The Compass 2010 community still exists. In fact, there's a huge reunion happening this weekend. Believe it or not, it's our third since the RMI. No one really far off has been able to come, but we're thrilled that "Joyce" and another girl from about halfway across the country from us are coming this weekend, and most of us will be seeing them for the first time since the RMI. Enrique, Glove Love, The Joker, Samwise, Sparky and "Calvin" will not be there. In fact, there are a lot of us who will not be there. But we will have more than half. We're going to spend the weekend together (we're thinking group worship, Mexican food, listen to Compass-reminiscent music, maybe visit the prayer chapel if we find adults to drive, etc.). It will be the first time that I will see The Friz since the first reunion, ten days after the RMI. We have the Compass Smile Card tradition (give the Smile Card to someone who makes them smile, and they will then pass it to someone else) continuing via snail mail. Facebook, Skype, email, texting and phones (and occasionally snail mail) are connecting us very thoroughly. Not many weeks go by when I don't sit down and spend time talking to The Friz or Sweet n' Spazzy over the phone. It's nowhere near the same or similar, but...it's still good, and we use what we have. Facebook can't replace real friendships, etc., but it can let us keep in touch.
The last two days of Compass had a few high points. One of them was the only time on Compass when I willfully broke the rules. But hey, it wasn't like we did anything wrong, and the leaders were cool with it. What happened was, we were told by Kaleo group's leader that he was going to the place where we always had group worship and anyone who wanted could turn up. When I got there, there were four guys there, worshiping without inhibition. I joined in. After a while, most of Compass was there, singing, praying, being ourselves, completely open in front of each other and before God. It was so wonderful, feeling free to kneel, to pray aloud, to "stand with arms high and heart abandoned, in awe of the One who gave it all." To do all this and not be judged. The Holy Spirit was totally there and we didn't want to go anywhere. But there came a point when the leader (his nickname is Rappa) said softly, "It's past your bedtime. We've given you grace tonight, so can you please head back to the dorm..." Silently we left. But Sparky said to me and to four others, "I want to go to the prayer chapel. We have grace tonight, let's go..." The prayer chapel is my favorite place on that campus. More so than the tree The Friz and I climbed, or the little cafe where Compass opened and closed, more so than the quad where we spent so much time playing Frisbee together... You're probably asking why there's all the paper and stuff on the walls. There is graffiti all over the chapel, completely prayer requests, petitions, praises, stories of how God spoke to people, found them, changed them, saved them... It's an amazing place. There's a basket on the floor with colored pencils and pens for people to write on the wall, and in one panel it read, "Pray for Compass RMI 2009." It listed there the names of all the participants. The panel beneath it was empty. I took a colored pencil and wrote on the panel beneath the 2009 RMI one, "Pray for Compass RMI 2010." Then, with the help of the other five there, I listed the names of all of us, students and leaders. After a little while, we headed back to the dorm. The leaders weren't upset at where we had gone, and it had been beyond a wonderful evening.
The other thing was the last night. We had our talent show, and as has already been mentioned, this was totally a community of artists. We heard that night a song written by The Joker during Compass about his LaVida experience, a song written by my seatmate/skitmate "Joyce" a good while ago, a song written by a guy in the Kaleo group and a girl in the TBC group, a song on the violin written by another girl from the TBC group, a medley compiled by Glove Love and a guy from TBC, and so much more. One guy rapped, and Enrique, confessing that he was being bribed, did an interpretive dance to a Michael Jackson song, etc. And I shared a short "Dramatic Reading" (according to our MCs) that I had written the previous day. It was a present-tense, first-person allegory based off of personal experience, a host of testimonies I had heard that month, and (as you might guess) the Lifehouse Everything Skit. Having never felt comfortable sharing my writing before, I had never gotten to see it through others' eyes. Therefore, I was astonished when the people I talked with afterward, and all the girls (at girl talk) demanded that I share my writing more, send them a copy, write a book, etc. That night, after man-hunt (it was past our bedtime, but getting to bed at eleven on the last night was so not happening) we had girl talk. Yes. (We were supposed, due to a revision, to go to bed at twelve, but the lady leaders said they didn't care as long as we didn't keep them up and the lights were off.) We piled into Sweet n' Spazzy's and "Joyce's" bedroom and talked about real stuff, relevant stuff, questions of theology, school, faith, relationships, etc. until the wee hours of the night (3:15 AM, more than an hour after we had gotten up the day we left for Mexico). The next morning we packed, did Compass Time, worshiped together one more time (our parents were there by then) and then I watched Glove Love, "Calvin," and more get into a van to go to the airport. I watched until the van was out of sight, and then these brothers were gone. I still don't know if or when I will ever see them again. In the same way, we left. I was not the last one gone. The Friz insisted on giving me a piggy-back ride to the car (much to the amusement of my mother) and we said goodbye as late as possible. It occurred to me later that among the people I never got to say a real goodbye to were The Joker (we had a team group hug but that was it), "Joyce," and more.
