Brrr!!!!

Well folks....I'M HOME! After a pretty crazy last couple weeks, I'm back sitting in the comfort of my home. First thing I said when I walked out of the airport, "Oh my gosh! I can see my breath!! This is awesome!" Needless to say, that excitement of being out of the 100-degree weather has already worn off, and the cold is just brutal. But oh well...I'm still excited for snow. :) But anyway....I suppose I should tell you some of what went on for those last couple weeks in Colombia.

I guess the last time I "talked" to you guys it was while I was in Barranquilla/Santa Marta. Well yes, that trip ended great. We got home Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon I had English class. Wednesday was time spent with Tyron. Thursday was Thanksgiving! That was quite the day. I loved it....but really only b/c it was Thanksgiving and it's really hard to ruin a day in which I have both turkey and mashed potatoes. Otherwise, the other details of the day were not so good (only one football game was on TV, it was way way way too hot to do any more cooking than was absolutely necessary, etc...). I know - very small disappointments in the grand scheme of things, but James and I were looking forward to a nice all-American Thanksgiving Day. Oh well. :)
Friday and Saturday were both spent with the kids, doing both English and basketball. Sunday was church and the typical DOR (day of rest). Monday was spent doing a lot of studying and thinking and praying. Tuesday was spent w/ the kids again (English).
Then on Wednesday morning I got up early in the morning and left for the airport to head to Bogotá to meet up w/ James (who had gotten there Monday). That was a very cool trip. It was great to see such a different side of Colombia (not to mention a completely different climate - the weather was perfect). We had the opportunity to meet w/ the director of ECA (El Camino Academy), an English-speaking Christian school, and the only school in Colombia from which you receive both an American diploma AND a Colombian one. Very cool school. We also got to meet with a few of the coaches that James had worked with when he lived in Bogotá before. After hitting up different American restaurants for pretty much every meal, Friday came quickly and we both flew back to Cartagena.

Saturday was once again spent with my kids, but since the upcoming week was going to be my last one there, we made some plans to just kind of hang out and not do any formal practices or classes or anything. [Sunday was a typical Sunday - church and football] Monday we got the guys together and played some basketball and took them out for pizza and just hung out w/ them. While we were eating pizza though, James and I took that opportunity to once again bring up the gospel. As I have mentioned in previous posts, this isn't the first time I've talked to them about it, but we both just felt like we should bring it up again before I head back to the States. Well after we were done talking four of the kids said they'd definitely think more about it and stuff and get back to us on Wednesday about it. Well Wednesday rolled around and we planned a beach day. Unfortunately only one of those four kids showed up (there were others, but not ones that had shown much of an interest in the gospel). However, while we were hanging out on the beach and playing in the water, I took advantage of a little alone time I had w/ Andrés. I asked him what he was thinking about in regards to Monday's conversation. He just responded, "I want whatever it is that you and James have. I want to change my life. I'm sick of doing bad things all the time." So after a little more explaining by me, Andrés (while we were just standing out there in the Caribbean getting hit by the waves) prayed that the Lord would forgive him of his sins, come into his life, and begin to change him. :) Brothers and sisters.....we have a new family member!!

(me and Andrés right after he accepted Christ as his Savior)

Three days later I had to leave and come home (this past Saturday), but man....what a way to finish things up!! I was so excited. :) What an amazing God we have! I have some big decisions ahead of me as far as where I'll be exactly when I head back down there and everything, but I will let you know more about that in the future. For now I just wanted to let you know some of the [very] exciting news of the last couple weeks there. If you could pray for some more direction for me for the future though, that would be great, thanks! :) Love you all, and none of this would be possible without your prayers and support! God is good!

Fun and Travels Along the Coast

Hey everybody! So as you know, the last couple weeks have been pretty full for me (although they have been quite enjoyable, so I certainly can't complain!). It started with my friend from Moody joining me here for 10 days. We were able to visit Rosario, the white beaches (picture on left), as well as check out all the different events from the holiday week that was taking place at the same time.
As you can see from my picture on the right, when a lot of Colombians gather in one place, like at this parade, things get a little out of control. :) This little girl was just some random girl I met there that turned into my arch-enemy in a huge shaving-cream war. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm pretty sure she won.

