Category: Good Stuff

What are you doing these days, Danny?

People have joked around with me for years that they can’t keep track of what country I’m in. But it seems like I can hardly keep track of where I’ve been lately myself.

In February I left my job at First UMC in Elizabeth City. I came back to Ecuador to host two short-term teams and hang out with a bunch of people I love. And those people convinced me I should come back to Ecuador this summer as the Maestro for the Education=Hope program. So I’ve been doing just that, helping to train and supervise both the E=H interns and the Quito Quest interns who are serving with E=H sites and teams.

But in the midst of my preparations for Ecuador, God dropped another crazy opportunity in my path, and after weeks of calls and texts and emails and Skype calls and plane rides, I accepted the position of Director of Family Ministries at Soapstone UMC in Raleigh, which I will be starting in August.

It’s been a crazy few months. It has been hard sometimes telling people what’s next for me, especially because since January, I quite often haven’t known beyond about the next two weeks what was really next for me. It’s about to be a crazy few months as well, because I need to finish well here with Quito Quest and Education=Hope, and dive immediately back into Conference Youth Events, moving to Raleigh, and starting a new job. I won’t be back home in Elizabeth City until about twelve days after I return to the United States, and “home” won’t really be home after that anyway.

I’m excited. I’m terrified. I’m actively trusting God to give me the ability to do all the things that He’s called me to do. And I can’t wait to tell everybody about this whole new adventure.

Maestro-ing

Over twelve summers, I have had a lot of roles in our short-term program. I’ve been a team member, a team leader, a Quito Quest host, a site host and an additonal staff member on teams. I even once helped train a couple of hosts who would both the next summer become my maestros. But I have never actually done the Maestro roll until now.

Since 2008 I’ve been telling people that Quito Quest is the most work not the least sleep you’ll ever get, and I use that statement to make a point of just how much I love this program, because I keep coming back and doing it again and again. And while my perspective has slowly changed over time about how much sleep you actually need to do this job (I’m old… I need way more sleep now than when I was 22), my perspective has changed dramatically this summer on who it is that really has all the work to do.

When you’re a team host, you are responsible for all the people on a short-term team, for their food and housing and schedule and translation and cultural acquisition, and their medical needs. You’re there to take care of them from the moment they walk out of the secure section of the airport until you drop them off right back there eleven or so days later.

When you’re a maestro, you’re responsible for all that stuff, except for the interns, and for three months instead of a week and a half. And when seven of your eight hosts have never hosted before, you wind up being responsible for a lot of their job too, because it’s simply impossible to learn how to do this job perfectly in the two weeks between intern arrival and the start of Block 1 of teams.

An intern asked me after my Basilica orientation, “How much of that are we supposed to remember?” She had this seriously worried look on her face, and I just laughed, and tried to compassionately explain that I’ve been doing Basilica orientations for 11 years, and I’ve been there with all kinds of people, so I have learned a lot about the place. I dumped it all on those unsuspecting interns, hoping they’ll be able to regurgitate 40% of it or so this summer. I want give them all the information and experience and wisdom I have, but I certainly don’t expect them to know cold in one summer what I’ve been compiling since 2007.

Cameron has been laughing at me all summer as I ask deep questions to the interns and then press for answers. She remembers exhausted 2008 Danny who had to be forced to give more than one-word answers. I hadn’t figured out back then that it was okay to be an introvert and an internal processor. But I also hadn’t quite figured out back then how much the staff needed me to get out of that comfort zone and verbally let them know how they could take care of me. She also remembers 2008 Danny who would debrief teams until 11, get home at midnight, blog until 2am, and get up at 5 or 6 to do it all over again, because he thought you had to just run yourself into the ground to lead a team well. And now she’s watching me tell interns to hide out in the book bag room and take a nap or catch up on finances so they don’t have to stay awake so late at night.

It’s also a lot of work to put team hosts together as a pareja and to match those parejas up with teams. Figuring out how to compliment people’s gifts, and how to match them up with projects and team leaders and teams and ministry sites is a giant puzzle. And just as it’s impossible for the hosts to do their job in a perfect way, we (maestros and directors) will never quite get this part of our job perfect either. But I can tell you we talked about it and processed together way more than I ever thought would be necessary.

