Spring-Fever and Goodbyes

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We have 6 more weeks till the end of the school year at the youth leadership institute. Everyone here has Spring fever pretty badly. They are mentally ready for summer break and are physically worn out, so getting them to work is a challenge.

In December we graduate our largest group yet - about 12 people - many of whom then return to their home country to put into practice what they've been learning. They've been an amazing group and we'll miss them.

We Have Haitian Roots

Over the years people have asked us if we have plans to translate the Raices (Roots) textbook for youth ministry into other languages, like English (so they could use it in India and Africa) or Portuguese for the 192 million Brazilians who share the continent. So far no one has been interested enough to translate 350 pages but we created a graphic alternative: almost 200 clip art images that illustrate the main points of the book.

A month ago a friend and colleague told us he wanted to use the principles of Raices to train youth leaders during an upcoming trip to Haiti. We explained the idea behind the clip art and yesterday we got an email from him which included a handout for his training sessions which includes our illustrations with Creole subtitles.

We’re thrilled that we can help train leaders in Haiti and that what we’ve invested in is continuing to produce dividends worldwide… we thought you might be too.

43 Days and 43 Nights

Our smiles in these pictures reflect how we feel about what's been keeping us occupied for the last 43 days since we published our last blog post. Here's a few of the things that have filled those days and nights:

• Involvement in 4 training events for youth leaders (3 in Argentina and 1 in Paraguay)
• Trying to finish up a 2 year project to update our ParaLideres.org website (5000+ visitors/day)
• Participating in a convention with 3500 youth leaders from around Latin America
• Writing and publishing articles, blogs and online courses
• Grading and giving feedback on student projects
• Mentoring, counseling and praying for our apprentices (67 of them, representing 12 countries)
• Hosting international colleagues who come to teach at the EJ youth leadership institute

Spring Forward

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Today is the first day of Spring for the southern hemisphere. It's also "Students Day" which means no classes (well, no classes for most schools, but not ours... it's like the Energizer bunny, it's keeps on going).

Weekend

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It's been in the low 40's with lots of wind and humidity but we got ourselves out of the house all the same to enjoy the city. Hope these pictures help you do the same.

Extracurricular Mentoring

Classes at the institute finish at 10 pm and the students begin making their way home. Some travelling as far as 5 hours each way and the majority at least an hour commute. Those of us that live in the same section of the city, walk the 7 blocks to the subway station and take the subway northeast. It's 30 to 50 minutes more of time together and we take advantage of it as part of our role as mentors.

In the photo above Annette waits with David Killy, one of the first graduates from the Youth Leadership Institute. This pic is taken at around 11:00 pm at the train station where, after the subway ride, we wait with him for his train to arrive (and as you can see below, it arrived).

Though our workday is a bit out of whack, we thoroughly appreciate the opportunity to invest of lives in these 20-something and 30-something youth leaders from all over the city and continent.

Out of the Box

For months most of our pictures have been of students at the EJ Institute, an accurate reflection of our life, but in the last few weeks we’ve gotten out a bit more. Here are some highlights:

IEJ Challenge

If you can imagine The Amazing Race infused with spiritual disciplines you’ll have an idea of the event we lead for 34 of the students. It was as much a challenge for us as it was for them but we’re all agreed it accomplished more in 48 hours than all of the mentoring we’ve done over the past months combined.

Generacion Lideres

Most of our students work on a team with other people, who are passionate about working with teenagers but who don’t have formal training. This day long training event was the perfect venue for our students to learn alongside their leadership team, resulting in shared vision and better communication.

Half-Marathon

I have enjoyed wonderful runs this autumn and capped off the season running 13.4 miles at the annual fall half-marathon. If that seems longer than a normal “half” …it was. According to my GPS I ran three tenths of a mile more than I needed to, which is a good reminder that sometimes it’s OK to “cut corners” instead of “going the extra mile.”

