Thursday!

Today at CRAN was a little different. Kay has been sick so she stayed “home.” We had to shift responsibilities to cover for her, but it all worked out. She’s feeling better tonight, so we’re hoping she will be able to go tomorrow.

After CRAN we went on our visit to La Mazorca. It’s a restaurant up in the mountains not too far from where we live. It’s the place where you sit on tree stumps. We got there and they had just closed. They recommended another place down the road so we went there. This place was called El Mazorcon. It was a much nicer place and unfortunately for La Mazorca, it’s our new favorite place to go. The food was great and the restaurant was much cleaner. It was right across the street from a mountain lake. Everybody enjoyed the food and ate too much. Some did try the delicacy of the area – grilled stuffed cow intestine (or as Jason calls it – cow booty).

We had an appointment to visit the Colombian president’s house, but apparently some other president is visiting and so our visit was cancelled. It better not be President Obama! It’s probably Hugo Chavez. So we are going to go downtown to the city square. Hopefully we will at least see a changing of the guard at the president’s house.

We realized that no one has been able to leave comments on our blog because of the way the site was set up. You can now if you want.

Please keep Jason in your prayers tomorrow. He flies home earlier than the rest of us. We will miss him and we’re sure the kids will, too!

Wednesday!

It was another day at CRAN. Our story was about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were the three friends of Daniel who ended up in the fiery furnace because they were faithful to God. God honored their faithfulness and delivered them through the flames. The children listened well to the story. Besides the story time we also have a craft room, a music room, and an activity room. Each of the areas reinforces the lesson of the Bible story. We were told by the workers at CRAN that we are their favorite group that comes to minister to the children. They say that we have the best control over the children. There are some Christians who work at CRAN, but they are not allowed to share their faith openly. They are surprised that we are allowed to teach the Bible as their own churches in Colombia are not permitted to do so. It’s truly a God thing!

On the way home we stopped at Maku which is like a gift shop. We had a lot of leftovers from throughout the week so we decided to add a few things to it and have a leftovers dinner. We ended up with more food than when we started. So Sara and Jason boxed some up and took a taxi out to find people to give it to. They found a street vendor and he told them there was a family down the road so they came back and got more food for them. Another God thing!

The best part of church is when it affects our attitude and actions. Finding other Christians in our midst, serving and being served, and ministering in places that are otherwise closed to the church have showed us the importance of what we are doing. We cannot change the entire world, but we have changed the world for a few people. That’s what church is all about.

Tuesday!

Today we visited CRAN to conduct our camp for the children. As always, the beginning was a little rough, but it went well through the day. Our theme for the week is Strong and Courageous from Joshua 1:9 – “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Today we told them the story of David and Goliath and how David trusted God and stood up to the giant.

It was great to see old friends and make new friends. We were given four volunteers to work with us and to translate for us. They were young college students that just happened to be passing through Bogotá. At least one of them is a Christian and they were all very excited about being here with us (and the children of course). From the children to the adults, everyone is happy we are here and they find ways to serve us. One little girl asked if we were thirsty after camp. She then ran down to her room to get a glass of water for us. Of course we cannot drink the water unless it is treated, but her servant spirit was very inspiring.

We had lunch at CRAN and then enjoyed a taxi ride back to the house. It was an early morning and so we spent the afternoon resting and preparing for tomorrow. We return to CRAN for camp and then will go to an artisan store to purchase gifts and souvenirs.

The team is working exceptionally well together. Everyone is contributing and we are all getting along great. It’s a blessing to be part of such a dedicated team who love the Lord and want to serve Him.

Monday!

Today we went to the Prado community. That’s where the recyclers live. It’s a very humbling experience, but it’s encouraging to know the impact the local church has had in that community. It’s also encouraging and exciting to be a small part of God’s work in that community. We played games with the kids and told them the story of David and Goliath.

After Prado we went back to the church to work with the children that were given school scholarships by Project Hope. They make jewelry that we bring back to sell in the United States. They made enough jewelry to cover most of the cost of their scholarships next year. It was fun to work with the children. There were some who took it very seriously and worked hard. There is one little girl who plans to be a doctor when she grows up. We are sure that with the help of God she will accomplish her goals.

We walked to a local mall and had ice cream at Crepes & Waffles. It’s awesome ice cream! Then some walked the rest of the way home while others took a taxi.

There are always people God brings to us who are special to us that day. One of those persons was Dago. He spent the day with us and became part of the team. He helped us in so many ways and gave up his holiday to be with us. (Today was a holiday, but nobody knows why.) We have learned to appreciate the church universal and the ways God brings us together.

Tomorrow we go to CRAN. In our devotions tonight we learned that it takes only a moment to make an eternal difference in the life of someone. Pray for us that we would have many of those moments this week.

Sunday!

Hi everyone! We are sorry we didn’t write anything yesterday. It was a very busy day and traffic in Bogotá was very heavy. We started with church. We rode a city bus there. It was very crowded and Nasko had to stand. Then an elderly lady offered her seat, but we said no. Then she brought Nasko over to sit on her lap. She was very nice. At church it was great to see old friends, although many of them were back in the States or Canada.  We shared communion with them.

Then we went on a long bus ride to downtown. Some went to the Gold Museum and others went shopping. We went up to Monserrate. It was a little cloudy but the view was still great. Then it was back down the mountain for supper. It was a good thing we had Maria with us. She was told that the last cable car down was at 6 PM. If we would had missed it we would have had to walk down the mountain. Whew!

When we went into the restaurant to eat a little old man followed us. He helped us get our tables together and then just sat nearby. The group decided to give him some of our food. Then the waitress came up to us and said that he told them he was with us and that we would buy him some food. We all got a chuckle out of it.

Then it was back to the hotel and preparations for today. Today we go to Prado and have a Bible story for the kids. We look forward to seeing lots of friends there.  We will also be making jewelry with the kids who received education scholarships through Project Hope.  The jewelry will be sold at home to help them pay for their education.