FINAL FULL DAY IN COLOMBIA After a more restful Saturday, my final full day in Colombia was a full day - leaving by 7am and not returning 'home' until 11pm. The morning began with worship at San Pablo Lutheran Church with about 30 Lutheran World Federation guests from all over the world. One of the delegates from the Lutheran World Federation Council, Rev. Dr. Robin Steinke (Dean of Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg), preached on the parable of the...

BUYING A CAR IN BOGOTÁ - UPDATE Indeed, a car has been found for the buying in Bogotá. As seems to happen the world over, Pr. Jairo ended up speaking with the mechanic four houses down (someone he knew before he started shopping for cars) and found a good deal on a Subaru four-dour sedan. It's had some good use and a few kilometers, but Pr. Jairo was looking anyway for a vehicle that wouldn't draw as much attention in some of the more impoverished neighbor...

GLOBAL CHURCH, LOCAL CHURCH Friday morning was the opening worship for the Lutheran World Federation's annual Council meeting. This year, the Lutheran World Federation Council is meeting in Bogotá, Colombia from June 15-20, which marks the first time ever it has met in Latin America. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is (according to its website) "a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF...

SHOPPING FOR SPANISH Over breakfast this morning, Pr. Jairo said, "Why don't you go with Consuelo and Liria this morning. They are attending a meeting at a church, but if it's boring there are some shops nearby. Either way, you can be back by 1pm in time for us to have lunch." "Sounds good." I said. I should've known better. A few hours later, I found myself shopping for clothes and serving as the translator for a woman from Cameroon who speaks mostly Fre...

LIRIA & JAIRO Today was a bit of a free day. A run in the morning. Breakfast and some reading and catching up on the blog (including a video I assembled of worship at 'Luz y Vida' which I added to the blog entry for June 10… or you can click here to watch it). A little before noon, Pr. Jairo asked if I wanted to run an errand with him. His printer was broke so we walked to a nearby store aptly named "Fix Computer" (see photo here). While window-shop...