Rebequita in Guatemala

2009-04-22T11:56:00.007-05:00

For those of you who don't receive my mailings, here is my most recent update!

Hello all!

I love this time of year! Spring is beginning to gather some momentum, but we still have a few surprise snow storms mixed in! It’s been a long time since I was here to appreciate a Colorado spring, and it is soothing to my soul.

Since I came back to the States almost six months ago, I have been rejuvenated in many ways! Most importantly I have been spending time with my family (and my extended family – grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins and 2nd cousins – when possible). There is great truth to the saying “you don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone” and it’s been wonderful to be together again! I have also been able to reconnect with my church here in Colorado Springs (Sunrise UMC). I have been welcomed back with many hugs and smiling greetings, and have been promptly put to work! I find myself busy a few days of every week with something relating to church – from a young adult group we started for us “forgotten people” too old for youth group but too young for the 30’s group, to a Missions Club for kids on Wednesday nights, to teaching classes on Missions at church retreats and workshops. I am keeping up with my Spanish by working as a medical translator once or twice a week, and recently have started subbing at our church’s preschool. It’s so nice to be home!

Aside from feeling rejuvenated, I have also begun looking toward the future and wondering what the Lord is preparing for me. I left Guatemala last fall, unsure of when I would return, but knowing there was still work to be done there. Since being back in Colorado, I have been meeting with OC, and in January was officially switched from short-term to long-term missionary status! (For some reason they didn’t consider four years long-term…) We have set some goals for me while I am in the States, with the ultimate plan being returning to Guatemala in the future. These goals include reconnecting with my family, friends and church (as I plan to return to Guatemala, I am looking to my family and friends for emotional and spiritual encouragement, as well as financial support in order to continue my ministry), continuing my education (I am currently applying to several Masters Programs in Counseling) and gaining more experience in ministry (in my own language and my own culture!).

So, what does all that mean? What will Rebecca’s life and ministry look like over the next few years? Well, I wish I had it all figured out, but I think the Lord is stretching my ability to trust in His control! The current plan is for me to start grad school in the fall, and to tentatively return to Guatemala in the fall of 2011. These next two years, then, will be ones of preparation and growth for me, and I am unsure what else they will bring! I have applied for several ministerial jobs in Colorado Springs and am still waiting to see what direction the Lord opens up for me. Ideally, I hope to continue working in the area of missions at Sunrise, expanding some of the things I am already involved in and seeking to encourage our church’s global awareness. I am also excited by the possibility of serving at OC’s headquarters here in Colorado Springs, where I could learn so much from my teammates in international missions leadership positions. Since OC considers my time in the States an “extended furlough,” I continue to be dependent upon your financial gifts to carry out my ministry. Therefore I will also be dedicating time to support raising and seeking out new ways of expanding my funding base.

Thank you all so much – whether you have been receiving my updates since I left Colorado in 2004, or if this is your first one – for your interest, prayers and concern. I am grateful for your companionship as I seek to serve the Lord in the way He has called me. May God’s blessings always be felt in your homes and families!

Con cariño, Rebecca Patterson

2008-12-09T11:35:00.010-06:00

WHAT’S GOING ON?! (with Rebecca!)
A little update of the past, present and future of my ministry in Guatemala…

What Has BEEN Happening
Who: Rebecca When: This year Where: Guatemala Why: God’s calling
What: This year has been so exciting, with new ministry opportunities opening up almost every month! I have been invited to preach about missions in several churches throughout Guatemala (we have been praying the Lord would wake up an interest in the country!). I have become more involved with our Pastors’ Wives Bible Education Program – and I have so enjoyed speaking to these women whom God wants to use powerfully in their country, helping them understand how to study the Bible and how to teach it effectively. I have also been asked to join the leadership within my team – specifically looking at how to take better care of our latin missionaries, and how to recruit more Guatemalans for our team! Lastly, I have hosted/discipled several college-age students from the States who have come down for short-term experiences, hoping to find out more about how God might be calling them into long-term missions. Praise the Lord for all of these opportunities to touch hearts and lives!

