Did I mention how much I love my kids? Some of the random moments in Bogota... [View Full Entry]

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Okay, so it looks like I ruffled some feathers with my last post. Through messages, (which I choose to not post....and encourage a flame war) I was accused of being ethnocentric, biased, unChristian and angry. So I will address those dissenters in this post. First off, throwing someone's faith back at them for voicing their opinion is not an effective argument. I am not 'less Christian' for judging immoral behavior. A tenant of the Christian faith is 'to put on armor' of faith. We are told that if we are 'lukewarm' God will spit us out. Paul writes in his epistles [View Full Entry]

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I'm sorry I haven't updated this in nearly a month. So much goes on, that its hard to sit down and just organize my thoughts and write them into a coherent narrative. But let me try... As a school, we traveled out of the mountains and into the rainforest. It was a little worrisome at first, as we were traveling into paramilitary area. Not exactly FARC ground, but really close. We arrived at our location safely and had three days playing at a resort. Well, it called itself a resort....it was really the most amassed collection of insects and creepy-crawlies I've [View Full Entry]

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Wow....the last week has flown by. With so much packed into my days, its hard to get time to breathe....let alone write on the blog. But let me try and catch you all up... Last Tuesday, a little over a week ago, I chaperoned my Senior class to Santa Maria Plaza de Toros......One of the oldest bullrings in South America. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the bullfight, but we did hang out in the ring. We toured the facilities, went into the holding areas where they keep the bulls and saw the stadium from inside and out. I promise to [View Full Entry]

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My roommates took off this weekend to go play in a mountain lake, and I'm left here alone. It's okay. First, I really didn't need to spend the money to go there, when in two weeks we are going there for free on a teachers retreat. Second, two people are coming down this weekend. One of my roommates is coming back, and then a good friend of us Judson guys is coming to stay for a while....like a couple months while. Its another amigo to hang out with, help on rent and help sub some of my classes. Also, we had [View Full Entry]

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Bienvenido! Just a quick update tonight before I go to bed. Welcome and thanks to Chrissy and Adam. I'm so glad that you found my blog, and are actually taking the time to read it! I wonder sometimes if I have anything interesting to say, so its very encouraging to hear positive feedback. Thanks so much for the thoughts, well wishes and most importantly, thanks for the prayers. It's what I need the most. This last week has really seen me become not just comfortable with my new home, but actually pretty peaceful also. It was a rough going for awhile. [View Full Entry]

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Hola everyone. First thing first....I haven't been kidnapped. I haven't been mugged and I haven't gotten any weird tropical disease. Those were my biggest concerns, but they really are unfounded. Actually, the only things that really separate Bogota from Chicago are the amount of pollution, the size and that everyone down here speaks Spanish. Other than that, I'm living in a major metropolis. There's plenty of 'social capital', people walking around talking to each other. Five blocks from my apartment is a nice little shopping center called Mazuren. It's clean, safe and has a couple really nice restaurants that are inexpensive. [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Colombia! I'm writing this blog from the friendly home of the Bye/Van Zandt family. When I arrived in Bogota, my apartment wasn't ready, so I am spending the extended weekend with this family. Two of the sons are students at El Camino, and Kathleen Van Zandt is a teacher at the school. The first morning and afternoon I spent here, I camped out at the house. There wasn't much to do really. The father and sons went to a missionary farm, while Kathleen had an appointment to keep with a local single mother in need. I stayed in, napped, [View Full Entry]

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In the words of the great philosopher Mitch Hedburg, "I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. Then I'm gonna put pins into all the locations that I've traveled to. But first, I'm gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it won't fall down." In three weeks from today, I'll be living in Bogota Colombia. I know for some of you, just reading that sentence causes you to worry about my safety, question my judgement and miss my friendship. As I've said repeatedly, I'm only going to be gone for five months. [View Full Entry]

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