1st week in Colombia!!

Hey everyone!!



Im so sorry it has taken so long to update the blog! SO I guess I will just start at the beginning. I flew in Wednesday night and already Thursday morning I went to El Camino, a missionary kids school that Mrs. Afanador is the principal of. I am living with the Afanador family- Rafa, Beth, Viviana, and I will be a ´family´ for the next 3 months. Viviana is 16 years old and it is like having another sister! so back to what I have been doing. Thursday and Friday I helped in the kindergarden room as a teachers aid, they are so precious! The kids were only allowed to talk to me in English, to give them more practice.



Friday, as you know, was Halloween. Here at El Camino it was christian charactors day! All of the elementary students chose a Christian, usually from the Bible, and dressed up like them! It was great. We had a parade through the school and at the end each grade performed an English song they had been rehearsing. My class sang "every move I make I make in You, You make me move Jesus!" The teacher and I stood in front of them doing the motions in case they forgot, and I couldn't tell who was having more fun, the kids or the parents!



Also on christian charactor day, the whole school had a Fall Festival. This meant each grade set up a couple booths to raise money for their specific grade. People would buy tickets to use for the booths and the more tickets they got, the more money they raised. They sold food such as arepas and hamburgers, and they also sold desserts, drinks and snacks. They had games like fishing for prizes, hit the target and bean bags. One of the games was called "sit on the ice." For this game you could pay a certain amount to make someone sit on this block of ice. The only way to get out of sitting on the ice is to match the amount with your own money. And, of course, I ended up sitting on the ice for 5 minutes... 5 very cold minutes.



There was one more thing that they were fundraising for. There is an elective class at El Camino called Creative Outreach. Well I will be joining them as a type of techers aid. It is for High school age kids and Viviana is a part of it. They have a very... unique way of raising money. Each student in the class made a box that their peers or teachers could put money in. If any girl in the class got over 40 mil($20) in their box they had to eat a bug in front of everyone at the Fall Festival. If any boy in the class got over 40 mil they had to shave their head in front of everyone.

Pretty intense right? WELL what I didn't know was that as a leader, I was also a part of this deal. They called it teambuilding... but refused to do something normal like a high ropes course... Everyone in the class had over 40 mil by friday! So needless to say, everyone suffered the consequences- even me! Yes thats right... I ATE A BUG. Not just any bug, a huge black and crunchy beetle. I don't think I would have done it, but the crowd started chanting my name. Ill upload a video of it soon. It was absolutely awful! but it was raising money for the trip I will be joining that is going to Cienaga, the coast. On the trip we will be performing, choreographed dances, skits, and singing songs about Jesus for younger kids. We are also feeding 300 kids!! Canaan Foundation only has enough money every Saturday to feed 150 kids, which is only half of the kids that need food. Our goal is to raise enough to feed all 300 when we are there!! SO considering the cause, eating a bug was not nearly enough of a sacrafice. We raised 800 mil($400!) from bug eating and shaving heads alone! The students in the Creative Outreach class all have beautiful hearts for missions and truly seek after God's will in their lives, their school, and their country. I just hope I can support them in any way possible.

Overall, Ive been having a really good time. Im studying Spanish, working on spanish one now and by the time I leave I plan to be through the spanish 3 book. I am also trying to look for where God is at work in Colombia and join Him.

I do miss everyone back home! Please keep Colombia in your prayers!

God Bless