What IS Happening?

Who: Rebecca When: Now Where: Colorado Why: God’s calling
What: As some of you know, a few months ago I decided to formally make the transition from “short-term” missionary with OC to “long-term” status. Although I have been with OC for four years (I celebrated my 4 year anniversary in September!), I have not yet made the complete transition, due to the time I would have to spend in the States to do so. The Lord confirmed recently that the time had come however, and the first step began in June, when I attended OC’s Internship (a month-long training intended for all long-term missionaries before heading to the field). I returned to Guatemala, excited to continue working with OC, but feeling rather emotionally burnt-out after 4 years on the field, and many ups and downs in ministry, with my team and in my personal life. My team counseled me that it might be the perfect moment to take the next step in my transition, which is essentially spending an extended amount of time here at home to raise support (a short-term budget is very different from a long-term budget). Therefore, with the blessing of my team, OC, my family, and Sunrise (my home church), I recently made that transition! I have been back in Colorado for about two months. I am currently working on the process of paperwork at OC, updating my supporters, deciding on a fund-raising strategy and will hopefully be working part-time as an interpreter and ESL teacher while I am here. My estimated time-frame is anywhere from 6 months to a year….depending on how God provides for my support. I look forward to personally sharing with each of you while I am back! I will be updating my blog more frequently now, and will post when I have a firmer idea of what OC is asking of me, both in this time and in order to return to the field. Thank you all for your continued support, prayers and interest in what the Lord is doing in and through me! Please do not let up in this time, as I will not be able to continue without it! (I will also be posting updated information on how to begin to/continue to support me financially)

This is me at Internship over the summer with the other girls in my mentor group!

What WILL Happen?

Who: Rebecca When: Next year Where: Guatemala Why: God’s calling
What: As the Lord has begun to open new doors in Guatemala this year, it was a little difficult for me to understand His timing in brining me back to the States now. However, as I think about returning, I know the doors will continue to open! As part of the training I received this past summer, I began to get a clearer idea of specifically how the Lord has equipped me to serve Him, and my ministry vision has become more defined. While back in the States, I hope to take advantage of resources and people to train myself for these new areas. In the future, I see myself continuing to pour into pastors’ wives in Guatemala, discipling young leaders in how to grow their own ministries, and developing materials and resources for children’s ministry (in Spanish as well as eventually in indigenous languages), missions development (to teach the church how to think about missions) and many other areas of need. Please continue to pray with me and partner with me financially in order to see these goals reached!

May the Lord bless you, also, as you continue seeking how to serve Him, and as together, we continue reaching out to touch a world in need. I hope to hear from you in this time while I am back, please be in touch!

2008-02-12T12:20:00.000-06:00

HOUSEGUESTS

When I first moved into the house where I live, I was a little concerned, because I thought, it's a big house for just Sweetpea and me! But I knew there would be a purpose for it, and in this past month I have begun to see it. In January, I was able to host Arturo and Anita Jiminez - a Guatemalan/Salvadorean couple who spent the last year in Spain as missionaries! We were able to process some of their experiences, talk about the culture shock they experienced in Spain (even though they speak the same language in theory, it is a very different world from Central America!) and think through some of the ministerial obstacles they faced. Then last week, I hosted Beth Malingowski, a girl who will be coming to work with SEPAL full time in the spring! Over the last year, we have seen several families from our team go back to the States, so getting to meet Beth and see her desire to be here was a real boost for our team's morale! While she was here I took her to meet with all of our teammates, to see some of the sights here in the city and we talked a lot about what ministries are available to her when she comes back! It was a wonderful time and we are all praying for her to hurry and come back! I am so thankful for the opportunity to use what I have to bless others - like being able to open my house for people passing through - and I am so excited to hear the stories they have to share about what God is doing in them!

