Hey everyone! We are back in Bogota for the last ten days of outreach. We started here (even if for a day and a half), and are finishing out here, so that is pretty cool.
We had some amazing outreaches in Medellin and were blessed with eight wonderful translators the entire time we were there. On the last night in Medellin the team went to a really nice restaurant in the Medellin Botancial Gradens, and we invited all of our contacts as well as the translators to join us. We had a three course meal with an option of pork, fish, or steak - I of course choose the steak, and it was great. Each person´s meal was the equivalent of $6-8, which was amazing in itself.
Ministry starts up again tomorrow (we have a day off today) and is packed with doing a children´s program, manual labor at a children´s home as well as the YWAM Bogota base, and several church services. We also have the opportunity to go to Hard Rock Cafe Bogota on Sunday after the church services to watch at least half of the SuperBowl. (And for my brother and sister-in-law reading this, I will be cheering for the Steelers!!)
I will hopefully be able to check in again one more time before departing Bogota, but if not, I will be back in Denver the night of February 7th. All my pictures will be posted later that week, so that you can see the places we have been and what we have been up to here in Colombia. God Bless.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Exciting Ministry
Hey everyone! Quick update for the week. This week of ministry has been centered around working with orphans and street kids. The YWAM Medellin base has 2 houses (girls´ house and boys´ house) that are for orphaned kids. The YWAM staff have a rotating schedule and take turns working at the girls´ and boys´ house and sleeping there. Earlier in the week we did a lot of cleaning of the houses and the rest of the time we have been playing games with them in the afternoon and helping with various projects around the houses.
We also have had opportunities to work with street kids. There are three levels for street kids here in Colombia. Level 1 is where kids go to a facility (to be honest it looks like a prison with all the gates and fences around it, but they are very nice facilities once inside) to stay if they want to get off the street and have a place to sleep and food to eat. The first few nights there the kids have 24 hour supervision as many of them are ¨high¨ from either sniffing glue or doing drugs. There are also several girls that come that have been on the street doing prostitution. If the kids stay at the facility long enough (the sad part is that they can come and go as they want) they have opportunities for good health care, food and shelter are provided for, and they get an education, and they can then move to the next level. Level 2 is where the kids have been rehabilitated long enough that they can move to another facility, which is usually a finca, and there they are taught to continue with education by being integrated into local schools and they have more responsibilities. Level 3 is basically where they try to integrate the kids back into society, either with family (that are not on drugs or alcohol or in prostitution) or if they are 18 or older into a place of their own and help them get a job. We worked with a level 1 yesterday and it was a great opportunity, but a sad experience too, in seeing the girls that were selling their bodies at such a young age (ages 10 and up), and the rest of them being ¨high.¨ They are all looking for love, but just in the wrong places.
Well, tonight we are going to a crack hotel for kids. It is called a crack hotel because the kids that come to the hotel are there when their parents are out on the streets doing drugs, alcohol, or prostitution, and the kids don´t have anyone to look after them. So, we are going tonight to do some dramas and puppets, and then we will pass out bread and hot chocolate afterwards to people around the hotel. I am looking forward to loving these kids tonight, since it may be the only time that these kids ever feel loved.
Gotta close for now, but I pray God´s blessings for you all. Please continue to keep our team in your prayers as well as the people of Colombia.
We also have had opportunities to work with street kids. There are three levels for street kids here in Colombia. Level 1 is where kids go to a facility (to be honest it looks like a prison with all the gates and fences around it, but they are very nice facilities once inside) to stay if they want to get off the street and have a place to sleep and food to eat. The first few nights there the kids have 24 hour supervision as many of them are ¨high¨ from either sniffing glue or doing drugs. There are also several girls that come that have been on the street doing prostitution. If the kids stay at the facility long enough (the sad part is that they can come and go as they want) they have opportunities for good health care, food and shelter are provided for, and they get an education, and they can then move to the next level. Level 2 is where the kids have been rehabilitated long enough that they can move to another facility, which is usually a finca, and there they are taught to continue with education by being integrated into local schools and they have more responsibilities. Level 3 is basically where they try to integrate the kids back into society, either with family (that are not on drugs or alcohol or in prostitution) or if they are 18 or older into a place of their own and help them get a job. We worked with a level 1 yesterday and it was a great opportunity, but a sad experience too, in seeing the girls that were selling their bodies at such a young age (ages 10 and up), and the rest of them being ¨high.¨ They are all looking for love, but just in the wrong places.
Well, tonight we are going to a crack hotel for kids. It is called a crack hotel because the kids that come to the hotel are there when their parents are out on the streets doing drugs, alcohol, or prostitution, and the kids don´t have anyone to look after them. So, we are going tonight to do some dramas and puppets, and then we will pass out bread and hot chocolate afterwards to people around the hotel. I am looking forward to loving these kids tonight, since it may be the only time that these kids ever feel loved.
