Zip-Lining!

On Friday, I went to a town called Piriapolis. We went there because some friends told us about this park that has a huge zip lining course that's actually the longest in South America. We got to piriapolis, which is a really pretty beach town, at 11:30. We went to the tourism office and were told that the place was only about 10 blocks away, or at least thats what we thought. We walked about 2 km and then stopped for lunch then walked about another one until we were able to find a lady that told us we were about 3 km from the place we were looking for. We hadn't seen any taxis or buses so we decided to keep walking. We finally got to the mountain the zip line was on, but then found out that it was on the other side of the mountain. We were so tired of walking, so we decided to call a taxi. We finally found the place at 4 p.m. and then went zip lining. It was really fun and we drove up there with the workers in the back of a jeep which was also really fun. The zip line was about 800 meters long and I was going so fast that my eyes were watering by the time I finished. It was really fun, and the view was amazing! We got a ride back into town and took the bus home. It was an incredible trip, and the thing I like most about going on trips like these is bonding with the friends that I go with. It's kind of like we're a team, and there's few things I like more than the camaraderie that a team brings. We had to work together and go through all of that ridiculousness together, and it definitely brought us closer together.

The Orphanage

Today I was able to go serve at an orphanage in town. It was absolutely incredible and I loved every minute of it! As soon as we got there all of the kids came running up to us, ready to play. I was one of only two guys who went to the orphanage, so naturally all the little boys ran at me to rough house. It was so fun playing with them, and trying to stand up as five of them were grabbing at my legs trying to pull me down. Then I started picking them up and carrying them around, which was a bad idea because then they all kept asking me for piggyback rides and I was dead tired after like the first 15 minutes there. So I decided that we should start playing soccer because that involves a lot less physical effort from me compared to the other games we had played so far. I also got to go to the nursery and hold and feed some of the infants. Overall, the day was absolutely amazing and it was such a blessing to get to play with all these little kids. While I was there, I started to think about how fun and good the trip had been, but I also realized that I get to go back to my nice, blessed life, but these kids don't have parents and they have a rough future ahead of them. This thought broke my heart, and while I realize there's not a whole lot that I can do for them right now besides loving on them for a few hours, I know that doing just that at least makes some difference. As I was with them, I was talking with God in my head about all this, and what I got from Him was almost like the love we were giving them was a deposit. It will help them grow up knowing that they are worth loving and worth caring for even if their parents aren't around. I hope and pray that each one of these kids can be raised well, but statistics show that's probably not what is going to happen. I feel called to these kids and orphans in general, and I've began to pray that God will give me wisdom on how best to help them in the future.

This verse has come to mind a lot as I've been thinking through all of this: James 1:27- Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Iguazu Falls

Here they are. These waterfalls were just amazing and even pictures cant really capture the glory of God that was just so abundant and evident in my time at the falls.

Iguazu Falls

This week, I'm travelling in Brazil and one of the things I have gotten to see is the Iguazu Falls. Its a huge network of waterfalls that spans 1.7 miles wide. It's absolutely breathtaking! When I get a chance I will put up a picture. Another interesting things is that we got to visit a Guarani village, which is an indigenous people that have been living above the falls since before the settlers arrived in Spain. This whole trip has been incredible!

Spring Break

So I just posted all of my spring break photos on facebook today and it reminded me that I've been slacking on updating my blog. About 3 weeks ago, 7 of my friends and I started an amazing adventure that I will never forget. We started out by going to Buenos Aires for the day. We found a starbucks there, and I had a Dulce de Leche Frappuccino. Dulce de Leche is like the chocolate of Uruguay and Argentina and I must say that this frappucino was the best one I've ever had and if they had it in the Starbucks in America, I would certainly be an addict. I guess I should be thankful they don't. From there, we took an overnight bus to Mendoza, Argentina. The bus was first class and it was probably the nicest ride I have ever been on. They had wifi on the bus, not to mention an incredible meal. Our first day in Mendoza, we went white water rafting on class 3 and 4 rapids. It was extremely fun and extremely hard work.

See what I mean.