I love being here for summer, and I love getting to train and oversee all these hosts. But as I jump in and out of teams’ schedules and ministry sites, and do my best to care for our hosts who are caring for them, I have a lot more appreciation for Bryan, Dana, Darío, Christy, Manuel, and Kristin, who were all maestros for me at various times.

Soccer Match

We don’t have sports, plural, in Ecuador, we pretty much just have soccer. And in Quito, for the most part we don’t have fans of different teams: everybody here is a Liguista. So when you are invited to a soccer match, it’s a Liga game, and you had better be hyped for it, and you had better have your jersey.

A number of our team hosts are off this weekend, so they joined the staff and the site hosts tonight for Liga vs. Emelec at Casa Blanca.


Pablo got our tickets this morning, but he clearly didn’t trust the gringos to know how to act at an Ecuadorian soccer match, so he sent us all instructions before he would hand them out.

Blue is actually one of LDU’s colors, but not when they’re home against Emelec, so Pablo was actually trying to make sure we don’t start a fight. And people will definitely fight when it comes to soccer.

It took forever to get on the bus this afternoon because each one that came by was already so full, and everyone at the station was wearing their Liga jerseys, so we knew we’d be crammed in like sardines all the way to the stadium. The general admission seats in Casa Blanca were packed out as well, but it was a ton of fun to participate in singing and cheers and listening to all the fans in the stadium heckle the referees… and the other team… and sometimes our team.

Liga scored a goal early in the second half, but Emelec got a penalty kick to tie, and the score stayed like that the rest of the match. One of the players on the other team passed out due to altitude, which sucks for him, but at least we were reminded that doesn’t only happen to team members. All in all, it was a great cultural experience, something I haven’t done in seven years, and a really cool day off with some of our staff.

Notice who is the only one wearing a Liga jersey.

 

Headed back to Ecuador

If you know me at all, it probably won’t surprise you to hear I’m getting on a plane to Ecuador. And it probably shouldn’t surprise you, because it will be the 13th time I’ve done this since 2007. Through Quito Quest, I’ve been a team member, a Team Host, a Site Host, and a team leader, but I am taking on a new role in a new department over the next couple of months as the Summer Maestro for Education=Hope.

This means I’ll be using my administrative skills to help organize all that our four E=H teams will be doing, and I’ll be training and supervising interns. In the midst of that, I get to hang out at some of my favorite places with some of my favorite people doing everything from ministry with teams to maintaining relationships between Youth World and our partner ministry sites to probably more than a little babysitting of Vivanco children.

Quito Quest has always been my favorite excuse to blog, and I expect working with teams this summer will be no different. So keep an eye on it for my adventures.

Bonus pic:I always love it when I make the Youth World Monday Memo.

The Calm before the Team

I arrived in Quito late last night after a couple of very windy, bumpy plane rides. And though today has theoretically been about preparations for the team and for Youth World staff meeting tomorrow, it has also been about jumping into life with the Vivancos. So we’ve played with the kids a lot today. Lying in a hammock, watching the boys crawl through their tunnels in the back yard this afternoon, Caroline summed up the contented atmosphere here by asking “Does the team have to come?”

The House of Caroline and Danny

Emaús was the very first ministry site I ever visited. So it’s extra fun to go back. But I got that time warp feeling (that I’ve written about multiple times before) when Michelle asked me how I was feeling about serving there.

There are things that are the same, like the rhythm of the day and some of the people who are there. There are things that are different, like all the construction and the fact that Nancy is now the priest there instead of Lourdes. There is history there in which I’ve participated both strictly in the ministry sense and in some more tangible things like the murals my students painted in the Sunday School room.

But one thing that is definitely the same is the level of hospitality. I remember the first day I ever went to Emaús. We had a quick devotion that morning and got to work. Lourdes was walking around with a dustpan and her apron on, cleaning up the sawdust behind all the people who were building tables and cabinets. It wasn’t until she put on her stole 8 hours later for Bible Study and Holy Communion that I realized she was the priest in charge, the person with authority at this church. Up until then, she was just one more of the welcoming, servant-hearted people who smiled and worked with us.

