Jesus said "Follow Me" 87 times

Hello world, my fellow YAV Tina introduced me to this song, and I'm loving it, so I thought I'd pass it along...
http://www.sirchio.com/index.php?page=songs&family=justice&category=Justice_And_Love&display=115

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Bryan Sirchio, "Follow Me (87 Times)"

I met this preacher from Australia, He read the Bible searching for its dominant themes, And he counted 87 times when Jesus said... "Follow me."
Well you know that got me thinking, Maybe that's the bottom line of what "Christian" means, 'Cause "I follow Jesus" is deeper than "I believe." 'Cause it don't take much to mentally agree With a set of beliefs written down in some creed. Now don't get me wrong, we need to know what we believe, But lately I've been wondering...

(Chorus)
Am I following Jesus, or just believing in Christ?
'Cause I can believe and not change a thing
But following will change my whole life
He never said, come, acknowledge my existence
Or believe in me I'm the 2nd person of the Trinity
But 87 time he said... Follow me

But if I'm a follower of Jesus, Then why am I such a good life insurance risk? And why, when I do my giving, do I still keep so much when so much hunger exists? And if I follow Jesus, then why do I have so many friends among the affluent, and so few among the poor? And if I follow Jesus, why do missiles and guns make me feel more secure? And it don't take much to mentally assent To a statement of faith we can confirm and forget, But following will change our lifestyle if we get it and more and more I'm wondering...

(Chorus)
(Bridge)

Yes, we need to know what we believe, to follow the Jesus who's real
God save us from the Christ's we create in our image (you know what I mean...)
The Jesus who's as left wing or right wing as we, The one who baptizes our cherished ideologies, The one who always seems to favor our side against some enemy

Now I don't mean to sound self-righteous, God knows I've got more questions than answers to proclaim, But its been over 20 years now since Jesus called my name, So forgive me if I'm mistaken, But there's something wrong with a lot of churches in America these days, And I think the Spirit's trying to tell us There's a question that the churches need to raise...

(Chorus)

Are we following Jesus? Or just believing in Christ?
'Cause we can believe, and not change a thing
But following will change our whole life
He never said, come, acknowledge my existence
Or believe in me, I'm your first class ticket to eternity...
But 87 times he said... Follow me...
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Cool song- hope you all enjoy it, too, friends!
bendiciones, juli

back from the campo

Well world, I´ve returned from the campo and am back in Xela and moved in with my (permanent) host family. Wow, what a week we had there... We stayed with an indigenous host family in an aldea (rural community) called Pachaj about 35 min outside of Xela.

So Andrew, Tina and I stayed with one family, and Laura and Kath with another. In our house there were 4 generations, and only the last 2 spoke fluent Spanish, and even then, it was their 2nd language-- quite a different scene than gringolandia (Antigua). During the day we had spanish classes and in the afternoon, we hung out with our families... and I´m not gonna lie, world, it was tough. For starters, there was no bathroom- instead, a pila (see below) and a BYO-toilet-paper outhouse (which was right next to the pig pen, so I´ll let you connect the dots on that one), and only bucket baths (with water boiled on the wood-burning stove). The entire community is IN the corn fields, so everything was made out of corn. Tortillas, bread, rags, food, coffee, EVERYTHING... and there was only one main road, the middle 1/2km of which was paved (??), and everything else was super skinny passages through corn and dirt paths.

So yeah. It was really challenging --a lot more so than I thought it would be-- but even so, I'm really glad that we got to experience this facet of Guatemalan life- it reallly really gave me (us) some perspective on farm-life, immigration, poverty, and rural Guatemalan life in general.


bendiciones, juli

nisperos!

It´s nispero season, world!

What´s a nispero, you ask? It´s a little fig-sized orange fruit that grows on trees here. I think they taste like sweet kiwis-- but they have 3-6 big seeds inside (which you don´t eat). Also, you have to peel off the peach-like skin. They´re yummy.

