Memories from Feburary...

so its been three months and i have in fact only gotten worse at updating this, but for good reason. we are busy man. seriously. and at the end of the day im tired. it's much easier to want to read blogs then sit and think about what i want to write. but over the next few im going to recount some of the events of the past few months as best as i can.

so in this one ill start way back in Feb...lets see what my noggin can recall....

February...


So February was a fun month overall.
It started with the arrival of our final roommate, Oscar, and a visit form the badenhops(see picture above).
There are afew of my favorite memories from first few weeks of the month
The first happened after Aaron and Elizabeth had treated our team to dinner. We were standing outside of the restaurant. The name of the restaurant was The Pumpkin...i don't remember the word in spanish. but anyway, after dinner, we headed outside to get taxi's back to the girls apartment to hang out. after everyone else had left, David, Sarah, Lisa, and I were the last ones left waiting on a taxi. As we are standing out side a taxi pulls up and the security guard approaches the car before any of do. He talks to the taxi driver for a moment, then the taxi drives away. after a second of being perplexed David finally speaks with the security guard. i didn't understand what he was saying, but whatever it was it made Sarah laugh and David's eyes get a little bigger. As David came back, we asked him what happened, he and Sarah happily recanted what had happened. their translation: "He was a pirate. He was going to rob you". that's what the guard had told david. EEV..

The week after the Badenhops had gone back to the States, it was the guys turn to make dinner for the rest of our team. We get the brilliant idea to make french toast. tasty, simple, everyone can eat it. perfect.
so around 7 everyone gets to our apartment and we begin to make dinner. about 5 minutes into the venture, the lights go out. there's no turning back at this point, we were committed. hungry people at our house, food in different stages of preparation, we had to forge ahead. if my memory serves me correctly, i believe that was the first time i had ever made french toast by flashlight. it was quite a fun experience as we bounced the light back and forth between the bacon and the french toast, hoping to catch either before they had been burned to a crisp. eventually dinner was ready to be served and surely enough the lights came back just in time for us to enjoy our dinner together.

after that, everything gets a little fuzzy. we had an awesome outreach on campus about love, we saw the movie Valentines Day(which i recommend. it also reminded me that i have a huge crush on jessica beil...), and making complete fools out of ourselves in a Chinese restaurant( we had napkin races, and chopstick races and made a scene, it was fantastic!)
February concluded with our visa renewal trip to beautiful Curacao. but seriously, it was b-e-a-utiful. ive never seen water so blue, or sand so white, or fishes so colorful. Awesome. It was also a great chance to sit back and think about what i would be doing with the next year of my life, which was a decision i had been wrestling with quite a bit.but that decision wouldn't come until March. For now, more about Curacao...

recent happenings and some thoughts about them

so im going to try to be more consistent in updating the blog. i honestly dont know why i dont do it more often....

the past few weeks have been fun and full. we have had a lot of time with the students which has been great. parties, bible studies, english club and such.

we welcomed a new teammate on wednesday. his name is luke and he's a fun guy. he's gunna be checkin out Valencia for the next 2 months or so, we are looking forward to having him here. the night he got in(around 1130 Wednesday night) david and i went to pick him up in Caracas(about 2-2.5 hours away depending on how you drive). all went well. on the way back at about 330 in the morning and 15 minutes form our apartment our taxi broke down. T.I.V....
haha we called christian at about 430 and he thankfully answered his phone and came to pick us up.
it was one of the more interesting car rides ive had in a long time, not quite the way we were hoping to welcome luke either, but its all good. he didnt seem to mind too much. it's jsut one of those things that we will remember for a long time to come....
**on a side note about 3 minutes into the taxi ride to go pick up luke form the airport, i texted david who was sitting in the front seat something to the effect of "this car is going to blow up". if you know me, you know i know diddly squat about cars. so if i could tell that this car was in trouble, you know it was bad...just sayin**

this past weekend we went and played soccer with one of the students in a neighboring town. the field was dirt, rocks and glass. the goals were lean-to pipes. so it was quite different form the turfgrass/rubber field at ohio state, but it was awesome. i got to see some pot-bellied venezuelan men and came about 3 inches from netting my first goal in venezuela(it was a header that missed high, so disappointing) and i came away with a pretty rad scrape on my knee/leg(which i m kinda hoping turns into a rad scar). for the next 2.5 hours we played i tried to pick off the numerous pieces of glass/large rocks to make sure that the didnt become lodged in me somehwere....