2008-01-01T10:59:00.000-06:00

CHRISTMAS! What a wonderful time to be with family, drink eggnog and reflect on the past year. I am so thankful for my family, my friends, a job that I am passionate about and the opportunity to be excited about what I do every day! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2007-11-28T09:26:00.000-06:00

Since I have been living in Guatemala, one of my favorite things to do is share my life and ministry here with my friends and family. During the week of Thanksgiving, a team of 26 people from two churches in Colorado Springs (Sunrise and Good Shepherd UMC) came to participate in various ministries throughout Guatemala! We worked at an AIDS hospice, with street children, at the local hospital, and in a rural church - teaching Vacation Bible School and helping to build a new community center for the church. It was great to see my parents, our missions committee from church and other couples and families serve Guatemala, experience new and stretching ministries and try new things! Another aspect of the trip which I really enjoyed was watching some of my Guatemalan friends grow, as we invited them to participate with us in ministry. Some youth from my church here in Guatemala, who had never been on a mission trip, left their homes and families for a week (quite an unusual thing to do for this culture!) and helped us teach VBS and work with children. Since then I have been helping them process the experience and they are truly excited about a future role in missions! For me, the neatest part of the trip was seeing how, regardless of where you are from, what language you speak or whether you prefer hamburgers or black beans, there is a place for you in what God is doing around the world, if you are just willing to give it a try!

2007-11-01T08:29:00.002-05:00

October was a month in which I realized I needed a little break...and boy, did I get one! My parents invited my boyfriend and I for a short visit in Colorado where we went to the Denver Aquarium, I spoke at my old college and with my church's youth group, and attended a reunion of friends from my semester abroad in college (LASP)! We also got to see the beautiful Aspen trees changing colors - something which I have missed living in Guatemala, where the seasons are hot, hot and rainy, or cool and rainy! =) After a week and half in Colorado, Hugo returned to Guatemala and my parents and I went on a church-sponsered trip to Greece and Turkey, to "Follow the Footsteps of Paul." It was an amazing time of beautiful and historical sights, learning a ton, relaxing a little (but just a little - they wouldn't let us give in to jetlag!) and seeing passages from the Bible truly come alive! We were able to visit Athens, Corinth, the sights of the 7 churches to which John wrote in Revelation, the island of Patmos where he wrote Revelation and Istanbul (where we visited the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia - and also witnessed a protest in the streets!), to name just a few! Praise the Lord for opportunities to learn, times to rest and for parents who bless me so much!

2007-09-11T12:44:00.000-05:00

THREE YEARS AND COUNTING!

Today I celebrate my three year anniversary of working and ministering in Guatemala! I arrived on September 11, 2004 and looking back, I can't believe how much I have grown, changed, learned and experienced over these past few years. I have been able to accomplish all this only through God's grace and the support of family and friends. Thank you to all of you who know and love me, and to God, for his guidance. Here's to many more years! =)

2007-09-08T13:49:00.000-05:00

WHAT AN ADVENTURE!

This past week I traveled to the little town of Sebep, with three other teammates from Sepal to teach pastors and their wives in our Bible Education Program (PEB). The town is about eight hours of travel outside the capital, some of it on rough roads (the scenery was amazing!), and is located so high atop a mountain that most of the time all you can see is mist, and the weather is FREEZING cold! You can see how many blankets I had to sleep under just to prevent frostbite! However, our time with the pastors' wives we taught was wonderful! We worked with them on learning some basic Bible stories (they often can't read or write and while their husbands have studied the Word a little, the wives don't usually have a solid knowledge of Scripture), we made various crafts (to develop their motor skills so they can one day learn to write, and to help them make some income by selling their work), and we taught about the concept of calling, and how each woman is special, is called by God and can be used by Him. Many of these women have never heard anything positive about themselves, and so it was quite a meaningful time. Unfortunately, there were a few "inconveniences" that made the trip a true adventure, though! There wasn't really a bathroom in the area we were at, and just to stay clean we had to rinse off at an outdoor sink - which wouldn't have been too bad, except the weather was so cold that the water was almost frozen! We also had car trouble on the way home and were stranded in the middle of nowhere for four hours! But God is so good to take care of us, and a few Guatemalan men just happened to be passing by and stopped to help us! I don't really think any of them knew much about cars, but between everyone we got back on the road and got home safely! All in all (even in spite of the "inconveniences"), it was a wonderful experience and I look forward to working with these women again next year when they return for more classes!

