Mission Colombia

Dancing a little Irish/Mexican jig all day today. I gotta ca-ar, I gotta ca-ar. Yeah, sorry must seem fairly petty in light of the tragedy and desparate need with which I'm surrounded, but I think Beatriz is right in her statement that a man is only complete once he has his car. I remember as a kid how exited I was when I bought my first car. My mom helped me find a 1975 Buick LeSabre, Bessie. At 22 feet long she was an epic occasion that flowed over streets and was drunk with her consumption of gas. One truly felt like royalty in a ride of such tremedous proportions.

Andres loves cars. We hung out at his auto shop for most of the day. His friend from elementary school is a third generation car enthusiast and pro mechanic. We had a great time figuring out the alarm system and putting on new tires. I bought the car for a low price but it does need some work. Latin Americans put shut off switches in their cars. It is usually a switch in the car that shuts off the ignition, but the thing I find obvious about that is that just about every modified car has one. I asked Richard to install a button into the door disguised as a screw head. Pretty hilarious.

Cows. Since no one is asking I'll tell you a little. At the Suesca farm we'd like to develop a dairy so that the program can become more fiscally autonomous. I'll be asking the Trinity Covenant to do a Krispy Kremes drive to buy a dairy cow. This kind of sponsorship would be a God send as we are running out of funds for some of our other areas of ministry.

The TV show which is broadcast in Colombia on channel 1 has run out of working funds, so we can't produce any more until we come up with some more revenue. The show doesn't have enough commercial sponsors for it to run on its own. The testimony for the show is tremedous. A prostitute who was tricking had her TV turn on at the max volume and she couldn't help but listen to the show. She is now at church every day trying to dissolve the vestiges of her former life. That was last week. This Sunday at chuch 11 people came to Christ during an altar call. 6 of those people were at the church because of their exposure to the TV show.

Awed and amazed am I. I am Jack's sense of uselessness.
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I bought a red Wrangler and I hope to send photos soon, if I can only find a person who'll sell me only what I want. Worked on the paper work for the car today. The lady who found the car waived her usual finders and negotiation fee and instead asked me to pray for her at 5 every morning.

A couple of things that annoy. Light switches on the outside of rooms. Milk that comes in one litre bags. Filth and noise everywhere.

The garbage truck smells like limes. There are so many different things here. I often end up laughing at stuff that is so new to me. Parking spaces for the handicapped and the pregnant. The pregnancy signs are great. "For sale" painted in spray paint on the side of houses. I find the Colombians looking at me in humor from time to time for something that I just can't stop laughing about.

We went to a poorer part of Bogotá today and that has left me pretty raw. I gots to get to bed. Too tinered.
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Maybe we've got it! So much scouring about for the right car. Found one that is a yucko red. I hope with this color it won't be attractive for theives. Max is sick and we couldn't get to the vet in time to bring him home. He threw up yesterday and this morning his back legs wouldn't work. I hope he's ok. I love my morning and evening walks with him. I would be pretty bummed if we didn't have him around anymore.
Tired. I think I might be fighting what the Bunches have been afflicted with. I have been groggy the past couple of days. It's interesting to see Andres get worked up about stuff, he uses hyperbole like sugar for coffee.
to bed. ttfn

Mordecai made it back. Hung out with him for a while today and he relayed to me all his adventures in the north of Colombia. It was quite a pleasure to share some time with this very graceful man. Everyone at church has been asking about his health and travels. It is a shame that he could not stay a time longer with this family who has been praying for him so faithfully.

Today may be the day. I have two appointments for car examination. The one I had been originally looking at turned out to be a dud in the engine, so I only hope that one of the many which we looked at on Saturday may turn out to be a winner. Wranglers are the order of the day. So cool.

I may be able to send some more pictures to y'all soon but that remains to be seen whether the means will become available. ttfn.

In the morning my computer sings "I can see clearly now". Today was one of those days. Unfortunately, something is up with the weather. The weather was totally breathtaking, but something must be up with the pressure in the air. One of the guys who came out of the program invited me to lunch. His mom owns a restaurant and they bring home all the extras which were yummarific. Before and after the meal, we were all pretty tired, but afterwards, we fell asleep on the livingroom furniture. The rest of the youth group came over, but I couldn't get ungroggy. Four of the folks from youth group were also pretty tired for the duration of the get together. It was just a little weird with everyone in a odd torpor.
ttfn, must sleep.

