Pictures: Summer missions camp on the base, our multi-lingual leader ship team, my room and the girls common room
Here's the basic rundown: I am here safe, after a long plane ride next to a chatty Christian lady from Oklahoma and a four hour car ride with a Canadian and two Chileans. Everything with customs and luggage fell into place very easily. The only way to describe the base is to imagine you're at camp. And you're here! There are cabanas (cabins), staff houses, a comedor (cafeteria), a chapel, etc.. The class is very multicutural and we begin tomorrow, today we are just getting to know everyone. Everyone is way too nice and I already feel like my Spanish has doubled! There are four Americans, two Brazilians, six Chileans, one Canadian, one Dutch, two Swiss, two Argentinians and one kid who grew up in France but has lived in Burkina Faso for the last ten years! So shoutout to Chase. The couple who is running the DTS are Chilenos, and another German family is staff with the DTS but are both fluent in Spanish and their kids speak English,German and Spanish too- they are pretty awesome little kids!
Our group is very diverse (15 girls, 9 guys) and everyone is always learning each other´s language and trying to speak Spanish or Swiss or Portuguese - which makes some veryinteresting conversations! The weather is warm here during the day,but until lunchtime it is actually really really cold because we´re so close to the water and the marine layer is very cloudy. I am wearing the same jeans and my Uggs every single day until lunch so hopefully I can find some other pants or socks to buy here because it will only get colder when we enter fall. But the base is nice, its all dusty and dirt roads and it feels like Kids Kingdom in Mexico meets Hume Lake, but without all the lake activities at a camp. We are really close to the town area, and there are horse-drawn taxis, little carnivals (we went on a spinny ride at a carnival last night - very shady), the beach and a boardwalk with lots of tourists and surfers because its summer here. It´s a cute, colorful little town and everyone is really friendly.
They definitely put us to work here! We have a very rigid schedule of classes where international speakers or past YWAMers or pastors come and talk about our topic (right now, how to hear God´s voice), or anall-base chapel service where we sing worship songs in Spanish and each verse again in English so we can learn all the words, work time for two hours a day (trash duty, cleaning, kitchen duty, etc), "study time" where we do our assignments or read, then we have ten minutes each to shower and then lights out at eleven. But we do have two hours of free time each day, and an internet cafe, a pool, soccer field, volleyball courts, and there are like fifteen dogs here that my friend Lindsay and I are teaching to fetch. Lindsay and Maia are from Oregon and Sacramento respectively and I am so glad theyre here - we all get so tired of thinking so hard to say one simple thing in Spanish and its so nice to relax with them and speak English without thinking and talk about music or Starbucks or things no one else here understands! The work is hard, and we are expected to do anything they need help with, but it´s cool to know we´re a part of something that a lot of amazing people have given their life to build up. There are sooo many families here that have been here for years and their passion is building up youth to know God and take His message all over the world. Everyone here has like ten jobs and they work so hard expanding the base and reaching out to the community, but they are so happy to be here and so excited about everything going on here that its encouraging and amazing to be a part of it.
The best message I have been learning to far was from a lesson about God´s voice - the speaker reminded us of all the ways we can hear God´s voice (the Bible, Holy Spirit, conscience, thoughts, dreams,other people, circumstances, history, memories...), and she said that whenever you think God hasn´t been speaking to you, look back at the last time you heard His voice and see if you obeyed it. If not, why would He be telling you something new to obey? If you havent been obedient in the small things, why would He entrust you with bigger dreams or ministries? It´s a good message, and I am applying it to little things here I am trying to be thankful for, like when there is sugar for the coffee in the morning, or if the water is hot for my shower (it usually is, thank God!), and by working hard in the little things like trash duty, if I want God to use me in bigger things or teach me deeper truths here.
The Spanish thing is very interesting here, I am happy to report that I am not the worst Spanish speaker by FAR. I am actually able to keepup here because they know we´re slow and stupid gringos, but I speak so much better than they other Americans and Canadians. There are two Swiss girls who speak Spanish about as well as I do, and we´re the top three gringas. Yay! Thanks Los Arroyos! It´s been amazing to see how much I can soak up and improve in just a week here. I think a huge factor is that the entire DTS is bilingual, so everything we do (class, worship, chapel), has a Spanish speaker and a translator who repeats each section again in English. Hearing it and seeing it side-by-side does wonders for my language acquisition!
