Loosening up and digging in

As my title infers, our 3rd week in this crazy thing called “The Radical Journey” has both loosened up and gone deeper. It's loosened up in the sense of a schedule; we have more time in the day so that we are responsible to explore, interact and enjoy. But at the same time its also gotten deeper.
We’ve continued to build our teams, have fun as house and grow individually by participating in conversations and exercises regarding topics such as conflict resolution, expectations/apprehensions for the upcoming year, and just good old quality time. In our on going mixer of spiritual disciplines, we practiced Lectio Devina and solitude along with another service project where me and 5 others worked in a community garden a few blocks down the street. We’ve also had time to travel to Chinatown, explore some museums and see the WhiteSox play the Cleveland Indians. On an even deeper level, we’ve had some guest “speakers” (I’m not sure if they want to be labeled as “speakers”) come in and lead us in conversation regarding the cultural context of the countries we are entering, our role in ministry in our locations and maybe most excitingly because of its practicality, a beginners course in teaching English as a second language.
For those that haven’t heard or were fuzzy on the details, the majority of our time in our country will be devoted to teaching English to locals. In Paraguay, we will be working with those that are wanting to volunteer for Mennonite World Conference, in Asuncion, Paraguay in July 2009. Beyond this, learning English is seen as one of the most effective ways to break poverty cycles by providing a foothold in which to obtain better jobs.

So even though week three has come and gone like the departing blue line train at the “L” station, it’s only to be replaced by the arrival of week 4 carrying with it just as many hopes and opportunities as it’s predecessor.