I'm never going to forget any of them, and now that they have instituted the annual reunion (or "shindig") I hope and pray that they can come back, and that we can all be together again.
The day after Excursion Day was a Sunday, and we sang and did the Everything Skit in the church service. Enrique shared his testimony, The Bush and I shared about the week, most of us did the skit and The Joker played music. Afterward, the church thanked us for helping and serving them that week, and we gave them our "hospitality gifts" and said goodbye. The pastor's sons said goodbye especially reluctantly to the guys in my group, especially The Joker and Samwise, who had jammed with them so many times that week. We had played a lot of foosball, and had fun hanging out with them, regardless of Spanish/English dilemmas. But of course, the guys had bonded with them the most. That day Sweet n' Spazzy achieved her goal for the week (holding a Mexican baby), we packed up, cleaned the church one more time, said goodbye and left for the hotel we were staying at. After debrief and a really excellent Table Talk, which we kept going even after it was over, hanging out and talking about relevant issues until past our bedtime. Incidentally, Sweet n' Spazzy had been given clarity on her testimony, finally, and shared it with the group, including what Compass had done for her already. The next day we said a very difficult goodbye to our wonderful new big sister, Pixel, and got her information and she got ours, so we could keep in touch. Then we got on the plane and flew back to the States. When we got back onto United States soil, "Calvin" stopped walking. "What are you doing?" we asked. He got down on his knees and kissed the ground. It was so funny, and I knew what he meant. I for one hadn't wanted to leave Mexico, not the church we'd come to love, or the vibrant area, or the palm trees, but I was so glad to be home. And judging by the fact I almost greeted the customs officer with "Hola." it was about time. By the time we got back to the airport near the college, it was extremely late. Near midnight, in fact. We were searching for a place to have dinner, and we found a McDonald's with the lights on and people inside, but the doors were locked. The main leader, who we called "Papa James," got off the bus and ran around the building and knocked on the drive-through window, and explained to the people that there were a bunch of hungry teenagers who had been traveling all day. They let us in. There was another thing that I knew, that not everyone on that bus knew, that kept me bouncing. The next day - only a few minutes away by the time we got back on the bus - was Sparky's birthday. I was sitting next to another girl, the one who had done the same role with me in the big everything skit, and kept poking her and asking, what time is it, what time is it, what time is it, because she had a watch. Finally she turned and nodded. "It's time." I stood up and yelled really loudly, "CAN I HAVE THE WHOLE BUS'S ATTENTION?" "ARE YOU GOING TO TELL ANOTHER JOKE?" one of the guys called from the back. The monk joke was infamous. "No! [My seatmate's] watch just hit midnight! It is [Sparky's] sixteenth birthday!" Cheers erupted, and Sparky looked totally stunned. We sang happy birthday, and settled down again. It was about midnight-thirty (I love that phrase) when we got back to the dorm, where we were given instructions. We called our parents (who had been anxiously waiting by the phone to make sure we hadn't died in Mexico) and got ready for bed.
There isn't much to say about the day we had the excursion. We went on a boat ride, which was fun. There were all sorts of boats coming up alongside like vendors, and we also got to hear a stereotypically dressed and musically-styled Mexican band, wearing those big sombreros that people from the States tend to expect. "Calvin" (again we were back with the other groups) told the following joke: "There are two polar bears, and they're sitting in a hot tub, and one of them says 'Please pass the soap.' And the other one says, 'What do I look like, a radio?'" He and pretty much everyone cracked up, but I, the literalist, had no idea what they were talking about, and kept looking for word patterns, puns, etc. It wasn't until the next day that Samwise, The Joker and Glove Love told me, "It's funny because IT MAKES NO SENSE! It HAS NO POINT!" "That's stupid." I said. "You're not one to talk, Miss Monk Joke!!!" they responded. (I had told everyone the monk joke on the way to La Vida.) After the boat ride and lunch, we went to the program's big anniversary party. When we got there, the big screen that had on it what was going on read, "Buenevidos! Welcome!" so we assumed that the celebration would be bilingual. It wasn't. Three straight hours of Spanish, not understanding what the heck was going on. The singing was good (some of the songs we knew in English), etc., so it wasn't that bad. Around the end, the big Compass group performed the Everything Skit.