After Mendoza, we took a bus to Santiago, through the Andes mountains. It was breathtaking. From Santiago, we went to Lo Valdes, which is a lodge in a secluded valley in the Andes. It was absolutely amazing and I am going to have to make it its own blog because it was just too good! Basically, for those four days we hiked, ate together, read, watched movies, and just relaxed. It was definitely the coolest thing I have ever done and I would love to go back there someday. We stayed in Santiago for a night before we went to the airport. The hostel we stayed in was one of the hostels you hear about that make you afraid to stay in a hostel. We're talking stains on the sheets, sketchy building, terrible breakfast, and even the top part of a bunk bed breaking. We were all extremely thankful that we only had to stay there one night! The next day we flew back to Montevideo. This trip was absolutely incredible and I really can't say enough about what a good time I had.

Futbol, the playing kind, not the watching

Last week I signed up for the YMCA here, but its actually called the ACJ (Asociación Cristiana de Jóvenes). It has everything! The building is like 6 stories tall, and it has a huge variety of things to do and classes to take, but let's be honest here...I signed up for one reason one reason only, and that is soccer. I came to the decision that it would just be stupid to come all the way down to Uruguay, the country that one the first ever World Cup and is bordered by Brazil and Argentina, the countries that produced the two greatest soccer players of the previous generation, and then not play soccer. So I coughed up the money and joined, but then I was so bogged down with homework and other things last week that I never actually made it to the ACJ (story of my life). Anyways, this last week I was able to make it. It was a little nerve-racking since the building is huge and everyone there speaks spanish and I didn't know anyone there. I had to ask someone where the gym was that they play soccer in, and once I finally found it my nerves didn't stop there. We lined up on a wall and there were 4 captains that picked teams. I got picked and still nobody really talked to each other. We started playing and I suddenly realized that I haven't played soccer on a wooden floor in forever, and that everyone I'm playing with is really good! My nerves persisted for most of the night due to the captain of my team who was really competitive and had a bit of a temper. After about 45 minutes, he got really upset and kicked a ball into the stands and they asked him to leave. After this, I was able to settle down and do better. I ended up scoring two goals and having a good time, but I'd still like to be a lot better...like A LOT better but we'll see what happens. Right now, I'm just content with getting to play the sport I love.

Cumpleaños Feliz Carlos!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I'm pretty proud of myself because this is the third blog I've posted today, which is about 3 more than I've posted in the last month.(I know, I've been slacking) Yesterday we celebrated Carlos' birthday (if you don't remember or haven't heard about him, I wrote a previous blog about him). Abbey bought him a cake, and we invited him over so we could celebrate with him. He is still such an amazing reminder of so many different things in my life. Every time I see him, I think about the shirt he gave me, and his amazing love for the word of the Lord, as well as his tremendous heart for others. I was really encouraged because I was able to carry on a conversation with him, and while I didn't understand every word, I was able to understand enough to have a conversation. He was extremely surprised by the cake, and Abbey bought "magic" candles which kept relighting themselves and made us all laugh. It was just so nice to see the smile on Carlos' face and know that we were able to make his day special.

Punta Del Este!!!

So I had a ton of homework do last week, which I failed to plan for the weeks before so last week was just not a very good week. Needless to say, I wanted to get away and what better time than a 3-day weekend? So I packed my bag on Thursday afternoon and set off with three friends to Punta Del Este. Punta Del Este, along with Montevideo and Colonia, is one of the most famous cities in Uruguay. Many people call it the playground of the rich and famous because all of the extremely rich people from Buenos Aires go to Punta Del Este for vacation. I can vouch for this because I saw a lamborghini and a porsche while I was there this weekend. It's also rumored that the Clintons have a house in Punta Del Este, but I can't prove that one. The town consists of beaches and hotels and just about nothing else. We got there about two weeks after summer ended down here so it was pretty much a ghost town. We actually had to walk for like an hour and a half just to find a tiny little place that only made pizza, but we bought a meter of it and went home full and happy. It was so nice because we didn't have any sort of schedule or time commitments this weekend so whatever happened, happened and we went with the flow. The phrase of the weekend was "esta bien"(it's ok or it's all good). But if you're Julianne then you say, "stabien". The next day we rented bikes and rode around the rambla, which is the sidewalk that goes around the coast. It was beautiful and there was a nice sea breeze that kept us cool while we were riding. There's something wonderful and awe-inspiring about looking in one direction and seeing a seemingly never ending mass of water. Anyways, the rest of the weekend, we hung out at the beach and just relaxed. It was amazing and I'm finally dark enough to where I can get away with forgetting to put sunscreen on one day and not get burned, which is really nice because I forget pretty often. The man who ran the hostel that we stayed at was named Abel and he was very nice and spoke pretty good english, but there was one little nuance that he must have never learned. He always called us "boys" which means "chicos" in spanish, but he didn't get that girls means "chicas" so whether it was a group of guys and girls or just girls he always referred to the group as boys. It was so funny and now we have a new inside joke to tell. All in all this was a really amazing, much-needed bit of R&R before I leave for Spring Break next week.

