Mancora

So, since we were halfway through the year, the 6 YAVs and Debbie had to deal with the trying and very job of spending a week in the beach town of Los Organos so that visas could be renewed.  It was a rough life, but it needed to be done.  So we loaded up for the 16hr bus ride up north and then a little moto-taxi ride to what turned out to be heaven on earth.  The location truly felt like we were on a reality TV show because the quality of everything.  It was a fantastic 2 story house and I (being the only male) got a master bedroom that pointed straight out toward the ocean (which was only 20m away).  There was the pool, the green grass, hammocks, a bbq, and of course, the continual crash of the pacific ocean. We also developed a sport of crab catching.  Anna was by far the most excited and best, but nothing like watching a bunch of college graduates running around after animals smaller than your cell phone to make you laugh.

Like I said, there was a purpose, we had to go up to Ecuador for a day to renew visas (Peruvian tourist visas are good for 183 days, so we needed new ones to last the rest of the year).  We woke up each morning to devotionals given by us YAVs.  All were rooted in biblical texts and concepts that were impacting the presenter at that point.  For mine, we focused on peace and justice.  For years, I have done a type of yoga/stretching/meditation/prayer kind of activity.  So for my reflection, we started out with 15 minutes of a series of yoga moves I learned by watching podcasts (I know that is not the best way to learn it, but if you´re interested, look up some good videos that can be downloaded from the itunes music store, just search "yoga podcast," I like Yoga Download).  My mind usually wanders during prayers, so in order to maintain focus I had us focus on a mantra "God is justice (breathing in), God is peace (out), teach me justice (in), teach me peace (out)."  So as we worked our way through the movements, I felt myself focusing on these two concepts and how they can be found but still need searching.  Then we relaxed into a time of meditation on the verses peace: Zec 7:9-10 and justice: 1 Peter 3:11.  So we laid there, ignoring the wind blowing through the palms, the waves crashing, and an ant or two crawling over our legs to search within ourselves what justice and peace really meant in our lives and where we wanted to go with it.  I really do feel that these are some of the most important elements of our lives as Christians.  So give it a try or at least think about the concepts and let me know what you think.

For the rest of our time together we enjoyed cooking for ourselves (mon: creamy pasta and cookie dough, wed: curry vegetables, thurs: fajitas and "queso", fri: Sushi and stir fry), getting sunburnt, spending a day in Mancora itself, laughing, playing way too much "nerts" and just enjoying being a team.  It will be a week that will stick with me for a long time.