My youth pastor can't give me pause with our stupid videos anymore. I like to say that after performing the lead of the Everything Skit (yes, I did the lead) in a public park farther away from home than I had ever been before in a country which has a language I don't know, with people I hadn't known a month previously, there's pretty much nothing really embarrassing anymore. Of course, the people didn't come into it really, because we knew each other so well by then, and really cared about each other, that we had no embarrassment inhibitions from the presence of each other. We packed up the Jesus costume (which was short on Skyscraper, the big group Jesus, and long on Samwise, our small group Jesus) and the toy gun for the person doing that part, The Joker's guitar and everything else we needed, and walked to the park. At this point Sweet n' Spazzy was seriously stressed out about sharing her testimony during the presentation. In fact, as we walked around telling people, she seemed extremely distracted, and The Joker decided that it would be funny to do the following exchange. Sweet n' Spazzy: NO, I'm not going to try asking anyone in Spanish, I can't do it... The rest of us: Please? Sweet n' Spazzy: NO. Please stop nagging me... The Joker: Who's nagging you? We've been talking about sponges for the last five minutes, where have you been? Sweet n' Spazzy looked around in total disorientation, and the rest of us stared at The Joker. She didn't wind up doing her testimony because the pastor of the church we were working with didn't want the thing to go too long, because it would lose people's attention.
So after these trials and tribulations, we were finally all set. We sang some songs in Spanish, such as "Desde Mi Interior" (you can find it in English as "From the Inside Out," and Spanish and English are both Hillsong United) and "Danzo Como David." Then we performed the skit, and I think it was a smashing performance. (In more ways than one; that pavement was hard!) Then the pastor of the church gave a message about the church and its mission, and that was that. Later we learned that that was the first time the church had done an evangelical event like that, and we were very humbled and glad that the church had let us be a part of that.
I think that was the night we learned something amazing. There had been a woman coming by, and she a) was thinking about Christianity and b) she had cancer. Among other things, she had seen us, my group, praying together, and talked with the pastor, and then decided to become a Christian. She had a test scheduled, and they ran the test and they showed no cancer. So that day, previously, she went in for a previously arranged surgery, and when they looked, there was no cancer.
I mentioned a few posts ago how plainly irritating it was to perform the Lifehouse Everything Skit. The theater troupe I'm with starting this year is performing this year Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." This is one of Shakespeare's most infamous works, right up there with "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Othello." When you think "The Merchant of Venice," you probably think of Shylock the Jew (this year played by my brother's best friend) and his notorious grudge against Antonia (this year played by my brother). (This shall be very entertaining to watch.) And this year I am playing Salerino, a suck-up merchant friend of Antonio's, Bassanio's, Lorenzo's, Gratiano's (played by another brother of mine), Salanio's, etc. Meaning, I say things cruelly to Shylock, while referring to Antonio with "A kinder man treads not the earth." We had a discussion today, answering the questions "Who's scummier, Antonio or Shylock?" "Is Shylock a villain?" and "Why is Antonio so sad?" This led to lots of debate. There are so many reasons that Antonio is so sad. It's going to wind up coming down to what the actors think, but the main, albeit general, reason is that he's totally materialistic, while money is never enough. Then, "Is Shylock a villain?" Certainly. He tries to murder Antonio. Period. Finally, "Who's scummier, Antonio or Shylock?" The general consensus, with which I concur: Antonio. At the end of the court scene (Act IV Scene 1) he pulls an evil-genius, stunningly brilliant double play with his sentence on Shylock: He orders that Shylock convert to Christianity and that everything he makes will be left in his will to the two people he hates most, his runaway thief daughter and her husband who stole her. In this sentence, he succeeds in totally destroying Shylock while making himself look amazingly merciful. There's no way that Shylock will ever believe Christianity. He's remaining a Jew inside. (For that matter, I don't believe that Antonio is a real Christian either. No wonder he's so sad.) So a) He's being forced to violate his religion, which he does believe, which is probably driving him madder than ever. And b) He's being cut off from his social group while he will never be welcomed to a new one, because everyone hates him. So he has been socially ostracized. As for the second rule, it guarantees that Shylock will never find the same satisfaction in making money, which was basically his life.
With that established, my job now on stage is...to make Salarino, a moderate role, into a "real person." And to support Antonio in it to the fullest while despising Shylock. Right. Say things that I would never say otherwise and certainly could never believe. And say them with passion. This is the "Everything" dilemma all over again. So my first job is that of establishing Salarino as an identity utterly separate from myself and then enjoying it, the acting and the role, the outlet and the creativity. Establishing the character's backstory, the history that the audience never sees, to color and fuel every facial expression, every gesture, every word.
At this point, pretty much everyone has seen the extremely popular Old Spice commercial that, I hear, raised Old Spice sales by 300%. (This is just hearsay, not researched statistics.) However, pretty much everyone I know knows and loves this commercial. It's funny in an interesting kind of way, the special effects are cool, etc. It seems to have taken people by storm in a way people normally would not expect from a cheesy deodorant commercial. On a related topic, when was the last time you watched Sesame Street? This is one of the most famous kids' shows ever, and its Elmo, Big Bird, Ernie and Bert, Grover, etc. at this point are cultural icons. If someone asked you "Who's Elmo?" would you not stare at them in total disbelief? Something Sesame Street likes to do is spoof. So, presenting: The Old Spice and Smell Like a Monster commercials.