Buenos Aires

Ok so once again, this blog is like 2 weeks delayed, but I'm still trying to get caught up from the whole computer not working thing. We went to Buenos Aires for the weekend and it was amazing! The city is huge! It's like the second or third biggest city in South America and its total population is around 15 million. Every building is at least like 6 stories high. As far as the people go, they're pretty similar to Uruguayans, but don't say that to any Uruguayans or they'll get mad at you. (found that out first hand) But back to Argentina, we went on a tour of the city on one of the first days we got there and it was really cool! I don't know why but for some reasons I really love big cities. It just feels like there so much to do and so many different people it really and so many big buildings...I don't know I just like them. We also went to the national cemetery. It's really cool. In Uruguay and Argentina they have national cemeteries where many of the rich and famous families of the country are buried. The cemeteries are huge, and in their own way, they are like a museum. It's strange because I felt like I was in a city, yet it was only cemeteries. On sunday, we went to a church that the Walkers have connections with, and I got to meet a ton of really cool people. I stayed and talked for a couple hours after church, and I had a really good time. Thanks to facebook, we'll be able to keep in touch too! On Monday, we we visited the zoo in Buenos Aires. It was a lot of fun, and they had some strange animals like capybaras. Then we went home and returned the crazy, busy schedule that has become my life.

Fuuutbool!!!

So a couple weeks ago, before my computer decided to have an epic breakdown, we went to a soccer (futbol) game. As all of you probably know, I was amazingly excited! Why? Because people here actually get it. People here understand the importance, the culture, and the way of life that is soccer. I've found it in small places in America, but here it's the norm. People don't just root for their soccer team, they live and die by their soccer team. (Just how it should be) Ok so maybe that last sentence was a little bit over the top, but you get my point. No more making fun of soccer and not knowing about it, everyone here plays and adores it. If you tell people here that you play soccer, they ask, "what team?" because they only count "playing" as playing for a professional team because everyone here plays it (Once again, just how it should be). But anyways, back to the point of the blog, we went to a soccer game, and it was absolutely amazing! I loved every minute of it! Seriously, every single minute! It wasn't just a game it was an event. It felt like a concert, a family reunion, and a soccer game all wrapped up into one. It seriously is a way of life down here. Look at these pictures!

Ok so that entire first part might have been a little over the top, but i did love it and I plan on going often. They all knew the chants and you could hear their voices echoing throughout the city. It was like one big black and yellow, fairly shirtless party. I sat next to my friend from church, Martín and asked him, all in Spanish mind you, a bunch of questions about the team, the stadium, and soccer terms in spanish. Not only did I get to go to a game, but I was able to have my first semi-conversation in spanish. So all in all it was a pretty sweet day in the life of Connor Best.

Carlos

So lately I've been thinking about stopping my blogs in midsentence just to leave my extremely large and devoted audience on the edge of their seat. You know, kind of like all 300 of the "Left Behind" books did every single time! Or maybe a little bit like Lord of the Rings, I could write about 300 pages and then stop so all of you could go get some water and then come back and read the next 300, stop and let you guys take a nap and then finish out one of the most epic stories of all time. Unfortunately for all of you, I don't think I have enough material, time, or creativity to make up a story which has its own races, cultures, and languages. My final thought was to do something a little bit more like Harry Potter and write about each school year, conveniently wrapping everything up in the last week of school. It seems like no matter which method I pick, a movie will be made about my stories so I guess it's a win-win-win situation. Fortunately for all of you and unfortunately for me, I don't really see any of those happening so instead I'll just stick to posting random events a few times a week. (homework permitting)

