Last Update from Colombia

Hello everyone

It is with much hesitation as well as relief that I write this letter to you. As most of you know, I have been dealing with debilitating migraines here in Colombia. It is not that I am just experiencing the migraines; it is that they are much more frequent and are hindering my ability to live a normal life.

For those of you who do not know, I had my first migraine last November and from that time until we left for Bogota I had about 8 or 9. Since we have been in Colombia, I have had 17 as of this past Friday. I have missed 8 days of school, church, ministry days and the teacher retreat. Besides the excruciating pain I have from the migraine, I also am extremely sensitive to light and sound and I have very bad nausea. I will throw up anywhere from 10-30 times throughout one migraine. Therefore, we worry about dehydration on top of the migraine. I have had trouble sleeping as well as dealing with a lot more stress, which is also not good for migraines.

The school has known about the migraines and the situation we are in for the past month or so. I have received multiple suggestions on what to do as well as seeing a neurologist here in Bogota. I have tried different medications, but none of them seem to be working. In the end, it seems to be the altitude is the cause of the increase in frequency.

All of this has led to constant communication with the school, talking with our families and friends, and prayer. This past Friday, when I got my last migraine, I broke down in tears with frustration and told Jackie that I couldn’t do this anymore. The first time I had a migraine I could not imagine experiencing what I went through on a regular basis, and now I am experiencing multiple migraines every week.

Therefore, Jackie and I have made the decision that we will be returning home. The adjustment back to sea level (rather than 8,500 ft.) will hopefully get me back to normal. We have notified the school that our last day will be on November 12 and the last responsibility we will have is to go on the high school retreat on November 12-14. We will probably be leaving somewhere between November 16-18. Since we have been communicating with the school, they have already started to prepare for our departure and there are some possibilities that there will be both a PE teacher and 5^th/6^th grade teacher who will be able to step into our places, which is a huge answer to our prayers.

Obviously this has been a very tough couple of months, honestly a lot harder than our decision to come to Colombia. We love the students down here and have developed great relationships with them in the short time. It has been hard on them as they have become more aware of the possibility that we would be leaving. We will be letting all the students know next week about our decision, and we are not looking forward to that time. The friends we have made while we are down here are another reason why this is going to be so tough.

Please pray for us as we start wrapping things up here in Colombia and saying goodbye to all the people we have come to love. We also need prayer for when we get back into the states. We will come back without jobs and with our house still being rented by Jackie’s friends.

We are planning on staying involved with the school as much as possible from home. In fact, the week we return to the states, we are going to be meeting with the director of El Camino Academy at a few colleges (Wheaton, Moody Bible and North Park) for recruiting fairs. We have nothing but good things to say about the school, and if we can help in this way, it will be great.

Jackie and I want to thank all of you for your prayers, e-mails, care packages and encouragement while we have been in Colombia. It is great to know that so many people back home missed us and were thinking about us while we were here. We do look forward to being back home and bringing all that we have learned back with us. We don’t have all the answers for why God called us down here and now bringing us home, but we do know that there are so many lessons we learned and things that we can use for a lifetime.

We look forward to seeing all of you when we come back home.

In His service,

Kyle and Jackie Bjerga

Update 11.1.09

Good evening everyone

We apologize for the lack of posts in the last few weeks. The main reason for this is there has not been a whole lot happening once my dad visited and returned home. Basically our health has been the reason for the lack of posts, since they have been hindering us from doing some of the things we want to do.

My dad came to visit us on Oct. 14-19. We had a great visit with him and couldn't believe he was down here and living with us! He was able to experience quite a bit in his short visit, but we were just happy to be able to have him here and see a little bit of what we have been experiencing. The first and second day he was here there was a ton of rain (we have had very little rain since we have been here) but for those couple of days it did not stop raining. So, the next day when dad was going to come to school with us our teacher bus was about an hour late because of flooding on the highway. The sewer system isn't great here and can't really hold a lot of water, so the main highway in the city was flooded. It also ended taking us about 1 1/2 hours to get to school (when it usually takes 15 minutes). School start a couple hours of late and then they kids left at 11am since over half the school was not even able to get to school because of transportation.

Other than that day everything went as planned...dad was able to see Jackie and I teaching at the school on Friday as well as spend some time with our friends here on Friday night. We ended up having a pumpkin carving party for most of the new American teachers that were here and that was a lot of fun. My dad and I ended up having to carry a couple of 30-40lb pumpkins about 1/2 a mile to the place we were at (a lot of pumpkin seeds in those things).

We were also able to take him to Monserrate and downtown Bogota as well as he was able to come to a church service at the church we are attending. All in all it was a lot of fun and he was able to see and experience a little of Bogota. He was also able to try some of the foods (like the fruit and bread and I think he was a fan).

Other than that for the past couple of weeks we have been laying pretty low. I have had 11 migraines in the month of October and I have missed 6 or 7 days of school. All in all I have had 15 total migraines (as well as one that lasted two days) and it has really hindered us in what we wanted to do down here at the school and the community. I have tried a few different medications as well as visiting a neurologist down in Bogota. The best guess we have is that the altitude is what is causing the migraines to be more frequent.

Therefore, since the medication does not seem to be helping (I had 3 migraines this week) there is a very good chance we will not be able to complete our commitment of 1 year here. It is discouraging and something we are really not wanting to do, but in the end we need to do what is best for my health. Every time I have a migraine I am out for the whole day and every one includes sensistivity to light and sound as well as vomiting many times (I won't mention how many times). So the next couple of days I also am not feeling well and then I get another one. I would say in the last month I have had maybe 7 days where I felt great and the rest I either had a migraine or was trying to get over a migraine.

Please keep us in our prayers as we make this decision as well as trying to figure out what we are going to do when we do come home. There is a lot going on now and we are just trying to take it a week at a time, but in the end we need to do what is best so that I don't have any long term effects.

Thank you for your prayer and support!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!