Tuesday, July 14th

Today was a day full of new experiences. After a hearty breakfast in our hotel 8:30 AM, Steve led a devotion from Galatians 2:20 and challenged us to surrender ourselves to the work at hand.

We then walked the couple of blocks to the Wesleyan Bible Institute, led by Rick West and Andreas, one of our hosts. After a fun, "get-acquainted" meeting, around 10:30 or so, we were served this:

Yes. Empanadas...it was like a second breakfast. They were awesome.

Then we sang a little "Your Love is Deep," with our new friends, Pastor Jose Quintero, Luz Angela, Roscio, and Mercy...some of the warmest, nicest people I've ever met.


After that we began to plan the work in earnest. Our key construction guys, Billy Ward, Ron Ayers, and Scott Warner, along with Rick West and Pastor Jose focused on the design and construction of 10 tables for classroom use. The rest of us took measurements and brainstormed ideas for a fairly ambitious curtain hanging project.


After that the building team above planned an office space renovation, Carl Dole began collecting info for relocating some of the office IT infrastructure, and everyone else started thinking about the painting project that was going to take place on the first floor.


In addition to the Wesleyan Bible Institute, this wonderful building also houses both the national and regional offices of the Colombian Wesleyan Church. It is an interesting, six-story structure with a great view. Here are a couple of shots taken from one of the upper windows.




So far, all of these blog photos have been taken by Nancy. She has many more and will be uploading them to her Flickr site soon, so be sure to check back there.

So that afternoon, after a magnificent lunch, the team split up. The construction team drove off to find and purchase supplies for their projects. The painting began on the lower two floors, a space which will, ultimately, be rented out.


There will be a number of photos of the wonderful folks who are taking care of us while we work here. But here is Andreas and Marie Elena Rodriguez. Andreas has been the driving force behind our construction projects and has been a gifted and determined Spanish tutor as well. His wife brings us refreshments throughout the day and is also a part of the team that prepares and serves our meals. These people embody the very idea of "el corazon de siervo," the servant's heart. Priceless.

Here is our first group picture: