Update: September 24 - Oct 3

I've been in Colombia a little over a week now. Here's a little bit of what I've been doing here in Colombia so far:

So I arrived in Bogota, Colombia late Saturday night and was picked up by Alex, a young man that serves in the ministry here at Bogota. Sunday morning, I went to church with Steve (He and his wife Evie head up the Formando Vidas ministry). After church, I was invited over to Alex's place and got to meet some of the older teenagers / young men that live with him. He has about five or so youths that live with him – sort of like a mentoring program from my impressions. We talked, ate lunch, and had a good time.

Although I spent the first couple of nights in Bogota in the ministry house which they used to house guests, on Monday I went with Steve and Evie to the outskirts of Bogota where they have three homes and a cabin. I'm going to be staying in the cabin with a young man named Chuy who's 21. (His name's pronounced like the English word chewy.) He's from Venezuela and knows some English. Altogether, out of the three homes that they have here on their property they take care of about nine kids at the moment. I got to meet some of the other volunteers and staff here on the “farm” (which is how they often refer to the land here that has the three houses and the cabin). That afternoon, I helped Peter with some work around the farm. Peter is the same age as me and is bilingual. He grew up in Formando Vidas since he was very young.

On Tuesday, Chuy and I went to Cazuca which is an hour or so from Bogota. In Cazuca is a woman named Mary who moved to Colombia from Australia and has been with the ministry for eleven years. Since 2007, she has been working with the kids and families in the neighborhood of Cazuca. In the morning on Tuesdays, Chuy runs a soccer program for some of the older boys. In the afternoons, there's a kids' club that Mary runs in her house. From 2:00 – 3:00 the younger children can come and play with games and toys in a playroom which is the first floor of her house. (She lives up on the second.) Then, from 3:00 – 4:00 it's the older kids' turn. The clubs meet every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday. Fridays are similar to Tuesday with the exception that the kids in the soccer program come to Mary's house to play instead of having the soccer program. On Saturdays, it's a time for Bible study and teaching the kids about Jesus. Mary was telling me how her vision was to have a time to build relationships with the kids (which we do as we play and interact with them on Tuesdays and Fridays) and then go further by giving them God's Word and helping them learn more about Jesus. Altogether, it was a long day, but a good day.

Wednesday and Thursday Chuy, Leidy, and I (Leidy is one of the older girls that lives here), did some work around the farm. Friday and Saturday, I went with Chuy again to Cazuca to work with the kids. On Saturday morning, the soccer group came to Mary's house to have a Bible lesson and then we all went outside to the soccer court so the kids could practice some soccer drills and then play a game of soccer. After the soccer group, we helped with a group of little kids that came to Mary's house. We sang songs and talked about how the Holy Spirit is the one who gives us joy in our hearts. The kids then colored a heart as a craft to go along with the lesson.

On Sunday, I went with a couple of the families on the farm to a church in town that they attend called La Calera. Today (Monday) we went into town for a meeting. Every Monday, everyone in the different ministries of Formando Vidas get together and have a meeting. We sang worship songs (in both English and Spanish since many staff are bilingual and a few only speak either Spanish or English). We had a sermon from a pastor who was visiting from Venezuela and then we had a time of prayer.

Thank you to all of you who are praying for me and for the work God's doing here. Please keep it up. I have also uploaded a few pictures. To see them click on the link at the top right of this blog.