life in colombia

Hola! I have been in Colombia for almost 2 weeks now and am really enjoying it here. I miss everyone a lot, but am quickly adjusting to life here. Last Friday I was able to go explore the city at night with Audra and her boyfriend. I even learned a little bit of merengue. It was a fun night in a very cool part of the city with lots of music and dancing. On Saturday, I went with Oscar and Miriam to a family reunion. They were celebrating Oscar's grandmother's 90th birthday! He has a huge family and I think I was introduced to every single person there..I got along really well with the 'cousins' and had a great night. A full religious service started around 9 and then came the mariachi bands, the whiskey on the rocks, and the dancing. We didn't start eating dinner until 11! Needless to say, it was a LONG, but fun night.

On Sunday, I went to church and Miriam asked me to do a reading...in spanish! I was a little bit nervous, but I was able to practice beforehand. It went really well and I really enjoyed the service. Toward the end of it, the Bishop asked Audra and I to come up to the altar. Then he introduced me to the congregation and said a special prayer for me. Audra is leaving on Wednesday, so he also did a nice prayer for her. It was great. Everyone was very welcoming and it reminded me of my home parish, St. Andrew the Fisherman, because the 'passing of the peace' was the longest part of the service... I love that!

On Monday and Wednesday, I made the long trip over to Bosa. It is a city on the outskirts of Bogota, where a mission started up a couple of months ago. Wednesday was a full day. I was up at 530am and walked back in my door around 7pm. The mission intends to give children in the neighborhood a place to eat, play, and do homework while their parents are away at work all day. It's called Operation Rescue, and it really is rescuing these kids from the streets and from the television. I went with Laura-Catherine and we spent most of the day cooking for them, cleaning up, helping them with their homework and playing games. I played soccer with the kids until the ball went up on a roof. We quickly switched over to basketball and everyone was having a lot of fun. The kids are wonderful and have a lot of personality. It was difficult at times when they wouldn't listen, or would fight with each other, but it's easy to tell that they are happy to be there.

Tonight is Audra's going away party and it obvious that everyone is going to miss her! It'll be sad to see her go, but hopefully she'll come back to say hi soon! Hope you all are doing well! Send me an email at kate.schaeffler@gmail.com to check in, or if you want to be added to my email list! Love, Kate