Good afternoon everyone
This past week at school was a busy but very productive one.
But before I get into all of that I wanted to let everyone know that Jackie is doing better with her health issues. Currently she is taking 7 different medications. They think everything that she is dealing all relates to the same thing....stress! We are not shocked by this, but what the doctors here don't understand is that Jackie has been dealing with a lot of these issues for a long time. However, we do believe that stress is probably one main reason for the severity of her issues lately. I mean I guess stress is to be expected when you are a first year teacher, you move out of the country, leave family and friends, switch churches, new culture, etc. Hopefully as the year progresses Jackie will start to feel better. Please keep her in your prayers though.
This week we were busy at school as usual with a couple of more things added on. We were able to speak in High School chapel this week and we spoke on Dating and Relationships. The kids responded well to the talk and we really enjoyed being able to share our story and advice with them. It has led to some really good conversations with the students so we were thankful for that.
We also had our student council flower sale to raise money for our retrearts and different trips. Things went really well. The funny thing is that we bought 600 carnations for $12.50US and then about 125 Roses for about $20 US. Flowers are sooooo cheap here.
Today we just had our Fun Fair at school (food, games, competitions, kareoke, etc.) and all of the proceeds go towards the new addition on the school. It was a lot of fun and a lot of families were here. The interesting thing is having Military Police at your event...I guess that is normal in Colombia.
We are looking forward to this next week because it will be the end of the first quarter for us. It is amazing to think we are almost done with the first quarter though and we have been here for over two months now.
Some prayer requests would be for:
This Saturday we have a ministry day with one of the families at the school.
Jackie's health
We are still at about 80% financial support.
Our impact on the students here at the school.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Update: 9.21.09
I apologize for not updating sooner, but there really hasn't been that much to update you on. The reason is we were not able to go to our ministry work on Saturday. I was in bed from 1:30am Saturday morning until about 8pm that night with another migraine that wiped me out. That is the second one in two weeks and it has really stopped us from doing some of the things we wanted to do.
The other big news is that Jackie is still having a lot of trouble with her health. Things were of a concern enough that the nurse from the school took her to a gastro specialist to go through a battery of tests. She has to go back on Wednesday for another test as well.
Other than that things are going great. We are still really enjoying teaching and we are actually speaking in Chapel this week. We are talking about our relationship since it was just the Colombian Valentine's day this past weekend, so we are looking forward to that.
Prayer requests:
Our continued health and Jackie's test results to give us an idea of what is going on with her health problems.
Our support has been holding steady for awhile, so please pray that we would continue to get the support we need for our time down here in Colombia.
Our continued work at the school and with the ministries...even though we weren't able to go we are still looking forward to getting in there and helping out to the best of our abilities.
Hope everyone is doing well and if you want to write us an e-mail or anything here are our addresses:
Kyle - passion4thegame8@aol.com
Jackie - jackiebjerga@gmail.com
The other big news is that Jackie is still having a lot of trouble with her health. Things were of a concern enough that the nurse from the school took her to a gastro specialist to go through a battery of tests. She has to go back on Wednesday for another test as well.
Other than that things are going great. We are still really enjoying teaching and we are actually speaking in Chapel this week. We are talking about our relationship since it was just the Colombian Valentine's day this past weekend, so we are looking forward to that.
Prayer requests:
Our continued health and Jackie's test results to give us an idea of what is going on with her health problems.
Our support has been holding steady for awhile, so please pray that we would continue to get the support we need for our time down here in Colombia.
Our continued work at the school and with the ministries...even though we weren't able to go we are still looking forward to getting in there and helping out to the best of our abilities.
Hope everyone is doing well and if you want to write us an e-mail or anything here are our addresses:
Kyle - passion4thegame8@aol.com
Jackie - jackiebjerga@gmail.com
Friday, September 18, 2009
Update: 9.18.09
Make sure to check back tomorrow because I will update the blog then. We are doing our first service to the poor community so I am going to want to wait to update you on the past week until we get home from that.
Thank you for checking the blog and I apologize for not updating it more frequently over the last couple of weeks.
