The church I have been going to has a youth group called "Radicales Libres" or "Free Radicals". I think it's a pretty good name - because of Jesus we are free, we are called to live radically, and we - like free radicals - will be constantly affecting others who become free radicals too...
We went to a youth conference in Cusco (I should explain here that "youth" in Peru and generally Latin America seems to mean a slightly different age range to in the UK. Roughly:
- 5-12: kids
- 13-17: adolescents (doesn't seem to have the awkward and embarrassing connotations that it has in English)
- 18-for as long as you're single: youth
The "youth" category seems quite flexible too - there were also young kids, and married couples on the weekend. Anyway...
It was really good to be reminded in one of the workshops that we
should go beyond our limitations. We talked about grace - which we
commonly think of as God forgiving us our sins. Ok, but it was pointed
out that grace is so much more than this. It is God making up the
difference, in everything every day, between what we can do and what he
wants us to do. God doesn't want us to say "yes, I understand your requirements, and
I'll do it!" - he wants us to say "I know I can't do it - please help
me". So in a job where I constantly don't know what to do, or feel I can't do it - this is good news!
It
was great also to explore Cusco with my friends - and to see that
Peruvians as well as foreigners want to hang out in the main plaza and
eat ice-cream. Oh, and also go to the mall, go to the cinema and eat
pizza. These are pretty rare treats.
We also tracked
down a little go-karting track and spent a fun couple of hours
alternately racing round it and getting stuck. I am trying to track
down some photos to show you.
