Whew! Day 1 of the first GAT - Alpha Arica.
Up early to catch the cab at 7:15. Prayer was scheduled for 7:45.
Nervous energy and not enough sleep left a couple of us groping for coffee and a piece of toast at 7:14!
Off we went to the venue - San Marcos School gym.
We gathered with about a dozen young adults for prayer. They were the group hosts and helpers for the day. Dave led us in "Come now is the Time..." I´ve never heard a more beautiful version - in Spanish.
About 100 people came in and found their seats by 9..or so. And we began.
Our translator for most of the talks was Fr. Santiago. We had a "wee" practice with him prior to starting. (Fr. Santiago is from Scotland.. and Santiago in English means "James"!)
We greeted guests at the door with our broken bits of Spanish, but a smile and kiss on the cheek goes a long way. (Lots of cheek kissing goes on here. We´ve decided to adopt this charming custom back at home!)
Our talks went fantastic! We were in the zone all day. The biggest struggle however was not so much our talks but the delivery within translation. The talks end up being twice as long and thus people are sitting in chairs that much longer as well. It seems that personal enthusiasm and passion are also difficult to translate. But we all believed we had done well. We think you´d be proud.
Carrie continues to astound us with amazing pictures. She is finding that people here, love to have their picture taken - especially if she shows them their picture!
Dennis is enjoying communicating with people even though he can´t. We think he is learning sign language because he seems to have had many conversations with guests. I saw him in alot of cheek kissing at the end of the day so people are enjoying him too.
Carole has had an offer to learn Salsa dancing from one of the young men here. He teaches dancing. (Dave, do you know about this offer?)
Dave was approached today and a lady asked him in Spanish if he had any of his cds for sale!
I´m still in awe of the amazing young group of adults that come from St.Ignasius Church. They are so full of life, energy and passion for their faith!
What could we offer them? They certainly have been refreshing for us. Many of them are ready to take off with Alpha and tonight we were talking about "spotting the stars". A couple of the young ladies have spotted my fish ring and fish earring. They got very excited! Most of these youth belong to a "in the Spirit" type of group and the icthus is the symbol they use.
Father Juan of this parish, is excited to start Alpha with and for these young people. What a treasure!
Tomorrow we start at 9 with mass. We are most eager to develop further relationships and connections with these beautiful, hospitable people.
It will be difficult to leave on Monday.
Thank you for your love and prayers.
A prayer request for tomorrow would be that the translations will effectively touch people´s Alpha hearts.
love Ramona
ps - my sunburn is almost healed - no blisters, no peeling : ]
