Cowboys and Strained Quads

This past weekend was very relaxing. Saturday I went with Elsa to a Cowboy Night that a youth group she went on a retreat with was hosting. We were supposed to dress up like cowboys. It’s a good thing I decided my cowboy boots were important enough to be one of the few things I could squeeze into my backpack! Had to leave the spurs at home though… they’d never have made it through security. Actually, dressing like a cowboy turned out to be a rather difficult task with the limited wardrobe I have here. I ended up with a red v-neck shirt, grey capris, and flip flops. Luckily, it’s the latest fashion among Salvadoran cowboys.

The church that this group is a part of is actually the mother church of two churches that work with Christ for the City International (CFCI). They have a program set up for high school graduates to come live in San Salvador, study missions, evangelism, and Spanish and work with their youth group. I was able to meet the 8 students there now from the US. They were mostly from Atlanta, GA though so they still talked funny. They were the first white people I’ve seen since being here. Actually, the only ones besides the Mormon brother I saw the other day walking down the street in Altavista where the soccer school is. It was good to be able to talk with them. The pastor used a clip of terrible hits in American football during his talk. That combined with the familiar country music playing made me feel right at home.

Sunday we spent the morning at home. Elsa and I watched a movie that was set in New York in the fall. Seeing fall made me remember that I’m missing my favorite time of year, especially in Madison. No fresh apples or apple sauce, no apple cider or hot chocolate, no jackets or scarves… just a lot of rain and a decent amount of sweating.

Side note: My toilet broke 2 days ago. It just simply stopped filling with water. The dad didn’t know what was wrong with it but he came and looked at it. Well it apparently just miraculously started working again because after that it seemed to work fine. Well the plumber just showed up to fix it. I told them it’s been working but apparently he’s still fixing it… not sure how that works. It’s just one of the many funny things that seem to happen when there is a lack of communication.

Yesterday morning I was met at Elsa’s house by Josué who works with CFCI. He took me by bus to soccer. It took over an hour to get there but eventually we made it. Soccer in the morning started well, but soon my quad started to get worse. During our scrimmage I couldn’t pass the ball without pain. Not an intolerable amount of pain but it was getting worse. It’s hard to pull yourself out of a sport but knowing the consequences of playing with a strained quad I decided it was the best option in the long run. I spent the afternoon with Maltez, one of the coaches, and then during the second session when with Elsa to teach English instead.

Last night was a difficult night. It’s frustrating to feel unable to do what I came here to do. While soccer isn’t the point, it’s the method used for bonding with the youth and it can’t really be done from the sideline. Knowing the timeline for quad strains, it’s possible I could be out of commission for a week or two before it’s fully healed. Maybe God has something else in store for me and I just don’t know yet. It’s hard not knowing how God is going to use me when I feel like I’m not doing much or being effective so far. I’m sure it’ll come with time. And as Seth reminded me last night, God can use the small things we do to have a big impact. I may never see the fruit of my efforts but need to trust that God brought me here and is using me.

Prayer Requests:

Quick healing for my quad.

Continued deepening of my relationship with Elsa.

Determining where it is God wants me and finding my niche in ministry here.

Further developing relationships with the youth.

Continued good health.

That Spanish would continually be easier to understand and speak.