Terrific Tuesday

Today we are blogging, catching up from yesterday. We were so busy yesterday that we did not have any time to blog yet.
Sunday, after we visited a local Mall we went out to see some of the city of Medellin and surrounding municipalities. This included seeing the Christmas holiday lights in and around the city. This was just amazing. This is the most lights I've seen anywhere, even those who have seen Vegas said it was even better, much better. Look at some of the photos on the blog.
On Monday we started the morning being picked up by bus and then prepared for Day Camp in the morning, the time just flying by as we were so busy. In the afternoon we went to see a coffee farm and processing plant. Very basic but informative. Good to see where most Canadians' staple beverage comes from. See the pictures.

Last night we went out to the city of Sabaneta, which is sort of part of Medellin. This is actually where most of us are living with host families. We visited the central park or square, which has been decorated amazingly and they also had a market there selling all kinds of things. It was just beautiful. Afterwards we were treated to a traditional Colombian meal.

Today, Tuesday was the first day of Powerlab Day Camp. We rushed to make final preparations and apart from some early hiccups we managed to teach and entertain about 40 kids. Working alongside us are 17 Colombian youth workers. They are just doing awesome. They help with translation and managing the children.

Please keep praying for us as we keep working with these wonderful people.

Dries Mostert

Made it to Medellin

Greetings from warm and sunny Colombia. We made it!!!! We arrived safely and entered Colombia with no problem. Diego said he had never seen a group pass so quickly through customs. Thank you for your prayers! We were warmly greeted and welcomed by our Colombian friends. All of us immediately felt at home. They took us to an incredible open air restaurant where we enjoyed Colombian food and visited with our new friends. On the way into town we stopped at a lookout and took in the breathtaking view of Medellin. And then it was off to our hosts homes - all of us are staying in different homes, except Brenda and Sonya who are together. Never did a hot shower and a bed feel so good.

On Sunday Dries and Rick went to the Envigado Church and the rest of the team was introduced to the church at Poblado and prayed for before heading off to teach Sunday School. The language was not as huge a barrier as we thought. The kids were fantastic and happy to interact with the team. Dries and Rick had a similar experience at Envigado. People have opened their arms and lives to us.

We've already learned something from our Colombian friends. Whenever they greet one another it is with hugs and kisses. They did that with us right from the moment they met us. So we decided that it didn't seem right to hug our Colombian friends and just nod at one another. So as of this morning the team greets one another in the Colombian way (including Jason).

Tonight we get to take in the Colombian Christmas sights. Tomorrow is a full day with our Colombian counterparts in preparing for the Day Camp that starts Tuesday morning.

posted by Rick

Finally in Fort Lauderdale

Well, we have finally arrived in Fort Lauderdale.  We have a relatively short stay here before we transfer to Medellin.  Lord willing, we should be in Medellin by 1430 (Eastern time).  Everyone is feeling a bit more rested after catchin 2- 3 hrs sleep on the flight in from LA.  Please pray that God will use us over the next couple of weeks and we will have an effective ministry in Columbia.  We look forward to seeing what he will do.

Lost in LA

So after arriving in LA at 2:30PM we had a 10 minute walk to the next terminal.  The new terminal didn't open for until 7:30 that evening so that we couldn't check our luggage.  We asked a gentleman for anywhere that we might be able to walk around to kill some time and he directed us to some secret gardens that were so secret most of us never saw them.  Jason got some new directions from another man and came back with the quote of the day, "I just got directions from a guy with a really big nose.  Do you think we can trust him?"  Once we checked in to the terminal and checked our luggage we all got to watch the TSA guys X- ray our bags.  Brenda's and Darren's were the only ones selected this time and apparently they don't like syrup in the bags.  After a good laugh we went and spreamd out all over the floor awaiting our next flight at 12:30AM.

Still friends

Sleepless in Seatle

Well we made! Barely. After waking up to a foot of fresh snow and the news of the TransCanada being closed  we were able to leave Revelstoke by 1 pm. After 9 hours of icey roads we arrived safely in Abbottsford. With only sleep for 3 to 4 hours Tim Hortons was a welcome sight. The border went smoothly except for Dries with the suspicion of him being South Africian. Now just trying to stay awake at Seatac.

Snow fall warning in effect!!

Just want to say hello to all of you following this blog. It is Jan 05 one day before we leave on our missions trip to Medellin and it is official we have a heavy snow fall warning in effect here in Revelstoke. It is hard to believe that if all goes well we will be in Colombia on Saturday at 3pm. Please pray for safe travels on the snowy roads and that we are able to make all our connections.
The planning for this trip start over 8 months ago and we are finally on the eve of departing. After all the planning and getting prepared for day camps and teaching ESL I think everyone on the team would agree with me when I say we still feel under prepared but at the same time very excited to see how God is going to use this group to share his good new to the people of Medellin.
We hope to update this daily.
Jason