Day 78 - A Day of Camp and Travels

So... we are currently without internet, so I am sitting at the local McDonald's enjoying a little taste of home!  I am eating a twix flurry... mmmm.  Delicious.  I really feel like I have been transported to the States, other than the Spanish everything of course.  BUT!  Here, you get to put some of your condiments and toppings on yourself!  So... if you want extra pickles, they have a little table with pickles on it and you can just MOUND them on!!  I am going to have to actually order food next time.  You can get jalepeños too!  This is super weird because every Colombian that I have talked to so far hates spicy food!

Very recently I had the opportunity to visit some fellow Mennonite Mission Network workers who are stationed in La Mesa, Colombia.  La Mesa is about an hour or so away from Bogota.  They are a married couple with two young sons who are teaching English in a Mennonite school.  It was so nice to connect with them and learn about what they have done and hear their stories and share mine as well.  We were able to talk about experiences and I gained a lot of insight and knowledge.  We stayed up late and talked.  Since I am still learning Spanish it is difficult to have truly deep and meaningful conversations with people.  Most conversations are fairly surface level and a little deeper.  It was such a blessing to be able to talk about things that have been on my heart and things that I have wanted to talk through with someone.

After my time in La Mesa, we went to Cacipay retreat center in Cacipay, Colombia.  Here, the Colombian Mennonite Church held their national pastoral assembly.  Generally, MMN workers attend as well.  It was very interesting to meet so many people from all over the country!  It was a fairly basic church meeting.  Over the course of the next three days they discussed finances, committees, prayer concerns, happy times, and challenging times. 

It was an interesting experience being able to see so many different places in Colombia.  I was touched by the amount of hospitality that I was shown over that week as well.  Recently, I was talking to a friend about how much of a blessing it is to be a Mennonite; when people find out you are a part of the denominational family, you are instantly family.  I stayed with so many people that I didn’t know before this meeting, and wouldn’t have known otherwise.  But I was given the hospitality of room and board in two locations because of a connection that we had.  I didn’t need to find a hotel or even feel unwelcome.  It was a wonderful experience.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was finding this nice little watering hole!  Gorgeous!  These rocks were about 10 and... 13 or 14 feet off the water.  People were jumping off them and it was really sweet!

When in Rome...

Day 69 - A Day of Recaps and Travel

Well team...

I have been rather absent from the blogosphere recently (apparently according to my computer blogosphere is a real word...).  Things here have been pretty good.  I am still definitely trying to figure out where exactly I fit in all of the happenings here in the wonderful Colombia, but I am loving the journey!

Some fun things that I have learned about Spanish/Colombian culture.

1.  It is rude to say "no" if someone asks for a favor.  However, if you say "ahora no, pero de pronto adelante" that is basically the same thing.  It is an understood "no" but there is still the option.  Literally translated it means "right now no, but soon... later."  It would be like saying, "Ya, I can get to that later."  It feels like a lie but it is more polite, haha.

2.  Arm is "brazo," hug is "abrazo," and a clamp is "abrazadera."  I love it.  It is like the... hugger. Oh that one makes me laugh!  The more I learn about Spanish the more I just fall in love with it.

So, this weekend it the national assembly for the Mennonite pastors in Colombia.  They will be holding it at the first ever Mennonite mission... place...  This place is a farm called Cacipai (really crude spelling. I will update on that later).  In the 1950's, I believe, some Mennos came and set up a center/clinic/home for people with leprosy.  They also set up a school for the injured people's children!  It was on a farm and it is up in the mountains and apparently gorgeous!  I can't wait to go see it!

Gamaliel and I traveled from Barranquilla to Bogota this morning.  We flew with Avianca (I prefer flying with LAN because they give you bags of mixed nuts with Almonds, Peanuts, Macadamia nuts and Cashews! Also, a delicious caramel and coconut thing... oh I love it!).  But that is not important.

Then, we took a bus to La Mesa.  We showed up at the bus station about 2 minutes before our bus left, phew.  The trip was nice, I had some time to read and took a very short nap.  But, then the mountain roads came.  It is hard to read and sleep when the vehicle you are in is constantly changing directions!  The view though... oh the view.  I should have taken a picture.

