culture is radically different then America. Not being sexist but the guys have to protect the girls. Earlier in the week some girls ran into a mentally challenged man who tricked them and kissed them on the cheek. He approached some girls in my group. And called them beautiful, not a good thing in Helene culture this was harassment. I went inside for a second and he darted back towards the girls. I stepped in front of him. His thoughts were in chunks, talk then pause then talk. In an instant his fist was raised above his head as if he was going to punch me. I knew I was not going to run. A huge shot of adrenaline hit me. I told him NO and backed up. He then lowered his fist and at this point I no longer felt safe and called for help. Sheila had Joe escort him off the property. I started shaking as I came off the adrenaline. Although people say he would not have hit me I was still a little scared. I’m glad nothing else happened thou.
Evening: I took Kendre to school there is something just special about him.
He really seemed intent on learning I sure hope that he keeps at it. He says he has Jesus in his heart I hope he does……
July 5th-
Man what a day. I don’t know if i have ever worked so hard but the energy just kept coming! We got to clean the beaches of the bight.
I really enjoyed this because the results were clearly visible. My team worked really hard I was impressed. After lunch two girls from my color group did not look good. I was the leader of the day and with Kristi’s guidance I decided that we should return to the clinic to take a break. We then found out that one of the girls had only had one(you need like 8) water bottle to drink all day. So she was for sure dehydrated. The two girls decided to stay back at the clinic to rest and drink water. It was great to get to know my group better.
Earlier we saw an iguana being killed. What a cultural experience.
Elbert the man in charge of clean sweep likes how pretty the beach looks. One of the coolest things was how the local kids joined in and helped. Then we went swimming off the dock, i even got to see some fish.
That night we had a youth group practice. Again watching the two cultures interacting to truly just praise the Lord was awesome. Game night also happened to occur this evening, The transformation that the lower deck undertook truly surprised me. Over 50 islanders were all around learning and playing games. A fight broke out in the mayhem that ensued when it was time for the clinic to close. I helped walk islanders home. Scott and I got separated I did not like that. I stood next to my friend Ellis so that worked out well. I love being used by God! Thats why I’m here. I just pray I’m doing what he wants to be done……