Raices in Rosario province of Santa Fe, Argentina

In the past ten years Raices (Roots) has grown from an annual congress into an organic movement with impact throughout the Spanish speaking world. We haven’t accepted invitations related to it since the opening of the EJ Institute, but we couldn’t resist a weekend retreat about four hours from Buenos Aires in which our seven hours of teaching was complemented by the participation of three students and one of the mentors from the EJ Institute.

Guatemala

If someone had offered us a week of vacation in this amazing country we never would have accepted it at this point, but God knew we needed a change of pace so he orchestrated an invitation to a think tank about Christian education in Latin America that we couldn’t resist. Down time with the EJ Institute director and his wife, a visit to the Guatemala campus, catching up with friends we hadn’t seen in over fifteen years, and a canopy tour were unexpected outcomes of the trip. What was no surprise was the great coffee. (We came home with nine pounds of it.)

Happy, Feliz Birthday, Annette!

She's my best friend and my overall favorite person in world. She's hard working and inspirational, she laughs and smiles easily and makes you feel accepted, but then challenges you with great questions and deep, quotable statements. She's beautiful and strong and soft and fit... all in one person.

Happy, happy birthday, Annette!

Not Exactly An Office Job

Break Time with a Learning Activity

For the first quarter since the EJ Institute for youth leaders started last August, Tim and I are not teaching classes. This frees us up to focus on our primary role at the school, that of “spiritual directors” or as we see it, being the youth leaders to the youth leaders studying with us. This means being present every evening for the classes, looking out for the students well-being (including making sure there is fresh, good coffee and clean mugs for the 20 minute break half way through the three hour class), fostering community building during the breaks, and spending time one-on-one with the students.

The fifty-five students are very diverse. They come from seven different Spanish-speaking countries and range in age from eighteen to fifty-two. Some of them walk a few blocks to class while others make a ten hour round trip. But they all have a long term commitment to working with teenagers and young adults.

Some of our best mentoring time is the walk home after class

This weekend we take the mentoring program into new territory with our first retreat. Thirty four students are entrusting us with their weekend with no idea what awaits them. For weeks they’ve been trying to get the details out of us, but they don’t have a clue. It’s gonna be fun and like nothing they’ve experienced before. We’ll post pictures soon.

Is It Worth It?

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The Monday after the earthquake in Chile Felipe, our Chilean student at the EJ Institute for youth ministry, kept falling asleep in class. When we had asked about his family back home he was unemotional and told us that he had spoken briefly with his grandmother and everyone was fine.

During the class break I went up to him as he prepared himself a cup of coffee, “Felipe, are you OK? It seems like you can’t stay awake?”

“I haven’t been able to sleep since the earthquake,” he replied. “I was finally able to talk with my family and now I know they’re fine, but I have a lot of college friends in other cities and I don’t know how they are.”

We know the crushing impotence of living many miles removed from people you love who are suffering. Logically you know that if you were there you couldn’t do anything to change things but it feels so wrong to go on blithely with life when they can’t.

In the following days Felipe was back to sleeping through the night and had more news from Chile. The following week I looked for a space to check in with him.

“When are you going back to Chile?” I asked.

“In December,” Felipe replied. “It takes three days to get to my house by bus and if I were to try to go during the mid-year break I would spend six days traveling for just a few days at home, so I’ll wait until I finish the program.”

Felipe came to us with high expectations. As he said in his application, “When I was a senior in High School I was voted president of the school’s Christian Student Union. As I worked with them I realized how abandoned teenagers are by the church in my area. There is a lot of work with children, adults and even the elderly but there was nothing for teenagers. I want to study at the EJ Institute so I can pay attention to the needs of this generation.

In the face of Felipe’s big vision you can see why I asked the following question a bit fearfully, “Felipe, it’s such a sacrifice for you to be here….is it worth it?”

He broke into a big smile which was echoed in his eyes as he said, “Oh yes.”

Whew :-)

What Made It So Great?

Last night might have been our favorite time so far with the youth leadership institute. What made it great? I think it was the combination of working with enthusiastic, experienced youth leaders plus a subject we're passionate about and seeing them "get" how it has significance and application for their work.