a Taste of Colombia

I just wanted to thank all of you who came to my house for the party! It was great to get to talk a little with all of you. If you didn't get to come you missed out on some crazy South American food that I taught everyone how to make at the party. Lomo al trapo was the favorite dish I think, because you have to actually throw the meat in the fireplace to cook it. (let me know if you want the exact recipe :) Lomo al trapo was a favorite because it was crazy, not because it tasted awesome (too much salt!) The second time around was much better.
We also made fried platanos (called patacon) and mangobiche (salty mango with lime juice on it) and hot chocolate with cheese to melt inside. Thank you all for being so adventurous! and thank you all for coming to support me in Colombia. I know the Lord will bless you for it!

A Christmas Carol

The play was such a success! Thank you all for your prayers. It was a lot of work! Our big night was Saturday, December 15. We started with carols and ended with a time of celebrating the meaning of Christmas! I realized so much from this show about the reformation that Jesus can bring about in a person's life. Its not a Christian show, or about the birth of Jesus, but I found themes that could be related to a great sermon. Although the theology might be a stretched! :) Scrooge, this mean old man, is supernaturally changed by the spirits who visit him. And he praises the spirits who want him to live a different life. We have the Holy Spirit working in us, who draws us to Christ. Scrooge is given a second chance at beating the grave. And his moment of redemption comes with remorse for the way that he has treated his fellow man.
One of my cool experiences linked with the play was using the story to witness to a Colombian man. He works at a little shop right outside my building. I was waiting on the sidewalk with a giant paper mache turkey (which Scrooge sends to the Cratchit family at the end of the play.) Using my best Spanish I got to tell him the story of redemption that "the Holy Spirit" works in Scrooge's life.

High School Retreat-More than Extraordinary!

We returned from a retreat held in Chinauta, about 2 hours from Bogotá. I was a chaperone because I am the student council advisor. The student council did a great job planning games and worship sessions. God blessed the kids with a relaxing and spiritually-deepening time.
I made some new friends on the retreat. The speakers are an Assembly of God missionary couple who are my age. We even have some mutual friends who I worked with in California. We really hit it off and they are a blessing to get to know!

School Activities!

It is a beautiful sunny day, but I am missing watching leaves fall. I saw some pictures on facebook of gorgeous autumn colors and then looked out my window. Different beauty, God's creativity at work.
This week, we had play practice a couple times. I am so excited about putting on A Christmas Carol! My students and I have been talking about whether or not Charles Dicken's is a Christian, and I'm not sure but he did understand caring for others and redemptive life change. I've enjoyed our times of character development, especially the distinction between Scrooge and characters like Scrooge's nephew Fred and Bob Cratchit. Rodrigo, a twelfth grader and the principal's son, is Scrooge and very convincing as a grumpy old man! Fred is played by Russell, a MK in my biology class, who is just the perfect image of joy and grace to Scrooge. And Nathan plays Bob Cratchit meekly and exemplifies forgiveness for Scrooge's hard-heartedness. Please pray that God would use this story to inspire a Christlike spirit.
The high school Student Council planned Spirit Week, and everyday included a different costume and some kind of enthusiasm-building game. I was amazed at the amount of spirit shown and we ended with a tie between two teams! Being the Student Council coordinator I participated in 80's day, nerd day, twin day, etc. Angela, my roommate from Wheaton was my twin!
My roommate, Casey, got engaged this week! Her boyfriend is a missionary in Nicargua and came to visit. We are all very excited for her!
(Now it has started hailing outside, this happens most afternoons for about thirty minutes. If it doesn't hail, it rains. Hard, with thunder. The school yards flood and my poor gym teacher roommate, Rebecca, has to take the kids inside to play soccer or something else.)

Katherine in Colombia!

Hi family and friends!
My roommates and I are enjoying exploring together on long weekends (puentes). Rebecca and I went to Moserrate the other day, it is a beautiful church on the top of the Andes Mountains! We rode a cable car up to the top and had a great view of the city.
We got lost when we were trying to find someone's house! There are new addresses and old addresses here on every street corner and lots of big buildings. Sometimes the old one has an X through it, and sometimes you don't know if anyone ever wrote the new address on the building or if they just didn't write an X through the old one. Anyway, the Corredor family had invited us over for dinner, to make Lomo al Trapo, a Bogotan dish. You wrap a big piece of beef loin in cotton that has been spread with a kilo of salt. Then you wrap it with twine and throw it in the fireplace! After about 20 minutes the cotton and salt has become a cast keeping the meat very tender! It was a delicious dinner and with great company.

My New City!

Dear Family and Friends,
I hope that you find this blog interesting, as I journal my weekly events and tell you about life here. Bogotá, Colombia is a city of 9 million people (I have asked a few taxi drivers) and it is 8,661.4 ft up in the air! (point of reference, Denver is 5,183 ft above sea level).
I have four roommates, Rebecca from Indiana; Melody, a Moody grad from Ohio; Casey, from North Carolina, and Liz from Wisconsin. We live in a townhome about 15 minutes from El Camino. The picture is the view out my front door. We have guards at our conjunto (our gated neighborhood) which helps us feel safe.
El Camino is very far north in the city and we cross a bridge and hop on the UDCA bus to get there. Recently the school started providing a ruta (a van route) for us. It is so great because in the mornings the busses are so full of people and stop very often to pick up more. We make it to school in about half the time! On the way to school, we see lots of cows tied along the side of the road, and stray dogs. And traffic jams abound in this city, except for a few rush hours in the morning and evenings when "pico de placa" is in effect. It means pick the [license] plate, and depending on the day half the people can't be on the road because of their license plate number.
If you want to learn more facts about Colombia, you can go to "http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/samerica/co.htm". It's a cool country!