2007-07-07T13:43:00.000-05:00

STEP

Every summer, a group of college-age kids come down to Guatemala to work with Sepal for the summer. They learn basic ministry skills, travel all over Guatemala experiencing various service opportunities and see first-hand what missions is all about. This summer I was able to help out with the Steppers during their training week here in the capital. We had a full week of culture training, learning songs, games and children's bible stories in Spanish, participating in ministries around the capital and learning how to work together as a team. We had a really good time getting to know each other, and I got to share a little about what it's like to come down after college and start a life in another country, living out what you feel called to do. We also got to support some Guatemalan friends of mine in their ministry to needy children in a town near the capital - the Steppers got to put into practice the stories, dramas and games they had just learned and the kids enjoyed seeing their efforts and receiving our attention. However we are praying that this summer will be about not just touching the lives of the children and others to whom we get to minister, but that it would also change the lives of these students as they seek to find out whether their future will bring them back to the mission field.

2007-07-06T11:26:00.000-05:00

Home, not-so-sweet home

So, sometimes things don't work out the way we plan them... That's what happened with the cute little house I had been renting since January here in Guatemala City.

One night in May around 10:30, I started hearing noises at the gate of the property where I was staying (many houses in Central America are either inside a gated community, secured by policemen, or, as mine was, by itself but surrounded by a large gate topped with barbed wire). Some men tried to break in, but fortunately I was able to wake up my neighbors who went outside with me to scare them away. I thought things would calm down, but in June there was another attempted break in. The second time, however, the men actually got over the gate and were outside my front door...really and truly they were only a couple of feet away from me! Talk about spooky! But God is so good, because somehow I found the courage to yell and bang around and let them know the police were on their way (while I didn't actually know that for sure, it seemed like a good thing to say!).

Needless to say, it was time to find somewhere else to live. Fortunately, I was able to find a nice house, not far from where I lived before, but this time within a gated community (in fact, it is the first house right inside the neighborhood, and my bedroom window looks down right into the guard post)! There is plenty of room to spread out, my puppy has a beautiful park right next door to play in and the best thing of all is I can sleep soundly at night instead of having one ear always atuned, listening for suspicious noises. I am still looking for a roommate to help with expenses, but I feel fortunate to have been able to move so quickly (again the credit goes to God...how else could I have gotten out of the contract at my old house - a nearly impossible feat, found a new house, signed the contract, and moved all of my stuff in only three days?!).

It has been an interesting time here lately, for me, because in addition to the attempted break-ins, my car was also broken into around the same time, and my wallet, phone, housekeys, books and notebooks from school and all my CD's were stolen. My reactions were a mix of fear, saddness and anger...I had always been told that if I just stuck to the safe parts of town, at reasonable times of day, I should be perfectly safe. Well, my car was broken into at a gas station a couple of blocks from my house and I always thought where I lived was a good part of town. I struggled quite a bit with understanding why these things were happening to me, why not just once but three times I felt threatened and unsecure, why things weren't going the way I wanted them to go when I was doing everything I thought I should be doing... And then I realized...I tend to trust in myself way too much, to depend on myself to be able to manage things. And not just physically, but I often have that mentality in my ministries, in my relationships, in my spiritual life...If I just follow the steps that I think are best, if I just apply myself, if I just work hard enough, everything will be fine.

As I looked back at the three "incidents" that happened, I began realizing how easily something much worse could have happened. Just one little squeeze on a trigger, just one minute earlier or later, and everything could have turned out differently. That's when I realized that it really doesn't matter how in-control I think I am...I'm really not. And sometimes it takes extreme situations to learn, or be reminded of, really simple lessons.