it's been a blast, but tiring at the same time. it's been a struggle sleeping well the past few weeks for whatever reason. i dont really know why(jsut kidding, i think i knwo some of the reasons), this seems to happen once in awhile to me. i feel as though i need alot more sleep here than i do back in the states. it might be tha ti just wake up 2 hours earlier than i used to as well because of the sun.

the country has also undergone some interesting times in the past few weeks.
our electricity and water is begin rationed here. this means that about 2 or 3 times a week for afew hours we may not have one or the other. it honestly isnt that big of a deal. it's something i feel like we have adjusted too pretty quickly. i had a close call with beign stuck in the elevator(not a fun thought). i happened to avoid it by about a minute(i was on the way to the bathroom too. lucky me) i suppose if this was my home country it might be more frustrating.
recently the national exchange rate for the US dollar also went up which seemed like it was going to cause a ruckus, but has not really effected thing tooooo much, less than i originally thought so far.

it's interesting talking to people(mostly students) about the state of their country. there are so many different ways it effects them.
it effects their schooling and when the students try to do something about it and make a difference there are often strikes and protests which either cancel classes or postpone them.
in afew other cities students have even died as a result of some of these demonstrations which is ridiculous. as one student described it "it's a cycle that sucks". the students try to exercise their rights and one of them ends up getting hurt or worse. as a a student im sure its not a fun thought to have to worry about your safety when you head to class every day.
many of them do not trust the future to hold much promise either. they talk about their concerns working and raising families in a country where these things happen and how it' so easy to lose hope.
so i take their situation here and compare it to mine while i am here. as an outsider, as a temporary resident here. yes i see and feel the effects of so may of the same things as they do. my apartment sometimes doesnt have water or electricity, my day gets rearranged when there are not classes. but for me it is so easy to think about how temporary this situation is for me. i have a different home to look forward to where these kinds of things dont really happen. i have more "security" waiting for me back in the u.s., but when i honestly think about it, do i? are these kinds of things worthy of my hope? for some people, it may be all they have to hope in.
but even in so many of the Venezuelan people i know here, while they are concerned for the state of their home country, and for their family and fellow class mates across the country, they also take comfort in the knowledge that these things are not what give them hope. not all of them, but many of the students in know.
and in much the same way, as i have a knowledge of a home that has so much more to offer me, there is a Home that has infinitely more to offer. and it's there where their and my Hope really reside.
it's been an interesting series of events to see unfold and witness how different people have handled it. to think about where my hope comes from and what it is in.
just one of many many things ive been learning and growing in this year and im sure this reality will continue to change me as the year goes on. and im looking forward to see how Hope will continue to change the students of UC and how they, as the future of the country, will bring that same Hope wherever they go.

really? it's january? (part 2 of 2)

so as i was saying...

we only had about a week on campus during December between our visa renewal and the university holiday.
not too much to really speak of during that week, things went as normal from what i could remember.

part way through that week david left to head back to the States for medical school interviews. this 2 week stretch was the long period of time i think i have ever lived on my own before. really though. i dont think i've ever lived in a house/apartment alone for 2 solid weeks. fortunately everything turned out just fine. the girls here invited me over quite a bit and i had some students hang out here afew nights and i managed not to burn down our concrete apartment building.

the first Sunday of the break we had a Christmas party with the students which was a blast. we played "pin the nose on rudolph" and the girls baked some amazing christmas cookies. good times were had by all.

