At one of our leadership meetings, Marlene volunteered Melissa and I to organize Beach Day. Give something to us to plan, just us. We were excited at the prospect because everything we have helped with but not been in charge of has been second guessed - oh that won't work, but it's too late to change, so we'll just go with it. (Btw, those things have ended up being a hit, not to toot my own horn, but they were.) We figured that if we could be in charge, things will be easier on us.
Well, one the one hand it was. We just talked to people a couple of times to help organize things and get the details sorted out. Actually, it was super easy. People are so willing to help and they have the experience of been there done that, so they can voice their concerns and we moved forward.
Then there are the freak out people who can't let go. We had people freaking out about not having posters done, that were in fact done. People freaking out about games not being planned and that we didn't have all of the supplies we needed to play the games, but those too were all coordinated and ready to go. Then we had people freaking out that we were incorporating things that didn't have anything to do with the theme because they didn't involve fish. Tranquilo (calm) and Fe (faith) became my go-to words.
So, with that sort of stressful background to planning this day at the beach, I was surprised and thrilled how fun it was! (Again, not to toot my own horn, but it was a success!)
The theme we chose was ¡Vamos a Pescar! (That was as close to Go Fish! we could get in Spanish.) A few weeks before in the lectionary the theme was Follow Jesus and it used the scripture from Matthew 4 about Jesus calling the fisherman to go and fish for men. We wanted to expand on that and talk about how to go about fishing for men. We focused on Luke 5:4-6 and the imagery of the nets.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.
For the church part, we started with some peppy songs and got people moving. Then Jhonny welcomed everyone and introduced the theme. Betzabe and Eder were in charge of music and selected great songs to reinforce the theme. Marlene did a scripture reading. Mirtha gave a short sermon. Melissa and I incorporated a net activity. Wilfredo wrapped the service up with a benediction. It moved quickly and smoothly. The part I fear the most about church in public is that people will get self-conscious and not want to participate or won't participate as fully, but there was definitely participation and the awesome presence of God moving through and in everyone. It was beautiful.
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| ¡Vamos a Pescar! |
After the service, Gladys and Karen took over games! It was kind of interesting how they planned the games because they were all quick games, but we only played them once each. It was fine and it kept us moving, which was necessary as the sand got hotter and hotter. In the end, they even incorporated a game with fish!
With that, Melissa and my responsibilities ended. Everyone enjoyed some lunch and then hit the water!
I have to admit, I was a little bit wrong about the ocean here. I kept saying that it is the same as in California, I mean, it is the Pacific Ocean still. And while not incredibly different, it still was more different than I expected. The difference is probably just unique to the shore structure, but I am not sure, I'm not a scientist. Anyway, the waves here are fierce! You have 2 options. Wade in to your knees and just hang out there for the water to come in and out. The other option is to go play in the waves, where you need to be alert and know how to jump or swim under a wave. It was just huge wave after huge wave. It was a blast, but I definitely got a good thrashing around in the water. I swallowed a whole lot of salt water too. I saw a news report saying that this particular region has very dangerous beaches, now I know why! Plus, lots of people here don't know how to swim. Makes things interesting.
The other major difference is the number of beach umbrellas. In the US, we work on being as tan as possible and there may be 1 umbrella for a family, especially if they have kids. Here, everyone has an umbrella and everyone is under it. Good for them. I have just never seen so many umbrellas at the beach before!
From talking to people and recapping with Melissa, we have decided that everything went smoothly and everyone had an enjoyable time. People just need to not freak out so much as it would save us all from a lot of unnecessary stress. I needed 2 whole days to recover from them. But to be sure, I had a blast at the beach! :)
Now, on to the next thing! We head back to Huanuco (just for the weekend) this Friday. We have some classes to plan and coordinate, so better get to it. I look forward to seeing the people there again!
~nos vemos~
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