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If We Love Him…

July 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

J.C. Ryle, in his book Holiness, explains how our love for Jesus should manifest itself. 

He writes:

  1. “If we love a person, we like to think about him. We do not need to be reminded of him. We do not forget his name or his appearance or his character or his opinions or his tastes or his position or his occupation… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
  2. If we love a person, we like to hear about him. We find a pleasure in listening to those who speak of him. We feel an interest in any report which others make of him… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
  3. If we love a person, we like to read about him. What intense pleasure a letter from an absent husband gives to a wife, or a letter from an absent son to his mother… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
  4. If we love a person, we like to please him. We are glad to consult his tastes and opinions, to act upon his advice and do the things which he approves… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
  5. If we love a person, we like his friends. We are favorably inclined to them, even before we know them. We are drawn to them by the common tie of common love to one and the same person… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
  6. If we love a person, we are jealous about his name and honor. We do not like to hear him spoken against, without speaking up for him and defending him… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
  7. If we love a person, we like to talk to him. We tell him all our thoughts, and pour out all our heart to him. We find no difficulty in discovering subjects of conversation… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
  8. Finally, if we love a person, we like to be always with him. Thinking and hearing and reading and occasionally talking are all well in their way. But when we really love people we want something more… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!”

Holiness, (Darlington, England: Evangelical Press,) 247-249.

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Gaining perspective in Bogota

July 27, 2011 By 7 Comments

Bogota Team's Paperbag Puppet Craft!

Hola Amigos!

It is now the end of our second day at Luz y Vida, and we are currently at Annie’s house.  Annie is cooking us dinner tonight and we are helping with some maintenance and cleaning while we are here. The girls did some painting (we forgot to bring painting clothes, so we turned all of our clothes inside out– including our pants– and we look awfully silly!) The guys are doing some plumbing/electrical work too and putting some fixtures up in her bathroom.

It’s been a great day. This morning on the bus to Luz y Vida, the girls were talking about our next blog and how we were going to tell you all that we have fallen madly in love with Bogota and we are all going to stay here. (Rich would of course have to move here as well!) We have all decided on our new careers here: Laura is going to be a dog walker and a teacher. Bekah will be the school nurse at Luz y Vida and she just informed me that she also wants to take up veterinary medicine.  I have found my calling as a salsa dancer, believe it or not (all those Zumba classes have apparently prepared me for Bogota as we found out at Annie’s party last night).  Craig, Josh and Tyler are going to stand on another’s shoulders at street lights and juggle machetes and flaming torches (we saw some other guys do this, and collect money from cars stopped at the light).

OK, seriously, let me tell you why we love it here. First of all, it’s beautiful. The city we had seen the last couple of days has far exceeded our expectations. Secondly, these kids at the school are just so awesome, and the ministry is completely inspirational. Third, we want to be fluent in Spanish. You should hear Annie speak in Spanish, it blows us away. Fourthly and most important, the people we have met so far are so amazing and so much fun!

Annie's Birthday/Latin Dance Party

Camilo, Julian and Alex in the Formando Vidas bus

Annie has been the best hostess, but we’ve also been made so welcome a lot by other Formandos Vidas staff.  Alex lives in the apartment connected to the place where we are staying called 127 House. He is originally from Venezuela and has been in Bogota for 13-14 years and has literally raised 15 children (none of which are biologically his children); children that needed a stable home and family. Note that he is only in his early thirties right now. Alex is also one of the funniest people we have ever met! There is never a dull moment when he is around. It is hard to explain his humor in a couple words, but he is dramatic, silly and always full of energy and a lot of hilarious facial expressions— you just never know what to expect from him. He is also a really scary driver, but we still appreciate of his driving since he has driven us around A LOT.  He only knows a little English; he is a ridiculously great dancer (and very over-the top in that too). The dinner he and his cousin Edwin cooked for Annie’s birthday party was the fanciest, most fantastic thing we’ve ever eaten! We have been spoiled! Edwin is currently going to chef school, so yeah, Rubaix Team, we have a chef too.

