Singing, Library, and new project

This weekend was a busy but fun filled weekend. It started out with the sleep over that included my host mom, 2 other ladies from the church, several of the youth group girls, and the North American girls that live in La Mesa. ( my team members and another missionary women)We were up until 4 am talking, playing games, eating and watching a movie. Then Saturday afternoon my teammates and I accompanied Martin and Elsy (the pastors working in Anapoima)to a potluck lunch in Anapoima. Saturday evening we had practice with the worship band from another town called Anolaima. We were invited to join the worship band there the following day. So Sunday we boarded a bus at 7am and traveled about an hour and a half to Anolaima to sing in their worship service and then we stayed in Anolaima for the rest of the day.
I have really discovered how much I enjoy singing as we do plenty of it here. Our group often gets asked to sing and/or play at various churches and functions.

Our library project is going quite well. We have finally finished organizing all the books into Microsoft Excel and stickered them and shelved them according to subject and category. We are now ready for the students to check out the books and many students have done so quite happily and the library is full of excitement during the 45 minute break that the students have. We still have some work to do before we are completely done but we are coming along well.

We also recently started a new project. We teach music at a childrens home here in La Mesa. We teach music classes 2 times a week. The children at this home are from families that can´t take care of them. It isn´t an orphanage but rather a group foster home. It has been such a blessing working with these children as they are so affectionate and long to show that affection.

Hope, Joy and Beauty

One of the things I find most encouraging in my time in Colombia is to see hope in a country that has such a violent reputation. I see the hope daily in the smiling faces of the students at the Colegio Menno Americano ( American Mennonite School), I see hope in the daily conversations with my host family, I see hope in the expressions of thanks that we recieve from the teachers at the school when they come into the library in search of a book that they are easily able to find now that after 3 months of organizing the library, there is some sense of order to it and I could fill this whole blog with examples.

Another thing I find alot here is joy. A person once told me that ¨Happiness comes and goes but joy is a choice that lasts a lifetime¨ I see joy in the way the people worship in the churches, I find joy in the smiles of the people that I work with in Anapoima. It is encouraging to see that even though they live in absolute poverty they still greet us with a smile and offer us something to drink. I see joy in the eyes of my pre-first to second graders when I go into the classrooms to teach English. Again my list could go on.

I find beauty in the green that fills the jungle filled mountains that surround me. A sunset over the Andes mountains brings a peaceful feeling to me as the sky fills with the beauty of pinks, orange, and yellows. the reflection of the sun on the clouds, the conversations with my teammates and Colombian friends that takes place on a daily basis and more. It would take pages to write all the examples of Hope, joy and beauty that I see in Colombia so I will just leave you with these examples for mow.