In very much the same way, Nancy got us started today with devo and instructions (after she and Anita came running up to the bus to hug Caroline and myself) and then she jumped into the kitchen for the next 4 hours to start cooking us lunch. The maestros and volunteers were the same way. They taught us quickly, and then jumped in alongside us all, working and talking to and laughing whether the person next to them spoke the same language or not.

By 11:00 snack, Emaús had become a part of the team. They were incorporating this experience into their memories and experiences and their understanding of the world and life and the Gospel. This community has a way of grabbing ahold of you because of the way it exemplifies a biblical community.

When we got ready to leave this afternoon (even with two more ministry days at this site) it was a long process of saying “Good-bye.” Nancy told the group (through my translation) that “This is the house of Caroline and Danny. And now it is your house too.” I thought this was accurate. Emaús didn’t become my home over the 9 years I’ve been going there or throughout the time that I lived in Guajaló. It became a home for me when I first stepped through the door to be met by the love and acceptance and smiles and hugs of the entire congregation. The group doesn’t have the history there that I do or that Caroline does. But it’s home for them now. This is not because of the amount of time they’ve spent in this place, but because both these communities choose to embrace each other in love.

Spring Adventures

All through February, it seems that all I’ve worked on has been Beach Retreat. It’s our district’s annual youth retreat, and I’ve been going since 2001, first as a student, then as a volunteer, then as a youth director, and now as the District Youth Coordinator. Which is super weird. And a TON of work. It was a fantastic weekend, but when I got back to town on Sunday afternoon I slept. From 4:30pm until 8:30am Monday. And that does not remotely discourage me from doing this again next year.

My adventures tend to be that way. People say “how was your trip/visit/vacation/retreat?” and I have to quickly think of another adjective besides “exhausting.” And sometimes I have to stop and think which “trip” they’re even talking about. Partially because I’m always going somewhere. And partially because once it’s over, I’ve already moved on to the next thing. This afternoon I was working at First UMC and our music director walked in the building, and immediately asked my about my trip. That was all the context she gave me, and it seems reasonable to assume that since I haven’t seen her since before I went to the beach, I’d know that’s what she meant. But honestly, now that I’m unpacked, I’ve mentally moved right along to my next adventure, which is heading to Ecuador in March.

And that adventure is going to basically be a month long. I’ll have a week to get everyone prepared to do music, presenter software, Sunday School, UMYF, High School Bible Study, La Casa, and my job at the music store in my absence. And then I leave the country for what most people around me assume will be some kind of vacation. On paper, I guess that’s what I’m doing. I’m taking my vacation days. But I’m going to go work my butt off with a team. Don’t get me wrong, it’s gonna be great. I’m excited to see all of the people on the team who I know, the ones I’m going to meet, and the staff for the team which will be made up of lots and lots of people that I love. But then I get to tote blocks up five flights of stairs, and mix concrete, and translate directions and orientations and services and conversations, and keep track of money and food and schedules and safety and questions for/from 20 people. The restful vacation people assume I’m getting will happen when I get back to the rhythm of weekly youth activities in April.

At least my blog is working again so I can keep track of it all.

Baptisms

I have heard and given orientations over and over about short-term missions being so much more than rich, white, North Americans going out to the rest of the world and “taking Jesus” with them. And yet hosting a team, it can still be easy to forget that this type of ministry is just as much to the team members as it is to the population of Ecuador.

It was a really sweet reminder, then, to have one of our team members say during the week that she wanted to be baptized in the river in Shandia, to have three more youth decide that morning that they were ready as well, and to have one of our adult leaders obey Jesus’ command to be baptized as we walked down to the river.

