Aaron's Great Adventure

Bench pressing 101

2009-03-21T09:34:00.000-07:00

Today was a great experience for me as I got to workout in a local Colombian gym. Imagine walking into a place where they are blaring some old school techno music. The place looks kinda old and from the 80s. It made my gym at Emmanuel College look like Gold's gym. Although bigger than the gym at EC, I had to figure out how heavy the dumbells were by counting the plates and guessing the weight since most of them wern't marked. So, I walked in, showed them my card and started stretching. Within 2 minutes, a short, bulky, guy with his hair all gelled up approached me and started speaking to me. Since my Spanish is horrible, I stood there pretending to understand him, until I said "soy gringo" which basically means that "I am American" and I don't understand you. He was basically asking me what body part I was working out. So, I pointed to my huge biceps. Then he had me follow him to the press bench and started doing push ups on the floor. I guess he wanted me to work out my chest since he kept on pointing to his chest. Maybe he mis-understood me or I really had no clue what he was trying to show me. I finally told him that I was going to work out my chest on Monday. Maybe he thought I didn't know what I was doing or maybe he was just trying to help me. Either way, it was my 1st experience with a Colombian trainer who was trying to tell me how to do certain exercises. I finally put on some music and got in my routine when am aerobics class started. Now, this was so funny to watch. They turned up the music even more. I felt like I was at a rave or something. The aerobics instructor was this stocky guy with a red bandanna on. He basically stood there yelling out orders while all his students tried to figure out what was going on. It was def. a funny site to see. They even played that song that goes like this.... "lets do it like they do it on the Discovery channel"...this was so funny to take all in. I finally got through working out and decided to run back to my guest room which is probably half a mile. I started running and soon remembered that I was over 8,000 feet above sea level...oops...I started to feel a little tingle in my chest but decided to man up and finish the run. People who aren't accustomed to the high altitude are recommended about 2 weeks before they exercise because of the lack of oxygen at this high altitude. They can get very sick and even pass out. Well, I guess I won't be taking their advice today...Until next time.

Back in Colombia!

2009-03-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

Wow!!! Its been a loooooooong time since I last updated this. A lot has gone on since then, such as visiting Zoe in Colombia, getting engaged to Zoe, going to India with my family, getting accepted into the Latin America Mission and my trip back to Bogota, Colombia. I landed back in this beautiful land they call Colombia last night and settled in nicely to my bed. I have to make a note that my bed is a little over 2 feet wide, just enough for this skinny Indian haha. I slept pretty good though and woke up to the new sounds of a Colombian morning. Zoe and I spent the day doing all sorts of fun things. We ate at this Burrito place for lunch which was so good. I got a whole meal for less than $3 and the Burrito was much better than one you would get at Moe's. Later, Zoe took me to the National University and gave me a little tour. On the way there, I picked up some sliced mango with lime juice, salt, and pepper from a local street vendor. It was so amazing that I almost got another one on the way back. Inside the university, there were street vendors selling all kinds of things such as little snacks and bootleg movies for less than $1..wow! Later on, gave me a little surprise by taking me to this little hole in the wall juice place. I got some delicious mango juice and we headed on to run little errands. That night, we fixed some sandwiches and ate some chips and home made salsa with it. If you don't see a pattern here, let me point it out...all I have done is eat and drink all day haha...all that South American food started to take a toll on me later on and I quickly earned some frequent flier miles to the bathroom. With all that said, I had a lot of fun with Zoe tonight and I can't wait to hang out with her tomorrow. Hopefully my stomach and my runny nose will be a lot better tomorrow.

Oh! I forgot to tell ya...I joined a gym down here....Yep, 1 month cost me a little over $20. Here's to operation 6-pack and beyond.

Birthday's and Soccer!!!!

2008-09-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

Hola! Como Esta?....Well, my spanish is starting to come along but I still have a loooooong ways still to go. So far, my week has been filled with the usuall orphanage and elementary school stuff. This past weekend, there was a 50-woman retreat here on our property. That means, working and slaving away to make those women feel very comfortable. One thing that I'm really learning is the concept of "servant hood". Its pretty cool, you should try it sometimes....Other than the normal week to week things, this week, I had some really cool cultural experiences. The first one came in the form of a couple of birthdays. We have kinda adopted a village. As you can see by the pic. below, this village is way under the poverty line. Their "houses" are made from scrap material such as wood, metal, and plastic. Well, one of the girls there had a birthday and we went there to celebrate with her. We provided the snacks and entertainment including a really cool pinata that all the kinds went crazy over. Yesterday was Vicky's birthday and we had dinner at a seafood resaurant right on the beach. I had some killer fish fry and fried plantains which I gladly took care off.

Finally, Sunday afternoon, there was a pro soccer game in the city of La Ceiba. One of the workers at our property took me and another intern to experience the true Honduran culture. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed at all. As we got close to the stadium, it seemed like mass chaos. There was something going on everywhere and tons of people marching and screaming for thier favorite team. All three of decided to buy some matching jerseys which cost about $10. During the game, the fans were crazy but I loved every minuete of it.

Thats all for now folks....Please continue to keep me in your prayers.

Hasta Luego

Go Honduras!

Soccer Stadium in La Ceiba

Our adopted village

A little Pinata Action!

The Birthday girl in her dress!

Vicky's Birthday Dinner

BEFORE

AFTER

Fish head...Yummmm

My Crib!