and for the next 3 weeks leading up to christmas we watched alot of our favorite christmas cookies and decorated the apartments which was also alot of fun and provided some good bonding time for the 5 of us(at least during the times when we were all together).

the week of christmas 2 of our teammates returned from the US and the christmas festivities continued.

on christmas eve we hung out and watched christmas episodes of the Office and ate christmas cookies. and on christmas day we celebrated together with huge breakfast and opened presents together.

afew interesting notes abotu Venezuelan Christmases--
-Venezuelan boys and girls receive presents from santa AND baby jesus(he puts them under the nativity).
-they decorate with alot of the same decorations as we do in the US. i.e. snowmen, snowflakes, ice sickle lights, yet it does not snow here.
-christmas eve is the bigger day then christmas as far as family gatherings and such are concerned.
-everything shuts down for atleast the week until after new years(which is also a huge day/night here in VZ)
- it was 95 degrees F here on christmas day if i have not already mentioned that.

for christmas david and i finally got a couch for our apartment which rocks! its no longer just a dull, empty space. i also started myself an itunes account which may be the end of me...

all in all it was a fun christmas and one that i will never forget, but very different.


after christmas activities died, venezuelas attention is focused towards new years eve.
there are fireworks ever night going off throughout the city(mostly the loud, annoying kind which in turn set off carm alarms which aare also loud and annoying). our new years eve here was particularly special because we were invited to spend it with a student and her family.

the family was so kind and welcoming to us. they fed us traditional venezuelan new years foods like hallacas, pan de jamon, and chicken salad( i cant remember what they call it) and we got to partake in some fun venezuelan traditions(eating 12 grapes at the stokes of the clock on midnight, more fireworks, seeing people run around with thier suitcases.)


all in all it was one of the most memorable holiday seasons that i have had thus far in my 23 years of life. though it was difficult to be away from family and friends who i am so used to seeing around this time, it was a great experience to see and learn how other people celebrate these same days in the world. new years was especially cool, being invited into a home and welcomed to celebrate with a family was a great pleasure and so much fun, and the food was really good too.

with that said i should be going. im exhausted form just having returned from a leaders retreat in the city of Merida(which i will write about soon). Those 12 hour bus rides through the night leave much to be desired...


matt

really? it's january? (part 1 of 2)

it really has been awhile. more than 2 months in fact, and they have been a packed 2 months.

where to begin...

well in November(if my old man memory doesn't let me down) we get to go to Maracaibo, which may be the hottest city in the entire world, seriously. it felt like 105 on thanksgiving day there, we had a staff conference where we got to connect with all of the Vida staff in Venezuela, it was incredible.

we got to hear some great talks and learn alot of great things. but even cooler than all of the stuff that i got to learn were the people that i got to meet and spend time with. the staff here in Venezuela are incredible and a testament to the AMAZING work God has been doing in the past few years here.
in one of our meetings we lined up by the length of time we have been involved in Vida Estudiantil here in VZ. it was so cool to see the living time line laid out before my eyes... not to mention i was the last one in the line. so to think of all that God has done before i arrived here and all that he would continue to do looong after i am gone and forgotten in this place. and the impact that it will have on this country and on so many other places in the world....
i also got to spend alot of great, intentional time with some of the guys that are on staff here, many of these conversations coming over the local fair of Venezuela(arepas and the Maracuchan special, patacones[spelling?] which is kind of a sandwich made with two fried plantains{green and savory or yellow and sweet} that are smashed into "buns" and then there is some kind of meat, tomato, onion, lettuce, and sauce between them. they are some of my favorite eats in the world now. but you have to get the ones on the street, in my opinion those were the best ones we had)
it was so cool to talk to these young men and their passion to see their country and their desire to see it changed from the inside out by the Gospel and how this could be such an important country when it comes to seeing the Gospel go to places like the middle east or other countries where Americans can not go easily. it was a great reminder encouragement and reminder of why i am here. so cool.

