change of plans

This is a message written on a rock along side the road that leads to the church.

 I didn't translate this image the first time I posted it.  Here is what it says: 

"Every day God is born in our Hearts"

A simple message that I love! and since my first visit to Faca I have repeated these lines to myself to help me center in my experiences here. 

So I have been putting off this blog for a while now.  One: because it has become hard to separate what has become common place for

 me (although a fellow missionary reminded me to make the effort) and Two: because I am still in the 'blah's' and I really don't want my blog entries to time and again to be about that.  But that is where I am and this blog is to share the truth that I am experiencing.  So about two weeks ago I decided I needed to get out of Bogotá for my sanity and was making plans to go to Medellin for a week.  The sunday before last I asked the Bishop for a meeting and told him of my plans formedellin; his response, we'll talk, I would like you guys to go for one or two months.  I didn't pay much attention to this as I though

t well we can discuss the extended visit more when I return from my short visit.  Well thursday came and the meeting never happened.   The bishop was in and out of the office.  Thursday I talked to him over the phone and found out he didn't want me to go for this one week trip and to wait until it is a more extended visit. 

 It hurt to have to change my plans so drastically.   In one part it is my fault for making having such expectations for a visit without first approvals from the Bishop, but on the other hand, we just don't have anything at all to do in the 

office right now and I didn't see a reason why not.  This is defenitly a time to tune our communication. 

So instead I went to Faca to visit Father (Padre) Javier and his wife.  It turned out that it was a weekend get together with friends and family.  So there was a whole crew at the Faca house. 

It nice.  Unfortunately because this trip 

was so last minuet I failed to check if my camera battery was charged and yeap, I am sure you can guess, it was dead as a doornail ( where did that expression come from anyway?  reminds me of how wide the language barrier can be)  So that means there are no pictures on my part. These are the pictures I took from my first visit. The weekend was full of food, visiting neighbors and enjoying the beautiful freshness of the countryside.  Friday afternoon the whole crew came together to make a community pot of Ajiaco, a traditional colombian soup of mazorca (big white corn), chicken, potatoes (two or three varieties), some type of tuber who's name I can't recall, and a few other native plants.  It took hours to prepare and 

was amazing.  along with the soup we feasted on grilled sweet plantains and fire roasted pork ribs.  I was literally stuffed until 10 am the next morning.  That friday night those who still remained, a group of 10 or so, partied down with some good whiskey and dancing.  I got to teach some of them some dance moves.  I still take pleasure in the irony of a Gringa (girl from the States) teaching latin dance moves to native latinos.

 Saturday was slow and lazy, no need to do anything, except eat and walk around the beautiful countryside a bit.  Revisit the photos from Faca.  The people were kind and fed me well.  I hope I did my part to help out with the food and cleaning so that I didn't make a pest of myself. Sunday we came together for Padre Javier's Sermon at San Thomas, his church; which is litterally nextdoor to the house we were in.   I was stunned at the passion that man came out with, being that he didn't exactly prepare any sermon.  I was wondering how it would work out.  He has gotten to know the people of this farming community quite well and his language in his sermons hit at the heart of their lives.  Which is actually a more pure and direct interpretation of Scripture, being that the gospel was about the good Sheppard and many of them actually tend flocks.  That is what strikes my heart when I read scripture, how it is so intertwined with the earth and man-kinds tending and working the creation.  It makes me want to sink my hands into the rich soil their to get closer to God and to be present with His love. 

 I stayed with Javier and Claudia Suday night and Javier dropped me off at the apartment at 545 am as he went to work.  Needless to say I went back to bed for a couple of hours.  Audra and I went to my fav. coffee shop and ended

 up talking for two solid hours.  We missed a lot of our talk time in the three days I was away.  I realized that I returned from this trip not rejuvenated like I was sincerly hoping for.  Audra noted that as well.  But, I will go on.

  Truthfully I walked away more refreshed from our coffee-talk.  I do love colombia and my time here, but the bright-

spot is the friendship that Audra and I have been building.  It is a precious gift to come away from any experience with such an encounter.  

Amidst the talk with the Bishop about going to Medellin for more than a week I realized how much I am coming to love the children we work with.  It actually brought tears to my eyes to think of leaving them for so long.  They are begining to really respond to the more structured time schedule.  Wednesday Dylan, although still his bing-bongy self, was much better behaved.  Unfortunately I didn't get to see if it would last since he and his sister left even before we went outside to play.  It is so nice to be with them.  They smile at us with genuine affection.  I love their hugs and their calls to co

me play with them.  

Although I still am a bit in the blahs, I am having lovely experiences and I am confident that personal/ internal struggles are the growing pains of God's grace of transformation.  

Peace