Hillsong comes to Bogota!

This one time I told my dearest friend, Gladys, that I would go to church with her. I was excited to try a different church and looked forward to spending time with her and her family. When she picked me up at 8:30, she informed me that we were getting to church early for a special, special meeting. I asked if we were going to get to see baptisms or something cool like that and she said oh no, we are going to a special concert. I was thinking a Colombian worship band and was very excited. She kept saying, "I can't remember the name, big, big, big band, very, very big, I think they are from Australia." I gave her a crazy look and said, "you don't mean Hillsong do you?" She said, "Oh yes, Americans know Hillsong?" I began to squeal and jump around in the car and she just laughed and laughed. Needless to say it was a good day to be in Colombia!!! The concert was simply amazing, such a good time of worship. They sang in english, but the words were written in spanish on the screen so you could hear spanish and english during all the songs. My best friend Jamie and I refer to this as Velvet Elvis moments. Colombians know how to worship for real. I kept praising God for giving me such a sweet surprise. Gladys took me to lunch with her family, it was so yummy and fun. They were telling me this crazy story about their friend who is a doctor and was captured by the guriella army 3 years ago. They only kept him for a few months and gave him hamburgers from this special restaurant he requested. Not only that, they also gave him 5000 dollars for some medical work he did when they released him. These Guriella people are very intriging. So, I was getting a little nervous because they told me that the doctor lived in Bogota and that I would get to meet him soon. I kept thinking, he lives in Bogota...he was kidnapped...he lives in Bogota... and finally asked where he was when he was captured. There son, Alex, who is my age told me that the doctor lived in their neighborhood and was taken from his home. My eyes bulged out of my head and I dropped my fork. They all died laughing and were about to fall out of there chairs. He got me sooooo good. The doctor, who I can't wait to meet, was traveling many hours away in the rural mountains. Don't worry family, no one gets kidnapped in Bogota. They took me to a soccer game later on with a bunch of their friends. They are too good to me and have been one of my biggest blessings to me during my short time here. Just this past week they have stopped by on different occasions to bring me curtains, fresh bread, and a huge box of fruit. Praise God for the Alfonso's. Speaking of praises, I'll just list a few:

1.I can't get over how wonderful my first day of school was.

2.My mom and sister sent me a package through a friend coming to Bogota, full of school supplies and some things I wish I had packed.

3.My co-workers have the most beautiful hearts. They love to serve the families at ECA and are involved in the most awesome ministries.

4. The school librarian putt Rosetta Stone on my computer for free!

5.God provided my roomates and I with a gorgeous home. Missionaries from Germany had to go back home for a year and are letting us rent it for almost nothing. Completely furnished and has a full-time gaurd right outside our door 24 hrs a day.

6. I am learning to be a big city girl and can take buses, the transmileno, and hail taxis. God has taken care of so many fears I had about living here.

7. God is growing my love for Colombia everyday.

8. There are tons of oppurtunities to minister to our surrounding community and tons of passionate people to serve with.

Things that BLOW my mind about Colombia:

1. You don't have to refrigerate milk, eggs, or butter. You really don't have to refrigerate anything, or at least people choose not to.

2. The altitude not only makes you feel out of shape when doing any strenuous activity, it GREATLY affects your baking. ( I made two birthday cakes for my fellow teachers last week and it was an epic failure. My friends still ate them because they love me, but I wouldn't waste the calories).

3. It takes 3 days to line dry your clothes. I will never wash my hoodie again.

4. It can take 30 minutes to hail a taxi on national holidays.

5. Instead of snow days, Bogota has traffic days. We actually cancel school due to the amount of traffic sometimes.

6.Bus drivers like to take off with half your body hanging out the door.

7. People are SOOOO generous.

8. My students are SOOOO cute.

9. People drink unreal amounts of coffee that is intensely strong.

10. The food is amazing. The land for carb-lovers.

11. The immense love for futbol!

12.How beautiful it is to pray/worship in spanish and english.

13. Children love their parents so much. Especially adult children, families are very close.

14. Earthquakes aren't even that scary. At least not the tremors we felt at school last week. (all the Colombians ran out of the buildings as the gringos watched everything on their desks shaking in bewilderment).

Prayer Needs:

1.That I will have a successful start to the school year, strong relationships with families and students.

2. That I will have a strong relationship with the high school student that I get to disciple and that I will have plenty of time to invest in her life.

3. That God will let me get involved and be a blessing to one of the many ministries that flows out of ECA. I am hoping to help with a teenage pregnancy home.

4. Safety and health.

5. Learning language and culture quickly.

6. That I will do well teaching an english institute for families of ECA.

7. My Colombian mom, Gladys, is having surgery on Wednesday.