Singing Praises and Exploring God's Wonderful Creation!

Exploring God's Wonderful Creation
1. Visit to Parque Nacional Chicaque with the McCollum's - Colombia requires a mandatory break from school each semester.  So, I took this time to go visit a beautiful national park here in Bogota called Chicaque.  I spent the day hiking up and down the Andes Mountains with Bob, Vicki, Kaitie, and Melissa McCollum.  Another family from ECA also joined us and I was able to learn all about the indigenous trails we were walking on from the father.  It was neat to be out in God's creation and think about the people who used these trails to escape to the nearby town back in the 1600's.  I felt like I was walking in the Rainforest, especially when it started to downpour on us.  My legs felt like jello as we were hiking back up to the car - and it felt so good to collapse next to Kaitie and Melissa as I reached the top of the steps.  Praise God for being able to explore and see his beautiful creation!

2. Camping with CDC - Camping...in Colombia???  My Colombian friends from church decided to go camping for one night.  We left right after church and it immediately started raining!  Anyone who knows my family knows that whenever we go camping - it is 100% guaranteed to rain :-)  We hiked to our camping place (which is not easy to do when you live in the mountains!!)  The rain let up and I had a wonderful time getting to know my Colombian friends more.  Having to talk Spanish for two days was actually really fun!  I also got to teach my new friends an American jump rope game called "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear".

Here is a picture of my lovely tent-roomies for the night!  My teaching friends, Megan and Allie, and I were joined by two of our Colombian friends, Paula and her sister.  We had so much fun snuggling up at night to fit all of our sleeping bags.  To keep the rain out, we put an extra blue tarp over the top of our tent :-)  

Always ready with our umbrellas!!!  This is my friend Mayra and I as we finished setting up the tents.  What a sweetheart she is!!  We all had a lot of fun playing, dancing, and singing in the rain :-)

"Let the word of Christ ¹ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ² in your hearts to God".  Colossians 3:16

Singing Praises
1. Leading Worship for Elementary Chapel - Here is video of our Elementary Chapel Time.  I taught the 1st-4th graders a song about Integrity that I learned from my home church, the Orchard.  I LOVE that my students in Colombia and kids back home in Chicago are both singing the same praise songs to Jesus :-)  

                                                            God Looks on the Heart
                                              I will be real like Jesus!  I will be set apart! 
                                     While other looks on the outside, God looks on the Heart!

                               Where I live, the clothes I wear?  How I look, the color of my hair?  
                                                  All these things no longer matter most to me!

2. Surprise Praise Song - As I was reading my student's writing journals, I came across a sweet song that one of my students wrote to God.  My eyes were teary as I read this.  What a blessing  and opportunity God gave me to see the heart of one of my students.  How precious and sweet to see the Lord working in her heart!

"I feel like it was god praying for me and helping me. So, the God I have in my heart is SO BIG!!  Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him!!!!!!"



Prayers/Praises:
Please pray for me and the 3rd Grade families - we are having heart issues of how to be good friends and bullying.  May God give me guidance on how to minister to these hurting families and students.  I love them so much!!!

For growing relationships with all of my students - that I would be able to connect well to each and every one of them!  There is one that God has laid on my heart to connect with more :-)

Please pray that my heart would be guarded from attacks on my abilities in ministry - that the Lord would remind me of his promises and his purpose for me being here this week!!

Te quiero mucho!!!
Carrie

TIC

This is Colombia!! - We "Americano's" use a phrase when we learn something new about Colombia or for something that really uniquely describes Colombian culture.  For example - having to plan twice (or triple, even) the amount of times to do things - This is Colombia (TIC)!!!  One person being done eating when someone else at the table hasn't even gotten served - This Is Colombia (TIC)!!!!  I experienced playing hide and seek with one of my students and a few other kids from ECA this past Friday at our monthly Teacher Chill-Out.  I was quickly claimed to be "IT" after I caved to their puppy dogs eyes that were begging me to join them.  Sadly, I didn't tag anyone, however I had spotted all of them trying to hide from me as they made their way back to the base.  Little did I know, but I could have run back to base and called their names WITHOUT having to tag them - typical hide and seek rules here in Colombia.  Duh, Miss Bergmann!!!!  TIC :-)

Also, watch out for moving buses!!  A group of us were heading home that evening and had to catch a bus.  In Colombia, one person goes to the front entrance to pay for everyone and the rest can hop on the back.  Since it was raining, I was still closing my umbrella so I could enter the bus as it started to pull away.  I quickly had to hop on (which was scary) causing my computer to get stuck in the door!  This is not my first experience with a scary bus - even entering from the front can be difficult as they start moving when you are still on the steps waiting to pay.  TIC :-)

Taste of Fall:  The Lord has been gracious to me in allowing me to experience my favorite season that doesn't really happen here in Colombia.  This past Friday at Teacher Chill Out, Roberto and Cherie Green served us cooked pumpkin!!!!!  What a treat for me as I absolutely love anything with pumpkin in it.  Another surprise is that my apartment complex put up fall deocrations all around the Puerta (or Guard Entrance).  How fun it is to see all of the pumpkins and scarecrows around!  It's not exactly like home, but I am very grateful to get even a little taste of Fall here in Colombia :-0

"I will tell of the LORD’s unfailing love. I will praise the LORD for all he has done. I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel, which he has granted according to his mercy and love."  Isaiah 63:7

The Lord is faithful to provide even the smallest of things for his children - and they are worthy to be praised!!  So, I am praising the Lord and rejoicing today for pumpkin :-)

Hogar de Paz y Vida -
This past Saturday, October 6th, I had the joy of returning to the Special Needs Orphanage!  I am starting to recognize some children and are learning their names.  I spent some time with Sarita (a baby) as she was full of smiles while playing with a caterpillar. Then, Paula and Lily came and sat in my lap.  They were able to say a few things to me, so I started singing to them in Spanish.  They kept looking at me as I sang them "Jesus Love Me" and "Yo Tengo Un Amigo Que Me Ama" (I have a Friend who Loves Me).  I asked them (in Spanish - of course!) if they knew that Jesus loved them.  The smiled really big and nodded their heads, YES!!!   I kept singing, and encouraged them to sing with me.  They just smiled, but it was so sweet because they kept asking me to sing again :-)  Lastly, I spent some time with the more severely handicapped adults.  This young woman, Claudia, started smiling as I came near to her as she was being fed.  I said hello to her and she responded so energetically that the person who was feeding Claudia let me feed her :-)  Oh, how such small things can make a difference!

