Wow!

Today was our first real day of action. It's been an impressive day. The Colombian folk have been amazing. Guillermo Arguello and staff at the Colegio Americano have done an excellent job. The shuttles have been pretty decent, and as always...the food has been superb. Worship was lively and the Renaissance Quartet from BU did a great job. They kind of broke from their Gospel bread and butter and did a little contemporary number. I was blessed.

Our hotel is pretty outstanding. In fact it's highly doubtful I'll ever stay in a place this nice again. Yesterday was mostly spent lounging by the pool and resting up from our journey to get get here. We ate empanadas and drank mañana postobon. I wanted to go down to the stable and suit up for a match/game/round/contest of polo, but didn't have the time.

The Wooly Mammoth Woodpecker is still here. Today there were 2. Even if they end up tasting like chicken, I may go ahead and eat them just to shut them up. If these things were anywhere near home I'd visit Proving Grounds Taxidermy with a sackful of them. They're insane. Worse than 10 screaming kids at Wal-Mart. And yet...they're beautiful.

One of the local schools held a graduation prom here at our hotel last night....talk about a party. I have never heard the Macarena like I did last night at 12:30 am! Sadly, that was just the start. The other guests at the hotel said it lasted until 5 am. I slept through it somehow. Our glasses were rattling across the counter and the TV didn't go loud enough for us to hear it over la musica....but I slept right through it.

The kids are doing great. They made friends today, though neither actually learned the names of their new Colombian "Best" friends. THey have argued less than I thought they would...they seem to be eating about everything. And they have been impressed by the sights they've seen. All in all, I think they're having a blast.

I saw several old friends today from the U.S. as well as Colombia. Some genuine Hero's of the Faith. I met Marta Daza's mom, dad and sister. They are much more pleasant than Marta...kidding. But THEY are here. They all 3 could pass as sisters. (not the dad...he looks like a man).

We're all pretty exhausted. Not near enough sleep for the 16 hour day we had today. 16 hours in Wing Tips! Tomorrow we will be worshipping at numerous churches in the area. I'm looking forward to it. We will eat lunch with our host church and have some free time in the afternoon.

Want to give a shout out real quick to the folks at Citizens National Bank in Albion. Thank you for letting my parents see this blog. Hope you all have a great Fathers Day tomorrow. Praying blessings on our congregation in Fairfield tomorrow. I hope y'all have a great day of worship. Holton will do an excellent job.

Keep checking back for more info. if all goes well I'll be back!

Be a Blessing!

Somebody tell my mom that I'm ok!

After 2 broken airplanes yesterday, we finally landed in Cali about midnight...only 4 or so hours behind schedule. Checked into our hotel about 1:30 am. The kids oooh'd and aaaah'd over all sorts of stuff here at the hotel, and finally around 3 we all collapsed. Woke up at 7 am to the sound of some sort of pre-historic colombian woodpecker the size of a 3year old kid. I need a cup of coffee, so I'm heading out to explore the compound. Just wanted my mom to know I'm ok. That is all for now, benediciones!

One more try

Checking things out on the iPad. Looks like all is a go! Stay tuned for our zaney adventures as a family...traveling... this should be good.

Getting ready to head back to Colombia this week. Making a practice run on here to be sure that I remember how to do it.

Saturday in Colombia.

Wow. What a day. But I'll get to that in a minute. My first update needs to be about our friend Wilson. He is still in the hospital, but he is doing well. He was sitting up in bed today eating soup. He looked very much like himself in the pictures that we saw. Praise God he is in such good shape. As of now, he is scheduled to have screws put into his broken vertebra on Monday. At this point, it is doubtful that he will return before we head for home at the end the end of next week.

Today we dug. And dug. And digged. And dug some more. I would hate to estimate the tonnage of dirt we've moved, but is has been incredible. Most of us can barely move our arms. The other group has repaired or replaced every window in the "Hilton."

In the morning I will be preaching at Nueva Esperanza church. I hate not being able to speak Spanish any better than I do. I hate not being able to tell stories. Just look out, when I get back home I will be telling stories to anyone that will listen.

Got to go to bed for now. Keep praying for us. We need it. Seems to be a little opposition to our work. No weapon formed against us!!!!!!!
Be a blessing
Jeff

I'm desperately fighting the urge to go to sleep, but I want you all to know what's going on. We arrive in Cali last night on schedule, and with minimal chaos we made it onto our bus. The drive to camp was as expected...just a notch under out of control. It was so good to be reunited with our friends here. We enjoyed soup and soda at 10:30 pm. We then went to set up our quarters. The apartments we made last year were all supplied with new furnishings and linens. It was such a beautiful sight to see so much hard work from 2 different groups come to fruition.

Today began our work. We quickly saw that the area for the house was a bit too small. We relocated the place for the foundation (to the only available spot). However, we quickly noticed that we will be required to move a sewer line and a bunch of electrical lines. This is causing us many problems. Hopefully tomorrow we will come up with a workable plan.

The new site also had a huge tree in the middle of it. The plan was for Wilson to shimmy up, secure a pull rope and we would fall it in the direction of our choosing. The plan was working until Wilson lost footing and fell landing first on his feet, thn his back. He was unconscious for about 10 minutes. We got him on a backboard and waited for an ambulance. About an hour and a half went by before the ambulance arrived. Wilson was moving some and did not like our efforts to keep him still.

As of now, he has 2 broken vertebra according to scans. They are doing surgery tonight. Our minds and prayers are directed to him. He is such a great man and friend. We are so thankful it wasn't as bad as I outlive been.

Tomorrow we will be problem solving and waiting on news from the hospital. God is good and he has a plan for each one of us, and a purpose for each event that unfolds. Already we have met many new people. They have seen our faith and who knows what will come o this.

Tonight lance and keith led us in our devotions and we were blessed by what they shared. It will be a good trip and we shall overcome, after all, we are much more than conquerors.

Pray for us...be a blessing.
Jeff

Gearing up!

We are heading out to South America again next week. Since this will be my primary means of communicating, I thought I'd better try a practice run. Good thing...couldn't remember any of my log in info. At any rate, if you'd like to keep up with our crazy antics and daily joys as well as an up to the day prayer list...keep coming back here and checking this out. Go ahead and throw out a prayer for me know if you don't mind. I have so much stuff to take, and so few pounds allowed by the airlines!
Benediciones!