My time with family and friends had been highly anticipated and it couldn't have been better. From the second I saw my nephews waiting for me in the airport until my mom and aunt were driving me back to the airport I was in heaven.
Highlights from time at home:
Getting to go to my home church for 3 different services and spending time with my small group one afternoon. It was great to catch up with them, share about Bogota in person and feel their constant support and encouragement.
Three very important friends came to visit: Sara Davis, Jamie and Caroline. I was so thankful they took time out of their busy Christmas breaks to come see me in SC and had the best time with them. There is nothing like time with the girls who know you better than anybody else. Here's a picture of a girl's night out, thanks angie and heidi for meeting in Greensboro!
Sleepovers with my nephews, seeing them open their gifts on Christmas morning,seeing how much they've grown and changed and getting tons of hugs and kisses from those sweet boys.
Doing last minute Christmas shopping with my brother on the 23rd because he is crazy. We had lunch and coffee downtown, walked around everywhere and got most of the shopping done at the end of the day thanks to Target. He is so fun.
Time with the best big sister in the whole world.
Getting to spend time with my family and celebrating Christmas at my Grandma's house.
My mom spoiled me by making sure I had all my favorite things at home and cooked me the most delicious meals. Truly have the best mom ever.
I made my first venture out to Europe, to the great country of Moldova, to see my love for Christmas. David is there with the Peace Corp. I was able to meet his wonderful friends, some of his host family, hear him speak in Russian, and see what his life has been like for the past year and a half. We stayed busy the whole time and had the chance to go to Romania for a day as well. He took care of everything and even cooked for me a few nights. It was perfect.
I learned all about the inconveniences that can occur when traveling. Lost my luggage both ways when I went to see David, had a 30+ hour layover in Frankfurt on my way home, and found out how comfortable the chairs are to sleep in at the airport. On a positive note, I met the sweetest friend imaginable on the subway who showed me all over her city and had a fun day exploring with her.
I was able to see my friend Katie Parshley Barber get married. It was a beautiful wedding. She had a big part in me becoming a believer in college. I love her.
I prepared a Colombian dinner one night with my family, had a great Christmas party with some of my closest friends at home, went out to see a show with my sister and crazy fun cousins at Cafe and Then Some, was lazy and read books while in my pajamas all day....
SC was hit with blizzard like snow (anything more than 3 inches is a blizzard to me) the night before I was supposed to fly back to Bogota and I was blessed with two extra days with my family. It felt so nice and cozy at my mom's house and the snow was beautiful. I did some serious sledding with my brother and two cousins, made snow cream and was really, really lazy.
And now I am back home in Bogota. It is "summer" here and I am loving the warm sunshine. No torrential downpours or need for a coat during the day. I am hoping not to go into a deep depression when it leaves us next month, I have really fallen in love with it. It was so good to get back to school and see my sweet students. They have been really good since school started back and they didn't seem to lose any of their English over break. We are working on much more challenging content and our classroom is full of excitement all the time. They have absolutely no translation during the day now. The first day that I got back in Bogota was at 5am and I was driven directly to school. One of my favorite students, Santiago, greeted me at the classroom door with a surprise in his bookbag. Thought it might be a nice little welcome back present. But no, it was a scorpian in a jar that he brought to share with the class. They keep me on my toes at all times. I will post more pictures of their beautiful faces soon. Here is my prayer for 2011:
Two exciting things are that I will be taking two extra Spanish classes a week and will be teaching three English classes a week. I won't be teaching my classes at school anymore because we didn't have enough students sign up this semester. I am sad about that because I loved my adult classes that I used to work with. I randomly met the nicest family though who needs extra help with English and they will be paying me the same amount I made at ECA. I will meet with them twice a week. I spent most of the day with them on Sunday riding bikes, eating icecream, having a huge traditional Colombian lunch and spending time in their home. They are extremely generous and joyful like most Colombians. I look forward to getting to know them better and learning about them. The third class is just for a friend in exchange of Salsa lessons, so that will be fun and a good break from my busy schedule. The best part of this whole situation is that I dont have to teach English on Saturday mornings anymore, which means I will get to go on as many Ministry outreaches as I want. I am looking forward to visiting the special needs orphanage that our 10th graders work with. Last weekend we went back to the Penuela house for the teenage mothers. I helped lead a kickboxing class with my friend Claire and it was so fun. The girls got so into it and pretended they were punching boys and kicking them in the face(claire told them to imagine the most disgusting guy they had ever come in contact with). It was a good time for sure. The girls really love any physical activity that we plan because they dont get many opportunities to exercise, next time we are bringing Zumba DVDs with us.
One of the things I realized when I was home that I love about living in Bogota and working with ECA is that I feel like they see my strengths and make sure they are being used as much as possible. This weekend I get to teach two parent workshops on shepherding a child's heart and throughout the semester I will get to lead 3 workshops for our falculty and staff. I am slightly terrified about teaching my peers because they are all amazing and very accomplished, but thankful for the oppurtunity to focus and prepare for something I am passionate about. I am excited to work with parents this weekend and see how they respond. Most of the information is very counter-cultural even for Christian families here, so pray that it goes well. I think it is counter-cultural in the United States as well, just not as much in the Christian community. It is all about not just trying to change a child's behavior, but focusing on their heart. It uses every behavior problem you have with a child and gives you a chance to share the gospel in the most grace-filled way. It has completely changed the way I teach and disciple my students.
I was constantly asked what God was teaching me and what had I learned about Colombia since I moved here. It forced me to reflect a lot. One thing is that I know I want to keep working in full-time ministry with students and families no matter where I am. I love it so much. I am proud to work with an organization that reaches out to so much of Bogota and raises up future leaders with compassionate hearts, intelligence and big ideas. Even though I can say that I see God working everywhere here in Bogota and that there are tons of churches that are thriving and doing great things, there has also been many, many people that I have met who have turned away from the church completely. Many people that I have talked to think that the church is nothing but a business or have been hurt by people so badly that they want nothing to do with it anymore. One reason I think this is common here is because the prosperity gospel message is preached here a ton. If God is not being their genie in a bottle and giving them everything they asked for they are told that they are too full of sin and aren't living correctly. I hate to see that and wish I could change their views so bad. I think my favorite thing God has shown me here though is my love for working with high school students. Just today my Jannett came into my room crying because of something that happened with another student and I got to be the person to help her work through it all. The girls I get to spend time with encourage me a lot. I have been getting secret notes left on my desk for a while now and found out this week that it has been one of my favorite high school girls instead of another teacher like I thought. God is good and I am learning so much. Peace!
