First Week in Bogota

Arriving

After a very interesting and adventurous 11 hours layover in Mexico City I arrived to Bogotá 12 years later. First thing, I had a huge hamburger for dinner (called Todo Terreno¹). America invented it but Colombians perfected it. I was exhausted so that’s all I remember.

¹ All Terrain

CDA (Corporacion Dios es Amor²) Banquet

Friday night I attended the 15^th Anniversary Banquet at CDA where I met the President of the organization, Mrs. Missy Christie, her husband Carlos and Jim Chynoweth and his wife, the American missionary couple who has been in contact with me the last few months. I was excited watching the little ones smiling, having fun, dancing, singing and thanking God. CDA was launching a sponsorship programs called Dame Tu Mano³ to cover the education expenses (Christian education with health, dentists, food, nutritionist, and uniforms included for $45.00 month – See picture). Almost all attendees became godfathers of at least one kid.

However, I was deeply impacted when youngsters in their 20’s gave their testimonies about how they were kids living below poverty level when they started at the CDA schools, they graduated from secondary (high school), and continued their technical or college education fulfilling their dreams. They were thankful with whoever their sponsor was in Europe or Canada for allowing them to continue growing and they were grateful with CDA because they were taught God’s principles and values and they learned to live a Christian live. One of them (you can see him in one of the pictures) was young boy who finished school, studied computers, the organization hired him to teach computers classes at the schools, and then helped him to start his own business. Right now, he is under 30, owns a furniture factory with 7 employees (4 of them relatives) and still teaches at CDA schools. I felt convicted for all the times I have complained God for silly small things. He didn’t wait for welfare neither for the government to supply for his needs nor did he complain to God for his physical or financial challenges but instead, he studied and worked hard to become a Christian example.

Mrs. Christie shared her testimony as a daughter of a Christian missionary from New Zealand and how she regretted not having the privilege of being born in this country but she felt more than privileged to be raised here with a father who passed to her the love for the ministry and the kids (Lindsay Christie, her father passed away few years ago). She was telling the story that happened just a couple of weeks ago when she arrived at the airport and one of the anti-narcotics agents stopped her; she didn’t know why, specially because the agent shouted her name from the distance; when he got there, he told her he was one of her students in one of the schools and shared with her that because he was from a very poor area of the city, his application to work on that division was denied twice until the third time he was approved and how he was not only thankful for the education but he is now proud to serve his country.

As you can see, the evening was full of watered eyes, at least for me, and several reflections came to my mind almost immediately. First of all, I thanked God for allowing me just to be here and witness what He is doing to this kids, second, grateful with my Church for its support, prayers, love, its leadership and the tons of friends who are praying for me, and lastly, I can’t wait to start doing something to see those lives transformed in a way I had not seen before in my life.

² God is Love Corporation

³ Give Me Your Hand

What’s next?

Sponsors from Canada and Europe are still here visiting the facilities until Nov 23^rd. On Friday Nov. 24^th I will have a tour to the facilities with Jim Chynoweth and then we’ll meet to Mrs. Christie to see what God has for us.

Church

On Sunday I attended the church El Lugar de Su Presencia⁴ and the experience was overwhelming.

Reasons why none of you would attend this church:

• You need to make a line and wait until the previous service is over (they have 7:30, 9:30 and 11:45 services) to get in.
• Sit exactly in order wherever the ushers tell you
• No saving seats
• You cannot (really) cannot get in or get out of the main sanctuary once the Praise & Worship starts. No, means no.
• At the end of the service, each row leaves in order starting from the back and you have to wait your turn.
• Coffee is not for free.
  

Reasons why all of you would attend this church:

• Hillsong, Chris Tomlin, Toby Mac, etc. music. Jabin is not famous here yet.
• Praise and worship is crazy. Everybody jump and leap and shout and kick (yes, kick like kicking)
• Very casual dress
• Not religious

I noticed something very interesting. Their Pastor is Colombian with Australian last name while our Pastor is American with Colombian last name (Yes, Perez’s are not from Mexico).

⁴ The Place of His Presence

Colombia’s Rating List (from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest)

Food 10++++

Outstanding, unbelievable

Prices 10

Lucille’s flavor with Teriyaki Madness prices

Coffee 10

There are no Starbucks here because this is the house of Juan Valdez and there are Juan Valdez Coffee stores everywhere with wonderful variety of the most tasteful coffee you can have at half the price of the guys in Seattle.

Weather 5

Cold and humid. Rainy (I just like the desert)

Traffic 1

Run for your life, stay at home as much as you can or close your eyes. Prozac is a valid option.

Stress Level 1

People are in a hurry all the time. They look like they have stomach problems and need to go to the bathroom especially when they are driving. You can feel their pain