There are very few times in your life when you can see your own future, but when you do it is sure to change something. Do you know the story of Alfred Nobel? The story goes that when Alfred’s brother died the newspaper mixed up his life with his brother’s, so one day while drinking his morning coffee he was able to read his own obituary. To his dismay he was remembered for the destruction and devastation associated with his most famous invention dynamite. Instead of destruction he wanted his life to remembered for peace so he went on to invent the Nobel peace prize.
I had a similar (yet admittedly less profound) experience yesterday as it was the InterVarsity team’s last night and we had a going away fiesta for them. To be honest, over the past week I have been looking forward to returning home. It was not that i was not enjoying my time here, it was more that i was caught up in thinking that when I return I only have less than a month at home before leaving for South Africa. The fiesta last night changed that mindset completely as that will be me in two weeks having to say goodbye. Last night i was able to see, from the testimonies of the people in the community, the impact that the InterVaristy team was able to have and what it meant to the people here. Through their sharing I was able to see the deepness of the relationships they were able to form in the four short weeks they were here and it made me realize that i have the opportunity to do the same. Not only that, but this community and the people in this community are some of the most amazing people i have met in my life. As we were dancing everything from Salsa, to Meringue, to Usher and other American club music, to punk and everything in between, for about 2-3 hours, in the hot and sweaty community center, with people from all ages and all types of backgrounds it began to sink in how special these people are and how I need to take advantage of every opportunity I have in the remaining two weeks to take it in. On a side note if you were wondering where the second part of this title comes from, its because i was asking my roommate from Guadalajara why they don’t have fiestas like this on a more regular basis to keep kids off the street. He replied that they do and they have free alcohol. I found this a strange technique for a Christian organization to embrace and he must have seen it in my face, because he quickly replied, “wait no it’s alcohol free!” It’s a completely understandable mistake because directly translated from the Spanish is would be free alcohol, but its a good reminder to be careful how i translate things here lol. Here is a little taste of the fiesta….
I am extremely sad that i couldn’t share my last two weeks remaining here with the InterVarsity team. They were three of the most amazing people i have ever met and I hope our paths can cross again sometime. The first day I was here, as i arrived half way through church service, i remember spotting three young people across the way and thinking that they could be the IV team, but they all fit in pretty well so i wasn’t sure. After service they came up and introduced themselves (well two of them did) and then they introduced the third as their community liaison who only spoke Spanish. I continued for the next 10 minutes or so talking with them and politely talking with the Spanish speaker as much as i could making a fool of myself talking about the food, weather, or anything i could remember from Spanish class five years ago until they finally cracked and admitted that she spoke English too and was actually from California. That was the start of an amazing three weeks with the team where they welcomed me as one of their own and helped me feel at home here. They were three amazingly unique people who always knew how to have good time but also continually challenge me to learn more about myself and take more away from this experience. It’s funny because for the first week they kept saying that they saw me as this semi-older person who was taking time to be with them but in reality they taught me so much about how to enjoy life, interact with the people here, process what i was seeing, and seek God in everything, that they acted as my mentors. I am thankful for the three weeks i was able to spend with them and I pray that they bring the same love, joy, enthusiasm, and wisdom to wherever they go and to whoever they meet in life.
So I spent most of today working with my students designing their t-shirts for the business class I teach. One of the teams used the screen printing machine we purchased my first week here and we were successfully able to make the screens (using only a normal printer and the sun!) and produce t-shirts that look amazing. I spent a few hours with another team looking through different graffiti designs for their t-shirts and then they printed a bunch that they will try to sell this week. It was fun to be able to spend time with the kids and it was amazing to see their energy and enthusiasm as they were making the t-shirts (I hope that that can translate into sales!). I then met up with the our pastor’s wife, who is from Zimbabwe and has many connections in South Africa, and we were able to talk about Africa and her past in small business development and microfinance in Zimbabwe (Isn’t it amazing how God works, what are the chances of me meeting someone with connections in Africa and is involved in business development during my short time here in Mexico). We didn’t get to finish our convo because she had worship practice but we will continue it later. I then went to church, and this was actually the first Shalom service that i was able to attend all the way through. I always love going to churches in another language, especially when they are small and intimate like Shalom is here. There is something powerful about prayer and worship in another language and knowing that while i might not understand all that is going on God does and it is pleasing to Him. After church a bunch of us then went to the fair/carnival that is going on on our block for the weekend. The fair is complete with some of the most terrifying rides (not because I don’t enjoy carnival rides, but because it seems like at any moment they could fall apart or a car could fly off and decapitate an innocent passerby like myself) that were placed so close together with no protective fencing around them (so any wandering child could be taken out by a teacup or Ferris wheel), and carnival games which included throwing baseballs at real glass bottles, or shooting unattached BB guns for a prize of a bottle of tequila and a mixer. It was interesting to take this all in, but by far the most interesting part for me was the firework show (that still hasn’t ended as i still am hearing fireworks explode every once in a while) but included a man holding a molded bull on his head with flairs and firworks coming out the back which looked something like this (only with an unprotected crowd standing only feet away) which i will leave you with until next time…..
Hi Kevin! Thanks so much for sharing your blog post about your time with InterVarsity students on the Mexico City Trek. I am the web content manager for the Track the Trek site, and I got a tip about this entry. I published your entry on the site today. Let me know if you would like me to keep it up, or do something else to properly attribute the writing to you. Thanks again for sharing.