Another adventure tonite with the dudes. More car shopping this morning. We went to several abouts and found a sweet looking beige Wrangler. Yummy. Then we had a wedding of a couple of pastors which was most wonderful. Pastor Andres talked about the choice of love vs. the feelings of love. It got me thinking about our will and God's will for us, I began to mull the sweetness of being chosen and how that is the same sentiment God desires, to be chosen. He who is big enough to bend a heart like pharoah, is big enough to bend all our hearts. I found it beautiful. We had rehearsal till 7 after the wedding, and then I took directions from a bunch of people who don't drive to a Christian cafe. They had some great music, but when somebody would start dancing, they'd stop it. We went out front and danced, but I'm not planning on going back. I don't plan on sitting on my duff in the great hereafter listening to music and humming along with the chorus from time to time. I think heresy comes in different flavors and I ain't gonna stomache forced ignorance.

Another busy day of car shopping. Arrgh. It turns out that the way money is routed to the banks down here is far from fool proof. Lana sent funds from Chicago, but somehow they ended up in Medellin. After three hours everything was ironed out, but now I've got to ensure that the Wrangler I'm looking at doesn't fall apart. Wow, so frustrating.

Talked to Glenn Kopang about sending down a container of clothes for the program. It would be an enormous blessing to have that come through. The guys get cold up there in the mountains. Also, Andres met with a lady from the church who has gone to prostitution. We're trying to obtain new clothes for her, so she's not always slutty looking.

Hung out with the kids at youth group, but I was fairly knackered. to be ttfn

Well, the adage is holding true, "Nothing happens in a day in Colombia." My cell phone lady hit another blockade last night and found that the service plan they want to put me on requires that I've resided in Colombia for three months. ARRGH! These people love the red tape. I signed and thumbprinted at least 8 sheets. I gave them two photos of me. I gave them two work contracts from both parts of the Church, the Foundation (drug rehab) and the Church (school, church). I don't understand why this is so hard.

Ardent and intelligent. I am amazed at what I've been translating for y'all. Most of the report cards from the kids to the foster parents in the US are put together by the teacher, but I have one here that I have to share

Sister,
I salute you cordially desiring that this letter finds you in the best
health. I address myself to you to thank you for the collaboration
that you have entered into with me.

Sister, I promise you I will not disappoint you. At school I
endeavor to be a good student. My name is Laura XXXXXX and I am 11
years old.

I am confident in the Lord that I will continue being a good student with the
help also of my dear mother and the teachers.

May God bless you forever,
Laura

Talk about intense. I never wrote like this when I was ELEVEN. Yikes. I tell you these people are so passionate about how they live their whole lives.

I've got rehearsal tonite. Must bring earplugs. too freakin' loud.

Bill Bensink is right. Nothing gets done here in a day. I went with the neighbor, Hector, to check out his car. His sister is a missionary in the United States. He used to work as an economist for a major supermarket chain here in Colombia. He is now retired and that might be part of why we took all day in getting the car checked out by mechanics. It's an old Wrangler hardtop with the 4 wheel drive linkage removed. We left the house at 8 and he dropped me off at church at 2:30pm. I had a meeting with my cell provider and I should have a cell by today.

All the Bunchs are sick with some kind of flu. Maybe I've seen "At Play in the Fields of the Lord" one to many times, but I can't help but feel that I've brought some super-virus with me from the US. I feel great, I look great and Jesus loves me.

Max and I are heading out to the park that is adjoined to the neighborhood we live in. It's a couple of miles long and is kinda dark at night. It's good having a dog to hang with. Max really was in a gang at one point so he has occaisonal violent tendencies. He is trainable, but it's taking a lot of repetition.

J&K: I'll be sending you a newsletter this week hopefully. Thanks ya'll.

Oh, btw, I don't mind getting e-mails.

Wow! The lightning here in the Andes is incredible. Holy guacamole. It is so intense in its volume and proximity, you feel the power. Actually, I'm kinda worried about blowing out my computer so I'm probably shutting this down soon. Well, yesterday was a rather long Sunday. Two services and the bass players were both out of commission so I had to play. They have such an energetic service. They jump and dance and ... wow. So, we were in church till nearly two and I found out shortly that I had invited the youth group to my apartment to watch movies. I had 20 folks in my dinko apartment till 9 watching "Espinaza del Diablo" and "Stuck on You". They made a ginormous mess of the place and ate everything. I slept in this morning a little later than usual with this perfect 12 hours of dark and light. I keep waking at the dawn. Today I looked at a Jeep Wrangler which I plan on purchasing for my time here. I had a few meetings today with Andres and with my cell provider. Worked at church for a while on the computers and then went for a walk with Max (labrador retriever) in this torrent. The two seasons here are wet and not so wet. Remind you of anywhere?

Well, I'm out folks. Got some oblivion to visit.

