a few of my favorites...

Thirty five smiles... all of these kids were my students in English class at La Fundacion


Andres, Oscar and Brian... after class, it took about 10 minutes for these little guys to actually leave, they kept coming back to the window and saying "Bye teeesherr!"


The littlest ones... even though the letters were hard to write and the words even harder to pronounce, I loved watching the effort these kiddos put in to trying!


Beauties... Paula and Katarina, two young girls so anxious to learn... and be loved

Every day in Colombia was a chance for me to learn something and let God stretch my faith in him. I love the Colombian people, I love the culture, and I see the need for so much more that can be done...

Unfortunately, while playing with some of the kids I re-injured my knee (the same one with the long history or surgeries), and after a lot of prayer and counsel have decided to come home and let my doctor in California try to fix it again. I will be anxious for God to open the door to go back to Colombia, because I think the story is just beginning there...

what a week

After 8 days in the very warm city of Cucuta, Colombia, we (Pastor Jorge, Pastora Sulamita, Karla, Jorge Andres and I) are back in Bogota. We went to Cucuta for a conference at the church of Sulamita’s parents, a big and beautiful church also called Centro Cristiano. Even though my limited Spanish means I couldn’t understand everything the speakers shared at the conference, I loved being there! The passion and sincerity I saw in the people sharing and attending the conference, as well as the incredible hospitality that I am finding typical of South America, were contagious.

Centro Cristiano in Bogota has an amazing group of young women who dance at church every weekend, and they all made the trip to Cucuta to share their dancing at the conference as well. I loved being able to spend the week with these girls, each one of them so mature and so kind. They taught me some Spanish rap, always made sure I was comfortable, and truly blew me away with their selflessness and love for the Lord. I got to sleep in a bed, in a room with air conditioning, and I was still tired every day; all these girls (11 of them) slept on the floor of a classroom with a fan, and they still smiled all day, every day. Great memories with a great group of girls.

In addition to spending lots of time at the church, we got to explore a little bit, too. Swimming in the river, driving over to Venezuela, a quick stop at some kind of outdoor factory where they hand make roof tiles and bricks, and enjoying fresh ice cream at the end of a long day all made their way into the agenda!



Being in Cucuta made me love Colombia even more...