a smattering of random photos...Yah Photos!!

Trip to the Hot Springs

I have now got four or five times

and have to return a couple more times

Set in beautiful countryside

All the pools are quite warm to very very hot

Its simply delicous

with a cold water fountain to dunk yourself under

when you need to cool off. It also serves as a nice

hot cold therapy

The walk down to the park

You can be there just for the day

Stay over in a room in this house

or camp

I've done it all

A beautiful surprise hike around the Property

A new friend

Dad I still want a parrot

(but maybe one not so large)

A Trip to a huge market

So far only have pics of the flowers

but I do go there every so often so

there is a good chance I will have more shots latter on

MERCADO PALO QUEMAU

Flower market at 6am

I always think of my grandmother when I see SunFlowers

Night sceens from the rooftop

A good photo is a mix of luck and patience

MORE FROM QUIBDO....

somehow I misplaced these in my camera,

how I'm not sure

Here the kids are studying a Bible verse

preparing to answer a fe

times they are 'a changen - ME

Living in the moment while having to make plans for the states, a bummer but a blessing reminding me how much I have been transformed to live for the day and not take for granted the present moments. So as I receive an invitation from Maggie Johnston to return and work for the McDowell Environmental Center for a month, between returning to the states and starting the ECHO internship, I realize how rooted I have become in the day to day progression of life.

It started last week or so as I was finalizing my return flight when plans started to be made for my return. Things such as who will pick me up, what will the weekend plan be and where will I live before the internship. It is a bit of a mind bender to catapult my mind into jan, feb and march. I have been having a lot of fun just waiting to see what the next day brings. Nothing huge has happened but nice little surprises pop up such as a family barbeque, walking in the rain to a fruit bar, an impromptu trip to the movie theater to enjoy ice cream and popcorn.

So to understand what this means to me you need to understand who I was. Well, I suppose they are my still present tendencies to over plan, over organize and be too wound-up to be on my schedule and routine. I would have to plan a week in advance (minimum) to mentally prepare myself to go out and do anything, and if plans didn’t work out I was a mess and not at all happy.

Ha! A routine!? Barley exists here. Not for me anyway. The first number of months this was very difficult for me. In the states I thrived on routine and expectations, neither of which are easy to come by here.

I now love the freedom I have been introduced to. I still make plans a few days in advance but just as an outline. If it doesn’t work out, the plans are changed and my day is just as lovely, if not better, than what we would have done previously. I feel like I am seeing and experiencing far more than I would have hand-cuffed to my own expectations.

Releasing ones expectations has been, for me, a release of pride. Think about it, who am I to dictate my every moment? Who knows better what will bring me fulfillment than the Lord God. I like to think in my new flexibility I am listening more to God and enjoying the moments of life I am gifted. The future is not guaranteed and I definitely can not add an hour to my life through fretting ( so says scripture). So I won’t fret, I will live.

Thankfully this doesn’t mean I have to give up planning all together, life still takes organizing and forming goals. It gives me something to move towards, but in the mean time I will enjoy the journey.

Remember I always appreciate hearing from you, don’t be a stranger. Be blessed, at peace and laugh out Loud!

LauraCatherine Conville

I love strangers

Just a quick note about my day. As I was coming back from cooking lunch in Bosa I had to travel from to calle 100 to go by the DAS building to ask about visa stuff. This is a long ride. Normaly I get off at calle 51 Marley. As I road along it began to rain. This began in the south section so I was thinking surley it'll ease up by the time I get to 100. I was also regretting leaving my umbrella in the apartment, this after having been warned to take it with me today. So as the rain continued and grew heavyer I longed to have my umbrella in hand and wondered how wet I would be at the end of the 20+/- block walk I had between the Transmilenio and the DAS building.

Wouldn't you know it. Just as I exited the terminal a kind man walked up behind me and gave me a gentle nudge to get my attention as he offered to walk with me and share the shelter of his umbrella. What a world we live in, when a perfect stranger litteraly reaches out to help another perfect stranger. He walked with me almost the entire way as we chatted about our lives. The first question he asked was..."where are you from". I supose as he had caught me talking on my phone my accent gave me away. So along the way I explained what I was doing here, he told me about his work and his brother who married a mexican woman who turns out to have prefered to live in mexico with their children while he works as a doctor in Bogota - an interesting discourse of the state of marriage progressed from there.