Ok so this one hit me pretty hard when it happened. I was with two of my friends, Wade and Abby, and we were going to a church service on Thursday night. They had already made friends with a guy named Carlos who goes to the church and so we were going to walk with him there. I met him and he was an extremely nice man. He has pretty dark skin, short black hair, and a beard. His clothes were somewhat old and worn and he had a tiny, dark blue bag around his shoulder that looked old as well, but it was obvious that none of that mattered to him. I could tell from the moment I met him that he was full of life and the joy of the Lord. Unfortunately, he only spoke spanish so Abby had to translate most of what he said for me. I found out through different parts of the conversation that he used to be homeless, but then he got saved and has been able to turn his life around. As we were walking, I was really getting tired of not being able to talk directly to him so I let go of my pride and said the first thing that came to mind which was, "Me gusta tu camisa." Translation: I like your shirt. Now I know what all of you are thinking, whoa! Connor is amazing at spanish, and its true but back to the story...he was wearing a germany soccer shirt from at least 2 decades ago and it had the yellow, black, red stripes on it and it really was one of the coolest shirts I've seen in a while. Well he said gracias and then said a bunch of stuff really fast that I couldnt understand. Abby told me that he was saying that he wanted me to have his shirt. At first I just couldnt really believe this, I mean if he could see my closet he would definitely know that I had no need for another shirt, but that was just my American way of thinking. He went on to explain that since he had been homeless, he knew what it was like to have nothing, and everything he has, he sees as a gift from God and so he doesn't worry about it. This really just blew me away. I mean I have a ton of stuff! (packing up my dorm room this last semester gave me a not-so-subtle reminder of that) Anyways, I was able to resist long enough to change the subject.

We went to the church but apparently a large part of the congregation was at a youth/mission camp and so church was cancelled that night. As we were walking back home, Carlos just kept preaching to us and loving on us. He told us how we were meant to live lives fully submitted to God, and how God intended for us to be transparent with one another and that this is what creates true relationship. And then when we walked past a homeless man digging in the garbage, Carlos pulled some bread out of his raggedy blue bag and gave it to the homeless man. He told us how he has a real heart for the homeless since he was one. When we were about a block away from our house, Carlos ran into an old friend that he hadn't talked to in 2 years. Thankfully this friend could speak english. He asked me if I was from Uruguay or Argentina. I said no, but it was quite a compliment. I found out that he thought so because I look Italian and there are a lot of Italian immigrants in Uruguay and Argentina. (Thanks for the italian blood grandma, I'm proud.) For those of you who don't know, my grandma came to America on a boat form Italy when she was a little girl and had to learn the language when she got here. Pretty cool story, but thats another blog. Anyways, back to Carlos, he was so friendly with everyone, including this man that he hadn't seen in 2 years. As we got to the house, he respectfully asked Abby to turn around and then took off his shirt and gave it to me. I tried to tell him no, but he wouldnt listen. He walked home shirtless that day, while I added another shirt to my already full closet.

Like I said at the start, this really hit me. It got me thinking, why do I value my possessions so much when I have so many of them? I could probably lose 10 shirts and not even notice, but I'm not giving stuff away when people say they like it or even when I see people need it sometimes. Well my first plan of action is to give Carlos this Barcelona soccer jersey I have, and then from there who knows, but I do know that I'll be much more ready to give the next time I see a need, and I have a constant reminder sitting in my closet from now on.

Redemption

So I was reading the stories of Hezekiah and his son Manasseh in 2 chronicles 32 and 33 and it really spoke to me.

The next few paragraphs are my Sparknotes version of the two chapters so if you already know the story then you can skip down to the bottom.

Hezekiah was known as a great king and when the Assyrians tried to come and take over Jerusalem, Hezekiah fortified the city and rallied the people with a speech about the overwhelming power of God. (I picture it like the scene in Braveheart-one of the best movies ever- where William Wallace talks about freedom for his people. That scene gives me chills everytime!) Anyways, getting sidetracked. Ok so Hezekiah's speech makes the people believe and then because of the people's faith, God sends an angel down and the angel wipes out the entire Assyrain tribe. From here on out, Hezekiah is respected throughout the entire region.

