Sweet Sunday

 Hiii all, this is Raquel!

Today was such an amazing day, packed with so many activities.

This morning we went to church and got to see a group of dancers wearing beautiful red clothing who danced in every worship song. It was a brand new experience that made the worship just come alive for me, seeing the passion they had while they danced. I took tons of pictures and videos

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Next we headed for lunch in the country side away from the city. The view brought back so many memories from my time in Ecuador. Seeing the view of the city, the spray paint art on so many walls, and the intricate design on the trees and nature. We ate lunch with the Afanador family. Beth and Rafa live here in Colombia and are founders of the school ECA, and a foundation where we are working. Beth talked to us about the work they do here and the importance of long term missions and the stability it brings, creating a bigger impact on them and the people.

We were also invited to the homes of families from our host school for supper. Hudson and I were paired up with a family with two daughters (Mariana and Victoria) At first we were nervous but then they invited us for dessert in a restaurant. The dessert was Miloja and it was sooooo good! We eventually broke the ice and had a great time. The mother knew some English but the Dad, not so much. I was given the chance to translate quite a bit, which was a real blessing and a way for both Hudson and I to communicate in a heart to heart way. We went to their apartment and we played with bubbles. Mariana's laughter brought so much joy to my heart.

At one point the Dad asked us why we would consider missions and what our goal is here in Bogota. I explained that we want to be a light and show Jesus, explaining that coming from a small town where we're mostly sheltered from worldly things, it can be easy to live on your parent's faith and not your own. I also explained why we chose the saying on our hoodies - Christ in Me, and saved for works - not by works. It's because Christ is in me that we do good works, not our good works that save us. This trip is an opportunity to obey Jesus' commands to spread the gospel and be a light.

Both parents seemed to understand and they prayed that their daughters could also have opportunities to do the same, praying that they would make faith their own. It was so impactful and was easily my favorite day so far!

Thanks so much for your prayers!

This is Levi...

Today was a very eventful day!

It all started this morning when we went to church, and got to see the dancing and Beth translated it from Spanish to English for us. Besides the few technical difficulties along the way, she translated very well for us.

After church we got to go to a new restaurant outside of Bogotá I didn’t get to visit last year and got to eat some very delicious meat and potatoes. Unfortunately we were going to go on a hike after but they told us we’d have to pay for it so we just decided to get ice cream and head back.

Later we got back and we were sitting around until all of a sudden some people showed up and took Ben and Bethany away and they started showing up left and right and started to take us all and then I was taken! I was put in the car and told to sit down and then I noticed Cassandra was there too! Fortunately it was just the ECA families and they took us to their home to have supper and get to know them. I had been given a walkie-talkie and the little boy, Joshua, used the other one and ran into the other room and started to ask me if I could give him burgers. I responded to him and said “mmm, burgers sound good!” Otherwise we just talked to the parents and got some good life advice and a lot of other useful lessons.

Soon after we got home everyone else got home too and they were all happy with how it went, especially Luke Tuckwell who was meowing at the kid he was with.