a new found respect..

this weekend joe and i went to el salvador to visit one of our good friends, anibal, and to see the sights. it was about a 6 hour bus ride, but we were at the border for 2 hours on the way there. it was packed and there was hardly any organization. we finally made it there and hung out with anibal on thursday night. one of the things that joe and i wanted to do while we were there was to try out surfing.. so we headed out to the beach friday morning with some boards and high spirits. the waves were perfect learning waves, so anibal says, so we were ready. now let me preface my thoughts before i tell you how things went. i have always considered myself a sportsman. i'm not denying that my ego might have led me to believe that i am a better athlete than i truly am, but nonetheless, i have thought of myself as a pretty good athlete. for the most part, when i have tried a sport whether it be indoor, outdoor, water, snow, etc., i have been able to hold my own. so let me get back to my surfing experience.. anibal gives joe and i the rundown on what we needed to know before we get into the water, and i felt pretty good about things. because from what i hear, surfing is like snowboarding.. and i can do pretty well on a snowboard. so we hit the water and start paddling. paddling.. a word that now makes me cringe. the break was probably a couple hundred yards out, so the idea is to paddle to the left of the waves and move over once you get out to them. well anibal scoots right out there, i think he had some sort of motor under his board. i am coming to the consideration that all other surfurs that day had these motors except for me and joe. it wasnt that i just felt like i wasnt going anywhere when i paddled, it was that i definitely wasnt going anywhere when i paddled. the current just kept me in one place, or took me further back. so i finally get out to the break, and by this time i am already worn out. anibal tells me to just ride the wave in, like bodyboarding, on my stomach and get the feel of the wave. so i do that.. after i had run over a bodyboarder, the wave that i caught took me almost all the way back in to the beach. i felt pretty good about it, that is until i realized that i was all the way back in! all that means is that i have to paddle my way back out. by this time i have given myself a terrific rash on my chest. it's just not a good combination the way you lay on the board, and the way your chest moves against the board when you paddle. so not only am i tired, but my chest is killing me as well. i went back out and rode one more wave in on my chest, and i went back to the room. we went back out again that afternoon and saturday morning, but i had zero luck in the surfing department. this is my new found respect.. surfers.. i guess i really just had no clue what kind of shape they are in, and the talent it takes to be a surfer. i apparantly am not in that kind of shape, and i didnt even get to find out what kind of talent i have because i only caught maybe 5 waves the whole weekend. a very humbling experience to say the least.. all in all it was a great weekend.
one week from today the first TORCH group of the summer comes, so busy is the word. yesterday joe, gena, and i cleaned the outside of the warehouse, built a store for a lady at los pinos, and yesterday afternoon with some help from the los pinos guys we unloaded my dad's container at the warehouse. THAT was a task! mark connell got here sunday afternoon and it's great to have him here. he has been a great influence on my life and he's like another dad to me. the summer is here! please keep us in your prayers.

not quite a pro-surfer yet..NCR