Hello Friends,
Our Colombian team hit some technical difficulties, so the pots below were intended for Friday. Read them from that angle. 🙂
-tim

From Phil:
Hello from Colombia. Thanks to Karen Weaver’s generous offer of sending out our updates, Michael and myself have been blessed with one less thing to do this trip. Since a director’s list of responsibilities can get quite long, we are grateful for this. Since we are now about halfway through the trip I thought it would be good to have a director update. I know you know most of the details from Karen’s updates so I will just give a couple of my thoughts.
The team has been doing really well. They have had great attitudes in dealing with what has been a fairly tiring schedule and with dealing with many head colds and some reactions to either water or food. They have also done a great job of persevering through the work projects and mime teaching times with the local team. They have also been eager to jump into things. From my point of view the team seems to be bonding well and the discussion from each Bible study has had depth. This team is solid. I have been so blessed by the maturity and responsibility of the group. Those of you who are parents have a lot of which to be proud. For Hannah and I with two young boys and with Michael and Alisha learning to lead an international trip, this team has been a blessing. This is a great team to take on a trip with these factors.
Michael and Alisha are also doing really well. While Hannah and I are seeking to pass on whatever we can, it is clear that Michael and Alisha are ready for this. They have done a great job of taking leadership and running large parts of this trip. They are learning to work together in leadership and have facilitated opportunities for others to learn and grow.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. Tomorrow and Sunday will be somewhat out of the ordinary compared to the rest of our trip. Tomorrow we will be doing a “mountain mission” which includes gospel outreach and handing out care packets to some very poor Colombians on the other side of Bogota. Sunday we will be presenting at a local church here in Bogota. Please pray for us with these opportunities. Specifically pray for Michael and Alex as they will both be speaking by way of interpreter to the folks at the “mountain mission.” This is a new opportunity for them and also a great chance to learn. Thanks again for your prayers.

Phil

From Karen (written Sunday):
Hello! An apology to all the mothers – the internet was down yesterday, so we were unable to post an update.
Yesterday was an interesting day! We piled into the bus along with the Children’s Vision drama team and headed across the city to do an evangelistic outreach in a very poor part of the city. We set up in an outdoor plaza. Our team performed four mimes, and the CV team also presented four mimes. The event drew a large crowd of onlookers. Richard, the director of CV, shared the gospel and gave an invitation. A number of people responded and prayed to receive the gift of salvation!
After the drama presentation, we handed out 150 care packets to the needy. Some of the girls had packed these bundles the day before. They included warm clothing, hygiene products, and toys. The people were very grateful for the gifts.
We spent the afternoon “playing tourist”. We visited an Indian market where we were able to purchase souvenirs. After an hour of shopping, we piled back onto the bus and drove a series of twisting switchbacks up a steep mountainside. At 11,000 feet, we were rewarded with an incredible view of the city. Yet despite the expansive view, we were told it was only an eighth of the city.
Our bus driver dropped us off at the mall, and we ate supper at the food court. Yum! Burgers and Papa John’s pizza were a delicious treat after a week of chicken and rice! We walked several blocks back to our guest house, finally arriving home at 9:30 after a tiring but fun day.
-Karen