Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Oh wow ...

The conference started today, and what a mixture of emotions and feelings.  Nathan and I met with an incredible group of men, and it was such a fantastic experience to hear their stories and to see what they're struggling with, but the logistical challenges and cultural differences made for an exhausting day. 

Our day started our with a soaking, pouring, monsoon-like rain storm that soaked us as we walked to the church this morning.  It's always fun to start a full day looking a bit like a wet dog.  After worship (in Spanish), we divided into small groups.  That's where the language barriers got interesting! Some in our group spoke Spanish, but others didn't speak Spanish well, so we ended up needing to translate both in Spanish and also into the Miskito language.  It's hard enough to get these concepts across to someone who speaks your own language, but add in two different languages and cultural differences, and you get an interesting day!  But we did have some neat "light bulb"experiences and we got warm hugs at the end of the day, so I think they're planning on coming back for more.  : )

I wasn't able to take photos of the small groups because I was too busy leading one, but I've added some photos from the very beginning of the conference today:

 Meet and greet before we got started
 Worship time
 Worship time
 Turn and greet happens here too!
 Greeting new friends
 Greeting new friends
 Greeting new friends
Pastor Marty starts things off with Pastor Earl translating

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