Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! - The Pastor gave us all Christmas hats :D

This is the first year that I have been away for Christmas. Not being there for all the traditions that I am used to is hard, but this years Christmas has been one of my favorites. It is so easy to get completely wrapped up in all the Christmas 'stuff' at home and consumed by what the world tells us how Christmas should be. This year my Christmas has been a lot different. This week we spent our time in another community on the outskirts of Bogota with a pastor and his family. It is hard to describe what the community looked like so check out the picture below :) It is crazy how many homes that they fit on the mountain and the condition the homes are in. This family showed us amazing hospitality and made each one of us feel at home. The example that this family showed to me was so encouraging. They are a family that have chosen to live out what God has called them to do and do it through a life lived by faith. They are so welcoming and loving and are doing so much for their community. Every morning from 7-8 the pastor hands out breakfast for any child under the age of 6 (usually around 200), he also holds church services in his home, and sets an example for many other families in the neighborhood on how to live a life for Jesus. I often get consumed with trying to find out what God wants me to do, rather than just doing something for the glory of God, whatever that may be. God has given us each desires within our heart, and he truly wants us to follow through with those, but do it to bring glory to Him and not for our own benefits. 

Paraíso - Paradise (Community where we stayed at the Pastors house)

The purpose of our trip to this neighborhood was to do a vbs (vacation bible school) with some of the children in the community. Each day we had a different lesson to teach the kids and then spent time playing with them. These kids mostly came from dysfunctional families where they are not often shown love. For us to come and just play with them and love on them meant a lot... although it seems like we definitely gained more from them then what we gave them. On the last day of vbs, christmas eve, we had a christmas party for the kids. Another group of people had come and provided gifts for the kids and snacks, so we were able to help hand all that out. It was amazing, and a bit overwhelming at the same time, watching these kids receive their gifts. These kids don't get a whole lot, so when they were given the gifts they were super excited, but at the same time very eager to make sure they got as much as they could. 

Going to play soccer with the kids

When we weren't doing the vbs we spent our time various other things. One day we got to go up on top of a hill right beside the community. It was really awesome to be able to look over the community and more of Bogota. Up on the hill we took time and pray over the city. We also went and visited a family in the community and just spent some time visiting and then praying for them. A couple of the days we went on the bus into the city to buy supplies and pick up some of the gifts for the christmas eve party. Another part of the trip to this community was all the food that the pastor gave us! It was very good and we definitely didn't go hungry this week :)

Christmas Eve is the day that is most celebrated here as opposed to how we celebrate Christmas day as being the big day. We were at the pastors home Christmas eve. Our day was filled the christmas party for the kids, a lot of eating, and spending time with the family and our team. It's their tradition to eat late on Christmas eve and then stay up till midnight and open their gifts then. It felt a little like New Years Eve! On Christmas day we had a big lunch with the pastor and his family and then headed back to the base for a Christmas with just our team. We had a nice dinner together, had an exchange of secret santa gifts, and then watched Home Alone. Also after dinner we read the story of Jesus's birth and spent time in worship. I really enjoyed this part of the day as we really just focused on the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus left perfect heaven to come down to very imperfect earth to live as a human and go through all the difficulties that earth is full of. He was able to live a perfect life without sin and therefore was able to become the ultimate sacrifice for all of our sins. It is so important for us to remember why we celebrate Christmas and not get completely consumed with all the hype that the world pressures on us. 

I am have missed being at home during the holiday season, but I know this is where I am supposed to be right now and am so thankful for the Christmas that I got to have!

Grace made us Fried Rice

Christmas Eve Lunch!

Christmas Eve Dinner!

Our little family Christmas :D

Thanks everyone so much for all your prayers!
Love you all and hope you had an awesome Christmas!
Miss you!
Rachael 

Arrived Safe and Sound!

We arrived in Bogota on Tuesday evening after about 15 hours of traveling. I was only able to sleep about 2 hours on the plane but I didn't feel that bad. We arrived in Bogota at night so we were able to go to sleep right when got here. We are staying at a ywam base, which is a house, and is really nice. I love that it feels like a home!

The first day here we just got settled and walked around the city a bit. The second full day here we went on a bike tour to get acquainted with the city. It was awesome! It was about 6 hours and for the first 5.5 the weather was really good, but for the last 1/2 hour it poured rain, but since we had plastic ponchos we stayed semi-dry. Even though it rained it was a fun experience! And rain here is definitely not uncommon. The weather here has been quite cold, especially compared to Hawaii, and it normally rains everyday in the evening. I bought rain boots :D

Walking around the city

Part of our bike tour - traditional games

coffee factory

It began to pour during our bike tour!

walking telephone booth

market

bull ring!

Friday we got to go to a daycare and help out for the day and spend time with the kids (age 3-15). The kids that come to this daycare are from low income communities and come from dysfunctional homes. The daycare has been running for quite a while now (not sure exactly how long), and they operate with the purpose of raising children to know God and who they are in Him. When we went we were asked to plan activities and have a theme that we wanted to share with the kids. We decided that we would have the theme of 'You are Special' as we wanted to express to the kids that no matter what circumstances they live with or what may have happened to them, each one of them are special and God cares about each and everyone of them. We did an art project were each one of the children had to decorate an ornament with things that they like about themselves and things that they like to do. Then we had them put on a christmas tree. We did this to incorporate our theme as well as christmas, as it is only one week away! Then we also played games with the kids, sang songs, and explained to them more about who they are in God and how they each are so special! I really liked doing the craft with the kids as I got to attempt to communicate with them through the little spanish I knew, and mostly hand motions and body language. All of the kids are so amazing and were so helpful when I tried to communicate. One of my favorite parts of the day was when the kids sang 'Here I am to Worship' in Spanish. It just really showed me that God is totally working within these communities and that there is hope that things can change. The kids are being brought up in Christian environments and I just pray that they stay strong and continue to follow God. It is kinda funny how so many times when we think we are going to help and give to others, we get way more in return. These kids showed us so much love and showed how we can live for God through a child like faith... not thinking it over so much and trying to understand, but just believing. At the end of our time with the kids we got to pray for them. It was a really great experience and I know that I will always remember these kids. A hard part of this trip will definitely be meeting all these people and only being apart of their lives for a little period of time. Even if I can't stay with them or help them as I would like to, I know I can pray for them and that God is going to always be with them.

All the daily things here are going really good. I've liked all the food we have had, I have been able to sleep well, and our group is getting along really well :D

Love and miss you all!
Rachael