Digging Roots - Making Colombia feel more like Home

Fun/Random Stories:
The Lord is continuing to teach me how to be flexible - no access to a copier/printer or the help of my aide last Friday and Monday!  In amongst the chaos and wondering how I am going to get through the day (without copies of worksheets or the daily routine of how my aide helps me), Jesus is teaching me to let go of control and that HE ALONE is truly dependable and trustworthy.

Brittney and I made our first fire in our fireplace at our apartment and enjoyed a really nice evening bonding/praying as roommates last Friday night :-)  Nothing like friends, hot chocolate and a fire!  What a blessing in ministry to have wonderful, godly people to encourage you (just like many of my supporters back home are doing as well - thank you to those who I've gotten to talk to and pray with since I've been here!!)  We also celebrated Mandy's birthday and had a fun time taking her out to a Mexican resturaunt last Sunday.  Praise the Lord for a great living situation for me here in Bogota! 

I got to dress up as a fireman and spray my students with water this past Friday!!! It was super fun to have a visit from the Colombian Fire Department - but not so fun when they made me wear the heavy gear and race another teacher to the fence and back!!!   This is not something that students in Colombia get to see very often, so it was a great experience for them.

Diggin Roots - Serving with my students and finding a church home here in Colombia

Hogar de Paz - Despite the fact that they arrived over an hour late (and we were hungry!), what a blessing it was to invite the students from Hogar de Paz to ECA.  My 3rd Graders enjoyed a nice lunch with their new friends - while I gently reminded my ECA kids to talk with their new friends and not just with each other (You can speak Spanish if you do!!)  It was wonderful to see them come out of their comfort zone and make new friends.  I led a worship station and taught the kids two worship songs so the kids from Hogar de Paz could practice English.  The kids had fun teaching them our Integrity Theme Song - God Looks on the Heart!!  We also taught them one of our favorite worship songs:

Cuan Grande es Dios by Chris Tomlin

El esplendor de un rey, vestido en majestad
la Tierra alegre esta, la tierra alegre esta!
Cubierto esta de luz, vencio la oscuridad
y tiembla a su voz, tiembla a su voz!

Cuan Grande es Dios!

Cantale, Cuan grande es Dios

y todos lo veran cuan grande es Dios!

Can you guess which song this is??  It's hard learning a new language!!  This song is "How Great is Our God" and it was a blessing to see my kids singing and teaching their friends songs to worship Jesus.  Please continue praying with us that the Hogar de Paz students will feel comfortable and welcomed by all of us at El Camino - some of them were really hard to get to know!  We were able to collect a donation of books to give to our new friends - which was hard for some of my students to give up their own books, but they did! 

Finding a church - I have been feeling like nomad, a Christian without a church community or home to be a part of (different church each week - invites from students to visit their churches)  The Lord answered my prayers this past Sunday and gave me clear vision with where he wants me to be here in Colombia - God is SO good, right!!  My desire is to immerse myself with the culture and get to know Colombians who are not apart of the ECA community.

I started off this past Sunday by listening to Pastor Colin's sermon from his series, "Beauty from Ashes".   Wow!  It felt wonderful to hear a teaching from God's Word that was challenging and uplifting - to define and apply what the "poor in spirit" means in Matthew 5:1.  He defines "poor" or humble in spirit as someone that knows his own standing/place before God, and ones who gives up the idea that God owes him anything.  He also taught that humility of spirit is birthed by grace, and pride is an indicator of being far from God because He can't be around/close to something of this nature.  It really opened my eyes to the difference between denying your abilities and being humble.  God gives all his children gifts, but it is the poor in spirit who recogize those gifts to be from God alone.  What a way to start my Sunday!!  This definitely helped as I have really been missing my church home lately, and helped me feel connected to them as they all gathered for worship last Sunday.

I decided to try out a church I had tried my first Sunday here in Bogota and had wanted to go back to ever since called Centro de Desarollo Christiano.  It is the Colombian church that Bob and Vicky McCollum attend - missionaries from the Orchard who are also here in Colombia.  I didn't want to choose a church based on where part of my Orchard family was going.  But, I wanted to give this church another look.  They have a young Adult Sunday School with very warm and welcoming people, wonderful praise and worship, and a great sermon (that I could partly understand...more that I have since I have been down here!).  The Lord showed me during the service how I could become involved and be a part of this church community.  God has already blessed me with the start of friendships with two young women (Stephanie and Myra).  Oh, did I mention that the power went out during the last praise song, and right before the sermon?  This happened at my home church once, and I have been blessed both times to see two different church communities come together to allow the worship of our Lord Jesus to continue :-)  I am so thankful that I finally have a place to worship with fellow believers here in Colombia!!!!!!! 

