First of all, I want to take a moment to say, “Thank you!” I
know I don’t say it enough, but I want to give thanks to my faithful
supporters, church body, friends, and family who have walked with me throughout
this experience as a missionary in Bogota. You have all been with me as I
prepared to come to Colombia, as I have been teaching at El Camino Academy, and
as I have struggled with my decision about what to do in the coming school
year. So thank you for your prayers, notes and messages, financial support, and
encouragement. Thank you for all your
love throughout my time here in Colombia!
Not only do I have some truly AMAZING people in my life to
lean on, but I’ve also been learning a lot about leaning on the Lord. As I
mentioned in my November post, I spent much of first semester thinking and
praying about what to do next year. This time of insecurity and doubt was difficult,
scary, and made me very uneasy; however, it was also a time filled with growth!
I found myself leaning on the Lord and looking to Him more than ever before.
God pushed me to trust Him completely, even though I was unsure and nervous.
Ultimately, God gave me peace about the decision to return to the states in
June and leave the mission field. By no
means was this choice easy or without trepidation; however, I am resting in the
truth that this decision is from the Lord.
After resolving to return to the U.S. in June, I was able to
finish the semester at ECA in December and come home to Chicago for some much
needed time of rest. Christmas break was full of spending time with my family,
celebrating my sister’s engagement and helping her with wedding plans, turning
25 years old (yay for quarter of a century!), seeing various comedy shows, and drinking
lots of Starbucks while catching up with friends.
Ryan won the Christmas pig, which is full of money.
Elise, Luke & I lost. 😞
Elise and her fiance, Luke 💗
The waitress just handed me this giant sparkler on my birthday... I was pretty surprised!
Found some friends from ECA in Wheaton!
So a quick update on life in Bogota…
- We are still working a lot on treating one another with respect in 4th grade. That has been a big ongoing theme in our classroom!
The Eye Project
Celebremos Colombia!
Every grade performs native Colombian dances.
Learning about humility by washing one another's feet.
A day at the pool!
Learning about pollution (YUM!)
- I was able to join the High Schoolers on their retreat to Tenjo in February. It was SO fun to spend time with the students outside of school praising the Lord and playing games together. I have been so blessed to get to know the HS students more this year!
<<Retreat Video
- During second semester, a few of us ladies were able to take a quick trip out of town to one of my favorite spots, Villa de Leyva! It was very fun J
- In March, our classroom grew by one more as our student teacher, Miss Erica Barragan, joined us. She is with us for 7 weeks and has been a huge blessing to our group.