Also, just yesterday I left with James and Sandra to check out some other coastal cities that aren't too far away. So we arrived in Barranquilla last night (where James and I promptly went to a local pizza place with 2 HD-TV's and caught the Eagles-Bears game....to all my Chicago friends out there....HAHA!).
This morning James and I woke up bright and early and took a taxi-van thing to Santa Marta, where I was able to check out Colegio Cristiano La Esperanza, the Christian school that the group from Hilltown was able to help build 10 years ago or so (and as my dad was part of that group, I was very excited about this). So James and I had the opportunity to talk with them and get a tour of the school. We were both very impressed with the school and it's curricullum (especially that there is an American girl there teaching English through another missions organization). We think it would be very cool if we could manage to partner with them in some way, but just have a lot of praying and waiting to do to see where God leads. Tomorrow I will have the chance to see a little bit more of Barranquilla in the morning before we hurry back in time for our Tuesday English classes in Cartagena. Well, that's all for now...I just wanted to update you guys on the exciting news of being able to visit the school and everything like that. I will post more in the upcoming weeks with my travels to Bogotá and possibly some pictures of Barranquilla. As always, thanks for your prayers and God bless!! I'll leave you with one last picture of the school (as I understand you Hilltowners helped build the 3rd floor).

One Last Month

Are you kidding me? Where has the time gone?! I can't believe I'm down to just one month remaining on this trip. I've got some exciting things to tell you guys though.
Now that James and I have had the opportunity to really start building a relationship with some of these kids, we have moved on from just teaching them English and training them in basketball. I now have the opportunity three times a week of sharing a devotional with them. It's been amazing. They've been so responsive. Yesterday I actually shared about laziness and how it is a major contributor to poverty (don't believe me, check out Proverbs). I was a little bit nervous as all these kids come from a very poor background, and I didn't want to come across as judgmental despite my still-somewhat-limited Spanish. It went so well though, as they totally opened up and talked about experiences they've seen in their own life about how laziness is so prevalent among the people they live with and even in their own lives. I've been slowly building up to the Gospel-presentation I have planned for this upcoming Saturday. So please be praying for that time!!

Another HUGE thing that is an answer to prayer is that God has [somewhat] revealed to me what He has for me in this next step in my life. I have decided after much prayer and talking to people close to me to come back down here full-time. I'm not exactly sure what the time-frames would look like, but I am kind of thinking I would head back down here around Jan 2011 and be here for around 5 years or so (and then see what happens from there, obviously). So thank you so much for your prayers in that area of my life, and continued prayers would be greatly appreciated as there is now a great deal of prep-work to be done for when I get back to Colombia.

Finally, let me give you a little peek at what's up for the final month that I'll be here. This next week is crazy in Cartagena as it is pretty much just a huge party week. All the schools have off and it's just one big ole fiesta that is finished off next weekend with the Miss Colombia pageant here! As fun as all that sounds, it is also a bit of a pain, because it adds insane amounts of traffic and it now takes about twice as long to get anywhere. But oh well, like I said, it's only a week long. One of my friends from Moody is visiting and while she is here we're taking the time on Wednesday to go to Las Playas Blancas de Rosario (aka....The White Beaches of Rosario). I'm excited because I hear it is just absolutely beautiful and a must-see/do while here in Cartagena. So it should be a nice 1-day vacation that I'm definitely looking forward to. Then during the third weekend in November (well...the 22nd-24th) James, Sandra, and I are headed to Baranquilla and Santa Marta to do some more ministry-scouting. On top of being able to check out some different schools in those cities (including the Christian school that the group from HBC helped build in Santa Marta a few years back), it will also be a good opportunity for me to just check out some other cities here in Colombia. Then that Thursday is Thanksgiving, so we plan on making it an All-American Day. Playing some American football in the morning, followed by a great turkey dinner, followed by watching football the rest of the day. :) Then, the following week (the first week in December), James and I are headed to Bogotá for a few days so I can check out the massive capital city, as well as see El Camino Academy (ECA), an English-speaking Christian school there. So I'm certainly excited about that. And then finally, the last week I'm here, we're planning on doing a fairly big camp as our last hurrah. So needless to say, this last month is going to just fly by!

Thanks again to all of you for your prayers, and hopefully this will help direct your prayers a little more. I love you all and am so excited for your willingness to partner with me in the saving of lives here in Colombia. May God be glorified in all we do!

Let's Go Phillies!!!

Hey everyone. I just wanted to show my support for the Phillies by dedicating a post to them. Haha, just kidding. I've got some ministry stuff to talk about too. :)

The professional season is officially over as the team lost last night to get swept in the first round of playoffs. Although, for James and I the season had really been all-but-over for over a week now as he was no longer coach (as described in the previous post). The good news is that I believe all the players got paid, so at least that got taken care of.

Also, we've had some really great new kids coming to the English classes. They're going very well. One kid has really stepped up as a leader in the class, and that has been a HUGE help to me cuz he helps keep some of the other not-so-well-behaved kids under control so I don't have to handle all of them by myself.

