Reflections on a Month in Bogotá
We visited Prado this past weekend in hot country. It was about a 6 hour drive and boat ride but it was so worth it!
I have now been in Bogotá for one month and ten days. I can't believe it has already been over a month. I have been working on this blog post for the past week struggling with how to put into words what my experience has been like. But I have finally settled on what I most want to express to you all and that is my extreme gratefulness. I am first grateful to God for saving and redeeming me, for leading me to Bogotá with my church almost a year and a half ago. I am grateful that despite my trying to run from it, the Lord continue to lay His will heavily on my heart and I had no choice but to submit. I am grateful that His promises are true and that He is ever faithful and provides and equips us for the good works He has prepared for us. I am grateful that He answers prayers.
I am grateful that I have the opportunity to love on kids from age 5 to 18. I have an opportunity to live out my faith and share it with them on a daily basis. I am grateful that I am able to lead these students in worship and to explore more deeply for myself what worship means, what it looks like and why we worship.
I am grateful for the Colombian people who graciously and patiently bear with me while I spit out my broken Spanish and who welcome so warmly and who have also been intentional about building relationships.
I am grateful for people who have seen gifts in me that I didn't know existed and have pushed me into exercising them in ways I would never have thought I could.
I am grateful for roommates who love the Lord and who let me into their lives.
I am grateful for the opportunity to get out of Bogotá this past weekend and see incredible beauty in the Lord's creation and for the reminder in the beauty how great and mighty our God is.
And I am so grateful for the incredible people the Lord has surrounded me with here. Brothers and sisters in Christ who love Him above all else and pour that love out without holding back onto the students and onto me and the other new teachers this year.
There have been moments when this transition has been really difficult: when not knowing the language creates barriers, when I have missed home fiercely, when I realized how long two years actually is. However, God has walked with me each and every step of the way. There is not one moment that I have felt alone and I know that because of who He is, God will continue to provide and walk with me when more difficult moments arise. And for that I am grateful.
My friend Erin who came down with me from TeachBeyond as well
It was a khaki, olive and black kind of day (completely unplanned!)
I got to celebrate my 27th birthday here in Bogotá and it was so wonderful...best birthday ever!!!