Cuisine for Annie's Birthday Dinner (Vegetarian Version)

Alex also raised 2 other guys that we’ve spending time with: Julian and Camillo. More on them in a later post (see the photo above).

So… like i said, this morning we were just bubbling over with how amazing this experience in Bogota is and how different it is than what we expected. Then, after school today we walked to where Annie lives now. This is definitely not the same kind of neighborhood as where we’ve been staying and spending most of our time. It’s pretty scary here. Annie is more than grateful to have the accommodations she has, but we are kind of sad to see where she is living. Don’t get me wrong, she has definitely been making the most of her house, it feels homey and inviting, but it is not the kind of living conditions we are used to in the States.  It hit us once again at the kind of sacrifices she has made to do the Lord’s work. So, our perfect, beautiful Bogota is not quite so, but it doesn’t change how we feel about the people here!

Well I’ve blabbered on enough, and I’ve managed to miss some more cleaning duties, so it’s time to wrap this up. I want to tell you more about the people here, the kids and share some prayer requests for both the team and the Formandos Vidas ministry which i will do in the next post.  I hope these pictures post OK today. I’m posting one of Alex, Julian and Camilo in the bus which has been our transportation; one of us and our new friends at Annie’s party last night (after we danced for HOURS!) and the Team today with our paper bag puppet crafts! We won’t be posting photos of the kids for their own safety, but we have tons of photos to share with you all when we get back!

With love,

The Bogota Team

Filed Under: Blog

Our first day at Luz y Vida School

July 26, 2011 By 2 Comments

Hola amigos!

This is only our 3rd full day here, and it feels like we´ve been here over a week! We´ve met so many wonderful people and have had some amazing experiences so far. Our Spanish has even come a long way since we first got here!

Today we came to Luz y Vida School for the first time. We will be here for the next 3 days too. The kids are so great!!! There are 14 kids here today, ages ranging from 5 to 13. Our team has been working on a daily schedule of activities and lessons for months, but we knew that we might need to be pretty flexible with our schedule and play it by ear a bit.  So after we got a tour of the school and met all the kids, Tyler led some name games so that we could learn all the kids names, and they could learn ours. We all had a lot of fun with these games! Then Annie read a book about Noahs Ark and we emphasized that God was Noah´s guide in buiding the ark, which is the the theme of the day ´´God is Our Guide.´´ We then had the kids try to make paper boats that would float without instructions and then gave them instructions to show how hard it was to do all by themelves. We then floated the boats and tried to see how many marbles they would hold. After that, we played ´´mine field´and the kids had to instruct their blindfolded partner around some obstacles. Then we played in the park a while, which was my favorite. These little kids sure know what to do with a soccer ball (Craig is pretty good too)!

On another note, today is Annie´s birthday!!! There will be a party tonight at Alex´s house (more on Alex later) and we are invited!

I mentioned in the earlier post that we would be organzing worship music, games and devotions for the Formando Vidas staff meeting on Monday (yesterday). We didnt have much time to prepare, but it went very well! Bekah played the acoustic guitar (which was awesome) and we sang a bunch of songs in English and Spanish. We had a chance to meet and find out more about a lot of the staff, where they came from and what they´re doing in the ministry.  We touched a bit on thankfulness and remembering what the Lord has done for you and done in your life in our time of devotions.  Which leads me to this – we are all so grateful to be here and be having this experience! It is incredible to see what the Lord has done through this ministry, and it is also just such a blessing to be here in Bogota and to experience the culture and people firsthand.

Thank you all for your prayers and posts! It means so much to know you are praying for us. We will post more photos later and write more about the wonderful people we have met here, and also, just how impressed we are with Annie and the amazing work she is doing! But for now, I am missing all the fun with the kids, so I´m going to go!

Love,

Heidi and the Bogota Team

Filed Under: Service and Missions

July Update

July 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Hello friends!