Thank you!
Thank you for checking the blog and I apologize for not updating it more frequently over the last couple of weeks.
Thank you!
Friday, September 11, 2009
9.11.09 Update
As I write this update I cannot help but think of the date on which I am writing. Every time I here 9/11 I still think of that terrible day in 2001 when so many people lost their lives in the terrorist attack. Please take a moment to remember those who were involved and their families. But, as I think of it I also praise God for his mercy and grace. I think about how God was able to use a tragedy like that to bring people to Him and to have so many people find His love through that time.
Now as far as an update from Colombia I really wish I had better news than I do. Jackie and I have a four day break that we were not expecting. On Wednesday there were so many students and teachers gone because of a virus making its way through the school that they decided to close school done from Thursday until Monday. They are hoping to stop the spreading of the virus.
The break is much needed for Jackie who continues to battle her health issues. Right now she is trying to get over the virus and deal with the pain of the kidney stone that she has. She is doing everything she is supposed to but the pain is still coming and going. It is very similar to her kidney infection that she had his past spring.
We also had our staff retreat cancelled for this weekend which we were really looking forward too. But, like I said there are many teachers who need the rest so we are hoping when we go back to school on Monday that everything should be back to normal.
Other than that things are going well. Next Saturday we start our ministry with the street kids in southern Bogota and we are very excited about that.
Please continue to pray for Jackie and her health issues. Also, please pray for our school and all the students and staff who are sick.
Lastly, please pray for all the street kids and orphans that we are going to be working with and for our safety as we travel to some areas which are not as safe as where we are at right now.
Thank you again for your continued support!
Now as far as an update from Colombia I really wish I had better news than I do. Jackie and I have a four day break that we were not expecting. On Wednesday there were so many students and teachers gone because of a virus making its way through the school that they decided to close school done from Thursday until Monday. They are hoping to stop the spreading of the virus.
The break is much needed for Jackie who continues to battle her health issues. Right now she is trying to get over the virus and deal with the pain of the kidney stone that she has. She is doing everything she is supposed to but the pain is still coming and going. It is very similar to her kidney infection that she had his past spring.
We also had our staff retreat cancelled for this weekend which we were really looking forward too. But, like I said there are many teachers who need the rest so we are hoping when we go back to school on Monday that everything should be back to normal.
Other than that things are going well. Next Saturday we start our ministry with the street kids in southern Bogota and we are very excited about that.
Please continue to pray for Jackie and her health issues. Also, please pray for our school and all the students and staff who are sick.
Lastly, please pray for all the street kids and orphans that we are going to be working with and for our safety as we travel to some areas which are not as safe as where we are at right now.
Thank you again for your continued support!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Update: 9.7.09
Good afternoon everyone
I hope this post finds you all doing well and enjoying the transition from summer to fall. There really isn't a transition here since the weather here is considered an "eternal spring".
But, anyway, I just wanted to let you know that Jackie and I are doing and still enjoying our time in Bogota, but we do have some prayer requests. We are not sure what exactly is going around the school, but there are a lot of kids sick. For instance on Friday and today Jackie had only 8 and 9 students in class respectively. I also had 9 kids missing in first grade PE today. Please pray that the students (and teachers) would get well soon and be able to get back to school as soon as possible.
Also, please pray for our continued support as we have seen God provide in great ways for us, but we are still a little bit short. We are about 80% supported and just waiting on that last 20% to come in. We praise God that so many people have been willing to be involved in our ministry with financial and prayer support. Thank you!
Continue to pray for Jackie's health as we know this is going to be on going, it would be different if it wasn't something we dealt with back in the states. But, since we are here it makes it a little tougher as far as medical care and being able to take care of her. We thank you for your prayers and we do hope we can find out what exactly the problem is.
We are excited about this weekend as well because we are going on the staff retreat to Villeta in Colombia for a time of team building and getting to know all the staff at the school. It should be a nice break after a very busy start to the school year.
Also, in two weeks we start our ministries and we are very excited about those starting up and look forward to seeing all that God has in store for us as we go.