As i mentioned briefly before we were also there for Thanksgiving and got to celebrate as a Vida Estudiantil family. it was great, there was alot of traditional and tasty Thanksgiving food prepared by by extraordinarily gifted hands.
There were quite a few Americans there between my team, the Maracaibo STINT team and a national staff family, but it was also many of the Venezuelans first time celebrating Thanksgivng(for obvious reasons). so it was special in many ways. and also hot. like 95 degrees feels like 105 degrees hot. very different than Ohio.

after this we got to relax on our first visa renewal trip in Aruba. i dont have much to say other than it was absolutely beautiful. the water was so blue and so clear. it was a great chance to chill and have fun with the team and some of the other stinters from Venezuela. we also got to enjoy some of our missed American comforts (peanut butter and real milk, as well as some other things)which was fun.

Venezuelan airports are alot of fun as well. on the way to Aruba we got to spend 7 hours in the Maracaibo airport waiting for a 25 minute flight. there was alot of finger wagging and shouting by the other Venezuelans waiting for the same flight...things just work very differently here...

after returning from Aruba we only had one week on campus before they went on their holiday break....
and ill leave you on a bit of a cliff hanger here. i just gave you November in a nutshell and i still have the rest of the month of December and i want to try to sleep since it's 12:45 in the morning here in Venezuela.( i haven't been sleeping well lately, i dont know why)

part two coming soon...

the little things.

so there has not been too much going on out of the ordinary here in Venez.
we guys have moved into a new apartment which has been nice to have some space.tying up davids hammock made for an interesting adventure and im sure an interesting nights sleep for him as we both eagerly waited to see if my jumble lump of knots would hold his weight. thankfully, he has made it the last few nights without incident and without the hammock crashing to the somewhat cold, hard, tile floor below.

...i probably would not have trusted it myself.

our water is currently being rationed because of either a drought or a waterline break, ive heard stories of both. but this is the second time it's happened since ive been here(the time before this was the first 2 days that i was in the country). it hasnt been the worst thing ever, you cant drink the tap water here anyway but it does make bathing(which i often feel is a necessity in a place that is much hotter and sunnier than Ohio) and going to the bathroom a planned event in your day.
i was on my way down in the elevator with david this morning and we were talking about the fac that the water is out. i made some ignorant comment about it not being fun to not have running water (thank God for friends and people to put perspective into my life) and so in response david says something to the effect of 'alot of places in the world dont have water at all' sorry if i misquoted you david. but it was something like that, you ge tthe idea. and of course i know this full well, but it jsut makes me realize a few things.

how overly(for lack of a better word) pampered, protected, sheltered i am as an american. and how this effects my view of the world, even as i am living in a place where things like not having running water every single day of my life happen(lets be honest... for the the great majority of North American life that is unheard of). and by no means is how i live in here in Valencia anywhere near the bottom rung of the ladder. i still lead a very comfortable, cushioned life. and by no means is not having consist running water for about 3 days some terrible travesty that i have to endure. combined with some other things like university strikes because of professors not begin paid, it jsut serves as a reminder that i know i too often have forgotten. the rest of the world does not live like i do. the things i see and dont see on the news everyday or read about in magazines are real. there are real people living in poverty or looking for ways to find clean water or food every day. and even when i do return to the states, it is still the reality of life for millions of people.
***granted there are many many many people in the united states and else where who have a much bigger view of the world than i do, which is good. i suppose i am jsut more sheltered than i origanly thought***

it was not so much that i didnt know that issues like these existed in the world, i am just making the point that in my life i can have a bad case of tunnel vision and sometimes it just takes a small thing or some words from a friend for me to begin to look beyond my own circumstances, and for a split second stop beign so inwardly focused.
and once again it helps me to realize the weight that the Gospel carries and the hope that it brings. by no means can i relate to what most of the world wakes up to everyday, but i cant help but think how some people long for something so much better than what this world has to offer. i mean i feel that way often enough and once again i am very very very very blessed to have all that i do. but yeah. its funny how small things, like flushing my toilet, can make the Gospel come alive in my life.

