generacion lideres (the spanish CORE) was wonderful today in lima. as i’ve said in other posts throughout the year, lucas (our spanish director) is amazing. here’s a pic of lucas and max playing on a pier.

it was a VERY long day today, between the CORE and the evening gathering, and max was a trooper. sat next to me most of the day (with occaisional trips outside to run around a bit), quietly played with a magnet-construction toy he’d brought, and watched a couple movies. it was a great gift this evening, when he was starting to wear thin that two little english-speaking kids (interesting, they were fluent in english because they go to an english-speaking school, but their parents spoke almost no english) took him outside and they ran around the entire time (about two hours).

my speaking went well tonite — i talked about how faith is such a key element for youth workers, how it positions us in the right place (and god in the right place), and keeps us dependant on god. the senior pastor of our host church, guillermo, translated for me, and did a great job (having a good translator who mimicks my actions and tonal cadence is so helpful in another culture). guillermo and his wife, milagros, have been wonderful to us — taking us out to great meals and providing lots of laughter and great conversation. they’re the best kind of charismatics — fun and casual, not legalistic, humble but direct, not afraid of questions, willing to laugh at themselves.

lucas and max have had a hilarious running smack-talk thing going on. lucas will point to a crab on a rock and say, “max, you see that crab? he could kick your butt.” and max will respond with a smack. at one point, though, lucas pointed to a little girl (about 5) and said, “max, that girl could kick your butt.” max quickly responded, “lucas, if all her bones were broken, and she was dead, she could kick your butt.” a bit morbid, but it cracked me up!

as always, it’s an amazing honor to be with youth workers in another country, people who are SO hungry for training and resources and encouragement. these 300 came from every corner of peru, plus a group of 25 flew in from argentina, and two flew in from columbia.