Gotta close for now, but I pray God´s blessings for you all. Please continue to keep our team in your prayers as well as the people of Colombia.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
More Ministry and Fun in Colombia
Hey everyone! Well, it´s about that time to move locations again. So, tomorrow morning we will head out to do ministry at a finca (farm) for boys, and then move to our next location in the evening. This time we will be staying at the YWAM Medellin base.
Ministry last week continued to be great, though I was out of commission all day Saturday with the 24 hour stomach bug that has seemed to plague three-fourths of the team. Even though I would have rather been doing ministry, I really feel like God had other plans for me for that day. I did a lot of praying for the team while they were gone, and for those sharing their testimonies. I have learned that sometimes your ministry for the day is just to pray for your team members.
This week we have done ministry in the neighborhood of the Bible College dorm, where we are staying, and some of the girls on our team were able to go to a girls´home and minister to eight girls, ages 10 - 14, who had either been living on the street or were prostitutes and had been rescued from that. I was one of the few that were not able to go, but the ones that did said it was so heart-breaking to hear the stories of girls who had started prostitution at the age of 6.
As far as cultural things go.....the Colombians don´t see white people (otherwise known to them as gringos) very often, so everywhere we go people stare and us, and even ask to take a picture with us! It was really funny at first when people would approach us and ask us to take a photograph for them, and just when you thought you were going to use their camera to take the picture of them, they put their arm around you and someone snaps the picture. I am sure in some of those first pictures many of us have the weirdest expressions on our faces, but now we just have fun with it. Driving here is crazy, and we definitely pray while travelling all the time. The best way to describe the driving is a cross between Atlanta rush hour traffic with New York City driving, all at the speed of the German Autobon. I really do not understand how there have not been more accidents here (we have only seen 1 fender-bender). It is crazy to the point that people will pass in a no passing zone on a curve of a mountain road when they can´t see around the corner. We have been lucky to have some great bus drivers, who drive defensively, and just make some smart decisions.
And while I may not be proficient in speaking Spanish yet, or even understanding it, I have definitely been immersed in it. It makes me laugh when people here ask you if you speak Spanish and you say no, so then they continue to talk to you in Spanish anyway. I may not fully understand, but I am able to pick up a few words that they say, so I am enjoying that. Plus I think they think I am funny too when I speak to them in English. But, I can tell you that I have learned very quickly how to order ice cream in Spanish - no problems there in saying that one!
Well, I hate to close, but I need to for now. I will update again as soon as I can based on internet availabilty at the YWAM base or an internet cafe. In the meantime, our team prayer requests are below.
Prayer Requests:
* Health - the stomach bug is still affecting our team
* Injuries - we have had a few random injuries (Joe injured his thumb during team game time one night, then fell off a seesaw at park ministry and cut up his arm - yeah, he keeps me busy with the First Aid job I am responsible for)
* Continued team unity
* Continued safe travel
Please feel free to email me any prayer requests you may have, as I am praying for each of you. Thank you for continuing to read my blog and your support of me. I pray that God may bless you for your faithfulness.
Ministry last week continued to be great, though I was out of commission all day Saturday with the 24 hour stomach bug that has seemed to plague three-fourths of the team. Even though I would have rather been doing ministry, I really feel like God had other plans for me for that day. I did a lot of praying for the team while they were gone, and for those sharing their testimonies. I have learned that sometimes your ministry for the day is just to pray for your team members.
This week we have done ministry in the neighborhood of the Bible College dorm, where we are staying, and some of the girls on our team were able to go to a girls´home and minister to eight girls, ages 10 - 14, who had either been living on the street or were prostitutes and had been rescued from that. I was one of the few that were not able to go, but the ones that did said it was so heart-breaking to hear the stories of girls who had started prostitution at the age of 6.
As far as cultural things go.....the Colombians don´t see white people (otherwise known to them as gringos) very often, so everywhere we go people stare and us, and even ask to take a picture with us! It was really funny at first when people would approach us and ask us to take a photograph for them, and just when you thought you were going to use their camera to take the picture of them, they put their arm around you and someone snaps the picture. I am sure in some of those first pictures many of us have the weirdest expressions on our faces, but now we just have fun with it. Driving here is crazy, and we definitely pray while travelling all the time. The best way to describe the driving is a cross between Atlanta rush hour traffic with New York City driving, all at the speed of the German Autobon. I really do not understand how there have not been more accidents here (we have only seen 1 fender-bender). It is crazy to the point that people will pass in a no passing zone on a curve of a mountain road when they can´t see around the corner. We have been lucky to have some great bus drivers, who drive defensively, and just make some smart decisions.
And while I may not be proficient in speaking Spanish yet, or even understanding it, I have definitely been immersed in it. It makes me laugh when people here ask you if you speak Spanish and you say no, so then they continue to talk to you in Spanish anyway. I may not fully understand, but I am able to pick up a few words that they say, so I am enjoying that. Plus I think they think I am funny too when I speak to them in English. But, I can tell you that I have learned very quickly how to order ice cream in Spanish - no problems there in saying that one!
