Latvian Cards

Well, on the men's front- the projects seem to be coming along well. The deck is practically finished and they will be working on the dock most of the time today. The High Ropes course is also getting there. Jerome, Bob, and Dustin have been working on that project and they say a few parts are done, they just have more to do.

On the Camp front, I am feeling a bit more included in the team. Before, I was not getting things translated at all to me, so during small group times I could not add anything of value to the meetings, but Diks is really working hard and translating things for me so that I can be a part of the group. I too am working on trying to be included. It takes time for me to get to know people and its the same in Latvia, but I am working hard. I also still have to take my alone time to just spend with God.

I had a culture shock the night before last. We were on scavenger hunt to find people all the way around the camp. So we took off into the woods to find out that we had to cross a small creek, up to knee high. I was fine with this, then we found out we had to cross a river- chest-high. This was not as good. Well, all my team striped down to underwear and crossed, and a girls team behind us did the same. In the states, it would be inappropriate to do this, stripping down when there are mixed genders, but here its alright. This was hard for me to get over. Its just such a different culture. Needless to say, I did not strip down, i just went in my clothes and so the whole rest of the night, I was soaking. We had to cross about three rivers this way, not fun. Well, I was the only one who was not having fun, so I guess that is good, the rest of the guys had lots of fun. It was also way too late for me, and so I was tired and ready for bed.
I had a breakthrough last night though. I was bored so I got out my cards and the guys in my cabin were impressed. They really like cards I guess. Well, I played a card game from Latvia with a few of these guys and got a chance to really connect with them. Please still pray for our camp team that we would be able to connect with our leaders, and campers.