This week we have witnessed a lot more of the Colombian hospitality. We were invited to the pastor's house on Wednesday where we had ajiaco (an amazing Colombian soup served with avacado and rice) and spent some time talking about his testimony and his vision for the Bogota vineyard church. His testimony is incredible - his Dad was part of the most dangerous drug cartel, he ended being homeless as a child for a number of years, was taken in by someone who practised witchcraft and was then invited to church by someone and from that point on gave his life to Christ. His vision for the church is to buy their own place (they currently rent the top floor of a persian restaurant) in Chapinero, the neighbourhood where we are currently working and living. Chapinero has a large red light district, and has a very big problem with homelessness and prostitution. Victor (the pastor) wants to set up a coffee house in the church as a way of building relationships with people, especially students of the nearby university, but also to get out on the streets with the homeless and the prostitues and build relationships with them by sharing in their experiences and doing life with them. It's an incredible vision and I really pray that this will go ahead. Out of the blue this week they were donated a posh coffee maker, the kind used in coffee shops, which is a huge answer to prayer as there is no way they could have afforded to buy one, and how can you start a coffee house without a coffee maker?
We were also invited to another church member's house for ajiaco on Friday, which was a great chance to spend more time getting to know people and practice our Spanish. I also had my first phonecall in Spanish that evening, which I was so worried about, as it is much harder to speak a foreign langauge on the phone than face to face, but it was fine and I made myself understood and could understand the reply! The people we were going with stopped at the Colobian equivalent of Waitrose on the way, and whilst we were waiting we had a look to see what imported food they had that we couldn't find elsewhere - bad idea! We found a small bottle of wostershire sauce for about $10 (I can't find the pound sign on here, so just read $ as pounds!!), brie, smoked and blue cheese, each about $6 for a teeny piece and sausages, again costing a fortune. I hadn't realised how much I was missing cheese with flavour. The Colombian stuff is pretty tasteless and plasticy. Definitely on the list for when I come home, along with cereal which I am once again missing!
Sunday was our last service at the Vineyard church. We wanted to say thank you to them for being like a great big family to us, but we hadn't had time to prepare anything before the service, so I sat during the sermon trying to write something in my best Spanish, which I then read out. I have no idea how much of it made sense but they loved the fact I tried in Spanish and gave me a round of applause at the end. The whole church then prayed for us as we move on to Santa Marta, which was so touching, and it really made us realise how much they cared about us - they weren´t just pretending to be like our family, they really cared about us as if we were family. After the service, we shared lunch with a lot of the church members in the persian restaurant where we have church. It was a really special time, but also sad to have to say goodbye. I think that might be a semi constant feeling this week!
During the meal, Victor came out with my favourite quote of the week. He is hoping to come and visit us in Santa Marta because the vineyard church we will be working with there is a plant of the Bogota vineyard, and Abi was asking him if he had made any plans with the pastor from Santa Marta. Victor replied, 'Don't worry, be happy, you're in Colombia. I don't want to make plans, I'll just turn up!' I think this pretty well sums up the attitude of Colombians towards most things! Sometimes it is frustrating that plans are made and then don't happen or get changed, but we are learning not to bother planning things most of the time, and through this God has taught us a lot about his faithfulness and by not having plans it has forced us to put our trust in Him a lot more. In Britain we plan stuff so much I think it can sometimes be difficult to rely on God fully, or perhaps we don't even leave room for God's plans at all. This also ties in with the spontaneous hospitality that seems so common here. If we are constantly tied to plans then do we have room for this kind of service? Just my intresting thought for the week - don't know what you guys think about this?
Prayer requests:
- That leaving won't be too sad, that the sentiment will be deep but not too upsetting
- I currently have tonsilitus, so prayer for healing would be great!
- That the project in Santa Marta will be ready to receive us
- For the vineyard church and Chapinero in general
- For our spiritual reflection day on Thursday, that God will really be with us and we will have a really good day with time to reflect on our time here in Bogota and that we will be open to what God wants to say to us
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