Day Forty One - A Day of Tours and Catching Up

Well.  I have been here for forty days.  It is crazy to think about that.  I think that 50 will be the big marker though.

I arrived in Bogota Sunday evening.  I am here for an orientation with some MCCers who are beginning their terms in Bogota.  It has been really interesting meeting up with them and learning about what they will be doing and about their past adventures as well.

Today, the other two had to go to DAS and take care of immigration things, so I had the day off.  One of the church leaders/Mennonite workers/lots of jobs people (I'm not sure how to make that sentence correct so I will just leave it at that) offered to show me around the city and introduce me to the broader Mennonite church in Bogota.

Oh my goodness!  It was one of the best days ever.  We went to the Justapaz building which is an organization that works with peace and justice.  They do SO many cool things.  I got to talk with one of their administration people and she told me all about the different projects that they have going on.  There are many different ones from microloan financing (which I found very interesting!) to working with displaced people in the city and providing them with food and shelter and many other things.  SO great!

Then we went to the Mennonite seminary here and I got to talk with a lady that came to Barranquilla.  She is one of those people that I could just sit and talk with for hours!  She has led such an interesting and FULL life!  She works at the seminary and was telling me all about the different courses that they offer.  The nerdy part of me wanted to attend all of them haha :).

We also went to the church that my guide is a co-pastor of as well as a mennonite senior center.  They have an incredible ministry there as well.

Mennonites have been in Bogota for 60 or more years.  It was incredible seeing the impact that they have had in this city and seeing some of the incredible things that they have done.  I have also really enjoyed seeing the MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) side of things (because I am working with MMN - Mennonite Mission Network) and learning about what they do.  I hope that someday in the near future Barranquilla will have as many ministries as Bogota.  However, Mennonites have only been present in Barranquilla for about 10 years.

Also, I have been staying with a young couple, the wife in the couple and I actually grew up in the same church.  They are here working with MCC so it has been awesome getting to know them a little better and to hear about what they are doing here and talk about Colombia and being Mennonite and culture and so many things.  We have also played a few card games which I have really enjoyed!  It has been great staying here with them!  It is times like this that I realize just how much I enjoy the Mennonite bubble and being able to be so connected with so many people around the world, and in the same country.

Fun fact.  My entire morning and meetings with people were all done in Spanish!  I really understood about 90% of everything as well!  I feel like I can finally feel myself progressing in my Spanish!

Day Thirty-Five A Day of Meetings and Planning

I didn't do a whole lot today, but it felt super full!

I am teaching an English class tomorrow so I was able to get that all prepared.  I thought about my lesson for this Sunday.  I can't decide what exactly I want to talk about yet.  But I think that I am getting closer :P

I also went to a regional Mennonite church meeting today.  So that was interesting.

Tomorrow I am planning on making some brownies.  We are working on planning a trip with the youth not this weekend but next weekend.  I really hope that it works out!  We would like to go to Cartagena, which I have heard so many incredible things about!  I would really like to see this city, but if we go elsewhere I will be excited to spend some quality time with the kids nonetheless.

There is a HUGE carnival that goes on here in Barranquilla every February.  It is called Carnival.  Lol.  It started out as a very nice cultural carnival but it has kind of changed since then.  There is a lot of drinking and some people have been known to get kind of crazy and it get a little dangerous in the evenings.  So, that is why we are taking the kids to a different city during the festivities.

Carnival de Barranquilla is actually recognized as the second most important yearly cultural event in the world!  The first is a similar one that takes place in Brazil, I believe.  The people here LOVE their carnival and there are decorations up for a month before and up to a month after the event.  SO many bright colors.  I keep forgetting to take my camera with me to different places but I snapped a few pictures on my iPod.  The quality isn't the best but if give you an idea of what it looks like here :).

This guy is everywhere!

I took these at the mall here called Buena Vista (good view).  The decorations are beautiful and very colorful.  I am hoping to take my camera with me sometime before they are all taken down so that I can get some better quality pictures.

Day Thirty-Two A Day of Sandwiches and Lemonade

Today was a pretty incredible day.

It started of with some delicious french toast that I made this morning.  It was nice to cook, I have only really cooked once before today since being here.  I really enjoy cooking so this was a happy treat.

