lime in my coffee

After being in a new country for a few days, I definitely notice how many things I miss, mostly very trivial things like cell phones, time at Starbucks, the gym, two pillows on the bed, and other completely non-essential and primarily American comforts. But there are things about being in Colombia that I love, too! The food is pretty awesome, everyone literally dances to the worship music at church, people say “God Bless You” every time they say hello or goodbye, and I have been treated like family by everyone I’ve met.

The last two days I have been with Pastor Jorge and La Pastora, basically following them through their days and just trying to get used to schedules, languages, and the city of Bogota. Yesterday we spent most of the day at the Capital building, because Pastor Jorge is also a Colombian Senator so he works there every day. We sat in on some kind of congressional meeting, and while I could only figure out maybe 10% of what was going on it was a really cool experience!

Carla (12) and Jorge Andres (9) are the Trujillo’s kids, and they are both awesome! I know they speak more English than they are willing to try, but they help me practice Spanish and laugh with (or at) me a lot, too! In fact we have had a lot of fun learning new words so far, you wouldn’t believe how excited they all were to know what “cake” meant!

Every time I have been nervous or anxious about something, God has totally provided me with some kind of reminder that He is not far. Every time I have been out and maybe had to spend some time away from La Pastora, one of two women (whose names I cannot remember but I know their faces well) has kind of taken me under their wing and been so patient with my poor ability to talk to them! And they constantly ask “Como te sientes, Katie?” How do you feel? I think they know how badly I want to be able to talk to them, so they have done their best to break down conversations for me and make sure I am as included as I can be!

My first morning here, I was offered coffee and a little slice of lime with it. I looked at the woman and pointed to both the lime and the coffee and said, “aqui?” “Si, si, por el café!” She wanted me to put a squeeze of lime in my coffee! Ok, I’m in a new country so I better try it… so I did, and it is really good! How about it, lime in my coffee! It was not what I expected, but pretty awesome! And right now, that is a really good analogy for Colombia: it is beautiful and friendly and not what I think most people expect, but actually a whole lot better!