Allegedly they only grow in Guatemala, Brasil, Japan, and Spain (talk about random places)... and apparently ¨all¨ of Guatemala´s nisperos come from the little town where we´re staying... so tinseltown is all atwitter. My fam has gone up ¨into the hills¨ multiple times to collect baskets and baskets of nisperos from the trees, and then they have someone that will sell them in the market in Antigua... seems pretty common that most people here have this little side-business during the cosecha (harvest time) of oct-dec. This also means that in Xela it will be a lot harder to find them... so my Spanish teacher said I should eat as many as I could before I leave (bc surely my life has been changed now that I´ve tasted this sacred fruit)...

So that´s just a little seasonal update from me to you, world.
bendiciones, juli

octubre!

Hello world and Happy Día de los Niños!

If you´ll excuse me, I´m going to get on my soap box for a second...

http://www.storyofstuff.com/
This is a short movie (we´re talking like 20 min) that´s called ¨The Story of Stuff.¨ It talks about where our stuff comes from, how we get it, and why we feels the need to have so MUCH. Kind of opens your eyes when you think about how your little radio could possibly cost $4.99 after the journey it´s made and the people that needed to be employed to make/sell it. And why do we allow ourselves to be on that hampster wheel of working to buy more to feel better to work to buy to feel better...? Now I´m not saying we should all stop buying things, but couldn´t we actively work to use 99% of our stuff for more than 6 months?!

Also -- Sarah McLaughlin has a really cool song/music vid along these lines, too. It´s a few years old now, but still quite eye-opening...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0O2LMqnHGg


Just a few thoughts for you to chew on, world.
Hope all´s well with whoever´s out there reading this...
bendiciones, juli

1 Month in Guatemala!

Well world, I´ve officially been in Guatemala for 1 month! So crazy! In some ways it feels like I´ve been here forever, in others, like I just got here. In any event, I´m loving it.

Here´s some stuff I´m still getting used to...
1. No TV. Well, there is a TV (which is nicer than mine at home), but it´s in Mom and Dad´s room (like in Chile), so everyone just piles into bed with Mom and Dad. Needless to say, I´m not there yet with this family... But I have read 8 books now, and also learned several new songs on the guitar...
2. No hot water. Well, except in the shower. Getting used to washing my face with cold water...
3. Climate. On any given day, I take a sweater and a rain coat and/or an umbrella, and will certainly need all and none of them at some point. Proper footware remains a mystery.

4. Rain and its good friends Dampness and Mustiness. Now that we´re in the rainiest part of the rainy season, my world is just damp. Oh how I pray for a gigantic dehumidifier for the country of Guatemala. At least there´s no carpeting.
5. Scented toilet paper. Who invented this?? Why?!?
6. The food. I really enjoy 95% of what I´m given, (like ripe fruit, lots of fresh corn tortillas, refried black beans, chicken, fried plantains, tomato-based sauces... Kinda like less-spicey Mexican food?) but it´s been an adjustment having NO idea what any given meal will bring... There have also been a few noteworthy fails. For example, one morning I had a raisin bread sandwich with mayo and ketchup (¨salsa dulce¨), ham, tomato, and raw onion. I mean, seriously?! I could only take 2 bites. I gave myself a gold star for that.
7. No car: glorious! Instead, we take the camioneta (or ¨chicken bus,¨ as it is semi-offensively called by most gringos). Let me paint a picture for you: old school buses from the US, painted with fancy decorations on the outside. Very crowded, very cheap, very good.

So there´s a little snapshot of my life here. Some struggles, but more joys. Thanks for supporting me in this first month!
bendiciones, juli

¨And my God will supply every need of yours according to the riches of glory in Christ Jesus.¨ - Phillipians 4:19.
¨Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all situations.¨ ¨Estén siempre alegres, oren sin cesar, den gracias a Dios en toda situación.¨ - 1 Thes. 5:16-19.