2007-07-06T10:47:00.000-05:00

CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE

So...not everyone is a fan of change, but sometimes life seems to hit us with a lot of them all at once. For any of my friends and family who didn't get letters from me, let me take a second to update you on the changes in my life lately...
A couple of Sundays ago – while visiting my family – the pastor at my church in Colorado spoke about how we suffer in the present, but there is a future glory we can hope for. The message made me cry. These last six months have been a time of present suffering, but I am beginning to see the twinkling of a future glory.
Have you ever been standing outside a door, trying to jimmy the handle, wanting to get in, maybe with a little rain coming down, balancing a few grocery bags, your car keys, your purse and your cup of coffee, hearing the phone ringing away just on the other side of that door? And then you realize that, even though it wasn’t supposed to be, somehow the door is locked? Hopefully someone came and opened the door for you.
These past few months have been a time of me standing outside the door I thought was open, and waiting for God to let me in. In January, I returned to Guatemala to begin working at an orphanage just outside Guatemala City. Due to various factors – conflict with the national director of the orphanage, differences in vision and standards, and other difficulties within the orphanage not relating to me – it has become clear that God wants me to find a different door. Through this time of patience and waiting on God, trials have come one after another, and with them, at times a desire to just say, “ok, I give up!” But right at that moment is when I spotted a second door, and the good news is God already had it open and waiting for me!
Starting a week ago, I returned to work with Sepal (the organization with which I have served for the last two years)! I was able to return to the ministries I have loved since I began working in Guatemala in 2004, such as training and motivating pastors, church leaders and Sunday school teachers, and developing educational material for teaching about missions. I am also a part of the Sepal team again which means being able to serve with a “family” instead of on my own.
For any of you who have been supporting me financially, this also means a change in the giving process. As many of you know, my ministry and my life here in Guatemala is dependent on the support of my friends, family and church. My monthly budget goal is $1000, which covers my rent, utilities, gas, ministry expenses and personal needs (such as groceries, gasoline and phone cards to call home!). Any donations made are tax-deductible and you will receive a receipt from Sunrise United Methodist Church. If you are already supporting me, please take note of the change in address below, and if you feel led to begin offering support, please see the instructions below.

Donations can be sent to:
Sunrise United Methodist Church
2655 Briargate Blvd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80920

*Please make out any checks to Sunrise UMC and write “For Rebecca Patterson” in the memo line.

God knows what we need, and even though sometimes we may think we understand, God may be waiting for us behind a different door. Thanks for your love and support and may you always find your door!

2007-03-21T11:20:00.000-05:00

UNIVERSIDAD RAFAEL LANDIVAR

I started classes at Rafael Landivar University in January (the school year goes from January to November here) and I love it! I am studying for my Master's degree in Strategic Studies which is a program within the school of Political and Social Sciences. The school is really beautiful, with a great view overlooking the whole city, and is about 45 minutes from my house. I have had some neat classes so far - Contemporary Central American History, Contemporary Political Theory, Globalization - but the hard part is each class is 5 hours long (5 straight hours of Master's level spanish!!). Fortunately, there is a really good coffee shop on campus, and with enough caffeine I can handle anything!

2007-02-01T12:02:00.000-06:00

Casa sweet casa...

There is nothing sweeter than coming home at the end of the day and walking into a place where your puppy is waiting to greet you and you can relax, rest and feel comfortable. I was so blessed to find this little house for rent in December because it is located in the same part of town (San Cristobal - sort of a suburb of Guatemala City) where I have lived since I came to Guatemala two and a half years ago. (By the way, the blue gate is where I pull my car into the garage, and the blue roof is my house! You can see the front door through the opening in the gate.) All of the other North American families that I know live in the same area, plus San Cristobal has lots of trees, not too much traffic and is close to my church and the orphanage where I am working. Over the last few years, I have had lots of living experiences - living with Guatemalan families, living with North American families, living with a North American roommate - but I must definitely say that having my own space is a luxury I took for granted in the States! It's nice to be able to cook my own meals (I only have to eat tortillas and beans if I really want to!) and take a shower without having to coordinate times! Plus the area where I live has lots of birds so when I wake up in the morning I feel like I am in the middle of a jungle! My parents have also been a blessing to me - when they came down in December to lend a hand with the move, they helped me find some great furniture, hang curtains and put up mirrors and lights. Of course, not everything about renting my own place is great...for example, I usually spend the first couple of days every month paying bills that in the States we can just pop in the mail. For example, rent, electricity, water and the phone bill have to paid at the actual company, where of course, the rest of the city is waiting to pay as well... It's definitely a cultural experience! But, on the whole, I am extremely grateful for a home where I can recharge my batteries and be myself, and for the people who support me so I can live here. Plus, I have a guest room and a pull-out couch, so there is plenty of room if anyone wants to come for a visit! =)