Then, we were off to church and the worship today was just incredible!  I am starting to get to know some more of the songs that we usually sing so it is nice to not have to concentrate on the words the whole time and be able to... well... concentrate on the words but in a different way, haha.  I love worship songs in Spanish, or other languages.  I just think it is so great to be able to praise God in a language that isn't my first language.

On that note, I have recently re-fallen in love with the song called "How he loves us" Sang by David Crowder.  The words in general are just incredible.  There is a Youtube video that someone made with this song and it gives wonderful visuals.  This song was also on the YouthWorks footwashing CD this summer.  Every Thursday we would play this CD and this was the first song to play so there are also many memories and emotions that come along with this song when I hear it.  I also just found out that an artist name Seth Condrey covered the song in Spanish (Él nos ama).  Mind Blown.  I have been listening to both versions pretty constantly the last couple of days.
My favorite lines say "Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.  When all of the sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by just how beautiful you are, and how great your affections are for me."
WOW!
Sometimes it is so easy to forget and get caught up in the mystery and wonder and love that truly IS God.  I find myself getting so caught up in myself that my prayer as of late is that my afflictions might be eclipsed by God's glory so that I can more readily see how beautiful He truly is!

Here are the full lyrics if anyone is interested


He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If Grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

He loves us
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

Day Thirty-One A Day of Laughter and Chicken Burgers

Saturday January 4th, 2012

This day, Saturday, was the one month marker for me.  I have officially been in Colombia for one month.  It is really surreal.  I was talking with a friend today, Sunday, and we were talking about my Spanish ability and she said, "well you have only been here for two months"... haha! It seems like I have been here for so much longer than I already have.  But at the same time it feels like I just got here.  But yes.  One month.

I think that Saturday was actually one of my favorite days that I have had since I have gotten here.  It was my first English class.  We tried to have an evening class on Thursday but no one showed up (except for the mother and young son from the family that I was staying with for two weeks).  But Saturday was a wonderful substitute for the first class.

Firstly, regarding my class, I think it is wonderful how things work out.  During my "in between time," as I like to call it, I KNEW that I would be going overseas to teach English.  I had my heart set of Korea but... that obviously didn't work out.  While I was living at home for a little over a year I took an online course in teaching English as a second language and I am a certified ESL teacher (woot! haha).  But I didn't think that I would ever use it once Korea fell through.  I made a passing comment to my boss, Linda, about how I had taken the class and it would be fun to teach English is Colombia.  So thought people might be interested so she passed on the info as well.  Well... that is enough of that.  But I do have to say that I am constantly in awe of how incredibly God works things out in ways that I couldn't have imagined.

So, the first lesson (Basic from 8:00am to 10:00am) was great!  I had nine victims *ahem* students, and we had a lot of fun.  The two hours FLEW by.  I had no idea how much fun teaching could be!  Then from 10:00 to 12:00 I taught the intermediate level class.  This class only had two students, but there has been some sickness going around and business as well so we are hoping it will pick up in the next couple weeks.

After classes I had a little time of rest and then I prepared for youth group!

At youth group (we need to come up with a name... always saying groupo de jovenes or youth group sounds weird to me) we played one of my favorite games, called 4 on a couch.  I thought that I did a decent job explaining in Spanish *pat pat on the back* and the kids LOVED it!  Not to mention the three of us leaders.  Martha's husband Carlos was getting more into it than the majority of the kids and it was cracking me up!  We played 2 rounds and went WAY longer than intended but we were all laughing so much and having such a great time that I couldn't say no.

After youth group the worship team was practicing and I stayed behind to listen to them because I love being there for their practice.

Then, the Rodriguez family (the family I stayed with for a bit) and Gamaliel and Amanda and I went out for a late supper.  They had chicken burgers!  I was pumped.  We sat outside and we were telling jokes and making fun of each other and I don't think there was a minute where I wasn't laughing hysterically.

For those of you who have been asking for pictures...

We are playing "helium stick."  Because there are so many people touching the stick with one finger it inevitably starts going up.  The point of the game is to take it down to the floor, but the trick is that everyone has to have a finger touching the stick at all times!

We thought we had it!

MAGIC!  It started going up again! Haha

Nailed it!

We also played the Spider Web game.  The theme of the evening was "teamwork."

The wonderful group that I am so blessed to be working with!
I'm sure that Jean Carlos isn't complaining but I am sure hoping that more guys will eventually be joining the group!  That being said, I couldn't ask for a more incredible group of young people to be working with!  I love them all so much!