As I begin my 3rd summer away from home, I find myself missing the seasonal changes of summer- cooking on the grill, camping, fresh peaches.  But, at the same time I find myself more and more deeply content here in Bogotá.  A member of a visiting short term team said to a friend and I “you guys have the best job in the world”, and I realized, right now, I wouldn’t trade what I do for anything.

Attached you’ll find my latest newsletter where you can read about some of what makes me love what I do as well as see some fun photos of the kids on their field trip today.

As always, you can find more frequent updates on my blog: www.iwillliftupmyeyes.blogspot.com

I’ve added an album to facebook, also from the fieldtrip today, but of scenic shots and not kids due to the more public nature of facebook.  You can see those pictures at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.618121692564.2107634.55301511&l=56d16ee204&type=1

And, just in case you’re still interested in Torre Fuerte house picture updates, our “guest room” now belongs to my new housemate, Rae Ann, and I got it painted just days before her arrival.  Check out the last 8 photos at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.578343967444.2099311.55301511&l=147f270159&type=1

Financial Support Information:
For tax deductible giving make checks payable to “Formando Vidas”  Enclose a separate note with my name on it.  Send checks to
Formando Vidas
c/o Robyn Patzig
4520 Shadowridge Dr.
The Colony, Texas 75056-4064.

Mailing Address:
Annie Blakeslee
JUCUM
Street Children’s Ministry
A.A. 59340
Bogotá, COLOMBIA

Filed Under: Service and Missions

“No one can serve two masters”

July 25, 2011 By 1 Comment

Here is a great article from The Gospel Coalition reminding us that money is God’s and not ours.  The author is very specific about the fact that we should seek contentment and not becoming rich. In Matthew 6:24 Jesus said,

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

I hope that this article will meet you where you are at and that it encourages you to be content with everything that we have.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2011/07/17/generous-and-content-with-our-money/

Filed Under: Blog

We’ve arrived in Bogota!

July 24, 2011 By 10 Comments

Hola from Bogota Colombia! We arrived here safely last night, and by God’s grace, we had absolutely no issues traveling! Annie and friends from Formando Vidas were waiting for us at the airport (Craig wanted you all to know that he was the very first one of us allowed in the country). We had quite a bit of luggage so we were happy to see a small bus would be taking us to where we would be staying. The bus ride was a little rough (think Wild Cat at Hershey Park) but we were so happy to be here, we laughed the whole time. We arrived at the 127 House where we would be staying around 8pm Bogota time (we’re one hour behind PA). We met some of the Formando Vidas group and some bread and cocoa before bed.

C-O-L-O-M-B-I-A

Today we went to church with Annie and it was amazing! The church is a Bretheren and Christ Chruch and pretty small; around 50 people. Everyone was incredibly nice and we got to practice Colombian greetings (everyone kisses on the cheek, except when guys greet other guys).  The worship music was awesome and lasted about 45 minutes, and was of course in Spanish, but we managed to sing along. Some of us speak/understand Spanish better than others. But lucky for us, we have our own translator – Annie! She translated the entire sermon for us, and it was a very powerful message.

We did a little shopping, then went for lunch at “Crepes and Waffles” (eat your heart out Roubaix team!) and it was delicious. Then we climbed up 310 steps and some steep brick ramps up a mountain for a spectacular view of Bogota at Parque el Cerro.  This was no small feet since we are still adjusting to the altitude here and it can be hard to breathe walking around, let alone, hiking up a steep mountain!

Tomorrow we are meeting with Formando Vidas staff and have prepared worship music, games, devotionals and topics for discussion for the group. We are very excited to meet more Formando Vidas staff; those that we have met so far have been so hospitable and friendly.  We start working at Luz y Vida school on Tuesday.

We all feel so blessed for this opportunity and we are so thankful for your prayers and support. We have been so inspired by the hearts of Annie and her fellow Formando Vidas staff members; it is obvious that God is working here.

