Well, Tuesday was "conflict day", or maybe better titled, "conflict reconciliation day". As a group we had to acknowledge that there were some tensions developing, and ones that needed to be addressed. We all prayed together and then broke for some individual prayer and contemplation, for the purpose of searching our own hearts and identifying our own insecurities before approaching anyone with theirs. You can read the result of some of my introspection in the previous post. After that time, we gave everyone the freedom to approach people individually (or with a mediator if necessary) in order to talk through any issues. It was a really good, though emotionally exhausting day, and our team came out more unified than it had been before.
The youth leadership camp starts today at 7pm. I think I'm leading worship with Thilini, but I have no idea what we're singing yet. The team has been planning leadership games and team building activities, and Roddy, Hillary and Aaron are leading a session on personalities after dinner tonight (good ol' psych majors). It's going to be crazy having 50 15-24 year olds running around the farm speaking a different language than us. At least they are all Christians, so we have one thing in common! This sort of thing kind of overwhelms me, but luckily we have people like Stephanie on our team who seem to thrive on it.
- Later -
Looks like the camp is actually going to be really fun! the language barrier is difficult, but it just makes you work harder in conversation. It love learning phrases in Sinhala, and sometimes making a fool of myself in the process. I also love the two girls who are staying with us this week, Dilini and Madumali. They are getting really good at translating, and we are quickly becoming friends. My favorite thing that they do is this head bobble that, to them, means "good" or "ok". We do something similar when we say "I don't care" or "I don't know", which sometimes makes things confusing. I also love the way they pronounce English words. The boys have been taking advantage of every opportunity to teach them their favorite phrases such as, "like a boss"... it's pretty funny.
The bugs are probably my biggest discomfort here. For instance, the mosquito that keeps playing hide and go seek around my bed as I write this. I am very grateful for air conditioning... the first room had a fan but no air, and this room has air but no fan. I'm not complaining. Well, we have to get up at 6 tomorrow morning, so it's time for some sleep.
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