Well, I hate to close, but I need to for now. I will update again as soon as I can based on internet availabilty at the YWAM base or an internet cafe. In the meantime, our team prayer requests are below.
Prayer Requests:
* Health - the stomach bug is still affecting our team
* Injuries - we have had a few random injuries (Joe injured his thumb during team game time one night, then fell off a seesaw at park ministry and cut up his arm - yeah, he keeps me busy with the First Aid job I am responsible for)
* Continued team unity
* Continued safe travel
Please feel free to email me any prayer requests you may have, as I am praying for each of you. Thank you for continuing to read my blog and your support of me. I pray that God may bless you for your faithfulness.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Colombia Outreach Update
Hey everyone! Well, our time here in Colombia so far has been great and very rewarding. We have stayed at three places so far and will be staying at many more before it is all over.
The first place that we stayed at was the YWAM Bogota base. It was very nice. The second place that we stayed at was a finca (Spanish word for farm – though nothing like what we think of as a farm, basically it means a lot of land and beautiful foliage). The finca was owned by the church that we were working with the first week, and it was their retreat center. We think that it used to be a mansion because it was so big and beautiful. The third place, which we are currently staying at, is a Bible College dormitory that is very nice too. Several areas of the dorm have an open roof to allow cool air to flow into the building, since many people do not have air conditioning here. We leave the windows open at night while we are sleeping and it is the perfect temperature.
The food here is great too. We knew that the Colombians were very hospitable, but we also found out they are very generous with food too. It is the culture here to eat everything that you are served, unless you have a food allergy. The last two places that we have stayed we have had a cook, and our current cook daily reminds us that there are starving children in Africa (she knows since she lived there several years), so we better eat up! Again the food is good, just enormous portions. Instead of losing weight on outreach like most people do, I may come home having gained 10lbs!!
We have been extremely busy this week with ministry, but I have enjoyed it. The month of January we are working with Mark and Maritza, who are actually YWAM Denver staff, but will be working here in Medellin for a year. So, on Monday we went to a local park and did dramas. Our translators did not show up (other than Maritza), but it was cool to see how God still provided for us. A huge crowd gathered before we could even start the dramas, and then people talked to us for an hour and a half after the dramas. We were able to communicate through Maritza and some Colombian Christians who saw our dramas and offered to translate for us. Tuesday was spent at a farm where special needs adults live just “hanging out” with them and doing a brief program for them as well. Wednesday this week was our day off, so we explored the market shops around the area. Today (Thursday) we did manual labor here at the Bible College dorm. Tomorrow (Friday) we are going to a poor community to do dramas and pass out food to needy families, and then we are doing a church service in town in the evening. On Saturday we are going to a park to pass out food to the homeless, and I do not know Sunday´s schedule yet.
I will check in again in about a week or so. I hope that things are going well for you all and that 2009 has been a good one so far. God Bless.
The first place that we stayed at was the YWAM Bogota base. It was very nice. The second place that we stayed at was a finca (Spanish word for farm – though nothing like what we think of as a farm, basically it means a lot of land and beautiful foliage). The finca was owned by the church that we were working with the first week, and it was their retreat center. We think that it used to be a mansion because it was so big and beautiful. The third place, which we are currently staying at, is a Bible College dormitory that is very nice too. Several areas of the dorm have an open roof to allow cool air to flow into the building, since many people do not have air conditioning here. We leave the windows open at night while we are sleeping and it is the perfect temperature.
The food here is great too. We knew that the Colombians were very hospitable, but we also found out they are very generous with food too. It is the culture here to eat everything that you are served, unless you have a food allergy. The last two places that we have stayed we have had a cook, and our current cook daily reminds us that there are starving children in Africa (she knows since she lived there several years), so we better eat up! Again the food is good, just enormous portions. Instead of losing weight on outreach like most people do, I may come home having gained 10lbs!!
We have been extremely busy this week with ministry, but I have enjoyed it. The month of January we are working with Mark and Maritza, who are actually YWAM Denver staff, but will be working here in Medellin for a year. So, on Monday we went to a local park and did dramas. Our translators did not show up (other than Maritza), but it was cool to see how God still provided for us. A huge crowd gathered before we could even start the dramas, and then people talked to us for an hour and a half after the dramas. We were able to communicate through Maritza and some Colombian Christians who saw our dramas and offered to translate for us. Tuesday was spent at a farm where special needs adults live just “hanging out” with them and doing a brief program for them as well. Wednesday this week was our day off, so we explored the market shops around the area. Today (Thursday) we did manual labor here at the Bible College dorm. Tomorrow (Friday) we are going to a poor community to do dramas and pass out food to needy families, and then we are doing a church service in town in the evening. On Saturday we are going to a park to pass out food to the homeless, and I do not know Sunday´s schedule yet.
I will check in again in about a week or so. I hope that things are going well for you all and that 2009 has been a good one so far. God Bless.
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