Sabbath Year

So one of the things that Marcia (our YAV program director) has been talking to us about is the idea of a Sabbath year. We've been talking and reading about the idea that The Sabbath shouldn't just be an antiquated, legalistic Old Testament idea-- but rather a spiritual practice that we regularly incorporate into our lives (After all, it's on the same list as Do Not Kill... so why don't we take it just as seriously??)

We've been opening our eyes and looking at the Sabbath in different ways -- not just abstaining from all work on Sunday. Maybe just protecting 1 day to refrain from stuff we're told we "should" be doing (ie: chores), or refrain from materialistic consumption 1 specific day, or, in respect for God's creation, refrain from using personal cars 1 day a week [not quite as applicable for us this year], or refrain from the TV, or the blackberry... Different ways to take our own Sabbaths 1 day each week (ideally). This makes it -for me- seem WAY less overwhelming than refraining from all things for one whole day.

But why??
A) God tells us to (Exodus 20:8-11, Exodus 23:12-13, Leviticus 25:1-23)
B) Newsflash: The world will not fall apart if we take a break. Heck, even God could take a Sabbath break without stuff falling apart! (Gen 2:1-3) We need to get over ourselves- Sorry friends, but we're just not as important as we think...
C) When I look back at my life when I'm 80, I don't want to remember it as a demanding, hectic blur of work.
D) It's a bodily way to reflect that we see life/ work/ creation different than mainstream culture dictates. Fight the man!

So we're talking about making this year a sort of Sabbath year-- A break from the 'normal' paces of our lives-- and ultimately a time to rest and reflect on what God's doing in our lives as a way to figure out what comes next.

Will God love us less if we don't Sabbath? Heck no, But will we love life more if we do? I'm beginning to think yes...

Just some food for thought. Thanks for reading, world.
bendiciones, juli

"Days pass, years vanish, and we walk sightless among miracles..."

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gently and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
- Matthew 11:28-29

El Día de la Independencia

Well world, the 15th of September is a very important day here- it marks when Guatemala became independent of España in 1821. Woo!

Celebrations began on the 14th when us 6 students went to the centro of our little town, and saw 100s of little kids in ALL manners of costumes... brides, grim reapers, huge paper mache animals, mimes-- you name it. Unsure of their meanings, but from here, we met up with the Antigua students from our school (15ish) and lit our torch for our run to Antigua. Apparently it is very customary. My estimate is about 7km, which is kind of a lot if you haven´t been training and have been eating lots of less-than-healthy foods... and if you have an emergencia del baño. I´ll leave it at that, and assure that I made it finally. We spent the rest of Tuesday in Antigua where loads of flags, decorations, etc were everywhere!


Wednesday, we got uip early and went to the Parque Central de Antigua to watch the desfile (parade)-- it was long. As in, we stayed for like 2 hours and then wandered elsewhere... but it was really cute! Youngest kids started (at 8) and they got progressively older towards 1:00 (yeah, really long parade.)

So bajillions of schools around the Antigua area were respresented, pretty much everyone had a group of just plan walkers, who wore their school uniforms and carried a school logo-banner. Then everyone had Señorita de La Escuela (complete with pageant sashes), then most schools had a band/ drum line/ baton-girls/ something else that followed. Now, given that the route took like an hour, it wasn´t necessarily the liveliest performance anyone every gave... but it was still fun.

That night, we came back to the little town where we live and there was a big fair-thing going on with food vendors, marimba players, and some dancing-- mainly it was just nice to be outside at . Guatemala is really strange to me in that one doesn´t go outside once it´s dark. I´m not sure if this stems from wartime (15 years ago) or what, but one simlpy stays inside once it´s dark. The end. It´s been pretty hard to get used to... and last weekend, I walked home from Tina´s house (about 1 block) at 9:45pm, and it seriously felt like 3 in the morning. Anyway, we don´t go out at night-- consequently I go to bed at like 9:30 and have already read 4 books. haha

Anyway, Happy Indepence, Guatemala! Also a special shout-out to Erica who turned 24! Feliz cumple, abuelita!