Journal Entries from Colombia

Day 1-
2:20 pm Filling out Customs forms and boarding flight AV35 to Cartegena, Colombia from Miami International Airport
4:58 pm- Arrive in Cartegena-South America
7:23-Depart Cartegena to Pereira
7:59pm- Arrive in Pereira
All in all a long day of traveling but the Avianca Airlines Rocked! We had our own tv, watched movies, were given hot towles, blankets, pillows, coffee, and even a meal! Once we landed in Periera we met out contacts and headed for dinner at Waffles and Crepes! Delicious dinner! We then hopped a bus, traveled through some mountains and arrived safely at compound
Day 2-
Started the day off with a little bit of worship and then took the afternoon to learn our dramas in spanish. Quickly learned that the portions of food are enormous! We learned a little about the culture and the spiritual battles here in Colombia. Sounds like the Lord has got some work for us to do!
Day 3-
First day of skits and testimonies! Really proud of the team for doing such a great job working with our amazing interpretor, Fernando. We attended church tonight and had a great time dancing around! The congregation was very welcoming and even prayed over our team before we left.
Day 4-
We heard Fernando's be-boxing skills today! This guy is a riot! I think God knew we needed someone funny on this trip to keep our spirits high:)Church was fun today as we performed the "Everything" drama and the stage started falling apart. Afterwards we took pics of the amazing town and had lunch on the Pastor! Armania is amazing!
Day 5-
First offical full day of ministy: Started @ 5:00 am with bkfst on the go. Hopped a bus to town and traveled to the schools to begin what was about to be a very long trip of performances! The team did a great job and we even had a little coffee break around 10:00am. Btw the coffee is awesome here in colombia! The afternoon consisted of more dramas, more testimonies, more transistions, and more of handing out the Book of Hope! Students seem to be very receptive! God is awesome!
Day 6-
Day of recharge! Got to sleep in a bit today, do some laundry and shave our legs! 2:30 pm we went into town to a local coffee shop, played some paper football, and visited a park where our friends Jazel and Pablo had their first date. Getting to know our contacts is a lot of fun. Angela keeps us very busy and is very organized. She is always one step ahead of the game. Fernando keeps us laughing, Derleese always has a smile on her face, and Jazel is the sweeter than sugar. She's been an amazing spanish teacher as we've been teaching her english.
Day 7-
Circassa, Colombia: 11 performances and 4800 books! busy day! The all girl schools sure are loving Spencer :)
Day 8-
Teams split up today, ours had to fill an hour of ministry time and did a great job! Justin played the police officer and ballerina in our hilarious upon the stage performance. He also had a fun time playing b-ball with the ninos! We watched the Godman video again today and we happen to love it! We ended the night with some awesome worship and definilty connected with the Spirit! God has been filling us up preparing us for Choco!
Day 9-
DAY OFF!! Today we went to the Juan Valdez Coffee park and walked through the trails, learning how they make coffee! Its so much fun! The team got to ride go carts today and Justin totally crashed into me knocking me off course! Too funny! We also rode some other rides, got some coffee, had a good lunch, and got a lot of sun! We all tasted a premature coffee bean and they're actually pretty sweet! Fernando says its a deceiving process! Spencer used the womans bathroom by mistake today:)
Day 10-Church was cancelled this morning, so we chilled til lunch! This afternoon we hit up a nearby park and Whit dressed up as a clown! The kids loved it. We showed Godman again today and then had a fun wrestling match with the mattresses back at compound. This trip has been a blast so far. My favorite part is riding the busses and checking out God's beautiful creations. I listen to my worship music and soak in the presence of our Holy God!
Day 11-
Preparing ourselves mentally to perhaps eat a little rat while in Choco! One of the pastors showed us pics of Choco and sure enough rats the size of coons for dinner! hmmm love how 247 prepares you for the worst. We're thankful for all the things we learned at MT because they seem to be playing out:) The team did 8 performances today, and the crowds were a bit rough. Some seem to think "Everything" is funny, but others catch on right away. Just praying that God intercedes.
Day 12-
Last Day in Armania and what a way to end it! The last school was a lot of fun and the ninos were very responsive! I did a great intro, and lindy nailed it with her crying fit in our drama worthless! One Hope is doing such a fantastic job on their end and lindy and i enjoyed some time with fernando in the kitchen learning a funny drama. His broken english is hilarious! We said goodbye to Armania with some icecream and standing up in the back of the jeep as we drove through town back to compound.
Day 13-
12:45pm-boarding our first plane to Medellin-only a 37 passenger!