Later in life, Hezekiah becomes ill and asks God for a miraculous sign and God gives it to him, yet Hezekiah is too proud to accept it. Because of this, God's wrath was on him and his country. Then, Hezekiah comes to his senses and repents so God forgives him and he dies an honorable man.

His son, Manasseh took over the kingship when he was 12 and fell into all kinds of evil. He did witchcraft, sorcery, defiled the temple. Basically you name a horrible thing and he did it. Because of this, he fell out of favor with God and the nation had to pay for it. Manasseh was captured by the Assyrians who also took over the land. Finally, when Manasseh is on his last leg, he cries out to God and God has the compassion to forgive him which just blows me away. Basically, for the rest of his life he cleans up his act and does well as a king and Israel prospers.

I took away two main things from all this. One, when you are a leader, your personal actions directly affect those that you are leading. When the kings did good, the nation prospered, when they did bad, the nation suffered and even fell into the hands of others. This means that when we lead we are in a place of higher accountability and responsibility with God. This is nothing to take lightly no matter how big or small the group you're leading. As leaders, we must be people of integrity, personally and publicly.

Number Two: God is a God of redemption. Both of these leaders were considered good, maybe even great kings when they died, yet both of them made foolish, defiant mistakes. Manasseh screwed up as badly as any leader could possibly screw up. He led his people into evil, defied God his entire life, and even then only repented when he was about to be killed, yet God still had the compassion to redeem him and make him an honorable man by the time he died. Whats the point of all this, you ask? There is no need to fear failure. I don't think I could screw up as bad as Manasseh did, and all it took for him to be redeemed was a single prayer. If we live lives fully surrendered to God then there is no reason to fear failure because even if we do fail, we serve a loving and compassionate God who will pick us right back up.

I know this was long and had nothing to do with Uruguay, but I hope this brought some encouragement to those who read it.

p.s. i promise the stuff about Uruguay is coming soon!!!

Montevideo

Ok so a little recap on what all's been going on this last week. I finally feel pretty adjusted to all of this craziness and I'm starting to get more and more of the language here.(I better be. I've had 12 hours of spanish class every week which drives me crazy but that's another post in itself). Classes started this week and they are insane! We technically only have 13 weeks of school compared to the 16 weeks we have in a normal semester so everything is very fast paced and very crammed. This week was overwhelming just having to here all the assignments we are going to be given, but I'm sure as the semester goes on I'll get in the swing of things.

In 2 weeks we take a group excursion to Buenos Aires which should be really cool! I'm not exactly sure what to expect, but I have heard that Buenos Aires is considered the Paris of South America so its gotta be cool, right? Also, Amanda, my girlfriend, told me that there's these shoes in Buenos Aires that are like TOMS in America (they're actually the shoes that inspired TOMS) and so I'm pretty excited to see what they look like.

So a little bit about Montevideo and Uruguay. The country of Uruguay is geographically about the same size as the state of Washington. There are around 3 and a half million people living in Urugay and 1.5 million of those people live in Montevideo. Montevideo is a very urban city with a downtown and an old town called Ciudad Vieja. It's very interesting what a range of people there are. The coastal part of the town has very nice houses, basically mansions, and farther in there are some slums and shanty towns. A lot of homeless people have taken up digging for recycling and then putting it in bags on a cart pulled by a horse. It's really interesting to see, but its sad at the same time because some of the people on the cart are the same age or younger than me.

Ciudad Vieja

One really nice thing about the city is that it is on the coast, which means that there are quite a few beaches near where we live. I've already been to the beach four times since I got here and my skin is paying for it even though I've been trying to put on a good amount of sunscreen, but its just hard sometimes. I'll have to post a picture or two of the beach. So far, the beach is where we've had the most fun. We played some volleyball and soccer with some locals. Their footwork is insane, but it makes sense because Uruguay is in between Brazil and Argentina, two of the global powerhouses in soccer. Uruguay actually won the World Cup twice, and they're back in it this year.

