Team Debriefs

My favorite moments of the week happen every night when our team all heads out after dinner for our “Team Debrief.” These Debriefs take place all over L.A. locations, such as: Echo Park, Griffith Park Observatory, USC, and Dockwieler Beach. We all gather and share what we have been learning and talk about our experiences.Tons of friendships are built or forged during that hour of conversation.

Here’s some highlights...

Wednesday Night Debrief

We met at Echo Park during sunset. We sat on the lawn, and everybody went around and prayed out loud for someone special to them that they met during the week. It was one of the favorite time of the week! After prayer, we just randomly started worshipping with a guitar we brought. We sang “Our God is Greater” and “Mighty To Save”, in the middle of the park in front of everybody around. Students kept signing in the Vans that night as well as the walk back home. God truly moved that night.

Friday Night Debrief

After dinner Friday night we drove to Dockweiler Beach for our affirmation night. Affirmation night is where all the student have the opportunity to affirm and encourage their team mates with how they saw God move in them during the week. I can honestly say that it is one of the best moments I have had as a youth pastor. The students went all-out on the affirmations to the point where I had to stop them so that we could move on to affirm the next person. There were tears, laughs, and moments I will never forgot. After the affirmations, the students were challenged to grab a rock off the beach to represent the moment that Jesus showed up to them this week, just like Israel was challenged to grab stones after God parted the water of the Jordan in Joshua 4. These rocks will be memorials of how God moved in each of their hearts.

Food So Far...

One part of our trip is to experience different culture’s food, and let me tell you, we’ve been doing it! A lot of the food we’ve eaten so far has been the first time most of our students have eaten things like it. We told them that they had to try everything once, and If they didn’t like it, they had to be polite with their response, because essentially the food we are eating represents the people that are serving it, and their culture.

So here’s the breakdown so far:

Sunday Night - Honduras Kitchen (Honduras Food)

Honduras food is similar to Mexican food, so it was a good place to start. All the kids agree, this is their favorite place so far! The entire time they ate, they smiled and bragged about how good it was. Every dish had a special “Honduras sauce” poured all over it. Students gave it an A+

Monday Night - Intriaymi (Peruvian Food)

This was the first food we ate that was actually “different” than what we’renormally used to eating. It was chicken/steak with grilled onions and tomatoes with a sauce that made it taste a little like Chinese food. For an appetizer we had, yucca root that tasted just like a potato. All the students thought they were fries until we told them it was a tree. Students gave it a B-

Tuesday Night - Taco Bell (I guess it’s American Food)

This was our free night so the leaders an I decided to give them a break. When we told the students in the car that we were going to eat at Taco Bell, they screamed so loud my ears where hurting... apparently the love the Taco Bell. Afterwards, we also walked over to Diddy Reese (near UCLA ) to get them some $1.50 ice cream sandwiches, which were huge! Students gave it a A+++

Wednesday Night - Mae Ploy (Thai Food)

Many of the students had never before had Thai food before. A lot of them learned how to use chopsticks for the first time. The food was really unique. We had yellow curry, which the kids were skeptical of at first, but in the end the liked it! One great moment is when I bought some Thai tea for the road. Thai tea is bright orange drink and it’s really sweat, so when I asked the students try some they didn’t believe me for a long that it was actually good. Students gave it a C

Thursday Night - Jade Wok (Chinese Food)

Today the kids where really hungry! So we took them to an authentic Chinese food restaurant. They brought out so much food it was approaching ridiculousness... I’m still stuffed. We had oolong tea, orange chicken, Mongolian beff, fried pork, the tofu special (interesting) and of course... fortune cookies! Students gave it an A

Tonight is Nicaraguan food! We’re excited! Our High School missions team leaves on Thursday for Nicaragua, so we’ll be thinking a lot about the High School team as we eat.