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.