1:10pm-landed-20 minute layover
2:05pm-loading for Quibdo
2:35-landing in Quibdo,Choco
4:15pm-Orientation-strong spiritual climate-women seem to feel worthless here and Black magic and witchcraft are a big thing. Praying hardcore for this city
Our first meal was salty cheese that we washed down with delicious juice! All for Jesus, right!?
Day 14-
First full day in Choco-ministry went well and for lunch was some fish eyeballs! Spencer did an amazing job taking those fisheyes out! Super hot today, this sun is no joke! we did some dramas for a more violent school, and left in good spirits. our hearts were touched today as we saw how some of the chiconians lived, a little naked boy cheered us up today.
Day 15-
One of my most memorable moments today! We split up into teams, and in the pouring down rain wearing our ponchos we screamed "NINOS!" at the top of our lungs in order to rally some kids to preach the gospel to them. It reminded me of the movie Garden State. Stefanie got on the mic today and sang la fiesta for a while, and the kids weren't too repsonsive to our dramas, but we had fun nonetheless! Stef got sick today off the food, but she seems to be coming back around
Day 16&17-Morning off! 2:45 youth service where we performed...yes...more dramas!! The team is having fun quoting movies, it seems to be keeping the spirits high, whatever works at this point! Spencer did a great job with his 15 minute sermon today talking about Gods breaking heart. Afterwards we had a huge dance party with the youth and the girls even put on a dance for us in brightly colored skirts. 247 girls tried but failed miserably, had fun trying! We ended the night at the river trying to catch a nice breeze to cool off! have we mentioned its hot here? Oreo cookies seem to be our vice and we're hoping it rains because shower water is running out!
Day 18-Teams split up again, and our team sat around a school for over an hour before performing today, a bit frustrating but its a part of it. Drama seems to be taking place on the team, but hoping God will help us work through it. Attitudes need to change quickly! Fish soup for lunch today has us all squirming, but teamwork makes the dreamwork at the dinner table!Spencer hit it off nicely with a kid named jeison and they played soccer for hours. Emily taught english to his mother and had a great time. We celebrated Em's 18th b-day tonight with some cake and oreos! Last night in Quibdo!
Day 19-
left 4:30 am on a bumpy two hour drive through the Jungles to Itsmeal. 7 productions today. Its pouring rain and our stage today was like 20 feet in the air! awesome! Its rough here, and hotter than Quibdo! we're staying at a pastors whos house is sweltering hot! Justin and Spence fought off about 10 or more cockroaches last night and i dont think anyone got really good sleep bc its so hot here! we're trying hard to finish strong, no doubt we will!
Day 20-9 schools today-staying busy-trying to stay cool-Whits keeping us laughing because she says such random things! So thankful i have a team to keep me laughing because its getting pretty rough
Day 21-
Almost done! Today was our story day, traveling to villages by boat, one which has never heard of Jesus, how cool is that! God chose us to plant some pretty important seeds today. We had coconut milk for lunch today and then went into the jungles to perform twice at one school and then off in a boat to check out a waterfall. Our boat gets stuck in the mud so our captain, along with Derlesse and Justin get out of the boat to lighten the load. Our boat starts to float off without them in it, but eventually we all catch up with each other. Walk to the enormous 75 foot falls and have a ball!! Bathe in the water and climb up an enormous ladder! Got some great foottage today, one pic of justin covered in mud. AFterwards in the boat with our ponchos on due to rain, the captian hits a strong current and we come close to almost capsizing our boat! pulled over, scoooped out the foot of water and went to our new compound, this time our room had a window and two fans!! hooray! Got my finger stuck in the blade of one, but oh well!
Day 22-
Last day! 44,000 books of hope distributed! Lindy made spencer a moustache, and the last few dramas we performed we had a blast with, making each other laugh, i think we're at wits end! This team rocks!
Day 23-
8:30am-bus ride back to Quibdo
11:20am-arrive in Quibdo, pack up and eat some lunch-watch a ONE HOPE Choco video.
1:30pm- taxi ride to airport
2:53pm-board plane to Medellin
3:19pm-Land in Medellin
3:53pm-Boarding to Pereira
4:34pm-landed in Pereira
5:30pm-check into hotel rooms
6:30pm- dinner at the waffles and crepes-exchanged stories, hugs, and gifts with our contacts and back to the hotel for a baby powder fight with the girls.
Day 24-
Said our final farewells..what a sad day, but amazing trip! looking forward to home and a nice hot shower!