Again we can't thank you enough for your prayers and continued support. Thank you and God bless!
I hope this post finds you all doing well and enjoying the transition from summer to fall. There really isn't a transition here since the weather here is considered an "eternal spring".
But, anyway, I just wanted to let you know that Jackie and I are doing and still enjoying our time in Bogota, but we do have some prayer requests. We are not sure what exactly is going around the school, but there are a lot of kids sick. For instance on Friday and today Jackie had only 8 and 9 students in class respectively. I also had 9 kids missing in first grade PE today. Please pray that the students (and teachers) would get well soon and be able to get back to school as soon as possible.
Also, please pray for our continued support as we have seen God provide in great ways for us, but we are still a little bit short. We are about 80% supported and just waiting on that last 20% to come in. We praise God that so many people have been willing to be involved in our ministry with financial and prayer support. Thank you!
Continue to pray for Jackie's health as we know this is going to be on going, it would be different if it wasn't something we dealt with back in the states. But, since we are here it makes it a little tougher as far as medical care and being able to take care of her. We thank you for your prayers and we do hope we can find out what exactly the problem is.
We are excited about this weekend as well because we are going on the staff retreat to Villeta in Colombia for a time of team building and getting to know all the staff at the school. It should be a nice break after a very busy start to the school year.
Also, in two weeks we start our ministries and we are very excited about those starting up and look forward to seeing all that God has in store for us as we go.
Again we can't thank you enough for your prayers and continued support. Thank you and God bless!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
We've Only Just Begun
We have been here over a month now and the time has certainly flown by. I can't believe that we are almost to the first progress reports!
Even with the time going by quickly we know we have really only started with all the work we are going to be doing. In some ways it has been good to start off slowly (if I can consider school being the slow start). But, it has been great to get into a routine with school and get a feel for all our responsibilities with teaching before we get involved in all the different ministries and extracurricular activities.
We just bought a dining room table for our apartment, which was the last big piece of furniture that we needed. It is not fun eating on a coffee table every night.
Next weekend we are excited about our staff retreat. The teachers, staff, board and administration are going to be going to "hot country" (meaning down the mountain) to a place for the weekend. We will be staying in a hotel in a beautiful part of the country. We are excited about that and getting out of the city. Bogota is starting to grow on me in certain ways, but we are definetly looking forward to going to some of the more beautiful parts of Colombia.
Keep us in your prayers as we continue to try and raise our final financial support. We are not 100% yet, but God has provided above and beyond what we thought for starting the process so late in finding financial partners.
Thank you for your continued support, encouragement and prayers for us, we really appreciate them. Just to let everyone know ahead of time we did book our flights when we come home for Christmas. So, as it gets closer make sure you contact us (if we don't contact you first) about getting together when we are in...we want to make sure we see as many of our friends and families as possible.
Have a great night and God bless!
Even with the time going by quickly we know we have really only started with all the work we are going to be doing. In some ways it has been good to start off slowly (if I can consider school being the slow start). But, it has been great to get into a routine with school and get a feel for all our responsibilities with teaching before we get involved in all the different ministries and extracurricular activities.
We just bought a dining room table for our apartment, which was the last big piece of furniture that we needed. It is not fun eating on a coffee table every night.
Next weekend we are excited about our staff retreat. The teachers, staff, board and administration are going to be going to "hot country" (meaning down the mountain) to a place for the weekend. We will be staying in a hotel in a beautiful part of the country. We are excited about that and getting out of the city. Bogota is starting to grow on me in certain ways, but we are definetly looking forward to going to some of the more beautiful parts of Colombia.
Keep us in your prayers as we continue to try and raise our final financial support. We are not 100% yet, but God has provided above and beyond what we thought for starting the process so late in finding financial partners.
Thank you for your continued support, encouragement and prayers for us, we really appreciate them. Just to let everyone know ahead of time we did book our flights when we come home for Christmas. So, as it gets closer make sure you contact us (if we don't contact you first) about getting together when we are in...we want to make sure we see as many of our friends and families as possible.
Have a great night and God bless!
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