CITY AT REST... SORT OF Monday was a national holiday in Colombia and that meant the whole city rested… sort of. I began my day with a great run along the usual route north up Avenue Caracas and then east the length of Parque Virrey. There are half a dozen streets that I cross which don't have stop lights and in days past I've sometimes waited several minutes for a break in traffic before I could cross. This morning, due to the national holiday, I didn't h...

SOLO POR FE & LUZ Y VIDA Sunday morning it was back to work… or, at least it was Pr. Jairo back to work and me back to shadowing him (I've joked with him that he has a shadow even when the sun goes down). We left at about 7:30am and took a bus followed by a long walk to another of the congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Colombia (IELCO). The name of the congregation is 'Solo por Fe' or "By Faith Alone" (taken from Romans 1.17 - "The one...

CARTAGENA - ONE CITY, MANY WORLDS Thursday morning Pr. Jairo and I hopped a taxi to Bogota's airport (for a total cost of $8.26) and then caught a flight to the Caribbean coastal city of Cartagena de Indias. The "de Indias" distinguishes it from another Cartagena in Spain and has to do with where the Spaniards thought they were when they landed and formed the city in 1533. Most simply call it Cartagena. Cartagena is one city with (as Pr. Jairo pointed out t...

MY FIRST SOLO-ADVENTURE (OR 'DON'T WORRY MOM, I'M FINE') Wednesday afternoon, I had my first little adventure on my own in the big city of Bogotá. However, before I went off on my own, Pr. Jairo and I made a two-hour trek out to the southwestern edges of Bogotá, to the neighborhood of Caracolí to visit a mission called 'Luz y Vida' (Light and Life). I'll be going to 'Luz y Vida' for worship on Sunday afternoon, so I'll write more about it then. For now, ...

2 BIBLE STUDIES & 1 VERY INTERESTING BUS RIDE Tuesdays are busy for Pr. Jairo. Two bible study groups meet on different sides of town. The 'Fátima' group meets in the home of the Contreras family in west central Bogotá at 3:30pm while the 'San Agustín' group meets in the home of Marie & Jesus in south eastern Bogotá at 6:30pm. An interesting bus ride separates the two groups. Pr. Jairo and I actually arrived at the home of the Contreras family at...