Bogota - Day 4

I'll begin this letter by telling you that we had a great night last night. We ate dinner with our host family and we had a long conversation with them about a lot of different things (Jackie obviously did most, okay all of the speaking in Spanish). But, we had a lot of fun learning more about them and they learned a lot about us.

This morning we took the bus again (this time we were able to find a seat). We have started off every morning of orientation with a devotional from one of the board members which has been awesome.

Today we were able to find out a lot more about different ministries that we will be involved in. Since I am going to be discipling the 10th grade boys at the school I will also be involved in the 10th grade classes ministry. The ministry is to one of the poorest parts of Bogota (on the south end). We will be working with a lot of street orphans and other poor families. Jackie will also be involved in the 5th/6th grade ministry but she is not sure what that will be just yet.

So those specific class ministries will be on the third Saturday of every month and then on the fourth Saturday of every month there will be general outreach opportunities for all the students. We are really looking forward to these opportunities.

Tonight we went over to the McCollums for dinner with 5 other teachers (Robyn, Marissa, Rose, Melody and Suzette). We ordered Domino's (which I never thought I would be excited to have, but I was!) and it tasted exactly the same as here. It was a great time of sharing about how we all ended up down here in Bogota.

No big plans this weekend other than getting things ready for school. Hope everyone is doing well and keep checking the blog...down below are some pics for you to see!

Here is the view from the back of the school. You can see the Andes mountains as well as some students playing on the basketball court. The one of Jackie and me is in front of the entrance to the old school building.

Colombia Day 3

Good evening everyone

Today was day three of orientation and things certainly didn't slow down. Especially since Jackie went to see a cardiologist today to get some tests done so they can keep up with her health and make sure everything is okay. No worries at this point, it is just precautionary.

After she got back from the doctor we ended up going to check out some possible places to live. We found one apartment that we liked a lot and the two other places we looked weren't bad, but we are not sure if we would want to live there. Anyway, we are probably going to look at more places tomorrow and see if we can move sometime this weekend or next week. Please pray for a place though since it would be a lot easier for us if we were in our own place once school starts.

Tomorrow we have more meetings and more work time at the school so hopefully we can take advantage of that.

I also found out I am probably going to be discipling the 9th grade boys this year which I am really looking forward too.

Hope everyone is doing well and we'll update you again tomorrow. Thank you for your prayer and support! God is doing some great things here in Colombia and we pray he uses us to continue in that work.

Our big adventure for today was the public bus transportation. It is a pretty crazy system and something that you would have to experience. Let's just say you feel like you are receiving a full body massage from everyone in the bus if you are standing (which we were!). People just move to the back of the bus and you ring a bell when you want the bus to stop and they usually stop somewhere within a block of where you wanted to get off. Then they just pick up whoever wants to get on from the street and you can only take specific buses that will go where you need to go. It was certainly an experience and one we will get more used to the longer we are here.

Colombia: Day 2

Hey everyone

Well, today was our first really intense day of orientation...I think we are on information overload, and there are only 6 more days of orientation left!

Cultural Experiences thus far:
- All the lights for the bathroom are on the wall outside of the bathroom...so if you forget you close the door and you are in the dark
- At the school we must throw all toilet paper in the trash (the pipes at the school are not wide enough for everything)
- You do not slam the car door shut, you must do it respectfully and if you have to open and shut it again since it wasn´t closed that is better than slamming it
- You can get your blood type done at a dentist office (which I had to do...I am A positive if anyone cared)
- Some streets have lines marking the lanes, others don´t, and even if they do no one follows them
- Blinkers are used on occasion and not necessarily telling you where the person is actually going
- A lot of Colombians wear doctors masks when out in public (not sure if that is because of the pollution or what)
- Buses don´t stop necessarily, it is more of a rolling stop and if you get in great and if you don´t oh well
We are still trying to figure out pesos and such.

Tonight we are going to be going over to the McCollums (the secondary principal) and his wifes home. They are from Buffalo Grove and Bob was the assistant principal at Glenbrook South High School. This is their second year here and they have two daughters at the school. We are going to eat with them and they are going to take us to the mall to do some errands.

We are trying to use our Spanish and we have to when we are with our host family, but I think we will get more used to it and I will take advantage of the Spanish lessons!

Please pray that we can go look at the apartment we will be staying in and hopefully we will be moving in this weekend! Hope everyone is doing well!

First day in Colombia

Well, we had an adventerous and busy first day in Colombia. We are leaving with the Pinzon family, who have been very generous to us (though communicating is tough). They live in a beautiful home in Bogota. Hopefully in a week or so we will be moving into our apartment which is a lot closer to the school.

Jackie will be happy once we have our own place and we can work on our schedule, since they do things very different down here with eating and sleeping. But, we will be fine for the time we are with the Pinzon's.

This morning on our way to school the car tire looked like it exploded. Me and Mr. Pinzon ended up changing a tire on the side of the autopista (highway) which was a very unexpected and dangerous experience for the first day. But, we ended up getting to school safe, and even though we were late at least we were there.

There was a full schedule for us today, including: a tour of the school (the old and new building), lunch (chicken and rice), going into downtown Bogota to get our Colombia ID cards, etc. Everything went fine with the ID cards which means we are now legal in Colombia.

We will have more information in the next few days once we find out more about our schedules, living arrangements, etc.

Keep praying for us as we continue to get used to being away from home and starting our year in Colombia.

Colombia Today

Hey Everyone

We are leaving for Colombia today and we should be in by 9pm tonight after a couple of flights and a lay-over in Texas. We are excited, but also nervous, since we will be living with a family for a few weeks before we move into an apartment. The daughters speak English, but the parents speak very little, so hopefully our Spanish (especially mine) will improve and I will be a fast learner.

Some prayer requests we have are:

1. Continued prayer and financial support - since we are about 60% funded.
2. A smooth transition over the next couple of weeks - moving, getting settled, teacher orientation and getting ready for classes to start
3. Safety during our travel to Bogota and within Bogota as we get used to living in a new city
4. Home sickness - it hasn't hit us yet but it probably will

Thank you again and I hope the next time I write there will be a lot more to tell you about in Colombia...maybe some pictures as well!

1 week until Colombia

Well, Jackie and I just returned from 8 days with the high school youth group in the beautiful Rocky Mountains and we had a great time. Now we only have one week until we leave for our time in Colombia.

Our prayer requests are for safe travel, continuing to get support from our family and friends, housing in Colombia and getting adjusted to the culture and school.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayer and we can't wait to tell everyone what we are up to once we get to Colombia.

Update: 7/1/09

Good morning everyone

Well Jackie and I met with the director of ECA on Monday night and we had a BBQ with a bunch of old, current and new teachers from ECA last night. It was great to see so many people and ask questions about the school and community.

Again we are just waiting on a couple of things that we still need prayer for and that is that we get all the paperwork we need so we can go downtown and get our visas. Also, we are still needing almost all of our support.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayer and we look forward to letting everyone know when everything is finished and we are ready to go.