A good day

We had a great day going to church at La Gracia Iglesia. Jon preached and we also had a good Sunday school lesson. The key phrase was "you can believe your own truth but you can only be satisfied with Christ´s truth". We had lunch and then headed to the camp in Tenjo. We helped a little and then played soccer and basketball. Tomorrow we´re meeting with James and Kerry to plan the basketball camp. Pray for us as we plan the camp so that we can wisely run the camp and share the gospel. Pictures coming...

Saturday in the City

We started out this morning by meeting with Jon to go over some things about the trip. After making copies of our passports and trading in our dollars for pesos we headed into Bogota for a day in the city.

Here are some things we learned about Colombia:

Chia is 8500 feet above see level

It is a great offense to spit in front of someone

Throw your TP in the trash or you may have to look for a plunger

If you are fair skined you can get a sun burn in about 30 min or less

Bogota has a population of about 5 million

Notice the clouds touching the mountains
The team (and some pigeons that decided to join us)

Wall to wall of one of many tiny shops here.
The Colombian "White House"

I am almost as tall as the two guards

Dave and Daniela Alonso

She sprained her ankle so she got lots of piggy back rides.

We looked at Galations 2 this morning to remind us that our focus should be on the gospel. Please pray with us for God's work during these 12 days. Our purpose is to see teens get saved and help jump start a youth ministry at the Church here. We start the camp on Tuesday!

Quote of the day: "Hey look, its an afro!" -Craig Hastings

Getting there

Hello friends!
We have internet access so we are excited to be able to show you some of what we have expirenced.

::Here are some pictures from Friday::

Unloading at the minneapolis airport

Justin looking ready for his first flight

Odessa and PJ

Line of cab drivers to pick people up from the airport in Bogota, Colombia. We were picked by Jon Boyd and Mr. car for what seemed like 45 minutes to Chia were our host familes live.

The Van Der Weides and I (Bekah) were warmly welcomed friday night by our host family.
We are staying with the Alonso's which is the pastors family at the Church in Chia.

We made it!

Hey everbody,

We had great flights and safe travel. All our stuff made it ok. We´re getting ready to head for breakfast. We´ll post some pictures later on today.

Thanks for praying!
Pastor Will

Packing List

Pack light! We don't want our vans to look like this on the trip to the airport. ;)

_Passport
_Money or credit card
_Sun protection: sunscreen/hat/sunglasses/Aloe if you burn bad
_Sweatshirt for cool weather
_Basketball or tennis shoes
_Workout clothes (shorts are fine for workout but bring sweatpants to wear over them)
_About 5 days worth of clothes- jeans are fine (we should have washing capabilities)
_Sunday clothes for two Sundays & shoes (nice pants for girls is acceptable)
_Toiletries (TP too because restrooms may not have it)
_Stuff to do on the plane
_Snacks-granola bars, etc.
_Swimsuit and swim cap if you own one (swim caps are required)
_Camera (The disposable ones are good if you are worried about it getting stolen. Put disposable cameras or any film in your carry on bag)
_Meds needed: Tylenol, Ibuprofen, anti-diarrhea, Epi pens etc.
_Twin sheets to leave for the camp
_Pillow (if you can't live without it;))
_Towel
_Items for the Boyds (let us know if you have or would like to get some of these things at the next meeting)
_Skippy peanut butter (mostly Chunky)
_Cheerios (Honey nut and regular)
_Bisquick, Cake, Cookie, or Brownie mixes
_Cupcake liners
_A Gift for your host family (lotions and hand soaps like from bath and body works are an idea but don't get bubble bath because most of the families don't have tubs. Also put any liquid items in a Ziploc in your checked bag)
_Things to do on the plane
_Written testimony to share
_Any Spanish material helpful for you: dictionaries, books, sheet of bball terms
_Bible
_Journal and pens
_Music, guitar chords, guitar for church and personal use
_(Most importantly) A prepared heart to serve and grow

Note that the checked bags need to be less than 50 lbs not 60.
We are allowed only one carry on, two bags to check and one small purse/laptop bag. Check the airline if you have questions about what you can put on your carry on; definitely no sharp objects and possibly no drinks. We fly Delta airline.

Luggage Info

The Colombia team met again today. It felt like basketball practice all over again as we went through the drills that we will be teaching at the camp. :)

Here's the number and dimensions for our bags:

Carry on bags
1 purse, handbag, or laptop
1 under 40 lbs 45 inches (l,w,h) to put in the glove compartment

2 bags to check
Both under 50 lbs, 62 inches (l,w,h)

Extra items to bring:
A sheet to leave for the camp
Jar of SKIPPY peanut butter for the Boyds
Spending money for food and items (Contact the Boyds if you would like to send the money up ahead of time)

We have to check in by ten and our flight will leave at 12:10