on a side note, there are some other fun things im discovering abotu life in venezuela...
-most things are topped with either ham, corn, or both. 99% or hamburgers and pizzas that i have seen have ham on them. they put corn on pizza and hotdogs(which also come with ham)...which are so totally different form the hot dogs you may think of in the states.
-public transportation happens through privately owned buses . drivers own their own bus, which they give a custom paint job. they just kinda pick a route and drive it, they put alittle sign in their window which tells you where they are going. these buses are often too small for someone my height to stand comfortably in. a good number of them are blaring regatone music and are often packed with people so that there are usually people hanging out the door.

building

these past few weeks have been packed and the next few will be busy. planning, sharing, meeting students. but it should be great.

2 weeks ago was our first full week on campus(is that confusing enough?)
and it was a pretty great one if i do say so.
there are few things that i have found since i've been here that are bigger than any kind of language barrier. one of them has been sports. i had the chance to play some pick up futbol last sunday night at a local park. it was great. there was alittle difficulty getting posisoned at first, but other than that it was nothing afew hand gestures and an push in the right direction couldn't fix. i dunno, there is just something about playing, joking around with other men/boys on a field. you know what the point in the game is, to win and to have some fun along the way. when someone scores a goal, no matter what language you speak, everyone still goes crazy and when some gringo (me)makes a fool out of himself you can still all have a good laugh about it and the game goes on. it was one of the first times i have felt really comfortable around people i dont know here.

another is the Gospel. Love. Hope.
one day i was out with a student, moises, on campus. he speaks a bit of english and i speak almost no spanish. for awhile we talked about our lives and jsut tried to get to know eachother. after that we went out looking to engage other students in conversation about their lives and their thoughts/beliefs about God, Jesus and things like that.
after awhile of walking around, we ran into three students who were sitting outside of a class room, there names(for the sake of telling this story) were vicky, danielle, and jesus.
we walked up and introduced ourselves....they looked at me with smiles and i could instantly tell that none of them spoke any english. for the rest of the conversation i had to talk through Moises and let him do his thing.

we asked them to to talk with us about lives and asked them if we could use a picture survey to talk about it because i just thought it would help me better understand how they were feeling.
we asked them to pic pictures that described their lives and described God to them. after about 10 minutes it was obivous that God had been searching for them and moving in their lives.
one of the students said she had been searching for more, searching for God even, but didn't know how to reach him or if he would even he wanted to know her(which was completely not true, God knows and loves every person in this world and wants to be in a relationship with you). Jesus had mentioned and picked pictures that talked about his family situation, how he felt he didnt belong and wasn't wanted there and didn't feel like he could fit in anywhere. Danielle talked about how she wanted to achieve more and more in life but just felt like it was never good enough and she was never going to be satisfied no matter what she achieved.

after sharing these things moises began talking to them...for a long while. although i could not understand much of what he was saying, i could tell from the look in his eyes that he was speaking from his heart. he was talking of God's love and mercy in his life and how he had experienced it.
after watching him for awhile i couldnt help but look over at the faces of the three young students. tears ha begun to run down one of the girls cheeks while the other had them welling up in her eyes.
after afew more minutes of moises talking with them(and occasionally asking me questions like "they want to know if you think God is real" or things like that) they had said that they wanted this kind relationship with God that was so real and so obviously influenced our lives.
there is something about that kind of conversation that i jsut can't explain. i wish i was better with words so i could tell you all how i felt and feel when i think back to that conversation.
God's love changes lives, and he uses those changed lives to change others lives. Once again i wish i could explain this as clearly as i saw it that day but i just can't. I cant explain how a real, living perfect God uses broken people and the crap of their lives to change others lives forever. Or how Hope that changes peoples lives will eventually change a campus and a city and a country. and this isnt just happening here in Valencia. this kind of Hope is turning this world inside out.


the rest of the week we were on campus meeting students and talking with them about these same things, and this was only the first week.