Is that not just one of the most adorable things ever?
So it was street-cleaning day, and we were (obviously) cleaning the street. I was working with The Joker - he had a broom and I had a dustpan and garbage bag. Glove Love (he was not yet called that) came up, and he was (you guessed it) wearing a pair of gloves. So he started speaking in third person about himself, saying that he was the superhero "Glove Love" with the superpower of service. (Actually a spiritual gift, but he was calling it a superpower.) The Joker and I thought that was totally random, not to mention hilarious. And we started making fun of him. (All in good fun, of course.)
The Joker: "Why does Glove Love talk about himself in third person?" Me: "I think Glove-Love-is-an-automaton-robot and doesn't know how to talk normally..." Glove Love: "Glove Love has no weaknesses." The Joker: "Dude, you're not God!" Glove Love: "Glove Love knows no higher power, only justice." At this point, The Joker and I were laughing our heads off. The Joker: "You know what, I'm sorry, just go away..." Glove Love: "Glove Love accepts no apology, for Glove Love knows no grudge." The Joker and I yelled, "GET OUT OF HERE!" as best as we could for laughing.
Later in the day we handed out fliers about the church, held evangelistic signs (in Spanish!) on street corners, etc. The community was really impressed that we had cleaned their street and were doing all this, and it did create a very good impression of the church. In fact, one couple invited the us and the pastor's family out to dinner and wanted to get a picture. We had a great time, enjoying being with the community and communicating as best as possible. When we got out of the vehicle we were in at the place we were eating, one little girl just started holding my hand, and then reached over and started holding Sweet n' Spazzy's hand...it was so adorable! (By the way, Sweet n' Spazzy laughed herself silly upon hearing this alias for herself...) Ever since that day, we still call Glove Love exactly that sometimes, and "Glove Love has no weaknesses," "Glove Love knows no higher power, only justice" and "Glove Love accepts no apology, for Glove Love knows no grudge." have become catchphrases well known even to my brothers, who have never met him. It was a wonderful day.
So I realized that my expectations were totally unrealistic and there's NO way I'm going to be able to finish in a day. So, sit back and enjoy some more really long anecdotes. The day actually began really really early in the morning with most of the group violently ill. There were three of us who weren't ill from the food. One of them was Samwise, and due to his allergies he wasn't eating the food. So that doesn't count. The other two were The Joker and me, and as I hear, The Joker got sick re-acclimating to American food once we were back in the States. Go figure. (Skyscraper later referred to this situation as my revenge for having the most trouble with LaVida.) So we got up and did some work at the church, and later set out for KFC. Yes, Mexican Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was pretty interesting. Which is pretty much the nicest thing that can be said about it, because the other two Compass groups began experiencing much the same struggles as mine. About halfway though the meal, one of the girls came from the bathroom, and whispered to me, "Hey Lisa, there's some violent illness going on...I'd like to stay and comfort them but I can't handle it...would you..." So I headed to the girls' bathroom, patted some backs, and then attempted to control my own nausea at the situation. Mostly successfully. Then those of us who were part of the group doing the large Everything Skit left early, and rehearsed at the place where we were having the large group meeting. Then, the big meeting began. It consisted of Spearhead, which included Ignite, which included Compass, which included the Green Machine, my group. We were part of a greater whole, part of a greater whole, and again, and again. We worshiped in English and Spanish both, heard speakers (one spoke in Spanish with a translator), and the big group performed the Everything Skit. Note here about the Everything Skit: This skit was very painful for some of us. For some, the temptation/villain the person was playing was connected to their past in a very painful way, and for others, it just...rankled. I was in the latter category. But if hiking was the nightmarish hardest part of La Vida, the Lifehouse Everything Skit was the nightmarish hardest struggle of Mexico City for me, far more than I and most of the others felt it should have been. After a very advertisement-like message from the president of LAM, the meeting ended and a Compass meeting began. Each group shared what they had been doing - handing out tracts on public transit, working with children in an orphanage, or in our case, a huge number of short-term evangelical tasks. After sharing what we were learning in small groups of three - one person from each group, we headed back to our service sites, where my group practiced our songs, Sweet n' Spazzy worked on her testimony to share, and we worked on our group Everything Skit for our evangelical park presentation coming up on Friday.
I'm really sorry to have been so lax with this, but I've been really busy with high school, college, fife and drum, kindergarten, church/youth group, the college Christian Club, and a theater group I just joined (auditions for parts are tomorrow). So, yeah. I hope to be able to finish Compass tomorrow (probably glossing over a few parts, but I really really REALLY want to tell you how Glove Love got his nickname, it's so funny) and to go back to just...life. Again, I apologize.