Then I met up with some fellow MMN workers and I am staying with them!  It is a couple and their two kids.  They are teachers at a school in a city called La Mesa.  I just love how the Menno bubble connects people the way that it does.  I have never met them and we are even from completely different parts of the States, but they were kind enough to open their home to me and we had a great evening getting to know each other.  Oh connections.  Tomorrow I am going to go and visit the school they volunteer in and see what it is like a day in the life of a Colombian student!  Now I will get a little more insight on what some of the kids are work with are up to every day too!

More to come...

Day 61 - A Day of Hostels and Lizards!

So... I took a little two day excursion to meet up with some friends from CMU.  It was AWESOME!  I haven't seen them in quite a long time, so it was incredible seeing them again.  One of them had his parents with him, they came down for a couple weeks and just met up with them in Colombia!  I think it is cool that they decided to do that.  It was also really interesting getting to know them.

We stayed in this wonderful hostel in Santa Marta (which is a little over an hour from Barranquilla).  We just hung out and chatted and caught up and had an incredible time.  They have been traveling for almost 5 months now, so it was great hearing about their journey and where it has brought them so far.

It was nice to get some time away and gain a little perspective and to feel like a tourist rather than living somewhere, haha!

We met some new friends, two girls from Australia who came from Panama to Colombia in the same boat with my friends.  So it was cool that they got to meet up with them again.  They were great girls and it was exciting getting to know some new people while also catching up with old friends.  I will also be thinking in an Australian accent for the next week now.  So that is exciting.

I also enjoyed the idea of hostels but I actually really love them!  First of all, my stay was 18,000 pesos a night (which is around $9 US), awesome.  But there is a real sense of community to hostels that I just really enjoy.  There were people from... I would say at least 10 countries in this small hostel.  It could probably host about... 30 people and I think there were about 25 maybe.  It is also interesting that the "travel language" seems to be English.  I was talking to someone from Sweden, who is traveling in Central/South America and she doesn't speak a word of Spanish, but because she speaks (perfect) English she is able to travel here with ease.  At one point I observed a table with four guys playing poker.  One from Russia, Germany, Argentine, and England.  They were playing a game speaking in English.  Only one of them had English as a first language.  I just found that fascinating!

It just made me really excited to travel.  I also learned about some really cool traveling opportunities that are actually really close to where I am.  I think that during my vacation time I will have to check some of those out!  I would definitely like to return to this hostel at some point!

Day 57 - A Day of Spaghetti and Eggs

Hey team.

It has been just a little while since I have updated anything.  Things here have been very relaxed lately and I haven't really done anything worth a blog update.

I went to Bogota to have an orientation with some people that were beginning a term with MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) and I actually learned quite a bit!  It was incredible helpful and I also really enjoyed myself.  Something else that I really enjoyed were the mountains.  I loved seeing mountains.

After getting back we took the youth kids to Cartagena (literally after getting back.  As in, I made it back to the apartment at 1am and we left the apartment at 6:45am haha).  It was a GREAT trip!  We were at this really sweet hotel and we rented out two apartment's that the hotel had.  So we had access to a kitchen and lots of beds.  It was fun to just hang out with the kids.  We swam in the pool a bunch and then we also just spent a lot of time relaxing and chatting.  One of the nights we took a little tour of "old" Cartagena.  Cartagena is an interesting city!  It is a fairly old city, but also a very modern city.  The old city is close to the ocean and has beautiful old architecture.  Then if you walk farther inland it gets to a point where it just turns into modern.  Then you have tall buildings and lots of glass and metal.

Since then everything has been pretty basic.  I have been teaching my English lessons and having youth group and things like that!

I hope that all is well with you all back home!

P.S. We made Spaghetti the other day and Amanda asked me how I wanted my egg.  I thought that was an interesting combination but I said over easy.  Then she put the egg on the spaghetti.  I was a little weirded out at first but it was DELICIOUS!  Random combinations.  But I really enjoyed it.

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.