Well that's about all for now. Love you all and thanks for you prayers, as always. :)

Big Changes

Hello everyone.
I want to begin this post by once again thanking you all for your prayers. God is definitely working down here, but it can get very hard sometimes to see what He's up to! This last week was yet another example of that....
First of all, dating back to last Saturday (a week from this past one) we found out that the people in charge of the team (Lucho and Andres, who were really great trustworthy guys) had been "overthrown" in a sense by people with more money, essentially. Sadly, this new group of people are the corrupt ones we were trying to avoid this whole time. Well....they have since promised money to players and coaches and so on, but it has yet to come through. Therefore James had given them an ultimatum that if he was not paid by a certain time (this past Friday), he was out because he just did not feel right working for such corrupt individuals. Well this past Friday rolled around....still no money.....so James stuck to his word and he's out!

On top of that, because of the financial situation w/ the team, they had to move Joey (my roommate) out of our apartment to another place w/ another player to save money. Well this essentially forced me to move as well, because I could not afford to live in this place all by myself...too big, too expensive. So I had to find a new place to stay in less than 24 hours, haha. Thankfully though, God provided and a studio had just opened up in the same apartment building! So I just had to move a few floors down, and now I'm all settled in living on my own.

But anyway, back to the situation w/ James....we're not totally sure why God's doing what He's doing, but one thing's for sure....we're gonna make the best of it and follow His lead. The fact that he is no longer the coach of the professional team opens up a TON more free time for him to begin to help me focus on the 144 Program, which will be a huge blessing, especially since he will be the one continuing it after I leave in December. Speaking of which, he has been able to spend some good time today and the past few days developing the website. You all should check it out! It's got some more details regarding the program, as well as a way to donate to the program.
http://colombiafca.org/

Alright, well I promise to not take so long to update again. There is some exciting stuff going on here, and will let you know more about it ASAP!





My Boys on the team!
(Joey, the former roomie, on the far left)







Continue to pray for the team as I have gotten close with many of the players and would be crushed if it turns out they don't get paid or something like that. Also, prayers for the 144 Program are continually needed. Thanks again!!!

BMOC (Big Man of Cartagena)

Hello again everybody! Miss me? haha
Anyway, sorry for the lack of update in a while. There's not a whole lot new to be said necessarily except that the English classes have officially started up and everything. We are still looking for more kids though, so that is taking some time. Got to visit 2 more schools today and talk to the administration there about the 144 Program. So thank you for your prayers, but please continue with them! :) Again, the professional team here could use a lot of prayer. More financial problems and other issues that I probably shouldn't go into too much. But just pray :) thanks!

In other news, it's just been really cool getting to know the city better and stuff. It's pretty cool to be walking around and people calling out my name because they all know and love talking to the gringo. haha. And even if they don't necessarily know my name....they know i'm affiliated with the professional team, so they will constantly ask me how the team is doing and so on. It's just nice to finally feel like i'm starting to fit in and get to know some locals. Not to mention some of our favorite restraunts in the area....they know us the best of all. haha. All we need to do is walk in and say "lo mismo" (literally "the same"......or.....the regular) cuz we have our favorite meals at these different places, and they all know them. Oh, and in case you didn't catch the pun in the title of this blog.....BMOC usually stands for Big Man On Campus (it's a college thing, ha).

Anyway, I guess that's all for now. This week is a big decision week for some things with the team, so there are possibly some major changes going to be made. If that's the case, I'll have an update for you. If not....well....talk to you again later! :) Love you all and I can seriously never thank you enough for your continued prayer support!

Hello Again

So wanna know something crazy? I've been here in Colombia for over a month already! Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. :) Anyway, sorry it's been a while since my last update. There has been a lot going on here, but most of it being somewhat political stuff about the professional team which has been pretty tough on James. So while it certainly does effect me (as one of my roommates, a player on the team, has been sent home and is being replaced by another player due to money/other reasons), it has been far more of a battle for James. So he could use a lot of prayer to stay encouraged in this ministry that he's doing.

As far as I'm concerned though - my first English class for the 144 Program is going to be this Tuesday (Lord willing)!!! I have spent the last couple weeks working on all the details of the program and preparing some curriculum for the classes, as well as visiting some local high schools to talk to administrators and basketball coaches about some kids I can work with. So yeah, some more prayer for the program in general and the classes more specifically would be great! :)

My schedule at this point looks pretty much like this....

• Workouts every morning (9-12ish) either with Tyron (a 17 year old 6'9" kid) or with the professional team
• The much-needed siesta every early afternoon after lunch :)
• 144 Program work (Tuesday/Thursday English classes or workouts or prep work) from 4-6 in the afternoon
  
• Either practice or game with the professional team every evening
• Dinner very late after all that
• Sleep
• Repeat :)

Saturdays are pretty similar to that schedule and then Sundays are my day off (with only church and usually the beach scheduled in).
So there you have it. Welcome to my life here in Colombia! It's pretty great. :) Hope everyone is doing great back home. Thanks so much for your prayers, and they will continue to be very coveted. Love you all!