It was nice to arrive at DAS not nearly as wet as I would have without this kind offer and I was in a very good mood having had shared in plesant conversations with a kind gentlman.

Life can be surprising and so very lovely. Don't be afraid to strike up conversation with a stranger, people really can make a good day better.

Blessings

The hope of prayer

It has been a difficult day and I now am faced with reevaluating the hopes and goals I had set for myself before I leave Colombia. This morning (Fri. Oct.16) I had a meeting with Father Alberto and Bishop Duke. It did not proceed as I had hoped. What I am left with, along with a few tears of frustration, is the comfort that I know God had it all under control. Not even meaning that everything that passed was God’s will, but that God will make something beautiful out of it all. If it is only my personal/spiritual growth.

The day before in a day of fasting it was placed on my heart to pray for the Holy Spirit to be present and facilitate communication during this meeting, even before I knew that the meeting was to be this morning (I now see why I was to pray; the Spirit really does move, neat). At the beginning of the meeting, to cover my bases, I prayed quietly again that the Spirit be upon us to facilitate the meeting. The result was that the Spirit was fully with me reminding me to keep my patience (breath deep and bite my tongue), when to keep my mouth shut and when to talk, thankfully keeping me from crying in front of the Bishop, Alberto and the treasurer (well, that was either the Spirit or my pride...humm, something else to reflect on).

Instead of focusing on this conversation I want to focus my sight on where God is in all of this. Over the past couple of weeks I have listened to an ipod workshop called “the hope of prayer”. Prayer has been a subject of curiosity and study for me over the past year(s). Just trying to understand how it work, how to do it and what God and Christ have to say about it. It has helped to refocus my energies and set me into a consistent prayer routine. That alone has made life more pleasant.

Having read about the troubles facing so many thousands of people here in Colombia, the abject poverty in the Philippines, the Sudan and South Africa, Haiti (only to name a few) I wonder where my frustrations fit into God’s to-do list, do I even have a right to get upset when I am living so comfortably and am so very blessed to have all of my need and the great majority of my wants met.

I have heard that hurt and suffering are objective. I am blessed beyond measure to be present to the truth of this world; the ugliness, the pain and suffering as well as the magnificent glory that we live in. My frustrations, pains and tears matter to God and whatever joys and sorrows your going through truly matter to the Lord. God loves us each with the fulness of His love, there is nothing we could do to deserve God, He just loves us, each one and is offering us His fulness every moment of every day. It is up to us if we will take hold of this offering. Through these children, women and men who live in undignified conditions, who are dying of hunger and disease, who are so heartbreakingly lonely is an invitation to take hold of all of God as we seek to humbly bring healing and comfort. It is good to keep our comfort in check and be willing to be a bit uncomfortable for the sake of our neighbors.
I have decided that God does not have a “to-do list”. Scripture promises us that God hears the prayers of all of his faithful followers if we would but pray without doubt, nothing will be denied us through prayer and fasting. It comes about that if we are followers of Christ seeking to do the will of God, the Lord works through us with the Holy Spirit to put prayers on our hearts. Praying without doubt is taking a moment to ask God if he wants me to pray for this or for that and really be open to the answer. I am finally learning to not talk quite so much, take a bit of time to listen....and ya’ know the difference has been remarkable. It is a beautiful thing to know the voice of God, even if it is a simple yes or no it brings me more comfort than anything I could buy or come up with on my own.
The prime message of “the hope of prayer” is that the ultimate objective of prayer is to bring us into oneness with the Lord God.
That is an Alpha - Omega message if I have ever heard one. The first and last objective of prayer is to be one with the Lord. Amen.
Remember I always appreciate hearing from you, don’t be a stranger. Be blessed, at peace and laugh out Loud!

LauraCatherine Conville