2008-09-02T15:20:00.001-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen: on this episode of Cribs, I have the privilege to show you where I live in Honduras. But before that, lets have a little re-cap of the week. Well, Tuesday and Thursday mornings are spent at the local school where we teach English to elementary school kids. A couple of days during the week, we go to an orphanage and help them out for a few hours. On Thursday afternoons, we put together a ‘Bible club’, where the local kids can come hangout and learn about God. This was also my debut playing the guitar…I played a couple of Spanish songs such as ‘Jesus yo tea mo’ and ‘Yo tengo un amigo”.

Now back to the long-awaited Cribs episode. I live on a 4-acre retreat/training center for missionaries. It is headed up by Allen and Vicky Skelton’s ministry from Atlanta, Ga. So here is my Crib…somewhat of it at least:

Our gated property:

The Basketball court:

The pathway down too my building:

The pool:

The Library:

My comfy "made up" bed:

The music chair:

The living room turned office area:

The nicely tiled bathroom where all the magic happens:

The guest bedroom turned storage space:

The loaded refrigerator…sorry no Cristal here folks:

My private gym:

And last but not least…the rides, well just 1 for now’”

Adios till later!

My 1st few days in Honduras!

2008-08-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I’m finally here in good ole’ Honduras and its been a great experience so far. I arrived monday in San Pedro Sula and was then off to La Cieba on my 1st Honduran bus ride. The 3 hour bus ride consisted of Honduran Doritos, Sprite, sleep, and banging my head on the bathroom door…so about this bathroom door on the bus…I was pulling on it but not hard enough, so I had to break out the big guns only to pull it too hard and slamming it onto my forehead haha…So, I guess the 1st thing I learned in Honduras was how to properly open a bathroom door on a bus. On the way to our house in La Ceiba, I got to see many sides of this beautiful country…from the slums, to mountains, to eating dinner at Pizza Hut…so weird huh. There are people everywhere on the roads just asking to get hit by a car with their non-chaulant ways. Oh let me tell you about the traffic…one word…CRAZY…people over here don’t have the word patience in their vocabulary…yea, we almost saw a head on collision the other night as a car passed us on the other side of an on-coming vehicle.

Tuesday, I started off early…let’s say around 7 something. After breakfast, we walked down to the local elementary school, which consisted of 2 classrooms mixed with beautiful Honduran kids of all ages. There I helped teach English through many activities ranging from singing songs, speaking and reading of cards, and finally everyone’s favorite…BINGO! After school, we walked down the road for about 30 seconds to the local beach in La Ceiba.

In other news, we went to the local mall, I got a Honduran cell phone, and I have all these Spanish words floating around in my mind, which I have no idea what they mean. I guess I better get started on those Spanish lessons.

Here are some pics of my time here so far.

Adios

A well needed update

2008-07-21T22:49:00.000-07:00

Ok folks...where do I start. So much has happened in the last few weeks, but i'll try to keep it short and simple. Well, as you might know, I was in Maui, Hi doing a DTS through Youth with a Mission. Its a 6 month intensive missionary training program. At first, things were going smoothly as expected. As the weeks passed along, there were some practices, methods, and leadership issues that started to press very heavily on my heart. I felt like I was being dragged to the ground and as a result, my focus of learning and being trained to be a missionary suffered greatly. After many tears, conversations, and time with God...I felt that it was in my best interest to remove myself from that situation. I came back home to Atlanta, Ga on sunday july 13th. The whole thing was a bitter sweet experience and I hope that no one ever has to go through the type of treatment I was put throught there. If you want to know more details, just email me and I would love to go more in detail about my experience.

So what is God doing in my life now? Well, I feel that He has me right where He wants me and is already opening some pretty amazing doors for me. I'm planning on moving to Honduras for sometime to be in a somewhat missions intern program. The details are really not set in stone as the ball just started rolling about a day ago. Basically, I will be learning some well needed spanish while at the same time being involved with different ministry opportunities. More details to come later. Also, there are 2 more very important trips I'm planning this year. The 1st trip is going to be to Bogota, Colombia where I'll be visiting my girlfriend Zoe. She is currently living there as a full-time missionary with Latin American Mission or LAM. The second trip will be a family trip to the motherland of India. It will be 8 years since we have gone there as a family. More details to come about India also. Please continue to keep me in your prayers and support daily. Here are some pics that I hope you enjoy.

A warm Hawaiian evening!

On the rocks!

Work duties...training to become a professional raker!

Big beach, Hi

The 1st few weeks...

2008-06-26T01:33:00.000-07:00

Where do I start...after spending the night at LAX, I finally made it to beautiful Maui a day later than planned. I was welcomed with open hands from the cool staff here at YWAM Maui. After meeting my team of 6 girls...YES, I'm the only guy in this DTS school...weird huh? Well its not that bad cause there are a lot of cool guys on base to hangout with. Our base is in the up-country city of Haiku which is more a town of the locals. Our 1st challenge as a team took place our 1st weekend. It was called "Exodus", which was this hardcore camping trip in which we had to rough it pretty bad with none of the luxuries of camping. Basically it was designed to strip us from our comfort zone and bring us all together, which it did. The last few weeks have been very challenging but also a great experience as God is working in my life. The island is so amazing as I'm starting to explore it more and more whenever I'm free which is usually on weekends. The way of getting around is hitching which is totally legal and one of the best means of transportation. I have to admit that there have been some wierd people that have given me a hitch, but so far its all been pretty cool. Well...since they keep us so busy throughout the day, I better get started on my homework...More to come soon! Muhalo