With love,

Bekah & Josh, Tyler & Laura, Sarah, Craig and Heidi

P.S. We’ll post photos soon!!!

Filed Under: Blog, Service and Missions

Sunday, July 10 and Beyond

July 23, 2011 By 1 Comment

So it has been a bit of time since we have returned so I thought it was about time that I recapped our last day in Roubaix. Since it was a Sunday the three brothers (Kenan, Caleb and Clement) did not come over.  Instead we awoke and had one last good breakfast as a group.  We then proceeded to walk to the church where we would have our last worship time together. We had a wonderful time during worship and were even prayed for by Pastor P and A.  It was such a wonderful time worshiping with believers who truly love Jesus. After church we knew that Pastor P and A were going to be in something of a “Congregational Meeting” with the rest of the church members.  Because of this we had planned to meet our two new friends Billel and Areski and to have them go with us to Lille.  Lille is a town which is a bit larger than Roubaix and is only about 20 minutes away by metro (subway).

Waffle with chocolate

We met with Billel and Areski and had quite the “motley” crew with us.  It was a group of 6 Americans, 1 Englishwoman, 1 Venezualan and 6 North Africans. Billel and Areski seemed very excited to be with us and were wonderful company to be around as we went into Lille.  Because we went into Lille on a Sunday all of the shops were pretty much closed. Lille still upholds the Catholic and Protestant traditions of being off on Sundays unlike Roubaix. When we arrived in Lille one thing that was open was a small shop which was selling waffles dipped in chocolate.  We treated the entire group to a waffle with chocolate and helped ourselves to one as well.  To say they were delicious would be an understatement. These were one of the most amazing desserts I have personally ever had.  A couple of us decided we were going to try and make these at home. After our delicious treat we walked around the town of Lille for a bit.  Among some of the highlights from our walk was the free Zoo, some beautiful houses and taking Caleb’s bookbag  turning it inside out, zipping it back up inside out and putting all of his things back in it with it inside out. The walk while awesome was exhausting especially after the week we had been through and the amount of walking we had done in Paris. So after a few hours we decided to call it a day and headed back to the church.  On the way back Billel said he needed to stop home and get something but that he would meet us back at the church.

When we returned to the church Francois had been hard at work preparing us a Chili type dinner.  We joked with Francois that the other passengers on the plane would be none-to-pleased with his choice of meal the day before we were about to fly.  Right before dinner started Billel walked in holding a Tupperware tub.  Inside the tub were North African dessert pastries.  Billel told us that his mother had wanted to make us something.  This sign of thanks from his mother is a huge deal in North African culture and we immediately recognized the significance of this. We ate dinner as a large group that evening and after dinner Brock asked if he could pray for Billel and Areski.  So the three of them along with Carey went outside and with Carey interpreting Brock prayed for the two boys.  It was an awesome moment and a true testament to the faithfulness of God through this whole trip. The rest of us stayed inside because we did not want to make it to awkward for the boys so when they returned we had another hour or two of hanging out time before we decided we needed to head back and start packing. We said goodbye to Billel and Areski however they assured us that they would be accompanying us to the train station in Lille tomorrow.

Of course as you know the evening was not over as the ritual of Kenan, Caleb, Clement and Geoffrey coming back to our apartment needed to occur. So the four of them came back to our apartment and spent the next hour or so there.  We gave the boys some things that we wanted them to remember us by.  In true hospitable fashion they wanted to give us things as well.  By the end of the evening we had all kinds of things including: polo shirts, framed pictures of them from four years ago, figurines, Sudoku books and even a plain soccer jersey.  Their love and hospitality was truly breathtaking. Eventually it got to an hour where we really needed had to pack or else we wouldn’t get much sleep. The boys bid us farewell and we ended the night packing.