2007-01-01T13:27:00.000-06:00

These last three months, from the middle of September to the middle of December, have been so special for me as I have been able to spend quality time with my family and friends here in Colorado. For the first time in two years, I have been able to unpack in my old room, attend church with my parents, and make plans with my friends for next week! I was blessed in this time with a part-time job at a preschool (sharpening my skills for when I get back to Guatemala!) as well as with the chance to work with the Sunday School, program at my church in Colorado, trying to integrate missions for kids into the curriculum. I have had a time of rest and regeneration that I truly needed (but didn’t realize I needed until I got here!). It has been so nice to be surrounded by English, a familiar culture and snow in the wintertime! I was also able to use this time to write a thesis paper to qualify for the Master’s Program I will be starting in January in Guatemala. These three months have truly flown by, but have been filled with great memories like pumpkin-carving with my family for Halloween, helping my very good friend stuff all her wedding invitations and teaching my preschool class what a missionary is. My time at home has been so wonderful that it is with mixed emotions I say goodbye – until my next trip home!

2006-06-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

Luis Fernando, Danilo and Fatima... These are just a few of the very special little friends that I have had the privilege to meet over the last three months. My friend Becky and I began a ministry to children in the public hospital here in Guatemala City, and we go visit once a month with the other youth from our church.
It has been a truly impactful experience to witness the standards of a hospital in another country. I have seen cockroaches scurry across the wall beside a sick child's head, I have seen 10 year old children left alone for weeks in the hospital because their parents had to return to their homes to care for the other siblings, and I have seen kids unable to wash their hair, brush their teeth or eat because they have no money to buy soap, toothpaste or utensils - things they are expected to provide for themselves.
But it has been really exciting to see the youth of my church rise to the occasion, collecting hygiene supplies, crayons and coloring sheets, water and other supplies, and devoting their Saturdays to visiting these children, playing with them and praying with them. I think all of our lives have been blessed by these children's smiles and hugs, and we hope they have been at least as blessed as we have.

2006-05-04T23:42:00.000-05:00

This week, I added a new member to my family! Her name is Sweet Pea and she is absolutely adorable! I think she is a cocker spaniel/labrador/chow mix -- mutts make the best pets! She is unbelievably well-behaved and she likes to take naps on my lap. She also provides excellent companionship... now, if I could only convince her to sleep through the night! =)

2006-05-03T07:47:00.000-05:00

So, some of you may be wondering...does Rebecca actually do anything in Guatemala, in between all of her traveling? =) Well, I have had the privilege to be involved in some amazing things here in Guatemala over the last few months...allow me to update you!

Since October of last year, I have begun to travel one or two weekends a month with a small team of people from the Church of God (the denomination of my church here in Guatemala City). We go to cities up to three and four hours outside of the capital and meet with groups of Sunday School teachers, offering them a full day of training in how to work with children. Unfortunately, the mentality of Sunday School in Guatemala (and most of the world, I think!) is that we need to get the kids out of their parents' hair while the pastor is preaching. They need to be entertained with games and songs for awhile, so anyone can be their teacher. However, if we miss the opportunity to really teach and mold these children, we may lose the next generation of the Guatemalan church! My specialty in these training times is teaching the Sunday School teachers how to teach missions to kids. 70% of the missionaries that are serving in the world today received their call to missions before the age of 14 -- so if we don't teach Guatemalan children about missions, we will lose a huge percentage of the future missions force!

