First Cup of Coffee (Among Other Things)

Today I had my first cup of coffee... ever. It only seemed appropriate to have Colombian coffee with breakfast this morning. Of course I filled it milk and sugar. It was actually pretty good (still bitter, but I liked it more than I thought I would).

Communicating over breakfast was fun. Pastor Edgardo and Magi speak English too, but figuring out the vocabulary is like a big puzzle. He'd describe the word and I'd have to fill in the blanks. They are very fun people to be around! I had a wonderful time at breakfast.

Since there's some construction in the building I'm staying in we don't have any water today. So I headed to Maru's apartment to shower and get ready for the day. Maru is so interesting to be around and talk with. She has an incredible life story and I am so blessed to have a fast friend in Colombia.

We spent the day together touring the city. I got to see the barrio (neighborhood/ghetto) where Visionet does most of its work. From the mountain, I was able to get a great view of the city:

Maru pointed out one house in particular - Claudia's house. Claudia has seven children from infant to teenager. She is on her second marriage. She's only 34. Claudia is involved in Visionet's ministry. She is one who wants to be trained in Entrepreneurship so that she and her husband can provide for their family and hopefully move out of the barrio someday.

The stories are amazing. I'm going to share my tour of the city via pictures!

This is the view from the truck (sorry it's shaky) of one of the
houses. They are using all kinds of building materials (but
mostly brick. The houses up the mountain are basically shanty
houses. This community started about 20 years ago, but they
are still very much developing.

This is one of the churches that Visionet works with in the
barrio. They hold conferences and workshops on the roof
of the building.

The mountains create an interesting dynamic. The valley
between the mountains is where the wealthier people live,
so tucked into the mountains are all these tiny houses made
of tarps and sheet metal.

They mined some of the land on the mountain, making it entirely
unusable for agriculture or anything else for that matter. Visionet
is planning on training the community to do vertical agriculture in
the areas that are still available and lush. There are a number of
aquifers that are in and around the mountainside. Other than the
mined areas, it is a good place for small self-sustaining gardens.

Our tour continued to the land that Visionet is planning on buying for their non-profit, school, and church. One of their prayer needs is that God brings creativity in land planning because there are a number of historically or environmentally protected areas of the land God has planned for them.

On we went from there to a HUGE mall for lunch and walking around. I just have to say one thing, crepes are amazing. We went to a place called Crepes and Waffles. Apparantly, it was started as a master's thesis. The franchise only employs single women who are the heads of their households. When everywhere else is bustling for Mother's Day, they are closed and holding a party for their employees. The story, the food, and the ice cream were all incredible!

We window shopped for a little while so I could get a taste of Colombia before returning to the house for a relaxing evening. I'm still adjusting to the altitude shift and have some prep left for the conference starting tomorrow.

On an exciting note - a really cool opportunity opened up. Maru spoke with one of her friends who teaches college students preparing to be teachers and set up a time for me to go meet the students and spend some time talking about teacher prep and expectations in America. I'm really excited. God is opening up new opportunities every day! But more on that tomorrow.