Lead me to the cross/Guíame a la cruz
 

Lead me to the cross (Guiame a la cruz)

Where your love poured out (Lléname de Amor)
Bring me to my knees (Sobre mis rodillas)
Lord, I lay me down (Me postro a tus pies)
Rid me of myself (Líbrame de mi)
I belong to You (Pertenezco a Ti)
Lead me (Mi Cristo),
Lead me to the cross (Guíame a la cruz)
 

Prayers/Praises:
Health and healing for some of my students.  Some have been out for almost a whole week with sore throats and fevers!
That God would draw me close as I am starting to really miss home and all that I am missing out on in the lives of many people I love :-)  Praise God, though, that I do get to talk with my family and that I even get to pray ocassionally with a precious friend from back home.
Please pray for the relationship between me and my classroom aide - that we would work together for the sake of the 3rd graders and that we would grow closer as a team :-)
Continued prayers for my Spanish abilities!!  I'm slowly getting better...
Ministry is tiring work, so please pray Matthew 11:28-30 for all who are engaged in work for God's kingdom, especially for me as report cards are due and there is so much I still need to learn as a teacher!!

Blessed is the Man...

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields it's fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.  In all that he does, he prospers."  Psalm 1:1-3


Faculty Retreat - All ECA teachers and administrators took last weekend and went away to CAFAM resort in Melgar for a retreat.  Our speaker was Ruth Cortez - who is the grandmother of 4 current ECA students.  She spoke on the topic of Integrity.  What a blessing this was to get to know more people at ECA in a deeper way and to be challenged by a women with such godly wisdom.  We definitely got closer as a team (literally, when we had to all pile onto one bus and sit two or three to a seat plus luggage when our other bus broke down - welcome to Colombia!!!)  What struck me the most about integrity is that when she defined it she included the source of where our integrity is to come from - an intimate relationship with Jesus!  I always think about integrity as things that you "do" or actions that you either follow or don't follow.  But, obedience should not come out of a sense of obligation, but out of a heart that is responsive to the Lord!  Proverbs 4:23 - "Above all else, guard your heart, for from it flows the well-spring of life!" As we grow closer to the Lord, our love for Him and what he did for us on the cross will help us WANT to live lives of integrity.  The times when we don't show integrity are times when we are not truly drawing close to Jesus.  This was convicting to me and I pray that Lord will reveal and sanctify areas of my life where I need more integrity!

Visit from RCE President - Brett Howard

As a missionary with Resourcing Christian Education, I was truly blessed by a visit from Brett Howard this week.  I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with him about life here in Colombia and what my needs are here at ECA.  Since Brett has a few connections with my home church, the Orchard, it was fun to sit and talk with him and be encouraged by his heart for helping missionaries.  We were all treated to a wonderful dinner out at the World Trade Center here in Bogota and felt very appreciated by our sending organization, RCE. 


            

               T H A N K   
                   Y O U    
               B R E T T ! !



 Social Service with Hogar de Paz - We have our first social service event this coming week!  The students of Hogar de Paz Foundation will be visiting the 3rd Graders at ECA on Wednesday, September 19th.  Hogar de Paz Foundation works with students who are struggling and were identified as the most at risk kids who would not make it in life without someone stepping in to help them.  The foundation takes in these children, provides them a more stable environment to learn and grow in, and shares with them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Their school does not have a lot of resources available to them and the students do without basic needs such as classroom books.  As a class, we have been praying for the Hogar de Paz foundation and are collecting books to donate to their school.  On Wednesday, my 3rd Graders have the opportunity to share the gifts that God has given them with their less fortunate friends - computer lab, library, art, and worship in English!  I am super excited to meet our friends on Wednesday and pray that we can show them the love of Christ.


 Prayer requests/Praises:

• I was very humbled this week when I was invited to be the Missionary of the Year for the Awana (K-2nd) children's program at the Orchard - Barrington.  I have taught these precious children and have been involved with this minsitry for the past 5 years.  What a blessing for me to stay connected with them!  "Youth On The March!!!!"
• For refreshment and rest after two really busy weeks!
• If it is God's will, for an older ECA student that I can possibly mentor - that God would be building relationships between me and any student that would lead to one-on-one discipling.
• Pray for our time with the students from Hogar de Paz this coming week - that we would be a blessing to these students as we seek to make friendships with them and show them the love of Christ.  Pray that my 3rd Graders will show love, be welcoming, and be a blessing to these students from Hogar de Paz who need the light of Jesus.
• For me to depend on God as I seek to teach my 3rd Graders about Integrity - which is harder than I thought! This high calling can sometimes leave me discouraged - for increased faith that the Lord is working in each of their hearts (that is not dependent on my failures or successes)