It was also amazing to me to be a small part of that. It’s easy to see how God uses other people in your own faith journey, but I got to have a conversation with one of our guys, who thanked me for what I’d said to him as he walked toward to water to outwardly express his commitment to God. I always used to get annoyed at those people who just wouldn’t take credit for anything and say “that’s not me, it’s all God.” And I laughed at myself in my head as those words came out of my mouth, because I was so surprised that in the span of about five minutes my friend’s attitude and words went from “I’m not there yet,” to “There’s no time like the present.” Yay, God.

 







Appreciating

Hosting a Quito Quest team, you always have at least one partner. This time around, I’m working with Jose Luis. This has been really awesome, because we know each other really well, he was willing to do finances, and any number of other reasons related to the fact that he’s a really great guy. But he wasn’t here for a big chunk of today.

I totally understood he had some major things to do today, and I’ve hosted enough teams that I can function on my own. Neither of those things meant it was easy. And I could have spent the afternoon being mad, but after all these years of Quito Quest, my natural instinct was just to miss having a buddy and appreciate everything he does. Because no matter how much experience you have, there are just way too many things for one person to remember, much less accomplish at 100%

Doing all of the host duties today also made me retroactively appreciate things other partners have taught me. How Sarah was always thinking about what was next. How Darío just faced conflict head-on. How other people have taught me to be a more effective decision-maker, leader, translator, and friend.

I also appreciated a lot of the “first day” activities. Maybe because it’s very close to the beginning of my own time here. But I saw the juxtaposition between the art and the statues and the insane amount of gold inside Iglesia San Francisco and the poverty directly outside. And it reminds me exactly why we are so intentional about the way we do ministry here. And on my umpteenth hearing of the Partnership Orientation, I still appreciated being reminded of the process I’m going through even now on my way to making this a fruitful experience.

Update on my life

I’ve been neglecting my blog. And it’s partly because I’m not used to the fact that my audience has changed. Normally my biggest bursts of writing have been during either preparations to go to Ecuador or on-the-ground time with Youth World. Now it’s mostly the people in the Southern Hemisphere wondering what in the world I’ve been up to, so for you and anyone else that was wondering, here’s what’s going on.

When I got on a plane on August 9, I wasn’t exactly sure what the next few months would look like for me. I thought there was going to be a lot more travelling going on for me this fall, and that I would have some concrete and more immediate plans to return to Ecuador. I set a target time for myself to adjust to the fact that I was home in the U.S. before I started moving ahead with my own plans, and then just as I was about to do so, God just sort of jumped in. He does that, doesn’t He? Or at least it seems that way to us, when all of a sudden you realize that His hand is visible to you.

In what might seem to someone else as amazing and coincidental timing, I arrived back in Elizabeth City just as a staffing need occurred at my home church. As four of my favorite people took a step towards the next chapter of their lives and walks with God, I was asked to step into one of those people’s shoes as the Interim Director of Youth Ministries at First UMC Elizabeth City. I say that it might seem amazing and coincidental to someone else, but as I’ve actually gotten to do this job and see some of the ways that God has prepared me for it, I know that it certainly wasn’t my plan to be in this position or even place at this time, but it was His, and He knows what He’s doing.

In fact, even when I don’t know what I’m doing, it’s been amazing to realize how much I need to actively rely on God and learn to trust Him from what I once considered the safety of my home church and culture and town. Not that I didn’t before. But we all have ways we need to grow, and I can definitely say it’s been easier to recognize some of my failings, fallings, inadequacies and sins when I’m in the jungle or a mountainside village or telling my testimony (what?!) to fifty people than it has been in my traditional “comfort zone.” And here I am in what I thought would be a comfortable place, but in much more of a leadership role that I’m used to. All that to say I’ve been challenged, I’ve been growing, I’ve been having a blast, and I’ll continue to be/do all of those things and be aware of the way that God is working, even if I don’t understand it some days.

So in a nutshell, I’m back in Elizabeth City. I’m back to Benjamin House and La Casa. I’m back to Albemarle Music. I’m back to First United Methodist Church but in a new way, and I love it. And whenever my mind isn’t on First UMC, it’s on/in Ecuador. And I’ll have plenty of stories about all of the above whenever I can conjure up the words for them all.