Today was long. We went down to church for the Saturday prayer service. The third Saturday of the month the leaders and deacons of the church have a bible study till the service begins at 9:30. The prayer service ran till about noon after which the staff meeting was conducted till 4. The two bassists are unable to play tomorrow, so I practiced with the band till 5:30ish. My father's relations tried to connect with me here on Thursday and again today. Unfortunately, there weren't enough hours in our day for us to connect. I've been tired most of the day and will surely be sleeping soon.

Shopping. Finally got some furniture for the place, so I am no longer using bunkbeds as tables and ladders as shelves. Actually, I am still using the ladder as a shelf, but only cause it looks cool. I only got to spend half an hour at home. I went all over town and then I had to head into church for the youth leadership meeting. I was rather surprised by the way conversation is held here. I think I may have run into my first difficult intangibles. The youth pastor and one of the youth leaders were at odds with each other. They argued rather heatedly and people here don't seem to wait till everyone is done talking. They just talk over each other for a long time, kinda like how they drive here. I was rather amazed anything was accomplished during the meeting, but afterwards we had actually made some progress in a number of areas. During the youth worship service one lady came into the sanctuary crying. She'd been working as a prostitute and has wanted to liberate herself from the bondage of this lifestyle. A couple pastors took her aside and gave her some help. It was rather amazing that she'd been moved towards liberation. I got home after the youth worship service at about 10 and I'll be asleep in a couple minutes. ttfn

I walked all over Bogotá today. I went in this morning to figure out the cedula that I need to identify myself in Colombia. I turned in my paperwork at the Department of Alien Services this morning at 9:30am. It is kind of interesting to walk into a place that is guarded by a couple of guys with uzis. Such a weird place. Some famous actor dude was also there today for nearly as long as I was. I had the good fortune to have my friend Sissi (See See) come by at around 11 to inform me that this guy was a Venezuelan actor who has been trying to break out into the american theater. It had found it slightly odd that people kept on staring at him when they walked by, but I figured it was because of his ridiculous haircut.
At 2:30 pm I was finally called in for fingerprinting and photo taking. It was fairly hilarious when the lady who was supposed to enter my vitals into the computer ran into problems with the computer. I fixed it for her and then proceeded to fill in the rest of the fields. The lady started messing around and proceeded to have me take her picture for my id, since she figured I should work there since I could figure it all out.
I had asked Mauricio to take his mom home as we'd picked her up on the way to the DAS in the morning. She had been given a shot and really needed to eat something. It was perfect that Sissi walked by as she helped me find a place to eat and someplace to buy a monitor. We walked to a local restaurant and had the unusual circumstance of sitting next yet another famous person, this time a singer whose band is something like "We've got Hair".
We walked down to the technology center. The shop centers here are a little unusual in that they have localized purchasing. If you want a monitor you go to Unilago where there are 40 plus shops on two levels dedicated solely to computer and technology components. It's a little like geek heaven. This monitor is the same size as my old one in the US but at a third of the price. We had to hail 7 cabs before we could find one that the monitor could fit into. Finally, I took the computer out of the box in order to fit it into the front seat. Now I have to find a table on which this sucker will fit.
I was supposed to have been picked up by my father's in-laws last night. I sat out in the street and probably missed the call saying they couldn't make it. Note to self, get an answering machine. So, I had a great time playing my guitar and finally came it to watch a film.
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So, we're here in day two at Suesca. I shared with the guys my path and mission. We had a great breakfast of soup after a service by Pastor Andres regarding Bartholomeo. I finally got a wrench to repair the lawn mower that they asked me to look at yesterday. The fuel filter was coated in junk and there was some straw in the manual pump. Still no sun here and colder than a well digger's eye. We leave soon I think, there is quite a bit of paperwork we need to arrange.
Shoot, I've forgotten more than I remember. I've spent the past hour trying to remember what I don't know anymore about triginometry. I have paced out the distance between the two resevoirs that we have at Suesca. I can't recall if opposite over adjacent equals the tangent only in the situation of a right triangle or not. My GPS would be a salvation in this case if I could actually see the sky. That has not yet been the case.
It is usually cloudy out and my walk took me through this morning's wet grass. I have soaking wet feet and pants. I felt I was gonna go hypothermic from the freezing nature of the weather here. Glenn Kopang spoke about sending down a container full of Columbia sportswear clothes. This would be an incredible boon to the guys here in the program and for myself as I brought only just enough to keep from totally freezing. The guys here are pretty great, I sat and talked to a bunch of the dudes regarding the growth that is going on in the american churches as we are trying to redress the areas of mission that we could be involved in. There are so many wonderful areas of work that we could be part of, but it is hard to see from four thousand miles away. I wonder if it would make a difference if people saw this at all. Apathy!

out