last week we had the chance to grow together as a team with some team building exercise in Caracas. after that we took another long bus ride up some winding mountains to a place called Colonia Tovar, a german colony in the mountains of venezuela. go figure.
while the ride up was alittle dizzying and frustrating at times, it was beautiful(and cooler, which was awesome...alittle taste of fall for our team)... although as we went up the mountain and saw the places where people lived along the road, it looked like tiny bits of the cities had just been planted in the mountains. it was the same smells and graffiti and broken down cars and buildings. it was interesting, i guess you have to see it for yourself.
once we got to tovar, we spent the next 2 and a half days hanging out with eachother, sharing our life stories, and walking up and down some of the steepest roads i've ever walked on. it was a bonding experience and i think our team will greatly benefit from this past week of togetherness.

now we are preparing for the next few weeks of ministry before we have to leave the country. we are so excited to see how God will use this time. there is alot of work to do.

there has been alot more going on that i didnt mention here and stint life has provided me with other interesting tidbits that im sure i will get on here(maybe even some pictures if i become savvy enough with this website) in the near future.

matt

ready or not.

it's been awhile and there has been alot that happened in the past month.

so i finally made it to Venezuela!!! I've been here alittle over a week at this point and it's ben a good time so far. i've seen alot of things that i'd never dreamed i'd see, ive been alot of places i have never thought i would ever be.

packing was interesting. it was similar to alot of other things i did this summer to prepare, and after i was done i really didnt feel any more ready. there were many things that i forgot that i wanted or needed and there alot of things that i thought i would need or want but don't. it's funny how that happens when youre trying to stuff the stuff, or in some cases memories, that you will have with you for an entire year into 2 suitecases that cna only weigh about 50lbs.


i drove down to columbus with my mom and grandpa on a tuesday afternoon, ate dinner with some of my favoirte people, hung out with some cool folks, then on about 45 minutes of sleep i got up to go get a donut and then head to the airport around 530am.
i had never flown over the ocean before so it was pretty neat to see, even if i could barly see it from the aisle seat.

we finally ge tout of the craziness that is the airport and into the craziness that is Caracas. we took a taxi on what seemed like the second longest ride of my life, it was only abotu 3 hours, but when we started the sun seemed to be pretty high in the sky. by the time we got to Valencia it was very dark. and it seemed to happen in a blink, mostly because the sun here sets at like 7ish which i am still getting used to.

the drive to valencia was interesting. there are no real rules to the road. i couldnt read the graffiti or understand the radio when it was on. street lights seemed to be scattered spuraticaly on the road whenever they felt like appearing, even on the dark mountain sides that we were driving down.
it was cool at times to see the mountains and the ocean at points, sad at other times to see the poverty that exists intermingled in clutter of the city and that covers the side of large mountains is what look like abandon shanties.
it is almost unrealistic to think that the Gospel can change that. that the Gospel will change that one day. it seems far, far away. especially when i have not even seen the worst of it here in Valencia. but the Lord has. and one day it will be changed for good.

Valencia is a large city with a large university that we will be working at. ive had the chance to meet afew of the students that we will be working with this year and im excited here. the peopel here have been so kind and welcoming. the students have been great, thought our conversations are very limited, im excited to get to knwo them more share life with them over the next year.
unfortunatly the part of campus that we will be most active on will nto start classes until november because fo a strike that took place over the summer. we have ahd the past week and the next few to plan and prepare and to get to know the team which i am looking forwward to. but i know we are all anxious to get started meetign students and starting ministry.

i'm going to try to post more often to so that i do not have to recount a months worth of events in one post and so i can include some of the cool details of life here in VZ(like the iguanas that take the place of squirrels in parks nd on campus) and the awesome stories in ministry and day to day life that happen(like not beign able to order fast food by myself or being attacked by a giant grasshopper in our apartment)

it's going to be cool to see what God has in store for this year.
"Do not fear what they fear^b]">; do not be frightened."^c]"> But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord."
this is form 1peter 3:14&15. God has used it already and i feel like it will continue to be recycled in my life this year.

look forward to sharing more with you soon.
matt.