I have also been working on an exciting project with another teammate from Sepal -- Prayer cards of unreached people groups for children!! They are bright, colorful, full of information that is interesting to children, and offer hands-on activities for kids to do related to each people group. We have been working on these cards for almost two years now, and are finally coming to the publishing stage! It has been a long process, but it will be so exciting to see these cards being sold all throughout Latin America and Spain, and thinking about all of those children who are being exposed to the needs of people all around the world!

I am also part of a women's ministry in Sepal, whose purpose is to train intelligent, working women from the capital in how to teach, and then take them to rural areas of Guatemala to teach other women. Just last weekend we offered a training in Spiritual Gifts to a group of women, helping them realize the value they have and gifts they have to offer the church. We are currently reading John and Staci Aldredge's book "Captivating" (the female version of "Wild at Heart" - if you haven't heard of these books, check them out!) and hoping to offer a course soon explaining the unique way God made women. There is a great need in Guatemala to build up the self-esteem and position of women in society.

These are just a few of the many amazing ministries I am able to be a part of here in Guatemala. God is doing great things in this country and I am honored to be a part of it.

2006-05-02T09:05:00.000-05:00

Druglords, kidnapping, violence... These are some of the stereotypes that come to mind when we think about the country Colombia.

Delicious food, kind people, pastors in need of training...
These are some of the realities I encountered during my time there last week. I traveled with 3 teammates from Sepal Guatemala (the mission organization I work with here in Guatemala) to visit some of our Colombian teammates in Sepal Colombia. We spent a week training them in material that they can use to train Christian leaders, pastors and Colombians who want to be sent as missionaries to other countries. We also took some time to do some sightseeing and appreciate the beauty of Colombia. The trip was a great opportunity for me to try out my skills as a translator (it's a tough job!!) and to visit a country that I had been dreaming of visiting for years! (I finally convinced my parents that just because all the news coming out of Colombia is bad doesn't mean that I would die there!)
The only dark spot in the trip occurred our first night there... I managed to eat some bad chicken salad on the plane on the way to Colombia, and so I was miserable our first night with our host family! I spent the whole night in the bathroom and by the time we got up the next morning, I was weak, tired and the farthest thing from my mind was eating breakfast. Well...our host family, being good latin hosts, had breakfast waiting for us, and would have been quite offended if we had rejected their culinary efforts our first morning with them! But, I figured I could stomach some coffee, bread, eggs - pretty much any "normal" breakfast food I could probably handle. Colombian breakfasts are quite varied, however, and I'm sure you can imagine the delight I felt when I sat down to the table and was served....FISH SOUP!!! I assure you, I had to fight with all my strength not to let the tears run down my face! I managed to get about half of it down, and it was actually pretty tasty (when I tried to forget that we were eating it for breakfast and that my stomach had been doing gymnastics all night!)!
Our time in Colombia was wonderful, in spite of my digestive difficulties, and the most dangerous thing we encountered was the fish soup! I truly enjoyed my time there, especially because we were able to encourage and fellowship with our friends in Sepal Colombia. I look forward to my next opportunity to return to Colombia, but this time I'll pass on the chicken salad...

2006-02-24T12:43:00.000-06:00

The Holy Land! I was fortunate to spend 8 days in February in Israel with my parents and a group from their church in Colorado Springs. It was an incredible experience to see Jewish men with their curls and prayer shawls, walking down the street beside young Muslim girls in their head coverings, old Orthodox priests in their black robes and Catholic nuns with their simple brown dresses. I was impacted by the contrast of the beauty of the landscape (mountains, desert, oases, rivers) with the ugliness of the great concrete wall being constructed through the country.
We were able to visit Bethlehem, Nazareth, Capernaum, the Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives, the Dead Sea, Masada and Jericho. Unfortunately, every place where something "holy" may have happened is now dominated by elaborate churches, tourist groups and flashing cameras. It made it a bit difficult to meditate on the significance of being in those places,while we were there, but since being back, as I read about places I have seen with my own eyes, I have found time to make those connections.