So back to Montevideo, I live one block away from the biggest street in town which makes catching a bus really convenient, but most of the time people just walk. Unless something is more than 30 minutes away, you walk to it. The second day we were here we walked all the way to Ciudad Vieja (Old Town) and on the way back I was almost positive that I was on an escalator disguised as a sidewalk that was going the wrong way. The Walkers, who are the couple that live at Casa ACU (the house where I'm staying) ensured me that the sidewalks weren't actually escalators, but I'm still not sure about that.

Another part of the city that I absolutely love is the Ferrias. Ferrias are kind of like farmers markets but they sell everything imaginable. Yes, I mean EVERYTHING. If you're looking for a pet salamander or maybe a snake or a puppy or an owl, you can find all of those at the ferria. If you're looking for antiques they have those too. What about underwear, you ask? Oh, yep that's also on the list of items for sale. Every vendor specializes in something whether it's food or clothes, or pets. I found some local soccer jerseys for like $20 so I think next week I'll be adding those to my soon to be growing collection. The ferria near me is only about five blocks away, but it's only open on Sundays til 2 so I have to wait til next week to buy the jerseys. (talk about torture) But it's surprisingly relaxing to walk down the crowded street looking from vendor to vendor soaking up the culture as you go along.

So there you have it, now if anyone asks you if have been to Montevideo, you can lie to them and tell them yes. You can talk about the playas (beaches), ferrias (markets), and Ciudad Vieja and they'll think you lived here forever. Or if you're honest, you can just tell them that the reason you know all about it is because of my amazingly descriptive writing skills.

First Day Here

So this is actually like my 7th day here but I was a little slow starting up the blog so I'm gonna do a little backtracking. We arrived at the airport after a miserable 9 hour red eye flight from Miami to Montevideo. You never realize how hard it is to sleep sitting up until you try it. I would wake up and one side of my neck would hurt so then I'd switch to the other and then 15 minutes later I'd wake up and the other side hurt. Not fun but anyways getting to the important stuff.

Once we got to Casa ACU, which is amazing, we had to turn around and go right back out for a scavenger hunt in the city. Just looking around the city was breathtaking. On one hand, it felt like I was in a European city, and yet at the same time there were just as many distinguishing characteristics that reminded me I was actually in South America. The culture is so different here. Everyone's relaxed and people just sit on the street watching others walk by. (every once in a while they give a nice catcall to a girl walking by. I've been practicing mine.) ok jk I haven't but if I did I'd just say I was trying to experience the culture. We were in groups of 3 walking around the city, and thankfully both of my partners could speak a lot more spanish than me. As we kept going around, I felt so lost. I couldn't understand what anyone was saying and didn't even know what half the names on the shops meant. I had to completely rely on the people in my group, which isn't something i like to do. I like to be out in front, leading and organizing. I like to be in control and know exactly what's going on, but unless Rosetta Stone comes out with a new one week program, then I don't have that option. So what do I do? Say, "this is stupid" and stay in the house for the next four months? Probably not the best choice. As we were walking through Tres Cruscess (the local bus station/mall) I still had no idea what was going on or where we were going and doubt started to creep into my mind. Did I make the wrong choice? Did I just waste a ton, and I mean a TON of money on this trip? Am I going to regret this for the next four months and possibly even longer? All of these seemed like realities if I didn't change something quick and so I just started praying as I walked through the station. I just kept saying, "God I give this situation to you. I give you control. I can't do this on my own. I need you. I need you to turn this situation around. I need you to comfort me. I need you to walk beside me. And, you know what, He did. He comforted me, He put people around me to encourage me, and most of all He told me that I am here for a reason and that He has great things in store for me in the next four months.

So, in the matter of seconds my entire semester may have just done a total 180. I went from anger and frustration to victory, peace, and joy. I can't wait to see what else this semester holds and the best part about it is I have to rely on God the entire time. This isn't a position I'm used to. I usually let God be active in my life, but it's been awhile since I've felt like I need God to intervene, and there's a lot of freedom in relying on God. I can't wait to see what new heights I climb to with God this semester! Glory to Glory!

In the future, my blogs will probably be a lot more about Uruguay and my travels, but I felt like this was something I needed to post. Also, I'm working on getting some pictures up here too so check back again in a little bit and I should have some more stuff up.