Alright time to go eat the empanadas I helped make for lunch. They are very creative here with the little food they have, but they actually make decent meals here. Breakfast is usually bread, jam, real dulce de leche, coffee and tea; lunch is soup, rice and chicken, or a sandwichand fruit; dinner is actually American-style a lot, like hamburgers,hot dogs, etc. I will update more soon!
Love you all! Miss you too
Our group is very diverse (15 girls, 9 guys) and everyone is always learning each other´s language and trying to speak Spanish or Swiss or Portuguese - which makes some veryinteresting conversations! The weather is warm here during the day,but until lunchtime it is actually really really cold because we´re so close to the water and the marine layer is very cloudy. I am wearing the same jeans and my Uggs every single day until lunch so hopefully I can find some other pants or socks to buy here because it will only get colder when we enter fall. But the base is nice, its all dusty and dirt roads and it feels like Kids Kingdom in Mexico meets Hume Lake, but without all the lake activities at a camp. We are really close to the town area, and there are horse-drawn taxis, little carnivals (we went on a spinny ride at a carnival last night - very shady), the beach and a boardwalk with lots of tourists and surfers because its summer here. It´s a cute, colorful little town and everyone is really friendly.
They definitely put us to work here! We have a very rigid schedule of classes where international speakers or past YWAMers or pastors come and talk about our topic (right now, how to hear God´s voice), or anall-base chapel service where we sing worship songs in Spanish and each verse again in English so we can learn all the words, work time for two hours a day (trash duty, cleaning, kitchen duty, etc), "study time" where we do our assignments or read, then we have ten minutes each to shower and then lights out at eleven. But we do have two hours of free time each day, and an internet cafe, a pool, soccer field, volleyball courts, and there are like fifteen dogs here that my friend Lindsay and I are teaching to fetch. Lindsay and Maia are from Oregon and Sacramento respectively and I am so glad theyre here - we all get so tired of thinking so hard to say one simple thing in Spanish and its so nice to relax with them and speak English without thinking and talk about music or Starbucks or things no one else here understands! The work is hard, and we are expected to do anything they need help with, but it´s cool to know we´re a part of something that a lot of amazing people have given their life to build up. There are sooo many families here that have been here for years and their passion is building up youth to know God and take His message all over the world. Everyone here has like ten jobs and they work so hard expanding the base and reaching out to the community, but they are so happy to be here and so excited about everything going on here that its encouraging and amazing to be a part of it.
The best message I have been learning to far was from a lesson about God´s voice - the speaker reminded us of all the ways we can hear God´s voice (the Bible, Holy Spirit, conscience, thoughts, dreams,other people, circumstances, history, memories...), and she said that whenever you think God hasn´t been speaking to you, look back at the last time you heard His voice and see if you obeyed it. If not, why would He be telling you something new to obey? If you havent been obedient in the small things, why would He entrust you with bigger dreams or ministries? It´s a good message, and I am applying it to little things here I am trying to be thankful for, like when there is sugar for the coffee in the morning, or if the water is hot for my shower (it usually is, thank God!), and by working hard in the little things like trash duty, if I want God to use me in bigger things or teach me deeper truths here.
The Spanish thing is very interesting here, I am happy to report that I am not the worst Spanish speaker by FAR. I am actually able to keepup here because they know we´re slow and stupid gringos, but I speak so much better than they other Americans and Canadians. There are two Swiss girls who speak Spanish about as well as I do, and we´re the top three gringas. Yay! Thanks Los Arroyos! It´s been amazing to see how much I can soak up and improve in just a week here. I think a huge factor is that the entire DTS is bilingual, so everything we do (class, worship, chapel), has a Spanish speaker and a translator who repeats each section again in English. Hearing it and seeing it side-by-side does wonders for my language acquisition!
Alright time to go eat the empanadas I helped make for lunch. They are very creative here with the little food they have, but they actually make decent meals here. Breakfast is usually bread, jam, real dulce de leche, coffee and tea; lunch is soup, rice and chicken, or a sandwichand fruit; dinner is actually American-style a lot, like hamburgers,hot dogs, etc. I will update more soon!
Love you all! Miss you too
GLORY!! Bless you girl and remember it's ALL ABOUT HIM! Great is He who has called you to do it, who will also do it. Surrender to him daily and abide in His love for you, Brooke! Whatever you do, do it all to the Glory of God. That goes for trash duty and empanada making. We are praying for you and excited to see what Jesus will do through you.
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