Catching up on our week in Barranquilla.

With long and busy days, we want to apologize for not bringing you up to date sooner. --- --- Last Thursday was the “Bullying Seminar”. We did give you an overview of our morning session, so here is the update for our evening session. --- --- Everyone seems to have great discussion around his or her tables. Some needed to translate every word in English due to little understanding of our language, yet it was not a barrier to the understanding of the topic and the great need to find solutions to help those who have been bullied or are still in the midst of this horrific predicament. Young and old, boys and girls, they all related to this and many had great recommendation as they used the language skills we had taught them in the first part of the week. --- --- Amanda shared her story, which related to bullying during her high school years, yet did not share how it was resolved. Three questions were put to the group: --- --- 1. Suggestions for Amanda --- --- 2. Suggestions for the Principle --- --- 3. Suggestions for her parents. --- --- Every person was asked to write his or her suggestion. Then a few were asked to share them up front. All of us were touched as they spoke clearly from the heart. --- --- The evening was a great success and we believe without a doubt that the Spirit of our Lord was surrounding us, as we truly felt lifted up. Every day, we were building relationships with them and we knew that there was only one day left with them. --- --- --- Preparing our last seminar on “Decision Making” was exciting as we truly wanted to communicate to them that the best decision is: “for Jesus”. Made some changes of the session for the morning as the students were much younger than expected. Friday - - - Our last day. --- --- First day that Katie and Michelle can join us in the morning. Katie is feeling much better. --- --- The kids were waiting for us as we arrived. Bus was a bit late! They seemed very happy to see us all. --- ---Throughout the morning the kids were teary eyed, they also felt a tug in their hearts, as they knew that this was our last day. The kids had evolved so much in 5 days. Again, we saw our amazing God work through our lack of skills to communicate with them. How awesome it was to realize that even with a lack of attention thought-out the week to our teaching curriculum, many of them were truly attentive to our gestures and our honesty. Wow! The impact we had was truly a wonderful surprise to us. Just before the end of the morning, a few students from grade 11 wanted to show us a power point they had made of the whole week. “Gracias Por Todo” They had taken pictures of everyone and again, we were touched by the warm and loving gesture they showed us. Other students wrote beautiful letters (in English) and share them with the whole group. Letters, which will impact us greatly, as we remember the week in Barranquilla with the students at this school. It was hard to say good buy to them; they didn’t want us to leave. --- --- We were invited for lunch by Sonia, the principal. Ladies from the church, which also meets at the school, had prepared a nutritional lunch for all of us. It was truly humbling to be served with so much genuine love and attention. Sonia gladly gave us a small tour of the school. (Pictures below of the nursery and younger grades.) The classes were in session for the older kids, so we did not disrupt them. --- --- --- Once back at the hotel, with less than 15 minutes to change, we were transported to our first leisure afternoon of the week. It was great to take a break from the city as Pastor Milton and his wife along with members of the church in Barranquilla drove us to a cottage along the coast. First time at the beach☺ Those of us who made it there were so glad to rest and walk along the ocean. It was not a place to swim; yet there was a swimming pool where some enjoyed greatly the refreshing water, as the heat had been extreme all week. Enjoyable afternoon and it was wonderful to enjoy this time with our Colombian translators and the group from the church in Barranquilla. Before we realized it, it was time to go again to prepare for the evening session. --- --- Similar situation as in the morning, as people arrived, you could feel the sadness from them as they knew this was our last evening together. Many wanted this to continue for another week or so, God is making an impact with ESL here in Barranquilla. --- --- the session started and again great discussion around the table. Amanda shared her God story today. What an impact our God stories have had throughout the week. Near the end of the evening Rick brought a small message about making a “decision” for Jesus. Leading people to speak with the church members or any of the Canadian Team if they wanted. Please pray for those who are “on the fence” as Rick mentioned that we can not stay there. The message was clear, it is time to decide. --- --- --- The evening was wrapped up by Pastor Milton inviting the group to come to church on Sunday and to speak with someone about their decision. People just started to hug each of us and it took a while for some to leave. --- --- After much laughter, tears and hugs, we were driven back to our hotel. Saturday, being our last day in Barranquilla, Pastor Milton had planned a wonderful hike near Santa Marta. We drove to “Parque Nacional Tayrona”. Left early, it is a 2 ½ hour drive to the park. Once there, we walked up and down and were in awe at the beauty that surrounded us. Excellent views on a 2 hour + hike through tropical jungle with beautiful beaches. The group hiked together until we arrived at the first nice swimming beach and had lunch there as well. The group then moved on to another beach called “La Piscina” Nicole stayed behind due to her knee giving her some problems after the long hike. Michelle also needed some rest and decided to stay behind as well. For the hike back, I (Nicole) was able to take a horse ride and what a wonderful experience. Felt like riding the western trails through the jungle and mountains. The horse was very gentle and knew the way. No need to guide him at all, so I enjoyed the view of the jungle, the narrow passages through the rocks. Awesome, I arrived ½ hour earlier and enjoyed chatting with Colombians as they notice my Canadian Flag on my pack. People are curious and so friendly. As the group joined me, we headed back to pack up as we left early Sunday morning for Medellin. What a blessing is was to share this whole trip with all of you and see how God worked in his time for all of us. Written by: Nicole --- --- ---