Colombia

Once again it has been way too long (why do all my blogs seem to start that way???????). Well at then end of July I had yet another visitor, my friend Allison came down for a week and we had a blast. We went away for a weekend to like the adventure capital of Colombia and in one weekend went caving, white water rafting, paragliding and rappelling down a waterfall. It was soo much fun. It always such a blessing getting visitors and having them see what I am doing down here cause when I come home and talk about Colombia you have people who actually know what your talking about. It’s a little hard to explain but those of you who have been away from home know what I am talking about. So after Allison left we had two weeks of recreation where we just did basically fun things with the kids. We had a carnival day and we went to this part that had all this cool equipment for them to play on, it was pretty awesome. But the one that they liked the best was going to the zoo. A lot of these...

This one is just for fun.... two bottles of shaving cream later At the zoo Stopping to look at the waterfall on the way to the zoo The cool park we went to

Two of Mary's kids that come up to kids club on Saturday Some of Mary's kids up in Cazuca with the parachute I brought, there were about 70 kids around that parachute..... they go crazy Some of the school kids protesting cause they didn't want to go outside The Girls that I work with and love What we do for fun..... two bottles of shaving cream later

Man oh man where has the time gone....... I can't believe that I will be home in six months and that my time here is half way gone, it real does just feel like yesterday since I left.... well maybe not yesterday but no where close to six months. So what has been happening that past two months..... Well for starters my parents came for a visit in May and that was soooo nice to see them and for them to see what I am doing down here. They came up with my one Saturday to the mission that the Australian "grandma" has and there were about 50 kids more or less. Needless to say after the day they were exhausted and me and a couple other volunteers that went up were telling them that the 16 kids at the school or way more exhausting then these 50 kids..... they didn't believe us untill they came to the school and met the children that are in my life and have worked their way into my heart. Speaking of my school children, its been a little rough on them as there have been alot...

So I apolizige once again for the long time between blogs...... What have I been up to.... I don't know if I told you about this Australian "grandma" who lives in this really dangerous neighbour hood and has a kids club twice a week. She has been here for four years and started out working in the school and then felt the Lord call her to the neighbourhood where she now is which is called Cazuca. I have been there a couple times on Saturdays helping her out and I really enjoy it. Now that I have been there a couple times some of the kids know me and I will be walking down the street and they will come up to me and give me a kiss on the cheek, which is the typical Colombian greeting. Please keep her in your prayers though cause a few weeks back she had workers in her house fixing a few things and when they left they left the window unlocked. The came back about one in the morning, held a knife to her, tied her up and stole her computer, printer, phone and cooking stove...

A paint fight that got a little out of hand but it was worth it to see the smile of the kids faces More of the school kids Some of the school kids that I work with The kids on the bus after school Two brothers that come to the day shelter Some of the kids at the day shelter

Wow….. I didn’t realize that it has been over a month since my last post…. Where does the time go????? So what have I been up to….. I have been working in the school, teaching one class a week, doing one on ones with some of the more difficult kids and kind of just helping out wherever I am needed. I am learning a little more about the kids everyday. A lot of them come from this really poor neighbourhood where gangs, drugs and violence is an everyday reality for them. A lot of them have older siblings who are drug dealers and into gangs and a lot of them come from very violent homes as well. Early last week one boy brought a knife to school and was talking with some of the other boys on who they were going to threaten with it. Now we check the kids bags and pockets in the morning. I don’t know if I really like doing that but I don’t know what the alternative would be, I would hate for a kid to get hurt from a knife. The kids at the school can be really challenging sometimes but ...