The next morning (Monday) we had a huge crowd to take us to the train station including: Pastor A, Pastor P, Carey, Phillipe, Kenan, Caleb, Clement, Billel and Areski. To say the goodbyes were difficult or hard for our group would not be telling the whole truth.  It is difficult to imagine that deep and meaningful relationships can be built in just 11 days, but I know this to now be true. It was heart-wrenching to leave each and every person in Roubaix. Each and every one of us was deeply saddened on Monday when we left.  The rest of the trip went along pretty seamlessly. We took a high speed train from Lille to Paris.  From Paris we took a direct flight to Philadelphia and finally Pastor Nate met us in Philadelphia for our return drive back to Mechanicsburg.

In the days and weeks since our trip each and every guy has commented about how they would like to return to Roubaix.  The relationships that were formed will be friendships for a lifetime. The people of Roubaix have touched our lives and hearts in a way that we will never be the same.  Please remember to continue praying for the people of Roubaix, the friends and connections we have made, the church, and anything else that comes to mind.  We are so blessed to have so many who prayed for us and even more blessed to have a God who sustained us the entire trip.  Thanks again for all of your support and prayers.

Filed Under: Blog, Service and Missions Tagged With:

A Shadow of Things to Come

July 13, 2011 By 1 Comment

Matt Chandler urges us to see the purpose for the law and the need for sacrifice.

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Saturday, July 9

July 10, 2011 By 6 Comments

Today was our day off from Roubaix. To relax we thought it would be great to try and get into Paris to see what it was like.  Pastor A offered to drive us two hours towards Paris and then we could catch the Metro into downtown Paris. Rich was our tour guide and did awesome taking us around Paris.  He had the metro map and the map of Paris figured out before we even got there.

Our Group after the Eiffel Tower

When we arrived in Paris we went directly to the Eiffel tower.  There are four pillars (or legs) that you can go on to get up to the top. One of the legs was closed and the other two you had to take the elevator up.  Unfortunately when we arrived the very top (3rd Stage) of the tower was closed.  Us being the manly men that we are decided we could walk up the steps and didn’t need the elevator.  It was also a bit cheaper so that was an additional bonus.  670 steps or so later we made it

all the way to the 2nd Stage. The blessing though came as we were walking up.  Sometime between the time we left the bottom and got to the second stage they opened up the top level.  Since we had only bought walking tickets we had to wait in a line to get tickets for the third stage.  The line wasn’t bad and before long we were on our way up the elevator to the top.

It was really awesome to go all the way to the top of the tower and it is something we are all glad we did. We spent about two and a half hours all together getting to the top, looking around and then descending.  When we had finished with the tower we walked back towards the center of town where we could take some more pictures of the tower.

Notre Dame

We proceeded to go to lunch in Paris.  Needless to say, but we may have had the most expensive Coca-Cola’s ever sitting in the shadow of the Eiffel tower.  The rest of the day was filled with more sightseeing, a little shopping and lots of walking!  We visited the Arc-d’triomph (arch of triumph), which was built, by Napoleon and sits at the top of the Champs-Elysees, which is one of the most famous roads in Paris (think where the Tour de France finishes). After this we walked to the Louvre.  Although we did not go in this is where the Mona Lisa is housed. Finally, we walked down to Notre Dame

.

We would have loved to go inside but the line to get in was way to long and we would not have made it back to meet Ali in time.  While we walked a lot and were all tired it was well worth it and it will be something that we remember forever.We got back to our apartment around 9:30 pm.  Dan and I walked down to KFC which is about 10-15 minutes away and picked up two buckets of chicken, Ryan and Hun went and picked up some baguettes, soda and juice and we had a good old fashioned American dinner to finish off the day.

Before bed we got to have some more time sharing with one another and praying.  All together it was a great day.

Filed Under: Blog, Service and Missions

Friday, July 8

July 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

SixTen,

Thank you for your prayers for our trip.  I will be posting one more time.  The next post will be from the United States, Lord-willing. The post for Sunday will not go on most likely until we return home. The post for Saturday will go up around 5:00 pm (U.S. time).  Thanks for your prayers and we hope that you will lift us up in prayer as we travel and please also continue to pray for the hearts of those in Roubaix.