How blessed I was by taking time to serve these precious lives for the Lord today.  It reminded me of verses in my favorite book:

"Above all, love one another deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins.  Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.  Each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others, faithfully adminstering God's grace in it's various forms.  If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides so that in all things GOD may be praised through Jesus Christ.  To Him be the glory and the power, forever and ever!" 1 Peter 4:8-11

I think, sometimes, we forget that really small acts of service and kindness are really God's grace being administered in such a variety of ways.  No gift we have to offer that comes from Jesus is ever too insignificant to truly impact another's life. 

"For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28.

Blessings,
Carrie

Mail, Earthquakes, and Youth on the March!!!

You've Got Mail - I received my first mail from the states!!!  A letter came from my friend Ashley Koniak the other day and it truly brought a smile to my heart.  Thanks Ashley :-)

Earthquake! - I experienced my first earthquake here in Colombia this past Sunday morning.  As I was sitting in church, the speakers for the worship band started shaking and I could feel a little movement on the ground.  Southwest Colombia got hit with a 7.1 earthquake (Bogota is in the center, so we weren't too close) - luckily they are reporting that no one was injured.  Praise the Lord!!  I knew there was reason that one wall in my classroom is labeled "Earthquake Wall"!

Teaching Integrity - Shepherding my student's hearts :-)

So, two months into the school year and the true hearts of my students are being revealled!  This week, I have had issues come up of how to be a good friend, being honest and taking responsibility for our actions, and taking things that are not ours.  How hard it is for 3rd Graders to understand their sinful hearts!  My heart was saddened at how hurt some of my students were. 

 

“The law of God is not easy for natural man. Its standard is high and cannot be achieved apart from God's supernatural grace. God's law teaches us our need of grace. When you fail to hold out God's standard, you rob your children of the mercy of the gospel.”  - Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp.

 

This week, my students definitely experienced how high God's standard is that he calls them to - and how their hearts are so inclined to follow their sinful desire to get what they want!  We have talked this week about how when they begin to see the sin in their hearts, they can learn to pray and ask Jesus in that moment to give them grace and help them act differently.  As we talked as a class about being better friends, I mentioned how Jesus responds to those who are mean to him - with no retaliation or means words back!  I asked my students how Jesus was able to do this and they responded by saying:

 

"Because he thought about others more than himself!  Miss Bergmann, it's just like our memory verse from Isaiah 53 when it talks about how Jesus was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and like a sheap before his shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth!" 

 

Oh, that my students would learn to respond to each other with grace, just like God does to each of us everyday :-) 

 

Youth On The March! - This past Tuesday night, I got to skype with the Awana kids from the Barrington Campus of the Orchard Evangelical Free Church!  What a blessing this was for me to see all of my precious children again :-)  They had such wonderful questions for me, such as:

 

Are there venemous snakes in Colombia?  (nope - not even any bugs!)

What are your apartments made out of?  (Stone and bricks - just like in the United States!)

What do you eat? (Rice, rice, rice, really big avocados, and ...cheese with caramel for dessert - Yum!)

  



God is so good to give me the support, encouragement, and prayers of some wonderful K-5th graders!!!!!!!!!   Thank you for being "Approved Workmen who Are Not Ashamed" to pray with me and join me in the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Colombia :-)

 

Blessing of friendship from supporters:  When ministry gets hard and makes you weary, nothing lifts you up like catching up with friends and family from home.  I love getting to hear about your lives.  It makes me feel like I am not missing out on so much!!  However hard this may be, Jesus is completely worth the sacrifice and I am grateful that the Lord has allowed me to have such great partners in ministry!

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this: that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. - Phil 1:3-11



The Lord brought these verses to mind and filled me with incredible gratitude toward your partnership in the gospel.  Thank you to all of you who are praying for me and just like Paul said - I hold you all in my heart and long for you with the affection of Christ Jesus!!  Thank you Mom, Dad, Kristin, Mike, Kendra, Margo, Wendi, Aunt Mary, Madeline, and Nicky!!  You make serving Christ in Bogota, Colombia so much easier.  By pouring into me, you are pouring into each and every one of my students! 



 Prayers/Praises:

• My nephew, Joshua, just had to get stitches after bumping his head on an ottoman.  Please pray for quicky healing of his precious forehead and peace for my sister and brother-in-law as they watch and comfort their little one through this traumatic experience!
• My sister, Kristin, as she has only 5 weeks left until the arrival of my new niece or nephew!!  Pray that she gets some rest these last few weeks of the pregnancy
• Guidance as I continue to shepherd the hearts of my 3rd Graders - pray that God would teach them how to be a friend to one another, even when it is hard!
• Please continue to pray for my ability to speak Spanish!
• Please pray for Nicky, the student I took care of the past two years, as he transitions to having new people around - that he would be loved and genuinely taken care of!

Because they haven't heard,
Carrie