Day Three - A day of cellphones and new foods

Today started out like any other day.  I slept longer than I meant to... whoopsies.

Gamaliel took me out to get my very own Colombian cellphone!  I actually ended up getting his old one and he got a new one.  But, I can not contact people in Colombia which is super exciting!

Then, we went for almuerzo (lunch/the big meal of the day in Colombia) at a couple's house from one of the churches.  It was delicious.  I had a whole bottom half of a fish... it was weird at first but it was actually one of the best pieces of fish I have ever had!  I am glad that I tried it.  Also, avocado and this DELICIOUS juice made from a fruit called lulo.  Oh my goodness!  I don't know what a lulo is but I could drink the juice all day everyday!  It is a fruit that is native to coastal Colombia, so I am very happy to be here even just for that haha.

Then, in the evening we went to one of the churches for a weekly church get together.  There are five Mennonite churches (as well as two house churches) in Barranquilla.  Each church sends a representative (usually a family) to these meetings and they just get together and compartir (one of my favorite Spanish words that really doesn't have a direct English translation but it basically means spend time together... but is a little deeper than that).  They had a little meal as well after the meeting.  A new local word that I learned that is one of my favorites is liso.  I have never heard it before, from what I understand it is a coastal word.  It basically means OVER-friendly.  So they were all saying that they were liso and I would have to deal with it haha.  I LOVE that!

At the meeting a man named Edwin read the story of when Jesus renounced his family and said that the world, and the church, was his family.  Then they went around and a couple of the people said a little something about how I had come a long way away from my family and since we were all a part of the body of Christ that I was with family!  They all told me that if I needed absolutely anything not to hesitate, and so many other wonderful things.  Oh my goodness, I almost cried.  They were all so open and warm and inviting and made me feel so included and they are just incredible people.  I can't believe that I am lucky enough to be here working and compartir-ing with them!

After the little meal we all sat around and chatted a bunch and I had some awesome opportunities to practice my Spanish!  This was a great experience because earlier in the day I was getting a little down on myself because my Spanish hasn't been improving as quickly as I would like for it to.  There was also an English teach there so it was SO nice to able to talk to someone in English, she was so helpful in helping me to understand what was going on, but she didn't just give me the answer the majority of the time which was awesome!

From what I understand, tomorrow I am going on a tour of the city with some of the young people from the church.  I am really excited!  It will be so nice to get out and actually get to see the city!