Today was a good day.  We started off the day with our normal morning routine.  We woke up sometime around 8:00-8:30 am.  After we had all rolled our aching bodies out of bed we had a light breakfast of French baguettes, cereal, yogurt and/or Clif bars. After breakfast the three brothers met us at our apartment and walked us down to the church.  We had devotions with Pastor P and spent some time praying and talking through Acts 8. The time was good, the discussion was good and the prayer was good.  It will be tough to not have these devotion times in the morning as a group when we return to the states.

After devotions we spent the next few hours in our morning routine, playing games with the youth, drinking coffee and helping Francois prepare the lunchtime meal.  I had the opportunity to peel potatoes that had already been boiled so I had to flake the skin off with my fingers (Krista I will never complain about peeling potatoes again). A couple of the other guys used the time to teach Clement and Caleb the American game of Pickle…For those of you who don’t know what Pickle is you can try looking it up on Wikipedia, may also be called run-down…think Sandlot and Benny “The Jet” Santiago.  After a delicious lunch that consisted of fresh mozzarella cheese on tomatoes, garlic potatoes, baguettes and cold cut sandwiches we started to get ready for the soccer field.

We had told Billel and Areski that we would be down at the fields around 2:30 pm. Both of them were there at 2:30 (which is a rarity for them to be on time in North African culture) and may have been there before 2:30.  Unfortunately when we arrived they were the only two that really wanted to have a game with us.  So we hung around and played another game on our own, World Cup (similar to half-court basketball with teams). After about 20-30 minutes a group of guys decided that they were ready to play against us so we started playing with them.  They were probably the best “team” that we played all week.  That coupled with the fact that we gave them Brock made it the first game that we actually were playing harder than normal.  They ended up whooping us.  As that game continued some of the other guys that we had been playing with during the week started to show up. They started to integrate themselves into the game, however they brought the game to a screeching halt because they are such individual players.  There were a number of times that players from the original game (not our group) threatened to walk off the field because the guys they were playing with were not passing. In the end we called that game after about 20 minutes, all in all we probably played for around 2.5 hours.

That evening we were scheduled to visit Pastor P’s house for dinner so we were unable to stay with Billel and Ariske.  Before we left we got their contact information and also took a photo

Our Group with Billel and Areski

with them. Our hope is that we can hang out with them a bit on Sunday and at least offer to pray with them.  When we left for Pastor P’s house we went by three different methods.  Brock, Dan and Hun got a ride with Carey and Pastor P straight to his house.  Rich, Ryan and myself took the metro to the end of France with Geoffrey and Caleb.  When we got to the end of the metro station Pastor P met us and offered to drive a few of us to his house which according to Geoffrey was only about 5-10 minutes away.  Since there were only 4 seats Rich, Ryan and Caleb went with Pastor P in his car while Geoffrey and I walked.  I’m not sure if the French 5-10 minutes is different than the U.S. 5-10 minutes but I can assure you that it was more than a 5-10 minute walk.  The one positive of the experience is that I can say I walked from France to Belgium!

When we arrived at the house we were served an excellent meal.  The meal consisted of pork with an apple, onion and other delicious ingredients sauce, potatoes, salad, corn salad and some various Belgian beers. In Belgium the legal drinking age is 16, so Carey was actually more knowledgeable than us on the subject matter because it is more a part of their culture. At the meal were two of Carey’s friends Laurita and Florine who are both the same year as Carey at school.  We were also joined by Elsie and Molly who are Carey’s younger sisters, Pastor P and his wife, Pastor A, and Mark who is the overseer of the church here in Roubaix.  It was a wonderful group and much to my delight we were able to play a card game called “Jungle Speed”.  It was actually not a bad game, I just wasn’t very good at it/didn’t really understand the rules.  Fortunately Elsie was telling me what to do the whole time. After dinner Pastor A and Mark drove us back to our apartment and we headed off to bed around 12:30 am.

Filed Under: Blog, Service and Missions
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